Not Showing at a Theater Near You: "Diggers"
By Sarah Carlson
April 26, 2007
"Diggers" opens in limited release Friday, and though you won’t find it here (for now), this engaging tribute to Long Island clamdiggers is worth checking out if you stumble across it. Here’s a look at a Q&A with the filmmakers and stars of the film, who attended this year’s South by Southwest film festival in Austin.
AUSTIN — In the Omni Austin Downtown, the cast and crew behind two of the South by Southwest film festival's biggest showcases, "Diggers" and "The Ten," have gathered after a long night of karaoke.
David Wain, Paul Rudd, Ken Marino and Katherine Dieckmann all sit around a conference table in the upscale hotel, the quartet's drollness undulled by drowsiness. Even after a late night of belting out who knows how many hours of tunes, the gang is still on their game.
"It was awesome. Karaoke is always awesome," Rudd said. "Actually, it's not always awesome. But it was awesome."
It's hard to say for sure if Rudd meant what he said, since he's spent the past few years in the company of Wain and Marino as part of the group's "State" company, which has crafted such camp classics as "Wet Hot American Summer."
But the group was more than happy to show off its more serious side — at least on film. The festival screened "Diggers," a drama written by Marino, directed by Dieckmann, produced by Wain and starring Marino and Rudd that tells the story of 1970s Long Island clamdiggers struggling to make ends meet. The film is based on Marino's childhood memories of growing up in New York.
Q: How personal of a story is "Diggers" for you, and what made you decide it was the right time in your career to tell it?
KM: I wanted to write a screenplay, and they always say write what you know. So I wrote what I remembered growing up; I wrote about a time and place that's special to me. And that's the story that came out.
PR: Because your father and grandfather were clamdiggers.
KM: Yes.
KD: He had a personal connection to the story.
KM: I haven't had my coffee yet.
Q: Did you already have an idea of who you wanted for certain roles while you were writing the screenplay?
KM: I didn't write any parts with anybody in mind. The only part I wrote with somebody in mind was Cons, Josh Hamilton's part: I wrote it for Peter Dinklage. But in pre-production, Peter got a TV show, and he couldn't get out of it. And so Josh came in and saved the day. And now I can't see anyone else playing that part other than Josh. And Peter Dinklage.
PR: I can still see Peter Dinklage.
DW: I could also see Ryan Reynolds doing it.
PR: I could see Ryan Reynolds playing the part.
KM: I can't. He's big. He's too big.
DW: You know who else I could see playing that part? Brent Spiner. Or Adam Arkin.
PR: Ooh, Adam Arkin. I love Adam Arkin.
KD: I think of Peter Dinklage when I look at certain shots in the movie. Like the one shot in the funeral home. If you were doing a foreshot with four actors, you'd have to frame it differently.
DW: If one of them is half the height.
PR: Then you'd be framing it for three-and-a-half actors.
DW: That's a good show, "Three-and-a-Half Actors."
PR: It got picked up for another season, guys! I've got the first season on DVD.
— Erin Steele
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