William H. Macy directed Cinequest’s opening night movie.
For much of his distinguished acting career, William H. Macy distanced himself from the notion of directing. But that all changed when he became a regular on “Shameless,” the hit Showtime dramedy series in which he plays a drug-addled father struggling to raise his children.
“‘Shameless’ gave me a hiatus of six months every year, so I put the pedal on the metal to direct,” he said. “Before that, I didn’t want to — it pays less, and you work more. And I saw what pressure the directors were always under.”
Now, the Oscar-nominated actor of “Fargo” and third-time feature director is set to appear in the Bay Area on Tuesday, Feb. 27, with his new film, “Krystal,” which will open the Cinequest Film & VR Festival in Silicon Valley. He’s already a veteran of the festival, which honored him 15 years ago with its Maverick Spirit Award.
“The festival has been there for a long time,” Macy said, “and it’s particularly sweet to go back with a film that I directed.”
“Krystal,” which skillfully mixes broad comedy, genuine emotion and magical realism, tells the story of Southern boy Taylor Ogburn (Nick Robinson), whose heart condition has instilled doubts about whether he can enjoy life — and find love. But Taylor’s outlook changes when he meets Krystal (Rosario Dawson), a troubled woman twice his age. The formidable cast includes Kathy Bates, Felicity Huffman, William Fichtner, Grant Gustin, the rapper T.I., and Macy himself.
“It’s a profound farce about the nature of addiction, about how frightening life is,” Macy said. “It seems easy to medicate ourselves as we go along, yet it can come back to bite us. The film is a gentle look at this — it’s not ugly.
“You can have an addiction problem yourself, and still laugh during the film. It’s such a novel approach to the topic — and I hope that people watching will cut themselves kind of a break. It’s a brand-new take on how to look at it.”
Macy is no stranger to the indie film scene, having appeared in such classics as “Fargo,” “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia.” But helming an independent film like “Krystal” offered its own set of challenges.
“When you’re putting together the cast for an independent film,” he said, “all the actors say, ‘I love it. Just get Meryl Streep, and I’ll do it.’ ”
Macy and producer Rachel Winter assembled a high-powered cast for “Krystal,” but because the actors were in such high demand, their schedules were limited, and there was little time for rehearsals before the Georgia shoot.
One scene that did get rehearsed was an intricate, farcical sequence in which Krystal comes over to Taylor’s house to meet his family. The laugh-out-loud set-piece is filled with physical comedy — and a plot twist or two.
“Felicity (Huffman, Macy’s Oscar-nominated wife) got back to Atlanta and rehearsed with us on her own dime,” said Macy, who is also married to Huffman onscreen in “Krystal.” “She was off book and ready to kick butt. That got the cast ready to work.”
Macy, who enjoys playing his ukulele during lulls on set, said his approach to directing is to talk to the actors about what the scene is about, and what he feels is the most important moment of that scene.
And, of course, he said, “I would still chip in little acting bon mots: ‘Stand still, you’re fidgeting. And raise your voice. People whisper when they’re lying or having sex, so if you’re not having sex, speak up!’ ”
During filming, Macy had a telling moment with T.I., who plays Krystal’s zany boyfriend from the past.
“T.I. was great — he’s such an entrepreneur,” Macy said. “He would come to the set with his phone. It really bugged me. I told him not to bring it. He told me, ‘Bill, you have your ukulele. That’s your comfort. This phone is mine.’ ”
The phone stayed on set.
Macy said that in addition to the joy of working with actors, he has found that he relishes other parts of the directing process.
“I have the attention span of an actor — enough said — but I have been surprised to learn that I adore preproduction preparation, editing and postproduction. I really love solving problems. I quickly discovered that the solution is often more elegant than what was originally written.”
Having caught the directing bug — his previous efforts were “Rudderless” and “The Layover” — Macy wants to work with bigger budgets in the future.
“I need to have more control over the actors’ availability,” he said. “If I make a mistake, I want the time to fix it the next day. You obviously can’t do that a lot, but with independent films, you can’t really do that at all.”
Even before “Shameless,” Macy had worked alongside David Mamet and appeared in scores of notable films, but the TV series — for which he recently won a Screen Actors Guild Award — has proved to be another life-changing experience for him, both as an actor and a director.
“‘Shameless’ takes me out of my comfort zone on a regular basis,” he said. “I wish I had done it earlier. The actors on the show are ready to shoot when they arrive in the parking garage. Sometimes, when they call you on set, you don’t even go to the trailer — they bring the costumes out. We will do 10 pages in a day — that’s Harry Houdini territory.
“From the beginning, I knew I wanted to do it. I knew it was a great role for me — and I knew it was going to be fantastic. All eight seasons have been a joy.”
But as he continues to build on his directorial career, how many “Shameless” seasons does he have left in him?
“Ten’s a nice number,” he said. “Eleven has a certain symmetry. Thirteen’s always been my lucky number. My daughter’s 17. I don’t know. We’re already in extra innings now, because we were originally supposed to do seven. But with my mortgage, I’d like to do another few seasons.”