“It probably doesn’t get more personal than this.” Interview With Eva Vives, Writer/Director Of ALL ABOUT NINA

Eva Vives recently made her feature film debut with All About Nina, the story about a young talented comedian with a traumatic past. Vives wrote the screenplay as well, using her own emotional history to power this inspiring hybrid of comedy and drama. I was lucky enough to speak with her and we discussed the fusion of these two genres (and how she did it so potently), finding the perfect Nina, as well as the need for characters and stories such as this one, now.

Kristy Strouse for Film Inquiry: I really loved the film, and am very happy I’m able to speak with you today!

Eva Vives: Hi Kristy, it’s nice to talk to you!

You are writer and director of this project, so it’s really your baby. What was your inspiration for the story?

Eva Vives: My inspiration I suppose was myself. It’s kind of a weird thing to say, that way, [laughs] but it is very much based on my own – at least a part of – my own life story. Even though I was never a stand-up comedian.  Which I think people always hope, “oh please let it be the funny part,” not the sad part. So, I always knew I wanted to talk about what I went through as a kid, and how it affected me and my relationships as I got older. And then, at some point it just made sense to marry it with being a comedian. I guess for two reasons, one: comedy was something that I always loved and followed all my life and read and watched and I’m very comfortable with it. I sort of feel at home in the world of dark comedians. [laughs] And also, I just liked it as a representation of a creative woman who literally has a place to speak from and express herself. You don’t get to see that very often, still.

So, it a was very personal project for you?

Eva Vives: Yeah, definitely. It probably doesn’t get more personal than this, [laughs] unless I had done a documentary! At least I can hide a little bit behind the comedy, but even so.

You did a terrific job of capturing humor and mixing it with the emotional element of Nina’s story. How did you go about balancing that in the script?

Eva Vives: Thank you! I think in the script it was in a way harder because it’s tough to write that tone. To be honest, such as the theme in the movie, I tried to stay very truthful. To me, I feel like life works that way sometimes. Perhaps it is because I’ve had a lot of highs and lows – I’ve had trauma in my life, but I have always laughed a lot in my life. And humor was always a big part of that and I never wanted to lose it. So, there’s a little bit of that included and also the way comedians can be really dark and talk about that kind of stuff, exercising it out of themselves so to speak. And then the other part is that I feel like on a realistic level you can go out and have a great night and do a set of comedy and do well, but then your ex-boyfriend is there, and you get into a fight. Life can change in two seconds, and so I really wanted to put that in a film, because you don’t often see that in a film. It is a tricky thing to do and I don’t think it works for everyone, but I like it.

I do too, and I think humor is incredibly important in life.

Eva Vives: Yeah, I couldn’t have gone through it without it. I guess I would have killed myself a long time ago, otherwise.

Well if you can’t find stuff to laugh at, things have the potential to go dark quickly.

Eva Vives: It can be a sad life. I don’t mean to trivialize any of it by the way. I think in a way, for me, this is also why it works both ways because it is a very serious subject matter for me and anybody that’s gone through it, so I didn’t want to trivialize it. But then I think these two things can co-exist at the same time. As comedians know so well.

Definitely! And it is very funny, with the stand-up and impressions, and Nina’s exchanges in general. I know you kind of answered this already, but do you have any history with it? Or did you have any comedians that you look up to and drew from?

Eva Vives: Oh, so many that I look up to. I don’t have any experience in terms of having done it myself, but I did hang out in the Boston  Comedy club in NY in the 90’s. I went there almost every night for a long time. I’d grown up listening to George Carlin and Richard Pryor, Pryor particularly was someone I realized that I had actually looked up to for a long time. Because he specifically talks so much about his own abuse. He really is so ahead of his time in that way. He says atrocious things that happen to him on stage. So, he was very influential that way.

And then, these days, there are so many. And strangely so many men, just because, when I was growing up that was who was becoming big. Like Chris Rock I think is a tremendous writer and somebody who can get very, very honest. And more recently there are a lot of women that I love, but I didn’t have that as much growing up, and I think that’s something I really ached for. What would this comedy be like if it was told from the point of view of a woman? Like the period diarrhea thing – it’s true. And man can’t talk about that because they don’t know about that. Ya know?

I agree. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who is always terrific, gives an amazing and layered performance. Was it difficult to find your Nina?

Eva Vives: No, because I got lucky in the sense that I wanted Mary and I was very lucky that I got her right away. I never went to anyone else. I think it was unusual in the sense that everything happened relatively quickly as far as movies go, it was probably – all in all – about two years, which isn’t that much for a film. She read the script, she liked it right away, and we started talking about it and realized we were seeing her the same way. And then the same thing happened with Common. And I know I keep saying I’m lucky, but it really does feel that way. I can’t believe that I had so many great collaborators, especially for my first movie. They really put so much trust in me, because they had no way of knowing what kind of a director I was going to be.

Of course. So, the same thing happened with Common? That’s surprising because they have such great scenes together, such chemistry. It’s interesting you had them in mind.

Eva Vives: The chemistry thing is impossible to know ahead of time. I know that I like unusual casting choices. I also worked on a movie called Raising Victor Vargas that I wrote many years ago and I cast a lot of the kids in that. Again, I don’t know if they are unusual, to me they make a lot of sense, but they aren’t the most obvious casting choices. People were like “Oh Mary is such a dramatic actress; how did you know?” And I don’t know, I get this instinct or gut.

With Common it was a similar thing in the sense that obviously I knew who he was as a rapper and I knew some of his work as an actor and I think his presence is great and sort of calming in a way that I liked. And I knew that I wanted Nina and Rafe to be very different from one another and have some of the fun come out of that. So, it really wasn’t until the first time I got them together. We went over to his house to read all of their scenes together. I didn’t want them getting too chummy, for the reason I just said, I wanted it to be a little weird between them and they would find that relationship as we went along. Because by the time he showed up on set, Mary and I had been shooting for twelve or thirteen days and we were comfortable with one another, and knew how we worked, and he sort of showed up in the middle of it. Again, all that discomfort worked for what we were doing. But yeah, once I saw them together and they read the stuff I was like YES! I was right, it worked!

They have some really great scenes together, with the dialogue you wrote. One scene that I love is where they are staying up talking, trying not to sleep with one another.

Eva Vives: Yeah! That was one of the original things that I wanted to put in the movie. It almost feels like a short film. Sometimes you go on a date and you never know where the night is going to take you. And then also take the sexual aspect off the table and see if they can, and I don’t think Nina knows this ahead of time but for me it was like – can they get intimate and find each other that way as opposed to how she usually does it? Which is by f*cking somebody.

It’s very different for her, for sure.

Eva Vives: It’s kind of fun to turn that around and have that be the scary part. Most people get worried about the sex part. She’s like “I got that down, but how do you do the other stuff?”

Well she has a panic attack after they spend the night together, it’s nothing she’s used to.

Eva Vives: Oh Sure, I agree. I think those relationships can be so scary. I know they were for me, at the beginning. How could it not be? It’s an issue of trust when you go through abuse. Or anybody who has been through assault or anything like that, that’s the hardest thing to do. That’s why I had her say that line she says, “When a guy comes up to me and asks me for my phone number my first instinct is to break a beer bottle over his head.” I mean that was me for a long time. Again, I also realized in my head, that’s not true, not every guy is there to rape someone. But the fear speaks for you. Ya know?

I do. I think a lot of women will relate to Nina. More and more are voicing their experiences and feeling comfortable in sharing. And she is a female protagonist that we don’t see enough of, honestly. How do you feel she will resonate?

Eva Vives: Thank you! And I hope so, in a way I think it’s exactly what you said to me. The only thing that’s really changed since we made the movie is that now we have #metoo. I looked at one of those facebook weird memory things that I got this morning. I hadn’t realized that a year ago, today, was when we finished shooting the movie in NY. And when we were doing that #Metoo hadn’t happened. That first article about Harvey didn’t come out until October.

So, for me, prior to that movement, I always felt like I wanted to hopefully shine a light into what this is like. Not so much in the moment of trauma, but the recovery aspect of that and how hard that can be. Sometimes you have to work hard and be unable to have a relationship. So, that was one thing. I also wanted to make a story about a survivor, and it was important to show someone who had been through this and for sure had been affected by it, but not beaten down or her life was destroyed. I like that she is a professional, she’s got a career and she’s good at her job. And that she is still hopeful and fighting to have that relationship. I know it was like that for me and a lot of my friends who have been through it. Like you said, you don’t see that very often on film or TV and that’s kind of bullshit because the women I know who have been through it are also really resilient.

It’s refreshing to see. Now, to sort of change directions a bit – the impressions Mary does are so good in that movie. Did she know any of those prior or did she learn?

Eva Vives: [laughs] She brought, because I did ask her since sometimes actors have that, Kristen Stewart. Which I loved. And Shelley Duvall. So, those were the two she came with, and I also knew, and most people don’t know this about her, but she’s a singer. Once I also knew she could sing I thought that’s good, because you can always go into like Cher.

We started building it from there, and you know most comedians will always set up impressions in one place, so they kind of say the same thing over and over in different characters. I thought it should be in a smoothie shop and it would be hilarious and silly because it’s in LA. But it also gave a lot of interesting words to play with like spirulina and almond milk [Laughs] and all that weird stuff you can throw in it. And Werner Herzog was probably my own interests showing because I think he’s great and I love listening to him talk.

I love that one! Though they are all hilarious. Another sequence that really stands out is when we also see all the other female comedians auditioning.

Eva Vives: I know! And how amazing also was, Andree Vermeulen, who also does a Björk impression? I wanted to do that because a lot of times comedians will step on each other, do the same impression and not know the other one was doing it. They’ll do the same joke. So, I thought I’d throw that in and I knew Mary was going to do Björk so I asked if anybody else had one. Andree said no, but that she would do it, and came up with the idea. She just did that on the spot. They’re amazing! I love comedians, and so a lot of that stuff is pretty improvisational, and we did have a lot more that we had to cut out. I loved her Eddie Vedder.

Me too, maybe they can be on the special features with the DVD release.

Eva Vives: I think they are doing some kind of outtake thing actually with the other stuff. It would be fun, and we have a lot more from the other comedians too. I think Nicole Byer, who does the Jaba the slut one, she has some great ones like Oprah on a safari, and she has a lot of great stuff, that woman is incredible. My one regret is that I didn’t get to work with the comedians more. We just didn’t have the time.

Maybe it’ll be a future project!

Eva Vives: Yeah, maybe! Maybe I can do a TV show about it.

I’d watch it! Do you have any other projects in the works?

Eva Vives: Joking aside, I would love to do a TV show that’s similar to this world because I think there is a lot to be said. Not just about women in the comedy world and what woman are like in it, but what it’s like to be a survivor and spend little bit more time. For example, like the guy she kisses in the closet. What if she did go home with him and had a weekend with that guy? It’s a world that I can spend a lot of time in, and I did enjoy that in the film. So, I feel like a TV show would lend itself really well to that. And I’m always writing, I have two scripts I’m about to finish that are very different than this, which is always a cool challenge.

We look forward to seeing what you come out with next! And I’m not trying to gush, but I did love the film.

Eva Vives: Oh no, gush away! It was my first film so I’m still like… yay! People like it! You never know how it’s going to go, especially with your first, so I’m grateful everyday. But it turned out at least okay and it is speaking to people.

Thanks again for taking the time, it was wonderful speaking to you. And thank you for being so open and for sharing your story within this film.                                                           

Eva Vives: Thanks! And I don’t mean to imply that any survivor should go out and scream anything to the wind. I think we all should do what we’re comfortable with, but I also, and I know it is weird to call it a luxury, but I had the luxury which so many women are having now, of being able to choose when and how I told this story. As it should be, but for example that’s not the case say – Christine Ford this week. Or for so many others. So, I think people should do whatever they feel comfortable with. This was just my moment to talk about that.

Wonderfully put, and perhaps this will inspire other women to open up.

Eva Vives: I hope so too and I do think at least being able to see someone on screen be powerful and talk about that hopefully will resonate if nothing else.

I agree. Thanks again!

Eva Vives: I’m glad you loved it. Stay strong!

Film Inquiry would like to thank Eva Vives for taking the time to speak with us.

All About Nina was released on September 28th in the US. To check out our review click here.