Originally published in Movies Plus Magazine, 2004
Q: The Station Agent has received little or no attention, what do you think of this?
Its so great when people can see it. Its such a luxury to be able to walk into a movie without having heard anything about it, just a blank slate. its kind of the way we thought about releasing the movie too, not trying to over-hype it. I think its a movie that people need to discover, its a word of mouth thing. People say to me “Tell me what your movie’s about”. I still don’t have a monologue for it, I still stumble with that. Anything you try to say, whenever you try to reduce it to one or two lines it sounds really bad. its one of those where you have to say, “Go see it, trust me”.
Q: Where did the idea for the film come from?
I think that there are all these different avenues. For me anyway, there is never one moment where I think DING! that’s it! Because I don’t think that anything I write is ever based solely on one idea. There were so many different things, probably what was going on in my life personally, professionally. If there was a physical manifestation of the idea, of the inspiration, it was probably the depot. I started doing a lot of research on the railroad and trains and these train fans… trainspotters. It was a funny sub-culture. In America they are just completely ignored, no-one really knows much about them. I sort of became fascinated with the people who were obsessed with trains and most of these people seemed to be obsessed not with other people. I started exploring these themes of why people disconnect, why people choose to push other people away. I think the train for me worked very well as a metaphor, it was sort of a perfect metaphor.
Q: The train was a good contrast to Fin, who is a very slow, methodical character, and the trains are so fast. Was this deliberate?
I think the method to Fin’s madness was also based on how people used to literally set their watches by the train. They would hear the 5.09 and look down and say “Oh, it’s 5.09″, especially station agents. These people were the pillar of the community, they were the unofficial mayor. Everyone knew them, they knew everyone’s business, everything revolved around the depot. I really loved the idea of this guy inheriting a depot, hoping to disconnect even further and in fact he inherits the social responsibility of the community, albeit that it is the last thing in the world that he wants.
Q: Was the character of Fin always going to be a dwarf?
No, I was more concerned with someone who was very accomplished at living an isolated life. Someone who was very content with being alone. I don’t think the character is a sad character, a lonely character… I guess we’re all lonely at some level. He’s just a guy who is… Some people are just better off alone, they work well, they don’t need other people in their life, they don’t need constant conversation. So I was kind of interested in that. It was only after spending some time developing the character and doing my research that I ran into my friend Peter Dinklage who was a dwarf and more importantly an amazing actor, I thought; “Wow, this guy can do it” he will connect to the material and its something we haven’t seen before and he can carry the movie. I was very confident about that from the beginning. I think a lot of people doubted it because they hadn’t seen Peter in a leading role like this. It’s not an easy job. Its not a movie about being a dwarf, its not a “coming of height” story, its not [adopts movie voice-over voice] “The little man found out he could be big”… Its nothing that silly, its really just one aspect of that character, its like; “he’s a dwarf, there he is, there’s his height, get over that!”. I hear it again and again with movie people like; “I forgot, halfway through, I forgot” and its true, you do. Its just like with anyone who’s different, once you get to know them a little bit, that not what you are thinking about.
Q: You wrote and directed The Station Agent. As a director, did you have to sacrifice any ideas you had as a writer, or vice versa?
I knew I wanted to make a small budget movie. they usually say “Just write whatever, don’t worry about making it , just write what comes to you.” I didn’t work that way, I really tried to write thinking “is this going to fit my small budget?” I didn’t write any massive scenes, no car chases where I thought “how am I going to film this for half a million dollars?” which was our budget. I would get to a point where I would think “Oh this would be a cool scene but I don’t know if I can do it this way, so I’ll write it that way”. Then once we actually got to directing the movie, quite honestly, certain things were not available on a small budget and a small number of days so I was actually re-writing on set because they would come up and say “You know the beach scene?” and I’d say “Yeah” and they’d say; “We don’t have a beach!”. So I’d be like “OK!” and get on my computer and you’d sit down and re-configure. Its kind of an exciting way to work, if you feel like the story is sound enough. I think if you have a screenplay that is kind of teetering on the edge and just being held together and is not a very solid screen play that those little changes could really screw it up. If your screenplay is solid and the changes you are making are still in keeping with the theme and emotional arc of the movie, you’re fine.
Q: Which character can you relate to the most?
None. I am a little bit of every one of those guys, depending on my mood and my day. I didn’t realise just how personal of a film it was. After it was done I realised. Its not just the main three characters, its spread out throughout every character of the film. I couldn’t pin it on just one. You put part of yourself into each one because I think that’s how you write those characters, I don’t think you can ever write completely outside yourself, or at least I’m not that talented. There are little bits of sense of humour in Olivia and the side to Fin of just not needing people around, and I can be annoying like Joe can. You steal little bits and pieces of yourself.
Q: Joe moved the story along in a lot of ways, even though on the surface he seemed to be just a brash New Yorker.
If you don’t have a character like Joe in the film, nothing happens. You need a guy who is going to stir things up and get people together. it was a very fun character to write because he is also the kind of character who can say exactly what is on his mind. He just asks the questions. He doesn’t understand why people can’t hang out together. In some sense he’s the child of that relationship.
Q: The film deals with some complex issues. Were studios reluctant to get involved because of this?
No studio got involved. We made the movie completely independently, and it wasn’t until we went to Sundance and we were a big hit, that studios wanted to buy us. That’s the studio way; “Call us when it’s done and people like it”. There were a number of reasons why, but quite truthfully I didn’t need a studio, I didn’t need that kind of marketing. Sometimes if you have a studio involvement, they meddle in everything and have their hand in everything. I think that’s the beauty of making it independently.
Q: Finbar McBride, as a name, is a very Irish sounding name, is there any Irish influence in the movie?
I’m a McCarthy so there is a little bit of Irish in me obviously. There is something in the title, whether its a derivative of Fionn McCool and that whole deal or not. There is something a little bit fable-like to the name that I liked. I think it’s also a nod to the Irish involvement in building the American railroad. There are all these little terms and things sprinkled in. The Golden Spike, which is the name of the rail shop is also the name of my production company. The Golden Spike is the spike that they drove into the ground when the trans-continental railroad was built. You had the Irish building from the east and the Chinese from the west and they met somewhere in the middle. These guys didn’t own the railroad, these were the guys actually driving the spikes into the ground. I thought it was a little bit of a nod to that. That’s probably about it!
Q: What was your first thought when you realised you had won the BAFTA for Best Screenplay?
I was talking to my brother and they were showing the clips and I was laughing because I turned to my brother and they were showing this clip and the audience was kind of laughing during the clip, it was the Joe/Fin scene where Joe is like “If you are going to do something later can I join you?”, “We’re not going to do something”, “But if you do can i join you?”. The audience started laughing and I turned to my brother and I said “If anything, at least they laughed at the movie” and he was like “Yeah, that’s very stiff competition”. We’re having this discussion and as we’re doing it, Val Kilmer opens the envelope and says; “Tom McCarthy, The Station Agent” and my brother looks at me and was like; “they just said your name”. We had this moment of… No-one had heard of me, and no-one had certainly heard of the film because it hasn’t even opened here yet. There was a silence in the auditorium of like “Huh? That’s the only movie I haven’t heard of”. So it was just shock. You’re walking up there and you’re like “I can’t believe I’m walking up here!”. Very odd. But good odd.
Q: You have acted, directed and written. Which do you prefer?
Um… Hmm… I don’t know if I could order them. I don’t say I prefer one, I was wondering if I could put them in an order but I don’t think I could do that. I like the fact that i can do one and take a break from the other thing. Writing I find really exciting, but it’s also incredibly draining and it’s just hard. It’s hard life, writing and its wonderful to be able to stop that and move on to directing the project and actually working with other people and collaborating. Acting, I think i will always be an actor first, its what I started as, it’s what I trained as, it’s where I feel most comfortable. Now that I’m gonna start and direct my next film, people are wondering “what are you gonna do for your money job?” and I think it will probably be acting, whether its going back to the stage or doing films or TV. For me its just what I feel most comfortable doing.
Q: Were you ever tempted to put yourself in the film?
I think early on I was, and then I thought “I really wanna direct this” and I’ve never directed and it would be suicide to put myself in this movie. Looking at it now, one thing that people really respond to is, every actor during the movie has this relaxed, nature. You can even see it in the more dramatic, disturbing scenes, they’re just so in the moment, these actors. They really capture the pace and rhythm of that more rural existence, where there is not much happening. I could not have been on screen, I would have been a vibrating blur. There was so much happening, I was so wound up and then to think I was suddenly going to try and sit at a table with Fin and Patty (Clarkson), it would have been a nightmare! All your focus needs to be on directing. I could have maybe done a cameo, I think I was in a cameo and I cut it.
Q: Do you still get associated with the movies that you have done? Like Meet the Parents and The Guru?
I still get people going “Hey, there’s Doctor Bob” (from Meet the Parents). Its funny, I forget sometimes. Now I know that name but certain groups of people, they just attach onto that. I’m at the point in my career, acting wise, that I have done enough work where people recognise me, but a lot of the time they don’t know from what. People are like: “Are you from Cleveland?” and I’ll be like “No” and they’ll go “Did you go to University of Michigan?” and I’ll go “No, I didn’t do that either”. They’ll be like “I know I know you”, and they won’t immediately associate me with being an actor. It’s kind of funny. A couple of those kind of questions and I know where this is going.
