{"id":9060,"date":"2014-02-27T06:12:58","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T06:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.modernfix.com.php72-4.lan3-1.websitetestlink.com\/uncategorized\/ayer\/"},"modified":"2014-02-27T06:12:58","modified_gmt":"2014-02-27T06:12:58","slug":"ayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernfix.com\/interviews-2\/ayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: director David Ayer – (“Harsh Times”, “Training Day”)"},"content":{"rendered":"

(this issue appeared in issue #4 of Modern Fix Magazine in 2001)
\n*note: His next film he was working on at the time of this interview was ‘Training Day’ with this new kid Ethan Hawke.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

interview by Dan Soulsby<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Harsh Times a play by David Ayer
\nSundance Institute – Screenplay Reading Series
\nMonday, October 16, 2000<\/b><\/p>\n

I rolled into the small Silent Theatre on Fairfax expecting to be a bit bored on Monday, I even sat on the end of the row to take off if the reading was slow. What I found was a deeper understanding of writing and characters.<\/b><\/p>\n

The theatre is nestled a block south of Melrose and is cozy and warm. The walls are littered with black and white photos of silent film stars. Two small pianos sit at the bottom of the stage to accompany the films shown there nightly. However, there was no film tonight. There were no special effects, no blocking, no action sequences, nothing but nine actors crouched in black folding chairs reading from a script they all rehearsed together for the first time four hours ago.<\/p>\n

The script was written six years ago by David Ayer who also directed the performance. Since that time Ayer has found himself atop the Hollywood A-list. His credits include U571 and Training Day, which will star Denzel Washington and will begin shooting this January.<\/p>\n

This piece is based on the events of himself and his homeboy Blue during rough times in the mid nineties. With some well placed fiction, Ayer weaves a tale so thick and rich no one even tasted the free cookies served afterwards. The story takes us through a few days in the life of two young men from LA. One wonder-bread white boy named Jim and one Hispanic named Mike. Struggling to find jobs and love the pair encounter street gangs, stolen guns, stolen weed, drug deals, beer consumption and death. Jim recently out of the Army Rangers is looking to become a law man and begins testing at the Drug Enforcement Agency. His cohort Mike tries desperately to land any job and settle his ‘ol lady down in the meantime. We watch the pair drift apart as Jim begins to slowly go mad under the pressures and reality of the killing he did as a soldier. Instead of the classic “growth” of a character during a movie, we see a downward spiral of deception and loss. Jim begins as a likeable gringo but ends up hurting everyone around him and destroying himself in the process. Think: Blood in Blood Out meets Reservoir Dogs meets Cheech & Chong (any one). It’s humorous, it’s emotional, and it’s raw.<\/p>\n

After the show, I was able to talk with Ayer sitting up in the balcony of his Hollywood Hills pad overlooking downtown. He’s honest and down to earth and remarkably candid in this town of ‘players’.<\/p>\n

How did you like the actors performance tonight?<\/b>
\nDavid: I was utterly amazed. The rehearsal went great, and my confidence went way up, but there was fucking magic on that stage. The actors all had a solid instinctual grasp on the characters, and then I was able to give them little insights into roles. Backstories, attitudes, whatever wasn’t on the page that I thought would help. The trick is not telling them how to do it, but why. During the performance I could see the direction take root in the performances. My main goal was to entertain the audience and it happened. People were laughing their asses off. It’s really hard edged humor, a lot of beer drinking guy talk and the women in the audience ate it up, “Oh, that’s what men say were not around.”<\/p>\n

Where does this story come from? <\/b>
\nDavid: My sordid past. There was a time in my mid-twenties when I was just fucking lost. I wasn’t working, I was living in a shitty gang neighborhood near Downtown L.A. and me and my best friend just hung out, driving around South Central drinking beer. Total escapism. We thought we knew how everything worked and liked to challenge our streetsmarts. We were fearless, or stupid, or both.<\/p>\n