For the past several years, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Michael Tolkin has lived a quiet, unobserved life in Healdsburg. Only in the last few weeks has his visibility increased to the point that the True West Film Center is presenting a retrospective of five of his films including The Player, Changing Lanes, Deep Impact and the controversial The Rapture.
Now 75, the New York-born Tolkin began his career in television (including episodes of Taxi and Delta House) but soon moved on to the big screen. Cinematic success and an Academy Award nomination came with The Player (1992), directed by Robert Altman from Tolkin’s own 1988 novel. Later major releases included the asteroid-disaster film Deep Impact (1998) with Morgan Freeman as the U.S. president, and the 2002 legal thriller Changing Lanes, with Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck.
All of those films and several others have been running as a more-or-less stealth festival on Wednesday nights at the True West Film Center, with his occasional appearances. For the past several days a “pop-up” museum of the writer’s memorabilia, compiled by his daughter Emma Tolkin, has been on display in the north theater at True West, though it may no longer be open.
Friday evening Tolkin will be recognized at the sold-out True West Film Center benefit to mark their first year in operation as such, from 6-9pm. (Visit truewestfilmcenter.org/annual-benefit).
Last week we visited Tolkin at his home and, joined by his daughter and caregiver Emma, sat down with a cup of tea and talked movies with him for almost an hour. Soon we were talking about what may be his most successful movie, The Player, in which Tim Robbins is stalked by a failed screenwriter. (Spoiler alert: Robbins murders him.)
Healdsburg Tribune: Which movie of yours has brought you the most satisfaction?
Michael Tolkin: I guess probably The Player. It still works. And The Rapture was interesting because there were people who hated it because it said that God is real. There were people who loved it because it said that God is real. Or hated it because it said God is evil, or loved it because it said God is evil. So it was provocative from many angles. And Mimi [Rogers] was just so good in it.
I also have a really warm feeling about Changing Lanes. It was a hit and made money, but at the end of the year, Paramount did not back it for any awards because they had the money on another film. I forget the movie, but it was a classy English movie [possibly Gosford Park]. But back to Changing Lanes. Robert Michel was the director, and Ben Afflick and Sam Jackson were in it. And they were just so good in it. And we got some really great work from William Hurt in a couple of scenes. [It] knocks you out. So I have a strong feeling about that movie, too.
Those films were both in the True West series. Is there anything that’s not in the festival that you would’ve liked to see?
Yes, The New Age. It’s a film I wrote and directed starring Peter Miller and James Davis. It’s rarely seen. It was not a hit.
When you’re writing a screenplay, is the movie in your head better than the one that they film?
(Laughs) Always. I think the surprise comes in the performance. That’s when the actors take it away, and the director and everybody. You’ve handed the story over to the live people, the camera, the composers, everybody. You’re an observer watching them make it into their thing. And that’s thrilling. Thrilling.
I remember hearing a couple of interviews you did with NPR’s Terry Gross probably 30 years ago, in the early ’90s. So I went online and found that you did three of them, which I think is a pretty good record for Terry Gross. Did you feel like you arrived when you were talking to her?
No, I feel like she arrived. (Laughs)
How collaborative a process is working on a screenplay?
It’s like separating angst. Henry Bean and I worked through Deep Cover (1992) very closely. And you just keep at it. Sometimes you take scenes, sometimes you take a run of scenes or a character or you feel the affinity for a character or somebody needs a speech. You’re available to the other person. You just keep looking at it.
Did you as a producer ever want to fire you as the writer?
Sure, you know, at three in the morning. (Laughs)
How did you end up in Healdsburg? I remember I was out walking on a Saturday morning and came across a yard sale here, and I guess it was your entourage, who were very closed-mouth about who was moving in. They had no idea why you would be leaving Hollywood for this out-of-the-way town.
We lived in L.A. for 42 years, and then I developed Parkinson’s. It felt like it was a good time to move. I was diagnosed in 2019. My basic symptom was exhaustion, but I think I’d been having feelings three, four years before that. I’ve been on heavy meds, and the doctors are saying I’m doing OK. But certain things are frustrating. You know, it’s a big drag.
But we are happy that we live here. And it’s an honor to be honored [at True West]. They put me on the board! (Laughs)
And this is a lively place, and it’s been a good place to be. It’s very communal here in a way that I think none of us have ever experienced, just how involved everybody is with the community here.
The final film in True West’s series, ‘The Player,’ shows Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 371 Healdsburg Ave., truewestfilmcenter.org.
