By Rebecca Fear
Tom Thurman answers questions following the screening of his documentary film "Harry Dean Stanton: Crossing Mulholland."
Lexington’s first Harry Dean Stanton Fest, inspired by Fairmount, Indiana’s annual tribute to James Dean, was quite a success. The festival celebrating actor Harry Dean Stanton, a Lafayette High School graduate, kicked off on Wednesday, February 2, with a documentary directed by Kentucky native Tom Thurman entitled Harry Dean Stanton: Crossing Mulholland.
The intimate State Theatre was nearly filled to the brim with all sorts of people, both old and young, and a good number of the actor’s cousins. Stanton himself had to send his regards, but there were other names in attendance. Hunter Carson, Stanton’s co-star in Paris, Texas, made an appearance on Wednesday night (Carson did a full Q&A following Thursday night’s screening of the 1984 film) as did classmate Bill Riley (Riley was the last person to see Stanton before he moved out to Hollywood and became a star).
In addition to Stanton friends and family, opening night co-host KET had a large presence at the Fest. Harry Dean Stanton: Crossing Mulholland was created as part of the public station’s Kentucky Muse series. On Wednesday night, staff members from the TV station generously passed out vouchers for free popcorn and drinks to everyone in attendance. KET began broadcasting the documentary on February 15, so if you missed the theatrical debut, you still have a chance to see it.
The film itself is both amusing and insightful. Thurman’s list of on-screen interviews includes (among many others) singer Michelle Phillips, actors Richard Dreyfuss and Billy Bob Thornton, country music legends Kris Kristofferson and Dwight Yoakam, and several Stanton family members. Awkward humor abounds. A great deal of conversation centers on Stanton’s face, which is described as a “dust bowl face,” and perpetually looking 50 years old (from age 20 to his current 84).
One of Stanton’s cousins tells a story from his athletic days in high school. Word has it that Henry Clay and Lafayette were in a heated game of basketball, and it was down to the wire. Just as the free throw shooter on Henry Clay’s team tossed the ball to make the deciding point of the game, the arena went black. Stanton later confessed to his cousin that he had turned out the lights in favor of his alma mater, Lafayette.
Surprisingly enough, at 84 years old, Stanton still performs live music shows in California. “He sounds like he’s about to cry when he sings,” musician Michelle Phillips (of The Mamas & The Papas fame) observes. The documentary plays up Stanton’s connections to music, showing him playing guitar, harmonica, and singing with a few different people.
Crossing Mulholland ends on an uplifting note that seemed to carry through to the entire evening and festival. After summing up Stanton’s life, Thurman concludes with a shot of the aging Kentucky actor, a beautiful view from Mulholland in the background, smoking a cigarette in front of a sign that reads “No Smoking or Fires.”
Director Tom Thurman spoke following Wednesday night’s screening of his documentary. In the process of completing other projects, Thurman had been compiling interviews with Stanton for 20 years, and with good reason. He claimed that in the multiple interviews he held with him, the actor never answered a single question. Thurman recounted a particularly funny set of Stanton evasions, describing how phone calls between Stanton and actor Marlon Brando were notorious for containing long pauses lasting up to thirty minutes, the result of both men attempting to “out Zen” each other.
Aside from details about the documentary and Stanton’s part in it, Thurman’s Q&A session also captured the actor’s essence. Most men have a mask over their emotions and express nothing but toughness. Harry Dean Stanton is not that way, Thurman observed, and that is one of the reasons Thurman finds him such a compelling actor. It never seems like he’s acting. He is just a genuine person.
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