Word: thompson
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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DIRECTOR Ernest Thompson admits that his new film 1969 is somewhat autobiographical. Thompson says he considers himself to be "more the Kiefer Sutherland character." However, Thompson, who also wrote the screenplay, says that his life isn't the only inspiration for the film. "It's only biographical to a point," he adds. Unlike the film's protagonist, Thompson says he did not break into the county office to steal his draft papers, though he did drive across the country in a leaf-painted bus, seeing the world and "trying to find peace...
...Thompson says he remembers the friendships he developed during his college years, some of which he maintains today. He says, "Friendship is very important. [Hollywood] movies are rarely about intimacy or honesty, or things like that." Thompson says he strove for softer qualities in depicting his 1969. "It was great. It was a magical time if you just surrendered yourself...
...Thompson acknowledges the impact film had on his youth, saying, "There's no describing now the effect that Easy Rider had on us kids. It was really powerful....The Graduate is every college graduate's dream." One sees the influence of these films in 1969, whose two main characters have the timely posters from these films on their walls...
...Winona Ryder (who plays the sister of Sutherland's best friend) are escaping to Canada, the song "Wooden Ships" plays on the soundtrack. The lyric ("Go, take a sister then by the hand/Lead her away from this foreign land") seems especially appropriate, yet when pressed on this similarity, Thompson replies that it is merely coincidence...
Emotion seems to be the principle behind Thompson's direction. Thompson admits to the sentimentality in the final scenes of 1969. "It's a wishful [ending]," he says. "I think it's emotionally satisfying while it may be intellectually confusing." He adds, "I don't care to be thought of as a sentimental director...but I don't mind being thought of as a writer and director who does movies and plays that deal with relationships and character more than action or adventure...