"Moonlight Mile" centers around a theme of loss that was very personal to writer/director Brad Silberling. Loosely based on his own experience with the death of a loved one, "Moonlight Mile" tells the story of Joe Nast (Jake Gyllenhaal) who has to deal with the loss of his fiancee and with the impact her death has on her parents, JoJo (Susan Sarandon) and Ben (Dustin Hoffman).
Casting the role of Joe was a struggle for Brad Silberling in large part because he was casting a younger version of himself. After an eye-opening discussion with director Cameron Crowe, Silberling found his 'Joe' in actor Jake Gyllenhaal. "When I met Jake, it was indeed as if I'd met a younger version of myself. The search was over."
JAKE GYLLENHAAL (Joe Nast)
What's it like working with Susan Sarandon and Dustin Hoffman?
What was it like? I don't know how to answer it. I've been asked it down the [press] line and I think that what it comes down to is that what it's like for me, honestly, is that they've become my friends. I know that I walk down the line with these people who have become icons in everyone's eyes - including mine - and they are just friends, so it was just wonderful.
Was it hard not to think about all of their prior award-winning work as you worked opposite them?
I made a concerted effort not to watch their films - all of them - and tried to stay away from them so that I wouldn't get intimidated. Since I knew most of them already and had been through them at different times in my life, I just tried to be like, “I'm just going on the set. They are just actors.”
What do you think of yourself when you get top billing over Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon? How do you process that?
I think thank God I'm not supporting him because I wouldn't be able to hold him up. Thank God that he's supporting me because he can most definitely hold me up.
Amy Brenneman and Brad Silberling at a Special Screening of "Moonlight Mile."
Photo ©Rebecca Murray. All Rights Reserved.
Was it difficult for you to write a script that had so much of your own personal story in it?
It should have been, shouldn't it? No, it's funny; oddly I remember the first day of writing thinking that this feels really pleasurable. I think that the only reason why was because instead of having to reach outside of myself, it actually let me bring my life with me. You know nothing better than the details and the emotions and the truths of your life, so in a way you are using the best tools you have. So, no. The filming process was exactly the same. Everybody was braced for something that was going to be very painful and we had a fantastic time.
Do you write scripts with specific actors in mind?
In this case I did. I was writing with Susan [Sarandon] in mind, and Dustin [Hoffman]. You raise the bar up there and you don't know what is going to happen. I tend to, just basically as a tool for myself, sometimes for the rhythm, sometimes for somebody to stage in my head.
Did the song “Moonlight Mile” inspire the film or any parts of it, or did that come along afterwards?
I was listening every morning when I was writing the screenplay, I had three songs on a loop. “Moonlight Mile” I generally would listen to every morning at about 6:45 driving up to take my dog for a walk. This was before I met Amy actually, or she would have been in the car, too.
We had [the song] at our wedding. This incredible blues band with this incredible female vocalist struck up a song and it was “Moonlight Mile.” That was pretty incredible. I wrote the first draft of this in 1993 and we got married in 1995 so it was very much part of the writing process and then part of the shooting process. Every damn person on that set knew the song inside and out, even the dolly grip.