Farley doc celebrates life
Filmmakers didn’t want to focus on addictions
As the directors of the new documentary “I Am Chris Farley” put it, the film doesn’t follow the late comedy star into the “dark room.”
While it delves into the addiction issues that led to his drug overdose death at age 33 in December 1997, it doesn’t dwell on them.
“That story has been told in the tabloids,” says Brent Hodge, who directed with Derik Murray.
“You look up Chris Farley on Google, you’re going to see all that if you want to see it. It’s not the story we wanted to tell.
“We really wanted to celebrate this guy’s life.”
The Canadian Press recently spoke with Hodge and Murray by phone about the starstudded doc, which opens Friday in Toronto and airs Sept. 7 on The Movie Network and Movie Central:
CP: How did this documentary come to be?
Murray: I guess it really started about 18 months ago. I reached out to Kevin Farley (Chris Farley’s brother) through a mutual individual, a friend of mine in Los Angeles. I went down and spent time with Farley.... And Kevin, basically after a few meetings, felt that the film that we wanted to make was the film that the family would absolutely support.
CP: He seems to come from this really all-American family. They were a strong unit, they were wholesome.
Hodges: Yeah, Americanarama, as his sister says, exactly what you dreamed of in the 1960s.... They had it all: They went to summer camp and they were educated, they went to Marquette (University). They were all lawyers and bankers, the Farleys, and dad owned a Scotch Oil business.
But Chris decided to be the one that got into theatre. They had no theatre background in the Farley family but clearly he was a ready-to-be-made star. The guy was just talented from Day 1.
CP: The interviews, some of them are so emotional. What does that say, then, that these individuals have been speaking about him for years and it’s still a highly emotional topic for them?
Hodges: I think that shows Chris’s work and how loved he was in Hollywood amongst these guys. And also just the fact that he died 18 years ago and it’s a tragic death, so they get to have some closure by bringing it up and talking about it. All of the interviews were very difficult but they got through it because ... they wanted to pay tribute to a friend.
CP: Some people have said that this takes a lighter approach to his drug and alcohol problems. Was that an intentional approach you wanted to take with this?
Murray: Definitely, yeah, absolutely. Brent and I, right from Day 1, that’s where we wanted to go. We wanted people to get people to know who he was and where he came from and where this comedic spirit came from. We don’t run away from the addictions, we just don’t make that the focus.
CP: Is there a lesson to be learned from his life?
Hodges: I think one of them is even just ‘go for your dreams.’ Truly, go for it. That’s one thing Chris did. When he was onstage, he went for it 110 per cent.
Murray: One of the things that I came away with as well was ‘give of yourself.’ ... Chris all the way through is recognized as this guy that wants you to shine just as brightly as he does. He doesn’t want to step in your spotlight. He wants to be there beside you, and boy in a world we live in, that’s not always the case.