Aaron With 2 A's

I was invited to direct “Aaron with Two A’s” by Steve Lichtenstein, an actor and friend who I had directed several times in my own work. I immediately said yes as I was eager to work with him again – this time with Steve as lead actor, producer, and co-writer, on a film that I knew was deeply personal to him. With the script, I admired the courage with which he was willing to explore his own demons and doubts as a creative person – particularly for someone of retirement age pursuing acting as a second career – and how difficult that is to balance with other relationships in his personal life. I shared many of the same struggles myself as a writer and director. And I figured a lot of other people, not just artists, would identify with Aaron trying to get out of his own way, stop listening to those negative voices in his head, and go for it in his new career in a way that honors and balances other important personal relationships. I think it’s the struggle – and ideal – that all of us are aiming for.

As director, I worked closely with Steve and all the department heads, particularly the talented cinematographer Toru Nishikubo, to develop the look of the film. One of our visual references was the work of legendary DP Gordon Willis and his work on New York City films, including “Manhattan” and “Annie Hall,” which favored longer takes, naturalistic lighting, and foregrounding New York as another character in the film. With the compositions, I also wanted to emphasize the distance between Aaron and the other major characters, particularly his wife, Judy, as he’s often alienated in his own head – until he draws closer to other characters in the latter part of the film. We start with wider shots and “singles” – foregrounding Aaron’s psychological “aloneness” – and then transition to more over-the-shoulder and “two shots” in the latter part of the film which integrate him more with other characters. We charted a similar aesthetic all the way through color grading with our skilled colorist, Dave Pultz, where our overall look went from cooler tones in the first part of the film – particularly in the apartment where Aaron is at odds with Judy – to a warmer pallet as Aaron opens up to his mentor, Bert, and finally connects with Judy and begins to transform his life.

My other key relationships were the actors, led by the indomitable Steve Lichtenstein. Since Steve was basing the film more or less on his own life, I wanted to honor that and lean into everything he could tell me about his real story and how we could then transmute that into drama. I had to find the right balance of approaching Steve not as himself but as the character, “Aaron” – who was both him and not him – and making sure his work, as well as everyone else’s, was honest and authentic. Another good challenge was creating a “dramedy,” or a drama that had some elements of comedy in it. To that end, I always aimed for naturalism but had to find the right tone to integrate the comedy as well. I looked to films like “Sideways,” where a similar character was going through his own struggle as an artist, in serious and comic ways. In fact, I asked our gifted composer, Louis King, to base his score on Rolfe Kent’s jazzy yet plaintive score for "Sideways" to ground “Aaron’s” tone and world.

I’m probably most proud of the climax of our film – when Aaron is doing final battle with all the voices in his head in a busy Times Square – where our whole team synced up perfectly to amplify Aaron’s chaotic internal battle. As I stressed to our accomplished editor Steve Boghossian that the more we worked on the film, we had to find more ways to portray Aaron’s inner conflict with himself, Steve dove into that sequence with gusto, cutting a dynamic “internal” montage of Aaron confronting his demons. Then Adrian Bosi, our first-rate sound designer, overlapped and distorted those voices brilliantly while Louis’ score climaxes in a dizzying crescendo – while Steve Lichtenstein gives a moving and grounded performance, in the middle of bustling Times Square, captured amazingly by our deft DP, Toru. As a director, it doesn’t get any better than that. I strive to convey my vision of the scene – and the film – to my collaborators, and they listen, interpret, and elevate the material well beyond what I imagined it could be. I’m inspired and honored to be part of “Aaron with Two A’s,” and I’m looking forward to sharing its inspiring message with the world.