Mitch Glazer spoke with us about his upcoming film “Passion Play”, starring Megan Fox, Bill Murray, Rhys Ifans, and Mickey Rourke, whom Glazer has known since childhood. “It’s the movie I always dreamt it would be,” the writer/director said.
The inspiration for “Passion Play”, a film about a musician (Rourke) who falls in love with Lily, a Bird Woman, is threefold. “My mother was a high school English teacher and taught both Mickey [Rourke] and I,” said Glazer. “She showed us a short film called ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge‘,” which featured a character hallucinating during the last moments of his life. The film, Glazer said, was shown by his mother in order to show the power of stories. Secondly, He was inspired by his 20-year marriage with his wife. “I was overwhelmed by the power of redemption of love,” said Glazer. “I wanted to write my own love story. Thirdly, he was inspired by freak shows, particularly, the idea of a bird woman. According to Glazer, he wanted to show the idea of a bird woman as being more of an affliction.
“Passion Play” is Glazer’s directorial debut. “I love it,” he said when asked about his experience directing. “I’ve been a screenwriter forever. I would get frustrated saying, ‘Hey, Mickey [Rourke], I’ve got this great idea for a movie’, write it, and then hand it off to someone else. Sometimes, you want to finish telling the story. I wanted to direct a movie I can really stand behind and believe in.”
The cast, including Megan Fox, Mickey Rouke, Rhys Ifans and Bill Murray, was, according to Glazer, a joy to work with. “It was really an honor,” he said. “It was perfect. I was incredibly flattered that they were on board.” To see Murray and Rourke, two Oscar winners, acting out something written by Glazer, was fantastic, said Glazer. He also said Fox was “the mysterious, lovable beauty that I wanted in the role. They were all…collaborators. It was really a dream… a thrill to direct them.”
His next project, “Magic City“, is a television show set in his hometown Miami and revolves around the gangsters in 1959. “It’s a glamorous type of time in the city,” he said. “It’s a really right time to write about. I’ts a dream to come back forty years later [and write the show].”
“Magic City” will air on the Starz network June 20; “Passion Play” will be on DVD and Blu-Ray next Tuesday (DVD- $27.97, Blu-ray- $29.97). “Passion Play” will also be available via digital download.
