Writer/Director Mark Romanek said his inspiration for ONE HOUR PHOTO emerged out of "a desire to make a contemporary film in the mode of the `lonely-man' films of the 70s." His influences were drawn from films like "The Conversation," "The Tenant," "Taxi Driver" and "The Passenger."

After completing the script, Romanek sent it to Producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler who instantly liked the story. Vachon remembers, "The script was intriguing enough for us to feel like we wanted to sit down and talk to him. That's part of the process. Will a director convince us that a script we felt was good is even better? Do they make us excited about the journey from the page to the screen?"

Producer Stan Wlodkowski joined the filmmaking team after learning of the burgeoning project through a colleague. A longtime fan of Vachon and Koffler, Wlodkowski also found Romanek's script "insightful as well as challenging."

The team instantly set about the task of finding the right actor to fill Sy Parrish's shoes. Koffler says, "We were driven to Robin by Mark's vision. We thought to really elevate ONE HOUR PHOTO, to make it as great as it could be, we needed a real movie star in the role of Sy. Someone with that kind of charisma willing to play a character probably unlike anything they'd ever played before."

Romanek said what convinced him that Williams was the right man for the part was the enthusiasm and empathy he brought to the character. "When we first met to discuss doing the film, we were so in synch about how `Sy' should be played, I immediately started to see the incredible potential of having Robin take on this role."

"To have Robin Williams in a part that is different than audiences have seen before was undeniably an important element in bringing this story to the screen," Koffler explains. Vachon agrees, adding, "I think audiences will be excited by the idea of seeing Robin do something that they haven't seen him do before, or not in a long time. Robin has done dramatic roles all through his career but they certainly aren't Sy. He's demonstrated in the past the range he has as an actor, so, in a way, all we're doing is reminding people of that."

Romanek agrees, "If you look more closely at some of Robin's dramatic work, you come to realise that this character isn't as far afield from his previous roles as you might imagine."

Williams was enthusiastic about the unusual character. "I'm glad they sent it to me to begin with." He explains, "People always say, 'Oh, he plays such nice people.' This man is nice, but with a dark side. It's been exciting to play that. He does things that are creepy, bizarre. It's interesting stuff to inhabit a real and very, very fascinating character."

Romanek says it was also fascinating to watch Williams play the character. "The level of commitment, emotion and attention to detail that Robin brought to playing this role was truly amazing to witness."

In addition to the complex nature of Sy's character, Williams said he was also drawn to the storyline. "When I first read it," Williams explains, "I thought it had so many interesting turns. You think it's going one way, then it gets very disturbing… disturbing in a good way, if you can be disturbed in a good way," he laughs. "His focus changes from one scene to the next and I found myself not knowing what was going to happen next, which is good. I found myself drawn into the character almost to the level of the thought process. That's what fascinated me."

Sy, who has always been an outsider, is drawn to the Yorkin's picture-perfect existence, which seems so opposite to his own. Williams observes, "They're not like a Norman Rockwell family but almost like families you see in advertisements now. They're young, beautiful, and perfect in terms of that ideal image and they seem to have everything. And that's what he finds fascinating because he is totally the opposite; not attractive, he lives alone. They are like the exact counter pole to the universe for him and he's drawn to that."

Vachon observes that it is the fact that Sy seems so ordinary that is also disturbing. "What Robin achieves with the character is making you wonder about him, and feel for him, and at the same time, be kind of disgusted by what he is doing."

"And disgusted," Koffler adds, "because everyone has experienced Sy moments; the inability to connect with other people, of always being a little off, that kind of loneliness. The trick to Sy is making him sympathetic, without making him saccharin and that's something that Robin's really managed."

Williams adds, "We talked about the character and that he views himself not as an evil character, just as a man who is righteous in his own way. A man who views himself almost like he is doing good, in a bizarre way."

As for Williams' own take on the course his character chooses, "He lives alone because of an inability to connect, to be the warmest guy in the world. He's disconnected on some levels, hence the fascination with precision. Does he come away a better human being? He's a different human being because of the things that have happened to him. He acted something out very much from within himself. I don't think he's the same person in the end, it's not the same man."

Sy Parrish and the world he lives in has a look that is very distinctive, created with very vivid images by Romanek. Williams describes, "The SavMart store is like hyper reality. It's like a lot of those big market-type stores with surreal abundance and amongst that he sits in this little corner. But the store itself - everything is this kind of white, bright light all around and Sy blends in. He doesn't stand out and could all of a sudden just disappear in his blandness. In the outside world he stands out, especially when you get near the Yorkin's house which is very warm and incredibly beautiful, almost painfully beautiful because it is his idealised home." Comparing that with the reality of Sy, Williams says, "In his own life, you know, things are very much in place. It's very distinct; this is not someone who acts out. Everything is planned except for when things start to fall apart. And when his world falls apart, it falls apart big."

To create the carefully crafted, meticulously ordered, picture-perfect world of Sy Parrish, Romanek turned to long-time collaborator and acclaimed Production Designer Tom Foden ("The Cell"). Using a soon-to-be-demolished facility, Foden created SavMart, a retail store that would be the foundation of Sy Parrish's domain. As Robin Williams describes, "It's designed to be Sy's world and he is a creature that blends into the environment, I mean it's the clothes, the hair, everything. It's someone who is very, very dedicated to his job and for him it's an art form and he's passionate about it. In that store, there will be music playing and I doubt that he hears it. He's oriented toward photographs and everything is almost like a picture to him."

The visual style of the film extends into the very specific look of each of the character costumes created by Costume Designer Arianne Phillips. As Michael Vartan observes, "I'm wearing all brown today. There's not an ounce of anything else but brown, it's very monochromatic. Everything is painted in this perfect picture. It also has to do with the fact that it's shown from Sy's point of view, which is, at times, more of a fantasy than anything real. This family seemingly has everything together...even the dog matches the furniture," he laughs.

Writer-director mark romanek

ONE HOUR PHOTO is the new feature film from Writer/Director Mark Romanek. Romanek's groundbreaking music videos for such artists as Madonna, Nine Inch Nails, Fiona Apple, Beck, Lenny Kravitz, Macy Gray, David Bowie, R.E.M., Michael Jackson, and Janet Jackson among many others have received over a dozen MTV awards, two Grammys, four Clios, nine MVPA awards, and three Billboard Music Awards. Two of Romanek's music videos, Madonna's "Bedtime Story" and Nine Inch Nails' "Closer," have become part of the permanent collection at the New York Museum of Modern Art.

In 1997, MTV presented Mark with the prestigious Video Vanguard award honoring his unprecedented achievement in the art of music video. Other recipients of this award have included Madonna, Michael Jackson, Peter Gabriel, R.E.M., U2 and the Beastie Boys.  Romanek has also directed TV spots for Calvin Klein, Nike, Philips, and Cirque Du Soleil.

Back to Resources