Labute, Page 2
Let's hurt somebody.
In his debut film, The
Company of Men (1997), two corporate businessmen, the extremely handsome
Chad, and the not-so handsome Howard, set out to seduce and destroy Christine,
a deaf receptionist at their office. They have no particular reason to do this;
they do it for kicks. Early in the film, Chad forces an intern to take off his
pants at a meeting to please a whim, to test the extent of his power. The film
is rooted in dialogue and the dialogue in consistently smart, sharp, and morbidly
fascinating. The film was inspired by one simple sentence LaBute dreamed up:
"Let's hurt somebody." You can say it was a success--there is not
a single likeable character in this hip and heartless film.
LaBute went on to follow The Company of Men with the controversial Your Friends and Neighbors (1998). With the backing of Gramercy Pictures and the buzz from Company of Men, he was able to cast a stellar crew of indie actors: Ben Stiller, Aaron Eckhart, Catherine Keener, Nastassja Kinski, Amy Brenneman, and Jason Patric. The film centers around the ensemble cast as they casually go from dinner party to art gallery, to weekends away at country inns with your husband's best friend and lesbian afternoon trysts with the art gallery curator. The cruelty of LaBute's characters often takes your breath away--most notably, Jason Patric's performance as the chillingly handsome doctor, delivering cold, passionless soliloquies of sexuality manipulation. LaBute's take on love and relationships is stark, unrelenting, and, this cannot be stressed enough, unappealing. You cannot trust your spouse. You cannot trust your lover. You cannot trust your best friend.
Perhaps LaBute hopes to reach a more mainstream audience with Nurse Betty. This film has all the signs of a controversial indie director riding his success and mellowing out. He's got an A-list cast, a bigger budget and national distribution. So you can expect to laugh and enjoy the ride, but do not be fooled by the niceties. LaBute hasn't gone Hollywood and he isn't playing nice. According to an advance review from Filmcritic.com, Nurse Betty is "quite gruesome in its depiction of the human soul as essentially empty."
Next up for LaBute is Possession, based on the book by A.S. Byatt. Scheduled for a Fall 2001 release, the film stars Gywneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam, and LaBute regular, Aaron Eckhart. And on a side note, make sure to check out the official web site, which cleverly displays the characters' email inboxes. Official Nurse Betty links include:
- Official Film Site: Nurse Betty
- Official TV Show Site: A Reason to Live
- Official Character Fan Site: Dr. David Ravell
- Unofficial Character Fan Site: Jasmine
- Official Town Newspaper: Fair Oaks Chronicle
- Official Occupation Site: Ask a Hitman
picture courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
