Above: The title card for 1998's Zero Effect.
Monday (1/28/08): Tenth Anniversary of Daryl Zero (An explanation of the anniversary project complete with links to multiple reviews of the film from a 2008 perspective).
Tuesday (1/29/08): The Soundtrack (An exploration of the film's official soundtrack, featuring new interviews with Esthero, Neil Gust of Heatmiser, Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers, and Chris Stillwell and Michael Andrews of the Greyboy Allstars).
Wednesday (1/30/08): Dan Bern's Unreleased Title Track (Featuring a new interview with folk musician Dan Bern regarding his unreleased song, "Zero Effect," a tune told from the point of view of Gloria Sullivan, the Kim Dickens character).
Thursday (1/31/08): The Television Pilot (Featuring about as much information as can be assembled from public sources about the 2002 failed television pilot based on the film and a handful of interviews with people associated with that project).
Friday (2/1/08): Behind the Scenes (Featuring new interviews with members of the film's supporting cast, day players, and technical crew about the making of the film).
Above: Jake Kasdan directs Ben Stiller in Zero Effect.Shot in Portland, Oregon from late April to early June of 1997, the film was helmed by Kasdan, then a twenty three year old first time director with a famous surname. Casting of some of the minor roles was done out of Portland; Chronological Snobbery tracked down a number of the supporting cast and interviewed them about their experiences working on the film. Rather than intersperse their memories with additional commentary and remarks, I've included their memories in the foregoing block quotes so that they can tell their stories themselves.
Above: Jake Kasdan and director of photography Bill Pope.Once I was cast, my agent told me that it was a non-speaking role . . . . There was no preparation involved. I just had to show up and deal with whatever was asked of me. "Man with Bag" was only a red-herring suspicious character to divert Zero's attention from the real blackmailer.
I believe I only had two days work on that project, and only two locations. I only appeared in one scene in the final film that included several interior set-ups (in the NW Children's Theater lobby, and the bathroom interior was shot at the Convention Center near Jantzen Beach), and the one exterior shot at NW Children's Theater with all the police and ambulance vehicles and crowds of extras. Essentially I just had to hit my marks to be moving through the right place at the right time for the camera. My whole experience of that film was a very technical thing. That was the one film project where everything I shot was seen in the film. Jake was very efficient that way with his work; not too many takes, and a fairly controlled shooting environment even with all the extras. I remember being impressed with how well young Mr. Kasdan handled the whole cast and crew management issue.
. . . I really only worked around Ryan O'Neal, but Bill Pullman was on the set when I was working. (Ben Stiller did not spend all that much time on the film when I was called - a lot of his stuff was shot in LA.) I do remember that Mr. Pullman was fairly genial and open to the local people working on the film. He was very business-like and professional when working, but certainly did not "cop an attitude" around me.
Spending a little time with Mr. O'Neal was the big surprise for me. Like many people of my era, his Love Story breakout role was still reasonably fresh in most minds, but I was very favorably impressed with his work with Stanley Kubrick on Barry Lyndon - a complete change from what we had previously seen. My time with him in Zero Effect had more to do with the mechanics of filmmaking than anything else. He and I had to enter and leave the bathroom where the blackmail payment was left. Well, "the bathroom" was really a fairly small closet in the lobby of the NW Children's Theater space, so he and I had some face time crammed in a closet waiting on the PA's call over the radio to exit on cue. That time allowed us time for him to talk with me about working with Stanley Kubrick, Ali McGraw, and I believe that Farrah Fawcett may have been mentioned as well.
The next day when we shot the bathroom interior at the Jantzen Beach Convention Center was memorable for Mr. O'Neal's antics on the empty, concrete-floored open space of the center. While the crew was setting up and lighting the large, many stalled bathroom - Ryan O'Neal was running all out, playing catch with a Frisbee. I remember several of the production folks being more than a little concerned that he might fall and damage himself on that dangerous surface, but he would hear nothing about it from them. I remember Bill Pullman making a few catches as well before begging off when some of the producers appeared very concerned about their shooting schedule and the potential for injury. I just remember how surprising and fun it was to see "name" stars acting like kids.
Above: Jake Kasdan directs Bill Pullman in Zero Effect.Demeter recalls:
Zero Effect was my first audition for a major feature film and I was thrilled to be cast as Clarissa in what I feel is some what of a cult classic film. Working with Jake Kasdan was such a great experience. He had such a clear vision of exactly how each scene was shot. For my first film, I believe that having the opportunity to work on a film with such amazing talent as Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller shaped my views on film as an art form.
Wendy Westerwelle played the clerk of the motel at which Zero stays while investigating the blackmail. In so doing, she shot a single scene with Ben Stiller, whose character Arlo appears:
We filmed at a Motel in Hillsboro Oregon which is a farming community that has many migrant workers living there and some great Mexican restaurants. The scene was very straight forward. I was behind the desk at a sleazy Motel and played the clerk and Ben's character was looking for [Zero].
...
I auditioned for Jake in Portland Ore. and he was a totally sweet boy. I liked him immediately. I could tell he wanted me because he was so warm and kind. I met Ryan in makeup and he was very friendly.
Above: Jake Kasdan directs Kim Dickens and Ryan O'Neal in Zero Effect.I scouted with Jake some-it was really fun to work with someone who was so enthusiastic about Portland. I took my step-daughter on the set-I think it was "take your daughter to work day"--and Ryan O'Neill had a nice conversation with her-he asked if she was interested in being an actress and said that it had been a very good life for him.
...
I thought it was a fun movie and deserved more attention than it got.
...
I thought it portrayed Portland well-again the quirkiness of the script kind of fit, and Jake wanted to show off some of what's cool about the city.
...
Vista House in the Columbia River Gorge played the exterior of the planetarium, and the interior was at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry). They also used the Northwest Neighborhood Cultural Center.
"The script was written for Portland," Rinard told the Portland Oregonian in 1997.1 "They really want to show off the city."
David Doty played Officer Hagans, the police officer with whom Stiller's character consults in trying to obtain some records. (Doty also appeared in the ill-fated 2002 Zero Effect TV pilot, and was interviewed in yesterday's piece on that production.). He knew Kasdan for some time:
i first met jake when he was 17 or 18. he had just finished high school and had written a play that he also directed called, i think "losing sleep" he wanted an actor named jack kehler, a friend of mine, who was busy so he mentioned me. i read for jake and that was it. i did one more play with jake and then he called and said he was doing a film, would i like to be in it. i said sure. just give me a call time. iv'e been in every film he's done since i thought he was brilliant when he was 17 and still think so. didn't do too much prep for the role as it was pretty much all right there on the page. the scene, with ben stiller. who was great to work with, was slimmed down about 80%, but understood because the cut, off my reaction. to the next scene really worked.
Aleta Barthell played a health club staffer who directs patrons out of the building during the aforementioned fire alarm sequence. Looking back ten years, she remembers:
I was called in to audition for the part of "Staffer #2" for the film. I was told that it was a "quirky, detective story." When I read the part of a staff person evacuating a gym...I played it as an impudent worker, put-out with having to evacuate all of these people. Jake laughed, and I got the role.
When we filmed the evacuation scene at the gym, Jake had chosen two actors from the extras who had dressed outlandishly (one in a vibrant bow tie) to misdirect the suspicion of who had planted the item in the bathroom. We did a lot of takes with these characters...the two of them seeing one another, then moving away from each other, etc. Zero was watching all of this while the gym was being evacuated. In the end, these two characters were cut from the scene. I was still visually in the film, but they dubbed my voice and lines in afterward, because during the shoot, I kept referring to the guy as "Bow Tie" and telling him he had to go as I moved him out of the building.
I was very impressed with Jake as a director. Everyone had heard that he was "really young" (in his 20's) and was doing this big film. The Jake that I saw was calm, positive, very approachable and in the face of enormous pressure to keep things rolling and moving, he persisted in taking his time to experiment with different ideas during the shoot. I thought this was admirable, and it made the experience great for the actors. It really allowed everybody to play off of one another. I saw him and Bill Pullman have a tremendous time trying out new ideas.
I didn't interact with Bill Pullman directly, but remember that he sent for a stack of headshots and signed them in between takes for a line of little kids that kept calling him "Mr. President" and asking him about Independence Day.
The person I especially remember is Ryan O'Neal, who played Gregory Stark. It was the second film I had ever done, and the largest one. I was nervous, and he affably made me feel comfortable and explained what was happening at different points in the shoot. After seeing the final film, I thought that he really shined in his part.
When I initially read the script, I loved all of the twists and turns that the story had in it. I was especially impressed with the role of Gloria Sullivan. The role was cut down considerably in the final version, and I felt it missed the depth and zing that Jake had written into Gloria. She and Zero were much more of a match for each other in the original script that I read. I thought the film came out well, but was sad to see Gloria somewhat diminished.
J.W. Crawford played a convention employee in a scene that was ultimately cut from the film. Describing that sequence, he observes:
My agent called and said they had submitted me for a small speaking role in a little film with Ryan O'Neal. The casting director asked to read me for several "day player" roles. I was called back to read a funny little scene for Jake Kasdan as a "Convention Employee". It was a quick little bit with the Kim Dickens character showing up at a convention and confronting this creepy little employee at the registration table. She knew she was being tailed by Ben Stiller and was making it look like she was trying to track down the guy who was blackmailing Ryan O'Neal. Except that I couldn't find the person on the list and was about as motivated as someone on doggie downers. She was in a hurry and getting nowhere with me so she gave up but not without me hitting on her. She just kept walking away from me (and Stiller) as fast as she could. There was no real preparation for me....I guess playing creepy just comes natural!
I met Bill Pullman and Ryan O'Neal at my wardrobe fitting the day before we shot my scene. I didn't really do anything more than shake their hands. They seemed like nice guys. Ryan was on his cell phone the whole time talking to a friend in L.A. about the film. He was smaller in stature than I would have thought.
...
I was introduced to Ben Stiller by Kim Dickens who actually invited me to join them at their table for lunch after our scene together. That's not something that doesn't happen too often when you're a day player. They were absolutely down to earth and terrific people. Ben made my day...year...maybe lifetime when he told me that my work was "really funny stuff"! WOW! Jake Kasdan joined us at the table for a few minutes and he seemed happy with my work. He was a real actor's director! Later, the day of the Portland premier, Jake asked one of the producers to call me and let me know my scene had been cut. He said he wanted me to know that it had
nothing to do with my performance. Now that is real class!
These interviews conclude Chronological Snobbery's five part series on the tenth anniversary of the 1998 film, Zero Effect. All that is left to say is: "That spooky rumbling is a distant timpani," the curious phrase that Kasdan slowly reveals, word by word, on his commentary track to the DVD of the film. (He shared the phrase in that fashion just to ascertain whether or not anyone actually listened to the commentary.).
1. Kristi Turnquist, "Movie Cameras in Portland Roll again, Shooting 'Zero Effect'," The Oregonian, April 21, 1997.
As part of the Chronological Snobbery coverage of the tenth anniversary of the film Zero Effect (released ten years ago yesterday), today's post profiles the ill-fated 2002 pilot episode of the proposed television adaptation of the film (and features interviews with two cast members). Several years after the release of the film, Jake Kasdan, its writer and director, teamed up with Walon Green (the writer of Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, among other things) five years later in an attempt to translate the film to the screen. British actor Alan Cumming replaced Bill Pullman as the brilliant and mysterious Daryl Zero, while Krista Allen, David Julian Hirsch (as Jeff Winslow, perhaps the replacement of the Steve Arlo character played by Ben Stiller in the 1998 film), and Natasha Gregson Wagner rounded out (presumably) the principal cast.You will not be able to find a copy of this pilot on DVD or on the Internets. Many of those associated with the project never saw the completed pilot following its post production. There are likely copies somewhere in the vaults of NBC Television, Castle Rock Entertainment, and perhaps even elsewhere in the vast expanses of the Time Warner empire. Kasdan no doubt has a copy somewhere amongst his possessions and projects, but he is not sharing it.
Above: Bill Pullman as Daryl Zero.According to this Entertainment Weekly article, NBC passed on the series, forever condemning it to television limbo. But television pilots are a tricky business, as Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) observed almost a decade and a half ago in Pulp Fiction:
Well, the way they pick the shows on TV is they make one show, and that show's called a pilot. And they show that one show to the people who pick the shows, and on the strength of that one show, they decide if they want to make more shows. Some get accepted and become TV programs, and some don't, and become nothing. [Uma Thurman's Character] starred in one of the ones that became nothing.
Kasdan's show also became nothing, and for the most part, its existence is unknown. Kasdan no doubt built upon this experience when he wrote and directed 2006's The TV Set, a film starring David Duchovny as a television writer attempting to steward his own pilot through the treacherous network processes. But, alas, his prior pilot was not a special feature on that DVD.
Above: Zero (Pullman) illustrates his method.Remembers Leal, the aforementioned actor who portrayed "Barfly," about the project:
I was in LA selling a script and meeting with an Agent when a friend of mine was called to work for 2 days as a Medic for the show. I decided I would tag along. The Tavern in Aspen scene was set in a downtown motel bar. I was invited by Director Jake Kasdan himself to step in to the shot sequence in the Scene Featured along side the principle female Standing at the bar hearing a crazy Zero story that is being told by a thin white guy. The entire bar is listening enthralled.
David Doty, who played Officer Hagans in the 1998 film and just appeared in Kasdan's Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, had two small parts in the pilot, about which he remembers little:
i was in the pilot that jake and waylon green shot. but have never seen it. jake said they should promo it "from the people who gave you "freaks and geeks" and "the wild bunch."
An interesting tagline indeed. (There will be more from Doty in tomorrow's post dealing with the behind the scenes of the film.).
Above: Zero (Pullman) gazes into the distance.But little else can be pieced together. (Multiple attempts by Chronological Snobbery to obtain a copy of the episode, or even it script were unsuccessful at best, rebuffed at worst.).
Above: Zero (Pullman) hiding in plain sight.
Above: Zero (Pullman) rocks out.It should be noted that in 2002, Kasdan attempted to resurrect the character Daryl Zero for television, with Alan Cummings in the lead role. However, NBC did not pick up the pilot, which is interesting as that was the same year USA Network debuted its breakout hit “Monk”, which features a brilliant, yet neurotic private eye. [USA Network was purchased by NBC when NBC acquired Vivendi Universal’s North American-based entertainment asset in 2003].
Knowing the NBC of 2002, perhaps Kasdan would have had more success if he had simply renamed it, "Law & Order: Zero Effect"?
Tomorrow: In tomorrow's coverage of the Zero Effect tenth anniversary, Chronological Snobbery focuses on the behind the scenes of the film with cast and crew interviews.
Above: Dan Bern, circa 1997-1998.By the mid 1990s, Bern had released three self produced cassettes, a self titled full length album, and an EP called Dog Boy Van. His friendship with director Jake Kasdan led to his song, "One Dance" being played over the closing credits of Kasdan's 1998 directorial debut. Just two months after the release of the film, on March 31, 1998, Bern's new record, entitled 50 Eggs and produced by none other than Ani DiFranco, would hit stores. (The full version of "One Dance" would appear on this album.). Somewhere along the way, though, Bern composed a song, "Zero Effect," which includes these lyrics relevant to the film's plot and premise:
All your fancy words
Your well-constructed theories
Everything that you wore
Everything that you swore
Was what brought me to you
It was nice - all of it
It was sweet - all of it
But it was not the thing that made me come to you
It had zero effect--on me
It had zero effect--zero
It had zero effect--
The thing that brought me to you
Was you
You coulda looked for the clues
Till your magnifying glass was worn out
You coulda talked to everybody that you've ever known
Collected evidence--found a lot of evidence
Everything you think was there - was there
Everything you think took place - took place
But it was not what made me come to you
Bern played the song publicly, perhaps only once. On May 11, 1997, during a gig at Portland's Aladdin Theatre, Bern played the song and introduced it as follows:
I wrote this when I - when I - when I heard my friend was going to make his movie. So I'm going to try to do it. It's actually - it's not to him - in fact if - if - like - if something inspired this song it was reading the script and thinking about it from the woman's point of view - in that thing. So that's really what's in this song, but my vice isn't high enough to approximate it, so it will sound like me still. [Laughter].
In an email interview with Chronological Snobbery a decade later, Bern confesses that he has but "a vague recollection of playing it at that show; it was probably the only time." He recalls:
i am pretty sure i wrote the song "zero effect" as a pitch to jake for his film. i might have performed it once, and i think i recorded it well enough to give to him as a possibility for him. my guess is that it was too literal, in that it was the name of the film and all. as a director, it seems he wanted things that would resonate with his picture more obliquely than to have a song with the actual film title....somewhere in my vaults i may have the recording, but i can't even be sure about that.
Kasdan did, however, choose Bern's "One Dance" to be prominently featured in the film. The track was also released as its own promotional single. Bern remembers:
obviously, it was cool that jake used "one dance" over the end titles for zero effect. it was a really cool movie, i thought, and i was thrilled when "one dance" would come up at the end. i remember writing it in the stairwell of some hotel at a music conference somewhere, and i used it for my second sony/work album, 50 eggs, that ani difranco produced, and we did a special edit for the movie....it was my first foray into having a song in a movie, and it was awesome. especially that it was jake, who i had become good friends with a few years before, when we met in a coffeeshop in LA through a mutual friend. what a great guy. funny, smart, and incredible instincts about many things. when i first met him he was just a kid really, and we both had lots of free time for sitting around, playing scrabble, and musing on things. now he has, let's say, just a little more on his plate (!), but a great guy always. that's what i remember about zero effect, the song and the movie.
But over ten years later, Bern admits that his memory of the song "Zero Effect" is not very strong as it once may have been:
i'm sure i read the script, and i may have also seen footage; i also got to see one or two days of shooting (in portland, by the way), so any of that may have contributed to writing the 'zero effect' song. BUT...i really don't remember when i wrote it, in the timeline of the movie itself.
Bern and Kasdan have certainly kept in touch since Zero Effect. Recently, the two worked together on 2007's Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. The December 15, 2007 Bern Bulletin (his periodic email newsletter) notes:
As many of you may know, Dan has been dedicating a lot of time and energy working on the film "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." Dan has written, or co-written, a great deal of the songs that "Dewey Cox" performs in the film. And from what I've heard, if you appreciate the song writing style of Dan, you'll really get a kick out of hearing his contributions to "Walk Hard." So, please go out and see the movie, and support this project which Dan has been so proud to work on!
But will anything ever come of his song about Daryl Zero and Gloria Sullivan?
"Maybe I'll dig up the song and use it for something else sometime," says Bern. "That's how these things work sometimes. you just never know."
Tomorrow: In tomorrow's coverage of the Zero Effect tenth anniversary, Chronological Snobbery focuses on the ill-fated 2002 attempt to turn the film into a TV pilot and series.
As part of the Chronological Snobbery coverage of the tenth anniversary of the film Zero Effect, today features interviews and commentary on the film's soundtrack., including new interviews with Esthero, Neil Gust of Heatmiser, Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers, and Chris Stillwell and Michael Andrews of the Greyboy Allstars). Released in January of 1998, prior to the premiere of the film itself on January 30 of that year, Zero Effect: Music from the Motion Picture boasted as its executive producers Jake Kasdan (the director of the film, Zero Effect), Manish Raval, and Happy Walters. Featuring fourteen tracks from twelve artists, the album, at a decade old, features a number of artists still rocking and thriving a decade later.
Above: Elvis Costello in December 1977, during his infamous "Saturday Night Live" set.Originally from 1977's My Aim Is True, "Mystery Dance" plays over the film's opening title sequence. Twenty one years old at the time of the film's release, the song is also the oldest track on the album. (For completists, an acoustic "honky tonk" version of "Mystery Dance" was included on a recent reissue of My Aim Is True, Costello's very first album.).
Dan Bern, circa 1997-1998.Perhaps the musician most closely associated with the film and with director Jake Kasdan, folk musician Dan Bern was rising to fame in the mid to late 1990s, even being compared to Bob Dylan. His 1998 album Fifty Eggs, released two months after the film on March 31, 1998, also featured "One Dance," which plays over the closing credits of the film. Produced by Ani DiFranco (who is mentioned in the song's lyrics), "One Dance" was released as a promotional single for the film, and Bern even penned an as of yet unreleased tune, titled "Zero Effect" (more about which in tomorrow's entry on that rare title track).
3. "Starbucked" - Bond
These days, if you Google "Bond," you'll find this "Australian/British string quartet," most certainly not the band which perpetrated "Starbucked" for the Zero Effect soundtrack in 1998. Thus, tracking down information about the decade old band is a Herculean task, as the band's name is not the most Google friendly; nor is that of the song, searches for which lead to either coffeehouse culture or "Battlestar Galactica." Members of 1998's Bond included Steve Eusebe, Jimmy Hogarth, Scott Shields, and Martin Slattery. On his official MySpace page, Eusebe notes:
[B]y the summer of 1996 I had formed a new band with accomplished musicians that I’d met on the road, service stations, Venues and Airports. I wrote some new songs at the time with Scott Shields (Gun & Shakespeare’s Sister), Jimmy Hogarth (Shakespeare’s Sister) and Martin Slattery (Black Grape) and within 3 months we were being courted by Record Companies in America. By the end of the year we had jumped the UK ship and signed to Sony/Work Group in Los Angeles, which became our new home and the Band Bond was formed. We produced the Album ‘Bang out of Order’ with Matthew Wilder of No Doubt fame and courted the services of the legendary Grammy award winner engineer/mixer Andy Wallace of Jeff Buckley, Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame. Bond toured the U.S extensively with Spacehog and on our own before Fatherhood forced me to make a decision to stay in America or come home. I came home. The band split . . .
The opening bars of "Starbucked" played as one would access the official Zero Effect website.
4. "Into My Arms" - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
In the film, just as Daryl Zero (Bill Pullman) and Gloria Sullivan (Kim Dickens) have shared a vanilla malt and bonded as only they can, the camera begins to drift away from their table and the deep voice of Nick Cave abruptly overtakes the film. He sings: "I don't believe in an interventionist God. But I know, darling, that you do," which, really, is a distracting sentiment. Originally from 1997's The Boatman's Call, "Into My Arms" is perhaps the only song in the film which makes its presence known with such authority that its breaks the aesthetic distance.
Above: Mary Lou Lord, circa 1998.In the mid to late 1990s, alternative rocker Mary Lou Lord was most famous for her alleged dalliance with Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's subsequent trashing of her during online chat sessions. Also on 1998's Got No Shadow, "Some Jingle Jangle Morning" makes reference not just to the phrase from Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man," but also Guns N' Roses, with its reference to "Mr. Brownstone," slang for heroin. Since 1998, she has offered the world acoustic covers of both Van Halen's "Jump" and Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road." Lord did not respond to a request for an interview.
Above: Brendan Benson, circa 1998-1999.Now a member of The Raconteurs along with Jack White, Jack Lawrence, and Patrick Keeler, in 1998, alt-folkster Brendan Benson was a relatively unknown commodity. He had but one album, 1996's One Mississippi, under his belt, and it was from that record that "Emma J" came.
The Greyboy Allstars, circa 1997-1998.7. "The Method Pt. 2" - The Greyboy Allstars
11. "Blackmail Drop" - The Greyboy Allstars
14. "The Zero Effect" - The Greyboy Allstars
If any artist's music defines the film, it is that of The Greyboy Allstars, the funky jazz or jazzy funk San Diego based group that scored the film with their upbeat and offbeat contributions to its score. In an interview with Chronological Snobbery, GBA member Michael Andrews remembers being "contacted after Manish Raval had been listening to our West Coast Boogaloo cd." But no tracks from that album were used in the film.
"All the music we made specifically for the movie," says Andrews. "None of the stuff existed before ZE."
Andrews remarks on the process:
The approach was....watch the film, write some music. We all wrote stuff separately and brought it in after seeing the film. We started at my studio in San Diego for about a week just writing and adding to what others had brought in. Then we holed up in a small theater to see how the themes would work with picture. The music editor [Jonathan Karp] was there to help us find the right tempos to work best with picture. Jake manipulated the arrangements. Once we had most of the main themes penned, we spent ten days in the studio recording directly to picture.
Also interviewed by Chronological Snobbery, GBA bassist Chris Stillwell remembers the film being a new experience for the band:
Being it our first experience-we were pretty green. We knew as far as what mood was needed per music cue-as dictated by Jake's score notes. Some things were easier than others. The longer & trickier cues required tweaking and refitting. Usually it's just one guy composing, and then he gets an orchestra to perform it. We were a basic line-up of sax, drums, bass, guitar, and keys. You'd think it would be limited, but there's a pretty wide palate of sounds you can get with something that simple.
The basic rules for scoring a film is a main theme, and thematic material for the main characters, love scene, chase theme etc. I was starting to get into film music around this time. I loved espionage/detective/spy music, so there was a piece I had written that had a sort of surf/spy melody well before the film was offered to us. It fit perfectly, and was easy to reharmonize and shift the melody around to suit whatever the main character (Darryl Zero) was up to. Everybody came up with tons of ideas. We actually ended up with too much material, so we had to ditch some cool things. As for myself, I thought everything fit well, and was well written.
...
I listen to what we did every year or so from a CD that was given to us by the music editor. I think it's pretty interesting stuff. Of course, it was Mike's introduction to his movie scoring career. For a big movie company to take a chance on us was a gamble, and I think both parties ended up happy.
"I think it was one of the most creative things the band has ever done together, and for me it was the beginning of my involvement in film music," Andrews notes.
Above: Jamiroquai, circa 1998.In early 1998, Jamiroquai was chiefly known for its single and video, "Virtual Insanity," which had become popular the year before. But what can be said about Jamiroquai's contribution to this film when that band will be remembered in far more detail for its contribution to a later quirky comedy: Napoleon Dynamite (which was, incidentally, a previous alias of Elvis Costello, also on the Zero Effect soundtrack with Jamiroquai)?
Above: Candy Butchers.Candy Butchers began as the brainchild of Mike Viola and Todd Foulsham. In an interview with Chronological Snobbery, Viola recalls his experience with Zero Effect:
Jake was into my band Candy Butchers and asked if "Till You Die" could be included. Of course...I was thrilled. When I went to the New York premiere I LOVED the movie and couldn't believe how cool the song worked in the diner scene.
As to how the song fits into the film, Viola replies that "it's kind of perfect" as well as "dark and funny." Looking back, he relates that "the song kind of wrote itself" and "always had a life of it 's own." Describing the origin of the song, Viola points to, of all people, Dostoevsky:
I was living in Quincy a blue collar town south of Boston and making pizza's for a living. I had to get up at 5am and walk to the restaurant (didn't have a car). on my way one snowy morning I happened upon a box of books somebody was throwing away. a few inches of snow on top of ackie collins novels and their ilk. it was still dark out side....freezing cold.... but I dug into them....and pulled out Crime and Punishment. never read that book before. I was so busy playing live shows in rock bands that I barely made it through High school. so I took the book...went to work....and on break started to read it....soon I devoured it. and out popped Till You Die. and I swear...that song alone landed me a publishing deal and subsequently a major label record deal......right there for the taking on the side of the road one snowy morning at 5am 15 miles south of Boston. WAY too much info for you...but it just came back to me....
In November of 2007, Viola released to the Internets "Girly Worm" from his new album, Lurch. He was also involved with the soundtrack for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, released in late 2007 and directed by none of than Jake Kasdan. Viola provided the lead vocals for the song "That Thing You Do!" as a part of the 1996 Tom Hanks film by that name.
Above: Esthero, circa 1998-1999.At the time of the release of the Zero Effect soundtrack, Canadian singer Esthero had been nineteen years old for less than a month. In an interview with Chronological Snobbery, she remembers the early days of her career and her involvement with the film:
I had just signed with WORK GROUP records, and EMI had my music publishing. I'm not sure if the song was something pitched through EMI or from the co president of WORK Jeff Ayeroff. What I DO remember was the experience of being escorted to the premier with Jeff, my very FIRST movie premier, btw....and being a country bumpkin of sorts, it was also at the after party for the event that i experienced sushi for the first time. A California roll. Ha!
I thought it fit in just fine - but I'm biased. I remember thinking it was a lil quiet - but I'm also biased on that one too. I'm just glad i liked the movie, I've had songs in movies before that weren't necessarily directed towards my own demographic. But this was something i could be proud to be a small part of. I really dug the film. I briefly met Jake the evening of the premier, and he was so young - I remember thinking "this has got to be such a big deal for him, he must be so stoked" and I was so happy for him. Especially after seeing the film. 'He did good, real good', as they say.
Her first full length record, "Breath from Another," was released three months later in April of 1998.
12. "Three Days" - Thermadore
Thermadore's "Three Days" came from that band's 1996 release, Monkey on Rico (to which Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard contributed). Somewhere along the way, the band folded, and its legacy, if any, is left mostly unpreserved on the Internets.
Above: Heatmiser.Composed of Neil Gust, Tony Lash, Sam Coomes, and the late Elliot Smith, Heatmiser rose from the streets of Portland, the city in which the film is set. By the time the Zero Effect soundtrack was released, the band had already self destructed. Although Smith is remembered for his contributions to such films as 1997's Good Will Hunting, "Rest My Head Against the Wall" was a song by Gust. In an interview with Chronological Snobbery, Gust recalls that Kasdan requested the use of the song after hearing it on their 1996 Mic City Sons album:
I got a call from someone who was putting the soundtrack together and he asked me if he could use the song. I was blown away, and very excited to be asked. At the time, my band mate Elliott Smith had a few solo songs in Good Will Hunting and was having enormous success from it. I thought it was cool that one of mine got to be in a movie, too.
I remember I went to see the movie by myself at a multiplex in Portland, it was out at the same time as Good Will Hunting, and I walked passed 3 theaters showing GWH, all the way to the very end of the hall where the smallest theater was, and sat down with about half a dozen other people to see Zero Effect. I thought the movie was awesome.
Heatmiser broke up shortly after we made that record and I started a new band called No. 2. I used the money I made from having my song in this film to pay for the recording sessions of our first record "No Memory."
Gust recalls the scene in which his song is used in the film:
[I]t's played in a scene where Ben Stiller is sitting at the bar, and the song sounds like it's coming from the Juke Box. they filmed it at this grimy club called Satyricon that had a magnificent juke box of all-local bands. It was a triumph for a band to get one of their records on it. Ironically, Heatmiser never actually made it on to the real juke box.
It took me a while to realize it was my song when I was watching the movie. My first reaction was that my voice sounded way off key. It was almost impossible for me to pay attention to the movie while it was playing, I was so distracted by how weird I thought it sounded.
Looking back ten years to the song's inclusion in the film, and twelve years to its official release on the Heatmiser album, Gust appreciates his musical work product.
"I like that song, I like the way we recorded it, and I like the story it tells," Gust recalls. "I read a description of the song in a record review that I really liked, they said the song sounded like a cowboy hanging his hat on a hook at the end of a long day, and his head comes off with it."
Tomorrow: In tomorrow's coverage of the Zero Effect tenth anniversary, Chronological Snobbery focuses on Dan Bern's unreleased song "Zero Effect" and offers a new interview with folk musician Bern thereupon.
Above: The title card for 1998's Zero Effect.
This week marks the tenth anniversary of Zero Effect, a quirky flick set in Portland, Oregon and originally released (and mostly overlooked) on January 30, 1998. Written and directed by Jake Kasdan (son the famed of Lawrence Kasdan), the film is an offbeat detective story allegedly based on an old Sherlock Holmes story (or so the online sources say). Considering the nature and tone of the film, it should be mentioned in the same breath as The Big Lebowski and Napoleon Dynamite, but even in the era of DVD and that medium's ability to turn a previously ignored film into a cult movie, the fates have not truly bestowed that kindness upon this film.
The film stars Bill Pullman as the brilliant and mysterious Daryl Zero, Ben Stiller as his dutiful assistant Steve Arlo, Ryan O'Neal as corrupt businessman and Zero client Gregory Stark, Kim Dickens as paramedic and Zero love interest Gloria Sullivan, and Angela Featherstone as Arlo's long suffering girlfriend Jess, who just wants Arlo to quit Zero's employ.
Above: Daryl Zero (Bill Pullman) and Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller).
In the film's tagline, Zero is billed as "the world's most private detective." He is an introvert and a hermit who uses Arlo as his eyes and ears in the world. Although uneven in some places, the script offers a tale of blackmail and the consequences of decisions long ago made. Stark, through Arlo, hires Zero to investigate a series of threatening letters he has received regarding some vague offense the nature of which he won't share. Meanwhile, Arlo, faces pressure from his girlfriend, Jess, who doesn't appreciate his time away and his strange relationship with Zero. To solve the case, Zero must leave his comfort zone as an observer and interact with Sullivan. It is the performances that make the film worth watching: Stiller as Arlo, Zero's trusted, though exhausted, sidekick, and Zero himself, played wonderfully by Pullman. His delivery of the lines is perfectly deadpan at times, as it is in his philosophy of investigation:
Now, a few words on looking for things. When you go looking for something specific, your chances of finding it are very bad. Because of all the things in the world, you're only looking for one of them. When you go looking for anything at all, your chances of finding it are very good. Because of all the things in the world, you're sure to find some of them.
If the authenticity of this purported 1998 chat transcript is to be believed, Pullman described Zero as follows shortly before the film's release: "[He is] a brilliant detective . . . [who] may have a little amphetamine problem and [has] never kissed the girl. . . . It's a Sherlock Holmes story for the 90's. Ben Stiller is my Watson, my lawyer Arlo."
Lebowski, for its part, was least just over a month later, in the first week of March of 1998. Like that film, this too is a movie about an odd detective, although Zero is a hyper-eccentric introvert rather than a relic from 1960s counterculture. But Lebowski has endured, and become a part of the pop culture landscape in a way that Zero Effect simply has not.
Tuesday (1/29): The Soundtrack (An exploration of the film's official soundtrack, featuring new interviews with Esthero, Neil Gust of Heatmiser, Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers, and Chris Stillwell and Michael Andrews of the Greyboy Allstars).
Wednesday (1/30): Dan Bern's Unreleased Title Track (Featuring a new interview with folk musician Dan Bern regarding his unreleased song, "Zero Effect," a tune told from the point of view of Gloria Sullivan, the Kim Dickens character)
Thursday (1/31): The Television Pilot (Featuring about as much information as can be assembled from public sources about the 2002 failed television pilot based on the film and a handful of interviews with people associated with that project)
Friday (2/1): Behind the Scenes (Featuring new interviews with members of the film's supporting cast, day players, and technical crew about the making of the film)
Above: Arlo (Stiller) talks business with Gregory Stark (Ryan O'Neal).
Excerpts from their posts are included below, but readers can click upon the accompanying links in order to peruse the full review and commentary of these contributors:
"The highlight of the movie is Pullman's performance as the neurotic Zero - a pretzel hoarding, power ballad writing recluse who can solve mysteries of global import with a single phone call. The role of Zero maybe the high-point of Pullman's career, where we usually see him suffering in second-banana roles or cheesy cliched movies [like the president in Independence Day]. I had my doubts about the movie when I saw that Pullman was the lead, but he pulls off the role brilliantly. Equally good is Ben Stiller's performance as Steve Arlo, Zero's utterly flummoxed assistant. I think Kasdan, who also wrote the movie, did the audience a disservice by not involving Stiller's character more into the plot. Instead, Arlo is relegated to comedic relief - if that's possible in a comedy." Digital Boy, "A Look Back: Zero Effect," Ramblings of a 21st Century Digital Boy, (1/27/08).
"The similarities between 'A Scandal in Bohemia' and Zero Effect run deeper than general theme . . . [I]n both stories, blackmail, though perhaps justified, is the crime, the blackmailer's secret is revealed during a false fire alarm, a mutual respect emerges between detective and blackmailer, and they meet only while the detective is in disguise (though cunningly identified by blackmailer). When Zero first meets Gloria, he asks her if she is a paramedic; puzzled, she affirms the claim, then asks him how he knew. Zero replies, 'I'm very intuitive.' Later, we learn, in a typically Holmesian display of 'deduction,' that it was from the very distinctive smell of iodine that Zero inferred her prior presence in a hospital or ambulance. Likewise, in 'A Scandal in Bohemia,' Holmes "deduces" that Watson has returned to medical practice from a similar smell . . . ." - Horus Kemwer, "The Method of Daryl Zero," Against the Modern World, (1/27/08).
Above: Zero (Pullman) woos Gloria Sullivan (Kim Dickens), or vice versa.
Above: Zero (Pullman) and Arlo (Stiller) walk and talk shop.
"Perhaps these characters had lived in Kasdan's head too long as a writer, and as a director, he was unable to get the performances out of his seasoned cast. Fresh out of school and with a father like Lawrence Kasdan to call in favors, movies can get made. Perhaps had Kasdan waited a bit before bringing this movie to the screen, the movie would have found its footing. . . . My guess is that I am missing something here that has kept the film alive with a certain group of fans. But on a second viewing, there's still not much to pull me in. For a movie that seems to think it has some great characters, they seem derivative. For a movie that ostensibly is about deduction and detecting a mystery, the plot just isn't really engaging enough to really feel like the greatest challenge of the career of Daryl Zero, which it must be, lest why would the movie exist?" - The League, "Zero Effect - 10 Years Later," The League of Melbotis, (1/27/08).
Above: The lovely Gloria Sullivan (Dickens) at the gym.
Above: Arlo (Stiller) and his girlfriend, Jess (Angela Featherstone).
Above: Gloria Sullivan (Dickens) in a noirish pose.
Contemporary critical response in 1998 was tepid. Noting that "the brilliant nerd hero from the Pacific Northwest is overdue in movies," Janet Maslin of The New York Times, writing on the day of the film's release, described Zero as "an aging hippie Sherlock Holmes with the household habits of a Howard Hughes." Yet in Maslin's opinion, the film could not overcome certain hurdles: "For all its admirable ambitions, this loosely focused first feature has the makings of a better buddy story than detective tale anyhow." Two weeks before, on January 12, 1998, Harvey S. Karten, in a review posted on rec.arts.movies.reviews, wrote:
Yet for all its wisecracks and mock-noir ambiance, "The Zero Effect" comes across as a minor movie, one which does not utilize the considerable talents of Bill Pullman and a puffy Ryan O'Neal. The scene in Zero's quarters that features the detective strumming wildly on his guitar while standing on his mattress is almost an embarrassment. For his part, Ben Stiller comes across as so stiff he is virtually lifeless. You wonder how this guy, who should have had the name "Zero," would be courted heavily by his seductive girl friend Jess (Angela Featherstone), whom he virtually ignores whenever his boss calls him away on an assignment however absurd.
As a cinema-goer, I have often wondered what it must be like for an actor or director to wake up on the morning that their latest film is released. Was the film shot so long ago that on the day of its ultimate release, they feel overly distant from it? Is it like a campaign volunteer waking up on election day knowing that all the work is (mostly) done and the rest is in the hands of the fates? Do they grimace knowing that there remain more publicity and marketing duties? Does it matter whether they are proud of it?
Above: Stark (Ryan O'Neal) is apprehensive.
I suspect that Pullman, Stiller, Kasdan, and Dickens were proud enough of Zero Effect (although they probably knew it was far too quirky to attract mainstream attention). Ten years later, though, the film has only a slight presence on the Internets; it has no Wiki, it has few pages dedicated to its remembrance. None of its catchphrases have been invoked in any of the rapidly coming and going Internet memes. (Although at least one person has attempted a Daryl Zero separated at birth post, while another has created a Daryl Zero MySpace profile.). Some time ago, one Liz Crisostomo created an online gallery of Zero's various identities including Nick Carmine, Mitchell Hodgemeyer, Harold Burgess, and Sergio Knight. Crisostomo also includes links to 1998 press coverage.
But there is little else.
