By Christina Radish

Writer/director Stuart Townsend at the special screening of "Battle in Seattle" held at the Clarity Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif. on September 22, 2008.

Townsend, along with the film’s star, Martin Henderson, spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about this very relevant subject.

MediaBlvd Magazine> Stuart, how long has this writer/director side of you been percolating?

Stuart Townsend> Quite awhile. I first started researching this event in 2002. It took about a year and a half to research it and work out how I wanted to write it. It took me six months to write it, and then it took me about a year and a half to two years to rewrite it. Then, we started getting financing after that.

MediaBlvd> Was it always a goal of yours to write and direct?

Stuart> No. I’ve always loved movies. I’m a big movie fan. I’m a movie nerd. So, I got into acting, not because of acting, but because of movies. Over the years of being in movies, I was always looking for stories. I don’t know why. I guess, in the back of my head, somewhere, I wanted to make a film. When I saw this event, that was it. I was like, “I want to make this film!” I could see it in my head, and I stupidly went forward and did it.

MediaBlvd> Where were both of you in 1999, when all of this was going on? Did you understand what it was all about?

Stuart> I was in Dublin. I remember the riots, but all I remembered was riots. I didn’t really get much context, which is why I wrote this. I think I’m in the majority. When I found it again in 2002, I was blown away by this event and thought, “I don’t think most people even remember this.” That was one of the reasons why I wanted to re-examine it and bring it to the big screen.

Martin Henderson> I understood a little bit. I was in America as a student, at the time, but I’m from New Zealand, so I would go back and forth and see my family. What was curious to me was that I found more awareness of the event, and the issues that the event was about, in New Zealand, just having talks with friends and colleagues. When I was in America, there were less people that actually, ironically, knew about it, even though it happened here and it was a domestic issue. That was curious to me. At the time, I didn’t put the dots together that the way it was portrayed here was part of the reason why. The real issues were not really broadcast. And then, just coincidentally, I’m curious about how the world’s run. You see things and you try to figure out the reasons for it. Usually, if you follow the money, you get the answers. I’m curious about what powers are at play that determine certain things, around the world. I’ve read a couple of books on the subject of globalization. I read an essay from a native Indian woman’s perspective on the effect of the IMF and the World Bank and trade rules that basically create a world where you have all these very poor, sometimes starving, people in a country like that, and yet there’s huge warehouses of wheat and different grains that are not allowed on the market. That just baffles me. When you’ve got starving people, how can trade determine things like that? That food could be eaten, but there’s no profit in it. So, personally, I’ve always had a curiosity in that aspect of our world. I knew a little bit about it, so when I read the script that Stuart had written, I was just amazed that someone had actually bothered to get their scalpel into this event, and also the issues surrounding it.                                                                            

MediaBlvd> Were you able to talk to any of the people who had been there?

Stuart> Not really. Mostly at the later stages. I had pretty much already written most of the script. I did meet a producer who did the documentary Trade Off, which is about that, and he took me around Seattle and showed me all the geography of what happen where, on each street. And, I met some journalists and asked them what their experiences were. That was really about it. He introduced me to a few people, but not really any direct action activists. I didn’t really meet them until we started pre-production, just before filming.

MediaBlvd> Stuart, why did you decide not to play any of the characters in the film?

Stuart> I have an amazing cameo in this film, actually. It’s my little Hitchcock thing. I figured, doing all the other stuff -- the writing, directing and producing -- was enough on my plate. And, I’m glad because I did this small cameo that was 20 minutes work, and even being away and distracted from the job at hand for 20 minutes was difficult.

MediaBlvd> So, you decided that, in the beginning?

Stuart> Yeah, from the start. I knew I wanted to tell the story, as a filmmaker. I wanted to do it all, but not act in it. Acting is so separate to the directing part. I just saw it in my head and I thought, “I want to do this, or try at least.”                               

MediaBlvd> You have a great ensemble cast in this movie. What was it like directing them?

Stuart> Yeah. It is amazing, as a first-timer, to be working with Ray Liotta, Woody Harrelson, Martin and Charlize. There were different styles, different ages, different characters. It was like an actor’s conveyor belt because it was just one actor after another. Sometimes, you would see eight actors in a day because you’d be moving from different scenes. I was so lucky. Some actors were very easy. Other actors had a lot of questions. There was the whole range. It was great!

MediaBlvd> When did you decide to cast your girlfriend, Charlize Theron, in the film?

Stuart> Pretty early on. She was the first person to ever read the script. I had been working on it for three or four years, and I think she was pretty worried. She was like, “Oh, no, here we go. I have to read this. What am I going to say?” And, she was really shocked. She was like, “How the fuck did you do this? I didn’t expect this at all. I really love it! It’s about Africa, and it’s about things I care about. Are there any roles?” And, I was like, “It’s funny you mentioned that. There’s this one.” I wanted her because Ella goes through a very dramatic moment, and I needed someone with the chops to pull that off. Also, I think it’s very easy to empathize with her. She is the audience, so I wanted her to be that character.

MediaBlvd> Does Charlize take direction well? Did she bring a lot of ideas?

Stuart> She makes any director’s job easy. She does ask a lot of questions, but it’s not really about coaxing a performance out of her. When she gets it perfect, the first time, you’re wondering, “Oh, shit! What do I want, now that I’ve already got it?” That was a strange moment. Normally, you spend time trying to get what you want. With her, it was instant, and then I had to realize, “Okay, I’ve got that, so now I need to find some alternatives, just in case.” It was interesting.

MediaBlvd> Why did you like Andre Benjamin for this role? What unique ideas did he bring?

Stuart> I saw him in Outkast. I saw a show here in L.A., and the energy coming off him was amazing. I always wanted his character to bring some humor to the film, and some needed energy. That guy looks good in jumpers and riding boots, so I knew he would definitely be good in a turtle suit. There’s not many actors you could put in a turtle suit.

Martin Henderson at the special screening of "Battle in Seattle" held at the Clarity Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif. on September 22, 2008.

Stuart> I put on the turtle suit two days before he arrived and I looked like an idiot. I was like, “Fuck, he’s gonna arrive, he’s gonna freak out, and he’s not going to want to wear his turtle suit.” And then, he arrived and he put it on, and he looked cool. Only he can rock a turtle suit!      

MediaBlvd> Martin, did you have a lot of input in creating your character?

Martin> Stuart created the character, really, when he wrote it. I just interpret that and bring myself to it. It was a great character to play because, not only is he motivated by the possibility of political change, and he has a certain cross to bear with that, but he has this emotional agenda as well, seeking vengeance for the death of someone he loved. There was an intensity and a drive to him that is lovely to portray. And, there was a lot of anger. It was a wonderful part, and a real heroic part, really. He’s someone that’s willing to sacrifice his freedom and, ultimately, almost completely does, in order to achieve what he thinks is better, not even for himself, but for the planet and for humanity. The characters that are out there, really fighting these fights, are the true heroes of this movement. It was an honor to portray someone of that character, and try to bring that out of myself. In reality, in ‘99, part of the success of the protest was due to the fact that it was completely decentralized. That was literally part of why it was such a tough fight for the police, and then the National Guard. At that time, it was an unconventional shape. There was no real leader. Ordinarily, they’d find the leader and chop his head off, and it all crumbles. In this case, it wasn’t like that, so there was a little bit of creative license with that. My character is actually an amalgamation of a few key leaders, even though he appears to be one of the key players. It was a lot more democratic than that.

MediaBlvd> What was it like to shoot some of these scenes with four cameras at once?

Martin> I think that aided the performance. I’ve just come from doing a couple months of theater, down in Australia, and I love doing that, partly because there is no camera. You’re forced to relate to the actor. With traditional filmmaking sometimes, you’re very aware of, “Okay, this is the wide shot, this is the close-up,” and you become self-conscious, in a way. The way we shot this, by having that docu-feel and having the cameras sometimes so far away, there were so many extras going between the camera and you that they weren’t even in your vicinity. That does allow you to forget the camera and really focus on what’s really going on in the moment, and that makes your performance a little more intimate and real. It helped.

MediaBlvd> Why do you think people don’t protest today, with all of the problems in the world?

Martin> I ask myself that question. I protested the war. I didn’t believe it was a just war, and it smelled fishy from the get-go. It seemed very convenient that certain things aligned and, all of a sudden, we were going into this country, so I protested when I could. Even in Australia, I went to anti-war marches and stuff. I think the government here did a really clever job of making anybody that would protest feel like they were not American and they were unpatriotic. There was a real culture of fear that prevented people from voicing their right to say, “I don’t think this is just.”

MediaBlvd> What kind of comment is that about democracy?

Stuart> That’s the whole point of the film. Ironically, Seattle was such a victory that it was never going to be allowed to happen again. So, every other G8 meeting and world meeting, and even at the DNC and RNC, the police presence is completely overwhelming. Meaningful descent has been crushed. Look at the financial crisis this week. We are being asked to give $700 billion of taxpayers’ money to the guys who fucked the system up in the first place. Where is that fucking outrage? This film is, hopefully, an attempt to try to bring a new audience in and get them outraged. It’s the same issues that people were fighting in ‘99. It was the same economic system that they were fighting against, that’s just brought us our current crisis. It’s definitely harder. It’s so much more controlled. The Patriot Act was pushed through, and that’s hindered descent. There are so many thing, so many reasons, and there’s so much distraction in the world. And, it’s hard to connect the dots. Most people don’t connect financial crisis with WTO. People are living their lives, and the majority of people in this country are just barely getting by now.

Martin> I think there’s an apathy with younger people, in the sense that they just think, “Oh, that’s the way it is.”

Stuart> I hope it’s not that. I feel like it’s so overwhelming. There are so many problems. I hope that it’s not apathy. It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed by global warming, and everything going on.

MediaBlvd> At the GOP Convention, there was no coverage in the mainstream media about the brutal treatment of some of the protestors there. What do you think about that?

Stuart> The protest movement has almost been relegated to a circus sideshow. It’s corporate media, so there’s definitely a connection there. I definitely think the media is at fault, but at the same time, it’s a for-profit business, so it’s understandable that they focus on spectacle rather than in-depth issues. That’s a real problem. If you dismantled the media consolidation that’s happened in this country, that would be a first step in breaking the gridlock with the power of corporate media.

MediaBlvd> Is it inevitable that any protest is going to have some of those extremists who create the trouble?

Stuart> Yeah, I think so. At a mass demonstration, you’re always going to get a couple of people, breaking some windows, or whatever it is. A lot of people say it’s undercover police with rocks, and I’ve seen footage where some of those guys have been outed by middle-aged farmers who are protesting for a farming coalition. I saw this in Montebello, where a farmer confronted this anarchist, and then realized the guy was a cop. He started shouting, “You’re a cop! You’re a cop!” The anarchist slips right under the police line. They did that in the civil rights movement against the Blank Panthers. It was a way to divide and conquer. It was a way to divide the movement and discredit it. In Seattle, 50,000 people were out there. They were every day people, from all walks of life, who were peaceful. And then, there were a couple anarchists that took all the coverage. That’s a tough one because you can’t control that. It’s democracy in action.

MediaBlvd> How did your experience growing up in Ireland, with the struggles between Northern Ireland and Ireland, inform your vision of this movie?

Stuart> I don’t know. Definitely, growing up with riots, there’s something in there that reacts to that kind of visual. And, obviously, colonialism had its effect. I think there is a justice streak in Irish people, for sure. We’re one of the few Western countries that was oppressed by colonization, rather than being the oppressor. It’s not really a part of my life because I grew up in the ‘70s in Dublin, which wasn’t exactly a pressure cooker, politically. But, there’s some ancestral blood thing going on.

MediaBlvd> You filmed some of this in Canada, when the idea here is that jobs are being outsourced. I’m sure there were practical reasons for it, but did you try to make it possible to do it all in the States?

Stuart> This is actually a Canadian film, and we outsourced some of it to Seattle, which is heavily ironic. It’s got some American money in it, but Canadians were the only ones who wanted to make it. I shopped it around here, but no one wanted to do it. And then, I met these financiers in Canada. A guy had a studio and he said, “I’d love to do this! I love this story. Will you do it in Vancouver?” And, I said, “Sure, let’s do it!” And then, I begged and pleaded to do three days in Seattle. It’s ironic, in the sense that it’s a Canadian film, shot by an Irish man, shot by an Englishman, with a New Zealand actor, a South African, an Ivory Coast person, a Chinese person, two Croatians and five Americans. It’s a global piece of cinema, really. I would like to have shot it entirely in Seattle. It’s a much prettier city that is much more cinematic. But, you do what you can do to get your film made.                   

MediaBlvd> What were you influenced by for the shooting style you chose for this film?

Stuart> Battle of Algiers is the classic cinema vérité, documentary style that everyone takes from. And, Medium Cool is another movie that I watched, stylistically. The content is somewhat similar. I also watched ‘70s Hollywood movies, like Network and All the President’s Men. That was a golden age. That’s my favorite age of cinema. And then, there was a lot of modern stuff too, with Greengrass and Pete Travers. It comes from an old tradition that goes back to the ‘30s, with Roberto Rossellini and Open City, and that idea of docu-drama. But, the whole film is not that, though. I didn’t want to just do a fly-on-the-wall docu-drama style film, like Battle of Algiers. I wanted to actually do a more traditional film with characters. When you go inside the WTO, it’s tracking shots. It’s much more traditional. But, obviously, on the streets, just getting that feel, I wanted to have that. As a filmmaker, it’s just fun to play with montage, play with traditional stuff, go into the docu-drama style and just stylistically shuffle it up.

MediaBlvd> What was the hardest thing for you to shoot? Was it difficult to match the old footage with the new?

Stuart> It was just fun! We had 29 days to shoot and not much money, so there was a real energy, and I think that comes across in the film. I worked on the shooting styles with my D.P., and having great actors helped a lot. And, there was a lot of prep work, looking at footage and working out how I’d get into that footage and how I’d get out of it.

MediaBlvd> How much of this is based on real people and events?

Stuart> The characters are not all fiction. That’s just for the lawyers. The Doctors Without Borders guy is a real guy. His story is in the film. He was there to lobby the WTO for access to essential medicine. The African delegate was there, and he gave that end speech, almost verbatim. The African nations and the Caribbean nations stood up and said, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore,” after having been inspired by what was going on with the protests. The mayor was based on the mayor. I did a lot of research on him and put it together, moment by moment, with how he reacted to certain things. And, the governor is based on the governor. Charlize’s character, Ella, is not really based on anybody. She’s more a viewpoint. She’s the audience. She’s not there for any one side. I wanted somebody who was just neutral that the audience could follow. We can all recognize the situation she’s in. And, when the chaos escalates, as an audience, you can feel that with her because you can see it through her eyes. And, the protestors are amalgamations. They’re composites. They were all based on truths, but not one truth, just composites of various things that I found in research and thought, “Oh, this is interesting.”      

MediaBlvd> What do you hope the audience will take away from this?

Stuart> I hope to inspire people, particularly the younger generation. That’s why I cast Andre, Martin, Channing Tatum, Woody and Charlize. They’re actors that people love going to see, instead of making a documentary that was just factual and intellectual. There had already been three documentaries made, and no one had seen them. I figured, if I do it by this approach, and make it more about the characters and more about an emotional connection, and not just a political connection, it might hit somewhat of a mainstream. But, it’s hard to get people in to see any sort of political film. It’s sad. I was in France promoting this, and all we talked about was politics. Here, you have to couch it in words, like “empowering” and “inspiring.” What I’ve tried to do is somehow connect people, and get them angry and get them inspired. Our website has all the content that we couldn’t put in the film, and all the issues are explained in-depth. It’s a place to go and join a campaign and take action.