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| What is love? Is it this indefinable thing, or is there a scientific explanation for the euphoria that we all feel when we first fall in love? According to writer/director Marc Decena, love can be analyzed. In his new film Dopamine, named after the natural amphetamine our bodies produce when we're falling in love, he attempts to have a philosophical debate about the origins of love. |
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| When the film's lead character, Rand (John Livingston) and his two buddies invent a new artificial life form, they are forced by their investors to test their invention out on a kindergarten class, here Rand meets Sarah (Sabrina Lloyd best known for her performance as Wade on the Cult Show, "Sliders"). The two form an unlikely relationship and the chemistry is undeniable. But is it a chemical reaction or an affair of the heart? "Dopamine" is the first film project to go through the entire Sundance process, from the workshops to final distribution. We recently caught up with director Marc Decena and Sabrina Lloyd and here's what they had to say. |
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| [Editor's note this interview took place at the end of the day, so everyone, including myself was in a goofy tired mood.] |
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| EM |
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| I'm going to start the interview off with my standard, overly broad question - tell us who you are and why we're speaking with you today? |
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| MD |
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| [Laughs] My name is Sabrina Lloyd, just kidding. My name is Marc Decena I'm the writer/co-director of the film Dopamine. |
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| SL |
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| And I'm Sabrina Lloyd, I'm the actress in the movie. |
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| EM |
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| What can you tell us about the movie? |
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| SL |
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| [Jokingly picks up a booklet and reads from it] "Dopamine," named after the natural amphetamine our bodies produce when we're falling in love, is a romantic drama for the hi-tech age. [laughs again.] |
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| EM |
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| What was it about the whole theory of "Dopamine" that struck you and made you want to explore this topic for a movie? |
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| MD |
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| Well, I had a fascination with "why the way we are..." |
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| SL |
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| [Interrupting with her laughter] I'm sorry for laughing, it's just that we had so many of these interviews today, that in the beginning, we would have these long elaborate answers and they are getting shorter and shorter as the day goes by, now at the end of the day, it's like "well it sounded like a good idea." |
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| MD |
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| [Tries gamely to continue] Well "Dopamine" is the natural amphetamine that we feel when we fall in love. I felt that giddiness when I fell in love with my son, and my wife. I started to ask myself; what is "love?" Is it this biological, physiological thing or is it really something "magical" that just happens? |
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| EM |
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| What made you want to ask those questions to begin with? Most normal people just accept love for what it is. But you have to go that extra step and actually analyze it. |
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| MD |
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| I'm a geek. Every other day there seemed to be a new article that explained what you are feeling when you fall in love with somebody. At the same time, a friend of mine had a father who came down with Alzheimer's and he could no longer recognize his wife of 40 years. He even became paranoid of her. That sort of thing got me thinking about the nature of love. |
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| EM |
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| Do you think the chemical nature of love is why couples get the "7-year itch," and a lot of relationships don't last more than 20 years? |
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| MD |
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| Yeah, there's actually a line in the film about this. I've been married for 16 years, there's a part of me that still wrestles with this theory, and another part that does believe in love. |
| Part of it is committing to it, and believing in it. |
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| EM |
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| So have you and your wife had this conversation before? |
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| MD |
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| Not to the extent that Rand does. Actually we never have. But she is a co-producer of the film. I don't think she ever questioned the concept of love. |
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| EM |
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| Do you think that it's a gender trait to try and over analyze love? |
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| MD |
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| To stereotype, probably a little bit. Men tend to over analyze everything a little bit more, while women are more intuitive. I think it does cross gender lines. |
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| EM |
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| [Looks to Sabrina] I'll have to ask you the same question. |
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| SL |
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| Oh gosh no. I over analyze everything, me and my girlfriends sit around and say "Can't you shut up and just feel." |
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| EM |
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| Do you think that by over analyzing love that it starts to affect how you feel about someone? |
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| SL |
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| I think so. You can over analyze anything. I constantly have to tell myself, "Sabrina, stop thinking." There are people who are just analytical. It's part of your gene makeup, or too much caffeine. |
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| EM |
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| How did you both do research for this? |
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| MD |
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| I did a lot of research on the web. If you do a search on Dopamine, you'll be surprised at how much information you get. We had a screening at "Sundance" and this Professor gets up and says "I'm a Professor and researched Dopamine for 20 years and you guys did a great job." |
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| SL |
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| I did a lot of research about women giving their children up for adoption. |
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| EM |
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| What was your writing process like? |
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| MD |
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| Well we took it to the Sundance Film Writing lab, where we were able to refine our story. My writing partner (Timothy Breitbach) and I each took specific characters to work on. |
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| EM |
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| So how did that work? Did you each go off and write your own characters, beginning - middle - end, and then come back together at the end and work from there? |
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| MD |
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| It's not cut and dry. We developed the characters, then there are some drafts where we individually would take a shot, and let the other person read it and vice a versa. |
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| EM |
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| How does one go about becoming part of the "Sundance Workshops." |
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| MD |
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| One of the things that "Sundance" tries to do is support people who have never done a film before. In my workshop we have playwrights, poets, etc. My entrée was a short film that I did. They really admired it and asked us to do a script. It's an open submission process. |
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| EM |
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| I have to get Sabrina back into the conversation. What drew you to this project? |
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| SL |
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| The biggest draw for me was that I love the story. I fell in love with Sarah and felt that I could play her. I understood her through and through. |
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| EM |
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| What made you think you could play her? |
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| I have a real button in my life about people who judge and gossip about others. I liked the idea of looking at this girl and the things that she did and looking at where she came from. I think we are all driven by the forces in our life, their childhood, etc. I think we are so quick to say what people should and shouldn't do without having walked in their shoes, or knowing any background on the people we're judging. |
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| EM |
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| See there? That's a long answer, now I don't have time for a follow up. What projects are you both working on now? |
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| SL |
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| I'm doing a small role in a new Woody Allen film. |
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| EM |
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| "Anything Else?" |
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| SL |
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| No nothing at the moment. |
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| EM |
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| No, I meant Woody's film "Anything Else" |
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| SL |
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| No, his new fall project that just started shooting last week. That's so funny you asked "Anything Else" and I was like "No not yet, but I hope to get something." [laughs] That was a Saturday Night Live skit we had going. |
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| MD |
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| Tim is working on another script called "Hanging Chad," a family drama that takes place in Miami during the 2000 election. |
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| EM |
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| Your film is the very first one to go through the entire "Sundance" process. Why is that? I mean "Sundance" has been around for a long time. |
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| MD |
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| Well this is the first year that "Sundance" has had a distribution arm. So we're the first film to actually be distributed through "Sundance Film Series." So we were at the labs, then the festival, and now we're getting distribution. |
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| EM |
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| How did you like the process? |
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| MD |
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| It was incredible, they were very supportive. And creatively you learn a lot in the labs and working with other participants. |
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| EM |
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| Once you become part of the process, are you tied to it, or can you get another distributor for your film if you get a better deal or feel so inclined? |
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| MD |
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| No, not at all, you can take your film and do anything you want. |
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| EM |
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| They [the handlers] are giving me the hook, and I wanted to ask Sabrina a bunch of questions about my one time favorite show "Sliders." Ok, before they kick me out, I have to ask. So what happened with the show? Why did you leave? |
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| SL |
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| I left when they switched from Fox to Sci-Fi. I felt that creatively I did what I wanted to do with the character. |
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| EM |
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| Do you think that there is any chance of the show making a comeback? |
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| SL |
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| I don't know, but the guy before you said that there was talk of a movie, but I haven't heard anything about it. |
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| EM |
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| Tell me the truth; did you and Remy [a character from "Sliders"] have a thing going on? Some hot interracial love. |
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| SL |
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| [laughs] You mean Rembrant Brown and Wade? I was always pushing for that. I was like "get them together." He's just the best guy ever I just loved working with him. |
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