Casting
Casting, says Vachon, is critical to Solondz, and for this film it was "a very meticulous process. I think it paid off," she continues. "All his choices were stellar. That's crucial since this is a very performance-driven film."
Solondz looked for actors who could "bring authenticity to their performances," he says. Jane Adams (Joy), for instance, he describes as having "a wonderfully soft, appealing quality that was very appropriate for the part, something almost naive she can project. Lara Flynn Boyle (Helen) is attractive and sexy, as everyone knows, but not until I met her did I realize how funny she is, in ways that haven't yet been exploited on screen, and I wanted that acid quality for her role. And it's a real gift to have an actor like Cynthia Stevenson (Trish) who doesn't work at being funny, but who's just naturally that way while also being credible in a realistic portrayal of what otherwise could be a June Cleaver caricature."
The director also cites Dylan Baker (Bill) for "being a very brave actor. He brings true genius to his performance of a character who's very disturbing and unsympathetic, yet whom he manages to make sympathetic."
Although many actors tried to land the role of Allen, Solondz chose Philip Seymour Hoffman because "he was so real, so in the moment that the decision was a real no-brainer, as they say. And I wanted my lead characters to be played by people not overly familiar so audiences would buy into this fictional reality I'm setting up," he says.
On the other hand, he also supplied "certain flourishes" with actors like Jon Lovitz (Andy), Marla Maples (Ann Chambeau) and, in larger roles, Ben Gazzara (Lenny), Elizabeth Ashley (Diane) and Louise Lasser (Mona). "I wanted to exploit qualities of theirs in unexpected ways," Solondz explains. "For instance, teaming up the legendary 'Cassavetian' actor Ben Gazzara with another legend, Elizabeth Ashley, as well as with the inimitable Louise Lasser made for a very sad, moving and funny sequence."
Questionable Material
Hope notes that "some of the material in this film is somewhat questionable, even taboo." But in the hands of Solondz and his unusually gifted team of actors, he adds, "you recognize the humanity in even the characters who transgress forbidden boundaries, you can see their humanness despite what they may be doing."
Since the critical and commercial success of "Welcome to the Dollhouse," Solondz was able to stretch beyond the meager production budget of that first, privately funded film, enjoying both a "much more experienced production team," he says, "and the lack of doubt that the film was going to be finished. Add to that the two great indie moguls here in New York (Vachon and Hope), who were completely supportive and made my job so much more manageable and pleasurable, and I'm a pretty lucky guy."