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Nancy Cartwright of ‘The Simpsons’ success sat down with THR to talk about what inspired her new film ‘In Search of Fellini’
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00:00Hi, this is Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter and I'm in studio with Nancy Cartwright
00:08today. Hi, Nancy. How are you? I'm very well, thanks. Well, I mean, it's ridiculous to even
00:15introduce you, but you are the voice of Bart Simpson on The Simpsons. Yeah, for a long time.
00:2029 years? Yes, we're just about to start, yeah, season 30. It's crazy. Wow, wow. And then I would
00:27say that this new movie that you have that you co-wrote and produced, it's called In
00:32Search of Fellini, and it's a prequel to your Simpson days. Yes, indeed. Nobody has said
00:38that, but that's exactly right. Can you tell me a little bit about this movie, how it came
00:42about and your connection with Fellini? Yeah, sure. It was in 1985, actually, and I was in
00:49an acting class and studying all kinds of scenes and stuff, and my teacher gave me this film
00:54by Federico Fellini called La Strada, and he wanted me to take a look at it and see what
00:58I felt, and I really liked it. I really somehow connected with the lead character played by
01:04Giulietta Messina, who is Fellini's wife in real life, and she played this little clown named
01:10Gelsamina, and she breaks your heart, you know, because there's an innocence about her, and
01:15she just makes people laugh, but he totally destroys her, the bastard. And I put every scene
01:21up, I think, that I can put up as an actress in class, casting different actors to play
01:26opposite me, and I realized, wow, maybe I could get the rights to do it as a play. So I started
01:32writing letters to Carlo Ponte and Dino De Laurentiis, who produced it, and of course, Fellini,
01:39and I sent out one letter, two, three, a bunch of letters, and then I actually got a response,
01:45and I couldn't believe it, and it was from Fellini's office. Now, here's the deal.
01:50Well, they said he's really busy, and even though he's going to be there, it's not going to work.
01:56You're not going to be able to meet him, but I'm like, wait a minute. He's going to be there?
02:00You know, forget that. I'm out of here. I'm going. So, because I had his address. I'm like,
02:05I'm on my way, but I wanted to take in. I'd never been to Italy before. I'm in my 20s. I can't speak
02:12the language, and so I took off, and I ate. I drank. I fell in love. I did everything a single
02:18woman should and shouldn't do when visiting. I got in trouble, and when you watch the film,
02:23you'll see, because like 70% of what you see, Mariah, is like, I did that. Well, when I came
02:29back, I realized that my story was better. Yeah. Because it's mine. I lived it. Yeah.
02:35Well, when I came back, I realized that. I go, wow, I can develop this as a one-woman show.
02:40So, that was the deal. Yeah. And then a couple years later, I got the juicy nugget called The
02:47Simpsons. Yeah. You know, went in and did that, and I got married, and by then I had, within a
02:53couple years, I had two kids, and raising my kids, and The Simpsons is, you know, more and more people
02:58are watching it. So, by 1995, that's when we produced it as a full one-woman show. And the writers from The
03:08Simpsons, like, they came to it, and Dan and Julie and Yardley and Hank, they came to see me, and Matt
03:15Groening, and like, this has been evolving and percolating for a long time. But I didn't have, I didn't
03:22have, it wasn't just the wherewithal, like, financially, because I, I mean, I actually raised the money for
03:28this. I didn't do the whole thing myself, which was a whole nother, that's a whole nother interview and
03:34challenge. I'm glad I am, I'm surrounded by amazing people that know how to do that. All these years
03:39go by, like 20 years, and to have the privilege, and to be in the position that I'm in, that I make
03:48a living doing what I love, so that my own art can help to fund my own, my other art. Yeah. You know,
03:56that's, a lot of people can't even do the first thing, you know, and I look at that, and believe
04:04me, I am very aware of that, and I'm very, I don't take it for granted. Yeah. You know, I like to share
04:14it. Yeah. Well, it's coming to, I mean, I think it's like everything gets, everything gets made exactly
04:20when it needs to be made, and the fact that this story takes place in the early 90s, I mean, this
04:27is kind of a great, a great time for 90s nostalgia. I mean, you have Lady Bird coming out in 2002, it's
04:33like, this kind of recent nostalgia is really, really interesting to people right now. Yeah. Can you tell
04:40us a little bit about kind of creating that time period? Yeah, well, he passed away in 1993, so that's,
04:49that's the year that it's set. It was, it wasn't much of an adjustment from 85 to 93. It didn't,
04:55it didn't matter. It was okay that it happened in 1993. Still pre-cell phone. Yeah. People are still
05:01writing letters. Yeah. Writing postcards. Right. When you travel, you get lost. You go on adventures.
05:07Yeah. Yeah, there's no, there's no Google, there's no map, you know, no Google Maps or anything like
05:13that, and I love the way that Teron Lexton, who's the director, this is his first feature film. In fact,
05:22the whole thing, the crew, the American crew, like, this is the first experience they had doing a feature
05:27film. Lots of those guys had experience doing commercials and PSAs, hundreds and hundreds. That's
05:33where Teron's background was. But he brought in the, the, the pathology, if you will, of Fellini.
05:42That wasn't mine. He brought it in. And I had videotaped at the time in 1995, when I did the play,
05:50I videotaped for archives, not, not really ever knowing that I would ever refer to it. I never
05:56looked at it. It wasn't lit properly. The sound was my husband laughing into like a football size,
06:02you know, VHS recorder, which was so ridiculous. But all you hear is him laughing. But Teron said
06:10to me, do you have footage? Can I see it? And I said, well, okay, yes, you can see it. And when
06:16he saw it, he goes, we have to do this. We have to do this. And my point is that the choices that
06:21he had made, especially in terms of the costume and the hair, we wanted to, we didn't want to make
06:26it so specifically 1993. Because having Maria Bello wear, she wore vintage clothes. That was her
06:34thing was wearing vintage clothes. And it kept it. And you could see the way that the, that the house,
06:39Todd Jeffrey did the, the set decoration. And I loved it because it was kind of antiques and
06:47things were mismatched, eclectic style. And that's kind of how she led her life. It was kind of open
06:54that way. And I loved that choice. Yes. And what was it like to be filming in the, the different
07:01locations? Because you did some of the filming in Cleveland. Yes. You did some of the filming in
07:05Italy. Yes. And three of the most beautiful parts of it. That's right. The most beautiful city. Yeah,
07:10that's right. Well, I will never forget Cleveland. I kind of wanted to do it in Dayton because I'm from
07:16Kettering, just south of Dayton. But the union and crews were up in Cleveland. So we took advantage of
07:22that and found a wonderful house. It was just a couple weeks there. And then everybody shifted
07:28over. And we joined up with 360 Films, which is the, the Italian production company. And they had
07:35so much experience. You know, we, they wanted, they really wanted to work with us. And it was great
07:42because they had insights as to how we could shoot those, what beautiful scenes and like save a fortune,
07:51you know, save a fortune. Because if we got there at five o'clock in the morning, it cost
07:57zippo zero because at, we had from five until nine o'clock and like the sun was coming up about
08:05at that time of year was coming up around six. So we use that beautiful lighting and shot, you know,
08:11in San Marcos square and in Verona and just, you know, went up that tower, the shot in the tower.
08:17And gosh, even they have laws, they have really strict laws, even in terms of the drones, like
08:25it's illegal because especially in Venice, you can't use a drone in Venice because I mean,
08:31you'll ruin the buildings and some damage can be done. And
08:35you don't want it like a 5D dropping on an ancient building.
08:39Yeah, it's true. But we, you know, we were trying to use their drone. And it's so funny because
08:46our, our director of photography, Kevin Garrison, he was amazing. He brought his own drone
08:52just in case. And sure enough, they had this massive drone, the size of like a, like a king size pizza,
08:58but it weighed a ton and it was loud and it wasn't, it actually broke. And about the time that we were
09:04ready to shoot that scene, it was in the evening and the sun was just about to set and we had to
09:08get this one shot. And the, I guess it's from the film boards, the legal aspect of it was because
09:15they really make sure they knew that we needed a drone. They wanted to make sure that we were doing
09:19it. So when they came around the corner with the papers, they gave us the papers, things were signed
09:23properly. They started to take off. They saw that it was all organized just properly. And as soon as
09:28he like passed by and went the other way and was out of sight, their guy said, go ahead, do it, do it.
09:34And then we used, Kevin got out of his singing, up it went one take. When you see that shot go all the
09:40way around that, that the bell tower that was done in one shot. And then the sun set. I'm so proud of
09:48that. It was like amazing. Well, there's, I mean, there's such a beautiful palette from warm to
09:53cool. You know, there's cool scenes and then there's warm scenes. You can really see the color of the
09:58sunlight coming in. It's very different depending on the mood of the scene.
10:01Yeah. Teron was just, I'm telling you, to have him, it would, it just blew me away because he watched
10:10every single one of Fellini's films. Teron found that chronologically my journey, it paralleled exactly the
10:18way that Fellini's films were shot to the, I mean, are you kidding? It's just like, so there are all
10:25these Easter eggs that if you are a Fellini fan, you'll recognize the horse from La Strada and her
10:31walking in front of the Trevi Fountain and little clips of Anita Eckberg, you know, from dancing in
10:39the, in the Trevi Fountain with Marcello Mastriani and all these little, little clips in there and
10:45a little tip of the hat to Bart Simpson because this was 1993 and the Simpson was on the air. So
10:51you'll have to look for that one too. There's a Bart Simpson Easter egg in it? Yeah. How did I miss that?
10:57Yeah. You missed it. Oh man, this is going to be nuts. Like, yeah, four different takes. That's great.
11:04One of the things I noticed about this movie is that it was a very collaborative process. You like
11:11bringing people into your own world to be able to make something. I love it. It's so important. It's
11:17so important. And it's not just for artists, but I think for everyone out there is that if you surround
11:22yourself with people that help you with your dream and believe in, as it's tough in, in the entertainment
11:30industry, because artists attract people that tend to take advantage of them and they can get hurt.
11:37And especially 2017, 2018, there have been some drastic, you know, eye-opening kind of things
11:46that have occurred. And it's so important that artists, you know, they may, they keep their own
11:53integrity, you know, and express themselves. And if something doesn't feel right, you should do
11:59something about it. And you can, and not just, not just women, but everyone.
12:05Yeah. There's always an opportunity to make something that you really, truly believe in.
12:10You might just have to wait it out. It just might not be the right fit the first time.
12:15Yeah. Yeah. That's true too.
12:16Yeah. Yeah.
12:17Because I feel like a lot of people just are really very willing to just get going with their careers.
12:24But I think that's okay. But you still, if it's, if it's still, if there's so much effort
12:32or counter intention, then something is not right. There's somebody that's preventing that from
12:40moving forward as it should, because art is, art is life. Art is natural. Art is, art is beauty.
12:49Art is aesthetics. And it should lift people up. And if it's not moving in that direction,
12:54there's something that's not quite right. And maybe it's kind of pulling the string and
12:59trying to figure out where's that coming from? You know, if you can spot that and kind of like
13:06house cleaning, kind of clean, clean the space a little bit, that is one thing that you can do
13:12that would help.
13:13Hmm. Good advice.
13:15Yeah.
13:15I have some quick questions for you before I let you go.
13:18Okay.
13:18Um, the first character from a Fellini film that captivated you.
13:22Well, that was, that was Jessamina.
13:24Yeah.
13:24Yeah.
13:25I figured. Uh, best day on the set of searching for Fellini.
13:29It was the, it was the wrap party. Because there we were at the wrap party and we were on,
13:35and the Italian production company paid for this, which was really, really great.
13:39Because we were on a yacht and we were in, and we were in Rome and the entire crew and
13:47cast were there. And at one point somebody held up a wine glass and ding, ding, ding,
13:51got everyone's attention. Everyone was really quiet and a screen had been set up.
13:55And so this crew did not speak English. It was, you know, they, they, I don't even, honestly,
14:00they didn't even really know the story because they are really, really hard workers.
14:04They do what they're told and they do it fast and they do it very professionally.
14:08So we're looking up and if you can imagine, like the screen is out there and I'm standing
14:13at the end and I'm watching this and Dean Martin is singing,
14:16Volare, oh, and everybody knows that song.
14:21Yeah.
14:22So everybody's, their attention is out and looking at this and I'm at the very end.
14:26And as this is, this clip, it's just clips of what we just did, like a little trailer,
14:32kind of like a sizzle reel of what we had just done.
14:35And it's in color and it's beautiful.
14:37And I start to turn my head and right down the aisle, I see everybody is looking the same
14:42way.
14:43And this is what I see.
14:52It was magic.
14:55It's like they, they, because no words, there's no dialogue.
15:00They don't need to know, but it was set up in such a way that they got the tone of what
15:04it is that they had just worked on.
15:07It was so, I have that forever.
15:11I have that memory forever.
15:13Last time you had a Fellini-esque moment.
15:16I did this video.
15:19Uh-huh.
15:19I did this video.
15:20It, it went crazy.
15:21I, when you do videos for your own page or for the YouTube or whatever, I mean, I suppose
15:27everybody, I'm not thinking that every one of these is going to go viral.
15:30I have no idea how that works in the world, you know, the ether world or whatever.
15:34But I was just, this kid, I was going into Macy's, Fashion Square Plaza, and this kid
15:41was selling chocolate.
15:42He wanted me to buy it.
15:43I said, I'll, I'll be right back.
15:44I said, I promise you, but I'm in a hurry, but let me, I'll, I'll get you on the way out.
15:48And sure enough, when I came out, he was there.
15:50And then I went up to him and I said, so, and I told my assistant before I got, I said,
15:54just tape this.
15:55Who knows where, what can happen?
15:56Let's just tape.
15:57I think this will be fun.
15:58And I'm just chatting with him and asking him, what are you doing there?
16:00He said, I'm selling chocolate.
16:02And I said, oh, what's it for?
16:03And he told me, he said, oh, that sounds good.
16:05We're like, what, how, you're like, what, 14?
16:07No, I'm 13.
16:08I said, oh, sorry.
16:09And it was all very natural.
16:11And I said, I'm, I'm 10 years old.
16:14You know, I'm 10 years old.
16:15I'm in the fourth grade to go to Springfield Elementary.
16:16When the penny drops, that's where it just, people, it went nuts.
16:20Within 24 hours, it was 10 million within 24 hours.
16:24You got 10 million views within 24 hours.
16:26Within 24 hours.
16:27And now other feeds bought it.
16:31It's, it's over a hundred million.
16:32But it was definitely a Fellini-esque moment for that kid.
16:36Totally.
16:37It was just out of nowhere.
16:39Worst mistake that ended up being a great life lesson.
16:44Yeah.
16:44When you say worst mistake, what comes to my mind, it was also slash embarrassing.
16:49That would work, right?
16:50Sure.
16:50Absolutely.
16:51So this was a long time ago.
16:52And I went in and there was a show called Designing Women.
16:55Mm-hmm.
16:55And I went in and it was all set in the South.
16:59You know, and all their accents were Southern.
17:01And I was playing a character that was from New York.
17:05Mm-hmm.
17:05And they wanted her to have this Brooklyn accent.
17:08Mm-hmm.
17:08And I went in and I didn't have any problem rehearsing and everything.
17:10And I walk into the space and everyone's like, oh, are you ready to go?
17:14We're so ready for you to do this.
17:15Thank you, Nancy.
17:16Let's do this thing.
17:17You're going to be great.
17:18Okay, here we go.
17:18And I'm like, I was so influenced by it.
17:22I couldn't do it.
17:23I couldn't do it.
17:24And I'm not from New York, so that itself is a challenge anyway.
17:28But I was so humiliated.
17:31But I think that the takeaway from that is, I suppose, not, I had to stop.
17:37I was so humiliated.
17:38And I felt like I could just do anything.
17:41But not every actor is right for every part.
17:44Mm-hmm.
17:45It's true.
17:46That is a good lesson.
17:46It's like you can create your own niche.
17:49And at the same time, I think actors tend to think they can do anything.
17:52And I get that.
17:53I really do get that.
17:54And I think in their heart, they probably can.
17:57But casting is a very precise, I don't know, craft, you know?
18:03Yeah.
18:04Some actors, I don't know, for myself, I'm like, okay, I guess we're going to learn from that one.
18:10Thank you so much for dropping by.
18:12Yeah.
18:12And in search of Fellini, it had its theatrical release.
18:17It won some awards in Italy.
18:19It did.
18:19And now it's going to be out.
18:21It's out on iTunes.
18:24iTunes and Amazon.
18:25Mm-hmm.
18:26And you can get the DVD.
18:27You can, it's also on whatever platform you have at home.
18:30You can instantly, you know, get it at home.
18:34Pay your, you can rent it or buy it.
18:36And Netflix in March.
18:38Yeah.
18:38Nancy, congratulations on a beautiful and sweet movie.
18:42And we'll have you back when you have the next one out.
18:45Sweet.
18:46All right.
18:46Thanks, guys.
18:47Bye.
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