Eva Gardos traces her beginnings in Communist Hungary and discovers herself.

Filmmaker Eva Gardos and novelist Joe Eszterhas have a few things in common. Both are Hungarian Americans. And both have nearly identical titles to their new works, thus the confusion.

Gardos wrote and directed An American Rhapsody, a coming of age film tracing the path of a young girl's journey from Hungary to America, and the return to her homeland to find herself. Eszterhas penned American Rhapsody a shocking, titillating take on politics and Hollywood. With that cleared up, Reelwriter.net caught up with Gardos prior to the release of her first directorial effort.

An American Rhapsody is a film told with a poet's language and an artist's eye. The film stars Nastassja Kinski, Tony Goldwyn, and Scarlett Johansson. The first frames are shot in black and white; this coupled with the characters speaking fluent Hungarian gives the overall effect of a European film. Goldwyn and Kinski give especially stirring performances. Johansson also does a good job. But the camera falls in love with Kelly Endresz Banlaki who portrays Gardos as a child in Hungary.

The film is based on the true-life story of Gardos whose parents and sister fled during the Hungarian revolution and how baby Eva, through a foiled plan, was left behind. Gardos is courageous in this retrospective as she delves into the depths of her past. You won't find any overly sentimental or saccharine moments in An American Rhapsody. Instead what you will discover is a starkly realistic account of a life tested by extraordinary circumstances. This independent film is being distributed by Paramount Classics and won the Hartley-Merrill International Screenwriting Award, and Best Feature Film at the Hollywood Film Awards 2001.

Though it's her first time in the director's chair Gardos has had plenty of experience in the movie-making industry. In an impressive film-editing career she learned her craft after a stint as a teacher in Manhattan left her in the unemployment line. A friend hired her to work in a cutting room in NYC. Later she went on to be mentored by Hal Ashby. Eventually she edited projects for both Martha Coolidge and Anjelica Huston. Gardos was also fortunate to soak up creative juices from one of the most esteemed Hollywood directors, Francis Ford Coppolla. This was something that she drew on when directing her first picture. Says Gardos from her Los Angeles home, "I worked as a production assistant on Apocalypse Now, so I got a good education from Francis Coppolla. That was pretty inspiring."

Whether An American Rhapsody is recognized by the Academy remains to be seen. Regardless, Eva Gardos is bound to become a voice among female Hollywood filmmakers.

Gardos on Gardos

Kelly McCarthy: What was your budget for this film?

Eva Gardos: I think the shooting budget was around $3 million and then subsequently with finishing and everything it went more towards $4 million with being given sort of more money for music and all kinds of things.

McCarthy: What was your shooting schedule?

Gardos: Originally it was 30 days, which was almost impossible. Then we got two extra days.

McCarthy: As a child you were literally left behind the Iron Curtain just like the character of Suzanne in the film. How did that happen?

Gardos: My family escaped from Hungary for political reasons in the 50's. They paid someone to take them across the border. Through a series of mistakes, errors, judgments, whatever ˆ I was separated from them at that point. I was a baby. And we were separated for about seven years.

McCarthy: You were raised in the Hungarian countryside by a childless couple. Growing up, did you assume that they were your parents?

Gardos: I basically did emotionally. I think that I'd been told they really weren't, but the reality was that for all purposes they were.

McCarthy: When you were united with your parents in the U.S.? How long did it take for you to acclimate to your new surroundings?

Gardos: I spoke English very quickly. I was a smart kid. In some ways, it took me a long time to understand the whole process of how things happened.

McCarthy: Did writing and directing this passage of your life put it into a new perspective for you?

Gardos: The whole experience began because once my son was born, when I saw him, I tried to figure out how someone can do all of this -- what it would take to have to leave and then be separated from your kid. It became harder to imagine. My parents are Eastern Europeans and like most immigrants they tried to put the past behind them.

McCarthy: About the actual filming, as someone who has worked extensively as a film editor, how did it influence your work as a director? Did that background help you in your first directorial effort?

Gardos: Having been an editor I've been through the process from post-production all the way through to the end. So I had a sense about visuals, and images, and story etc. I could always figure out the minimum that we were able to get way with shooting. It allowed me to be economical. I thought in terms of making cuts in the script as I was going along. And when I saw dailies I could figure out things that I might have to shoot or I might really need. So in those ways I think it was really helpful.

McCarthy: How did you become familiar with the mechanical equipment, or did you count on your DP for that?

Gardos: I know lenses, but I didn't really know the mechanical equipment. The one thing I did know quite a bit about was working with actors. When I first came to LA I had gone to acting classes at the Actors Studio when they had a directorial workshop because I knew how important it was to understand the actors process.

McCarthy: Where does your artistic vision come from?

Gardos: I think some of it is really instinctive. It's sort of the way music is.

McCarthy: As a first-time director from a film editing background were you ever tempted to edit the project yourself?

Gardos: No. When you're working six days a week you barely have time to look at the dailies. You end up fast forwarding through them. And you really need an editor to be looking over your shoulder. It's also good to have someone with another point of view; it's good to have someone coming up with ideas. I hired Marjorie Goodspead who I had never worked with, but my good friend Martha Coolidge had recommended her.

McCarthy: As an editor yourself, how was it working with another editor?

Gardos: I was really comfortable and I think Marjorie was too.

McCarthy: Getting back to your early days in the film business, you had worked as a production assistant on Francis Ford Coppolla's Apocalypse Now. What was that experience like?

Gardos: I got a good education from Francis Coppolla. That was pretty inspiring. He created a really interesting environment for his actors. That is something that has stayed with me -- a sense of reality, a sense of place and a time -- and the fact that he surrounded himself with lots of really talented people. He wasn't scared to ask people their opinions, and he really relied on other people to do their jobs. It struck me how open he was to hearing what other people had to say.

McCarthy: On the set of that film you became friends with one of the actresses, who would later produce An American Rhapsody. How did that come about?

Gardos: Colleen Camp played one of the three Playboy bunnies dancing for the soldiers in Apocalypse. And that's where we met. At the time, she was an actress and I was trying to be an editor. So we became really good friends. We were both trying to find boyfriends and that kind of stuff. Subsequently we are both married with kids. She really encouraged me to write this story. And we've been working on it 9-10 years in all.

McCarthy: What was that time like?

Gardos: I was writing the screenplay as I was editing other projects. I would work on little bits of it and then I would get a job ˆ and then I would put it down and then I would pick it up again six months later and start all over again. And it was really a good way to deal with the times in between not working. It was really great to have something of your own that you really cared about. So I would work on it off and on.

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