美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Easy': How Director Joe Swanberg Improvised A TV Show

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The Netflix anthology show "Easy" deals with topics that are anything but easy - searching for love, navigating¹ relationships, seeking knowledge of ourselves and sometimes looking for it in other people. The show's third and final season is out now on Netflix. Its writer, director and creator, Joe Swanberg, told me that he had to translate his indie filmmaking style into something that fit with television.

JOE SWANBERG: TV, in some senses, drives me crazy because you're stuck in this loop with the same characters. So the vibe and sort of anthology nature of "Easy" - you know, pretty much everything about the show came from things I didn't want to do and then doing things that were left.

GREENE: Now, one thing he did do was to create characters you don't know as well, since they recur² only occasionally. But they truly feel like people you might meet at a bar or cafe in Chicago.

SWANBERG: All my characters, to me, feel like they are doing their best to be kind, interesting, generous people. And yet, they still run into all of these troubles. And I think I've spent my entire career fascinated by relationships - how we navigate³ them, the kind of ways in which we're programmed by our parents and our upbringing, the ways that we rebel. All of these things kind of filter into the show as these characters really, you know, try their best but still just run into all of these issues. And to me, those issues are funny. You know, I mean, I think you have to laugh at them.

GREENE: Well, I want to ask you about the style of writing and directing this because, you know, people point to this as a big part of the mumblecore genre⁴ of filmmaking. For people who have never heard that word before, what is it?

SWANBERG: (Laughter) You know, it kind of describes a lo-fi sort of, you know, kind of punky aesthetic⁵. And a lot of filmmakers like the Duplass brothers, Lena Dunham, Greta Gerwig - you know, a lot of people that are big directors now - at the time, we were all in our 20s and making these kind of loose, rambling⁶ relationship movies. And mumblecore kind of was the catchall idea behind this kind of affiliation⁷. The word itself - I mean, if I heard mumblecore, I would roll my eyes and want nothing to do with it. But it did end up kind of defining us and being a big part of those years and that kind of collection of filmmakers.

GREENE: You just don't like the term, but you like the genre. Right?

SWANBERG: I think the word itself is silly. But yes, of course.

GREENE: You say lo-fi, and you say rambling. Like, what does that mean as you're directing a scene? Like, how much of it is scripted? Do you let the actors just ramble⁸ a little bit, and you might use something spontaneous? Like, what's the balance?

SWANBERG: It is very improvised¹⁰ on my end. That's not true of everyone who's affiliated¹¹ with the mumblecore genre. But for me, the films and "Easy," the television show, are entirely¹² improvised. So with "Easy," I usually write a three or four-page outline describing a scene but no written dialogue or anything like that. And then my actors and I will talk through it. And then they'll improvise⁹ takes, and we'll kind of figure it out from there.

I started working that way because I didn't want to put words in characters' mouths. I always felt, wow, it'd be really interesting if these characters just spoke¹³ for themselves. And with something like "Easy," now, it's much more of a anthologized television show. And we only have four days to shoot each episode. So...

GREENE: Oh, wow.

SWANBERG: ...They're a little more scripted in the sense that I have to know what's coming. But the dialogue is all still improvised. And I create as much space in the schedule as possible for the actors to discover things on set and for us to shift and adjust to those discoveries.

GREENE: I want a little case study. I have a clip from the show to play for us. This is a married couple. They are trying an open marriage, seeing other people. And this is them talking in their counselor's office about some of the problems that they're having with each other.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "EASY")

MICHAEL CHERNUS: (As Kyle) I do think when you love someone, and you see them come home, and they're excited, that you could be excited that I'm excited about life.

ELIZABETH REASER: (As Andi) You're right. You're right. You're right.

CHERNUS: (As Kyle) It doesn't...

REASER: (As Andi) You're right.

CHERNUS: (As Kyle) You don't have to see the cartoon art.

REASER: (As Andi) But when you work - I'm sorry, but when you work, I have so little free time.

CHERNUS: (As Kyle) It's not about them. I'm enjoying these...

REASER: (As Andi) Excuse me. I have so little free time. I'm working my [expletive] off for not enough, frankly¹⁴. And it's not going well right now. So maybe when I get home, I don't really want to hear about what exciting, you know - this evolution, this journey that you're on.

GREENE: Wow. OK. So trying out open marriage, not exactly easy...

SWANBERG: (Laughter).

GREENE: ...For this couple. So what would you have said? Like, how much of that would you have established in that scene, and how much is just let them talk?

SWANBERG: Yeah. Well, I've had the benefit of working - that's Michael Chernus and Elizabeth Reaser in that scene. They have been in all three seasons. So that's from the latest season. And we have the advantage of two years of already being - you know, knowing these characters and being in this open conversation.

And then, this time around, I bet we ran that take for 20 minutes, 25 minutes, something like that. And I'm in another room. And you know, they're in the room with the actor who's playing a therapist and, you know, the sound guy and the camera guy. So the set itself is very minimal¹⁵ and quiet. And they have a lot of space to basically have a therapy session.

GREENE: But they're just acting¹⁶ like they're in a therapy session. That's not scripted at all.

SWANBERG: Absolutely.

GREENE: That's all improvised.

SWANBERG: Absolutely.

GREENE: So the mumblecore - I'm sorry if you hate the word - but the mumblecore style...

SWANBERG: (Laughter).

GREENE: ...I mean, does it make uncomfortable moments work better and seem more authentic¹⁷ than if you'd scripted them out?

SWANBERG: I ask myself that all the time. You know, coming up with the limitations that I had, where we were making extremely low-budget movies - I mean, when I started out, my movies cost $5,000, $10,000 for a feature film, so I didn't have the resources to hire incredible, trained actors. I was mostly working with friends and people who didn't have much on-camera experience.

And so we were really learning to make movies together. And I always felt that that improvised, kind of low-key process allowed those non-actors to give really amazing performances. And we created the right balance of realism and then also a little bit of an escape hatch for people to change things and still feel like they were playing a character.

GREENE: This is the final season now. Are you going to stick with television, or what's coming next?

SWANBERG: I don't know. I had an incredible experience making "Easy." So if I could do something like that, I would absolutely dive right back into television. But a part of me feels like I struck gold. You know, I really found an idea that was a perfect fit for how I like to make things. Netflix was just incredible. They gave us a ton of freedom. I mean, this show is improvised. They gave me money and did not know what we were going to do each episode.

GREENE: (Laughter).

SWANBERG: It really was a dreamy scenario¹⁸. So I don't know that I'll get that lucky again right away. So I may go back to the movie world for a little bit and then see if I can find another TV idea that is this inspiring to me.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GREENE: He makes it sound so easy, doesn't he? Joe Swanberg is the creator, writer and director of the series "Easy." Season Three is out right now on Netflix.

1 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

2 recur   

vi.复发，重现，再发生

参考例句：

• Economic crises recur periodically.经济危机周期性地发生。
• Of course,many problems recur at various periods.当然，有许多问题会在不同的时期反复提出。

3 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

4 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

5 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

6 rambling   

adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的

参考例句：

• We spent the summer rambling in Ireland. 我们花了一个夏天漫游爱尔兰。
• It was easy to get lost in the rambling house. 在布局凌乱的大房子里容易迷路。

7 affiliation   

n.联系，联合

参考例句：

• There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似，但我们之间并没有关系。
• The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。

8 ramble   

v.漫步，漫谈，漫游；n.漫步，闲谈，蔓延

参考例句：

• This is the best season for a ramble in the suburbs.这是去郊区漫游的最好季节。
• I like to ramble about the street after work.我下班后在街上漫步。

9 improvise   

v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成

参考例句：

• If an actor forgets his words，he has to improvise.演员要是忘记台词，那就只好即兴现编。
• As we've not got the proper materials,we'll just have to improvise.我们没有弄到合适的材料，只好临时凑合了。

10 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

11 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

12 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

14 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

15 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

16 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

17 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

18 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。