EDGE Interview: Director Carl Andress – Working with Charles Busch, 25 Years and Counting

EDGE: Can you speak a bit about assembling this incredible ensemble, Judy Kaye, Thomas Gibson, Jennifer Van Dyke...

Carl Andress: Well, in some cases, Charles writes immediately with people in mind, like Jennifer Van Dyke. It's very much tailored to not just her gifts, but almost who she is, as a person. And then in creating (other) roles we start thinking about who would be the perfect type? Doesn't matter if we know them or not. We both had the idea that Judy Kaye would be really perfect in this. And it was around the time where she had just done "Diana The Musical," playing Queen Elizabeth... So when we started putting the production together, working with Pat McCorkle, wonderful legendary casting director... She's like, 'Oh, I know, Judy, we take the bus together all the time... And Judy said, yes. Judy actually said that she would scrub floors for the chance to work on a play with us! How amazing. And she's just such a wonderful down to earth, great lady. Fun, human, hilarious and full of stories. We just adore her.

Pat McCorkle also suggested Thomas Gibson... She cast him at the very beginning of his career. And he's at a place now where he's wanting to come back to the stage. And the connection was that he had played the leading man in the film version of "Psycho Beach Party," opposite Charles, And for me, I was like, wow, I get to work with Beauchamp Day from "Tales of the City!" How fun... We asked him, and he said yes. So, it's the collaboration with a really good casting director... You want a casting director to get on your page... I'm so glad the Academy is now going to be giving an award for casting, because it's absolutely crucial... they're artists as well.

EDGE: Tell me about your process. Do you work closely with your actors or are you a blocking director? Or a combo?

Carl Andress: I'm a bit of a combination. When I started off early on, I would have a complete picture in my mind of exactly where everybody should move. I was moving Ken and Barbie around my Dream House set, wanting them in very specific places. I learned very quickly that brings out the absolute worst in actors in that it shuts them up, it's shuts them down. They don't feel like they're contributing anything because you're basically not allowing them to express themselves... You can't just choreograph a play; you want to bring them along.

I always start by reminding everybody that what we're doing is called a play and we have to have fun. If we're not having fun how can we expect the audience to have fun? I want as little drama offstage. I want everybody to have a good time. I want people to feel heard, and I want people to feel seen, and that they're contributing. Now I do have veto power, if the idea you bring to the table doesn't quite work, then I'm going to ask you to adjust. But there are no bad ideas... let's be respectful of the process... I've learned over the years that I've got to set up the parameters. I've got to set up the room so that it's a great fun and brave space for actors to come and be vulnerable.

EDGE: Tell me about making that leap to the visual medium of film with both "A Very Serious Person" and "The Sixth Reel."

Carl Andress: Charles had an opportunity to make a short film for Showtime... we had Kathie Lee Gifford, Jim Caruso, Julie Halston, Mario Cantone and little me... Charles showed it to Daryl Roth, who said, 'Oh, I think that's so sweet. If you ever want to make a feature, I'll produce it.' Charles called me, he's like, I don't have any ideas for a movie. But Daryl wants a movie. So, we gotta write a movie together... We had been toying with this notion about doing a movie about film collectors. And we started writing it. By the time we were finished, it was way too long and had so many locations...not an affordable indie film... So we stripped it all down. We got it down to a coming-of-age story about a gay child, which is something both Charles and I could identify with...

The key when you're coming from the theater then working on a movie is to have an excellent director of photography, gaffer and sound team. When you don't know exactly how all of these things and lenses and, and lighting works you've got to surround yourself with people who who've got you, who can trust you, and who you can trust.... I learned that I had a real affinity for staging in a movie. So then, years later, when we had the opportunity to do "The Sixth Reel," we had an agreement with a producer--who tragically passed away six weeks before we started filming, Ash Christian... Our producing team kept us going...but we knew we had to pull together a team who shared our vision... We were very lucky to work with our DP, Jendra Jarnagin... who was, very much, teaching me, I felt like Barbra Streisand with William Wyler on "Funny Girl," just like a sponge, learning, learning, learning But then my ability to work with actors, and speak to actors, in the moment, was really helpful, simply because we shot the whole thing and 15 days, so it's very quick, and you had to move fast.

EDGE: The end result is a wonderful film.

Carl Andress: Thank you so much. We're very proud of it. And that's where we thought, we'll just make movies from now on... We've got a couple of ideas. One is Charles's play "Visitors in the Dark." He turned that into a screenplay... But of course it comes down to money. That's never easy. And the other big dream I have is I would love to make a movie of our play, "The Divine Sister" to be the box set (trio) of "Psycho Beach Party" and "Die, Mommie, Die!" That's a little bit more expensive. Charles screenplay for that is very ambitious. But I hope it'll happen.

This interview has been edited for content, clarity and length.

"Ibsen's Ghost" runs through April 14, 2024. Tickets: for ticket information, follow this link>

For more information on Carl Andress, visit his website.