CinéArts Q & A with Writer/Director Ben Lewin of ‘The Sessions’
November 6, 2012
'The Sessions' promises to be one of the big contenders for
acting awards in 2013. Featuring a breakout performance by John
Hawkes as well as dynamic support from Helen Hunt and William H.
Macy, this work of writer/director Ben Lewin is heartfelt, funny
and inspiring. CinéArts' Frank Gonzales recently had the chance to
talk to Lewin in a roundtable discussion about this very personal
project, as he himself has struggled with the lifelong effects of
polio. And like the film he directs, Lewin pulls no punches and
makes no concessions to any debilitations he may suffer, or to any
of the obstacles in bringing this story to the screen.
Frank Gonzales/CinéArts: How did you come across
this material to create THE SESSIONS and tell the story of Mark
O'Brien?
Ben Lewin: Well, I think it arose from an act of
desperation on the part of my agent, who suggested, after some
years of unemployment on my part, that I should write a sitcom
about myself. I started working on a project called The Gimp, which
really relied in turn on kind of a sense of political incorrectness
and tastelessness. It was about a guy who traded the use of his
handicap for sex.
I was just surfing the net looking for inappropriate material and
I accidently stumbled across Mark O'Brien's article: On Seeing A
Sex Surrogate. It really was total serendipity, and I think that by
the time I finished his article, honestly, it was one of the only
burning bush experiences I've had in my life! I felt this was my
next project. That's the long and short of it. The best things seem
to happen totally by accident, certainly to me.
CA: How did you line up the whole project once
you had this burning bush experience? How did you move forward from
there?
BL: I spent about two years writing the script
with the crucial help and collaboration of Susan Fernbach, who was
Mark O'Brien's girlfriend in the years before he died, and the real
surrogate, Cheryl Cohen Greene, who shared with me in great detail
her side of the story. Really, as a result of that, it became above
all, a relationship movie, a journey of two people.
Then we had the burden of raising the money ourselves. We financed
the movie entirely privately from friends and family, just kind of
passing around the hat. Due to the subject matter it seemed
pointless to send it to the usual suspects and hope for money. On
the other hand, we had tremendous freedom because we had no one to
answer to, which I can highly recommend.
For more of the Q&A,
click here.
'The Sessions' opens at CineArts Theatres in November 2012. It's
rated R for strong sexuality including graphic nudity and frank
dialogue. For showtimes, and tickets, click
here.
