On the Cover - April - May 2009

Melora Hardin Uses the Unthinkable to Teach Us to Appreciate What’s in Front of Us...

I glanced over at my wife as the DVD stopped in the darkness of our living room. Her eyes swelled with tears as we digested the unthinkable prospect of what life might be like if one of us suddenly died. The purpose wasn’t to be morbid however; we had just viewed Melora Hardin’s brand new directorial debut You and for 80 minutes watched a man try to rebuild his life after the seismic loss of his beloved wife while raising a daughter. 

It’s a story of a father and a daughter, complete with screaming fights as a toddler to awkward adolescence and ultimately adult independence. It’s a story of a man who after years of coping though imaginary conversations must ask his wife’s ghostly apparition to leave as his way of moving on. The father-daughter scenes were particularly difficult for me to watch, as my daughter is at an age where she just points to things and bursts into hysterical tears, or randomly screams from the back seat on a quiet drive. The trials of toddlerdom … why would a filmmaker serve me up more of what I watch movies to escape from?

Purposely provocative, the film You goes right for the jugular from its first moments – a young married couple lie together in bed as Melora’s character breastfeeds her weeks-old daughter and recites a speech that she intends to give at her wedding one day in the future. That future never comes. Almost instantly, the viewer is hurled head-on into pain, anguish and grief as the character of Rawdon slowly reconstructs his shattered heart. 

“That first scene in the movie actually happened and my husband and I were lying in bed with our newborn first daughter and I really had that daydream. Then he went off to Vancouver on a shoot and as he describes it, he cried the script out in three days,” Melora shared with me as we discussed her film. 

That conversation, that daydream and that special moment were the conception of the movie – and after husband returned from his trip, script in hand, it was obvious to both of them that an almost spiritual inspiration had commissioned them to make You. And so, after making her mark as an extraordinary actress, singer and dancer, Melora decided to add yet another artistic ranking to her repertoire – director. It seems a natural progression when one examines the canon of work which she has been building since she was a child actress.

Best known for her mercurial character of Jan Levinson on the mega-sitcom The Office, Melora plays the archetypical psycho girlfriend opposite Steve Carrell. Their relationship is comically awful, explosive and at times defies reality. But between the onscreen chemistry and the overall likeability, the audience can’t seem to get enough of Jan.

“What I love about Jan is that all her flaws show. Her seams are showing. She is not a shiny, glossy character; she is all human and you kind of get to watch her unravel right before your very eyes. There is something kind of endearing about that even if it’s wrong, misguided and lost,” she reveals about her character. “She is trying to find out what is going to make her happy and Michael makes her happy in some ways and is a total mismatch in others. I think that is why she is likeable, because aren’t we all searching in one way or another and struggling in some way and doing our very best?”

 The Office may be the funniest show on television with its well-drawn characters and distinctive cast. After multiple seasons, the ensemble is so well developed in its quirkiness that it’s akin to Seinfeld with 12 personalities instead of four. And like Seinfeld, the show is becoming such an institution that Melora and cast run a very real risk of cementing their characters so deeply in the public psyche that they will forever be seen as Jan and Michael. But Melora is much too multidimensional to allow that to happen. 

Melora is in not one, but three movies this April. One is her self –directed, aforementioned film You; the other two are the commercial blockbusters Hannah Montana the Movie and 17 Again, in which she plays a high school principal in a story about Zac Efron’s age-defying odyssey. Stepping out of The Office is crucial for her. She feels it reminds people of the scope of her acting ability and that she is more than Jan Levinson.

“I am excited for the audience to see me as an earthy, crunchy girl who Billie Ray Cyrus falls for and has no real ulterior motives. It’s a departure from what they are used to seeing me play, which is this multidimensional, misguided character,” said Melora.

Starring opposite Miley Cyrus at the very nexus of pop culture would be nerve wracking for anyone. Hannah Montana is a guaranteed mega-movie. But Melora grew up in the acting world around the very pillars of Hollywood iconography – perhaps best typified in her 1997 role as Christie Sullivan in Clint Eastwood’s Absolute Power. In an almost metaphorical sequence, she and Gene Hackman wrangle through a rough sex scene as Eastwood watches from a sequestered closet before she is murdered. I asked what it was like to get roughed up by Hackman. “He was such a gentleman. If there was any place I had to get roughed up for pretend that would be the place,” she giddily recalls of the French Connection star. 

But it was Eastwood that made the major impression on her. Also an extraordinary musician and Oscar-winning director, Clint imparted some priceless advice on how to confidently move forward in the direction of her dreams and live out her life as a true artist. Melora recalls, “When I was working with him he was such a down-to-earth artist. He comes from acting, became a director, and is also a musician. I really look up to him and think it’s not really an accident that our paths crossed. To have him aware of me in the world at all is kind of a neat thing. As a director I use his advice all the time and I say this isn’t my only movie, this is just my first movie … I want to have a roster of films behind me when I am his age. He is a great example of someone that continues to practice his art. I recently had the opportunity to be in Chicago (on Broadway) because I kept up my dancing. I want directing to be the same thing – where I keep on going and going.”

If the film You is any indication, then Melora has a lot to say. As it’s released solely through new media, people can watch the film online, download it to their computer, or order a DVD. It’s a sign of the times, and exactly the right format for such a precious and thought-provoking story.

You is intended to be watched with your loved ones and Melora wants discussion to ensue afterward. This is no vanity project; she means business. The DVD comes with a pack of Kleenex and discussion sheet. A letter that accompanies the disc encourages viewers to send “you notes” to family and friends or spouses letting them know how much they are loved. A forum resides on the website  "www.youthefilm.com" where people can post and share stories and act as a community. 

“Anyone who has loved or loved and lost someone will relate to the film,” Melora says. “The whole point of the film is you tap into a universal theme, drop people into that, and take them on an emotional journey. That is what film is for – it’s to make you laugh, make you cry and ultimately make you feel. I think in this film it comes through and you really feel the love. And I feel really proud of that.”

And proud she should be. Melora has given us more than a cool indie film. She has succeeded in gently reminding us that every moment in life is a gift – with all its frustrations and hardships and imperfections. Her intention is for millions of people to see this film. Given the emotions it rouses, with enough viral momentum on the Internet, that isn’t such a hyperbolic aspiration. Millions of people taking time out to appreciate their loved ones and stay in the moment a bit more – well, that isn’t such a bad thing now, is it? 

In the darkness of our living room, it was easy to put an arm around my wife and tell her I love her and appreciate her no matter how mad I get sometimes. I think that’s what Melora was hoping we’d do. Like clockwork, the sound of crying emanated from the crib downstairs and what would have normally been frustrated Ferberizing became a gleeful bounce down to my daughter’s crib. As the character of Miranda says in her soliloquy, “I love you even as a testing toddler…” My daughter fell back to sleep on my shoulder and until she can read, that will be her “you note.”  And maybe I will write her one anyway and save it, should either of us ever need to remember…