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To Protect and Serve Patriachy and Power in Rampart

By Karen Kemmerle
Rampart, the sophomore film by writer/director Oren Moverman, provides a dark, visceral character study of a man unhinged. Set in 1999, the film centers on Dave Brown (played ferociously by Woody Harrelson), a Vietnam veteran and one of the most corrupt and brutal cops working in LA. Brown, with his laundry list of vices (booze, pills, and promiscuity to name a few), is a remnant of the old system of police work at a time when change is necessary for the department. His personal life is no better than his professional life: Brown lives uneasily with his two daughters (Brie Larson, Sammy Boyarsky), who were mothered by a pair of sisters (Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon), both married to Brown at different points in his chaotic life.
Credit: Merrick Morton/Courtesy of Millennium Entertainment
Moverman manages to portray Brown as a complex figure who, despite his obvious flaws, evokes an unlikely sympathy from the audience. Fans of Moverman’s The Messenger will no doubt welcome the reunion of Moverman, Harrelson and Ben Foster, who acts in the film as well as serving as one of its producers. Co-written by novelist James Ellroy, Rampart takes viewers on a guttural trip through the streets of Los Angeles during a particularly turbulent period of social upheaval, ferried by one of the most corrupt cinematic cops in recent years.
Tribeca: You usually write your screenplays with a partner, but on this script you collaborated with the legendary James Ellroy. Can you talk about how this collaboration worked and the ways in which you may have had to adapt your usual process?
Oren Moverman: Well, first of all, I wish I had a usual process. Every time you write, you just have to re-invent it. With James, it was a unique situation because everything is unique about James Ellroy. He had the idea for the film and wrote a draft of the script, going as far as he wanted to go with the project. I was then brought in to work with the script, which was very complicated and very sophisticated but also sprawling. So we never really worked together on the script; it was this process of development where he really created the world and I just carried it to the inevitable end, which resulted in the movie. It needed to get to a place where it could be made as an independent film.
Once we got close to shooting, I showed him drafts and he gave me notes and I responded to those notes. It was a very respectful, very separate process. Things changed a lot from his original script, but really the character and the world were deeply rooted in what James envisioned.
Credit: Merrick Morton/Courtesy of Millennium Entertainment
Tribeca: Your last film, The Messenger, and Rampart both feature men in uniform. Is there something about a career in the service—whether the military or the police—that interests you?
Oren Moverman: Well, don’t we all love men in uniform? [laughs] I was just saying to someone that it wasn’t planned. I can tell you that for sure. The films just happened, just one after the other. They are similar in some ways. Both films deal with a certain breakdown of the usual approach to masculinity. The main characters are both in traditionally male dominated professions. They are either a step behind or a step ahead but never in line, never quite adapting to the norm.
I think when you take the modern male, whatever that means, and add the emotional elements and obstacles that go with men in uniform, you basically realize that they have to bury their own feelings and play a part. There is a lot of theatre involved with being in uniform.
Tribeca: This is the second time you have worked with Woody Harrelson. The first time you directed him in an Academy Award-nominated performance. Can you talk about how you got him involved in Rampart? What drew him to the role of Dave Brown?
Oren Moverman: He got involved because when they offered me the movie, I told them I had a couple of conditions. Number one was that Woody would have to play Dave Brown. We both wanted to continue what we started with The Messenger, along with Ben Foster, and I knew Woody could do something very interesting with the character. The character fell way outside his comfort zone, and that’s always good with actors in general and with Woody in particular. I knew he could go very deep with this character. We offered it to him and he immediately said yes. The role was dark and disturbing in many ways, but Woody said it was one of the best characters he’s ever been offered and he didn’t say no to me. So we got lucky. [laughs]
Credit: Merrick Morton/Courtesy of Millennium Entertainment
Tribeca: You mentioned Ben Foster already, but Rampart has a great ensemble cast which, in addition to Foster, includes Steve Buscemi, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, Cynthia Nixon, Brie Larson and many others. How did you go about assembling such a stellar group?
Oren Moverman: It was really through the normal casting process. With Ben, it was different because we have a company together, the company that produced Rampart. We wanted to develop more projects and Ben wanted to get involved on the production end as well as acting. He is interested in directing, writing, all those things. That was actually condition number two. [laughs] For me to direct the movie, Ben would have to be a producer, and our production company would have to be involved in the decision-making. Ben was a huge part of this movie, on and off screen.
With the other actors, it was a process of sitting with our casting directors in NY and LA and going through the lists.
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