Maggie Betts
The
“Novitiate” Interview
with
Kam Williams
Betting
on Maggie!
Maggie
Betts is a native New Yorker and graduate of Princeton University. In
2011, she completed her first documentary, The Carrier, chronicling
the plight of an HIV+ pregnant woman in rural Zambia. After
premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, the film went on to play in
numerous other locales on the festival circuit.
In
2014, Maggie finished her first short film, Engram, about the
romantic nature of memory. Here, she talks about writing and
directing Novitiate, which marks her feature-length narrative debut.
Kam
Williams: Hi
Maggie. I'm honored to have this opportunity to speak with you.
Maggie
Betts:
Oh,
thank you so much for wanting to speak with me, Kam. Actually, it's a
pleasure.
KW:
The
movie's amazing. And congratulations on winning the Breakthrough
Director award at Sundance.
MB:
Thank you. Thanks a lot.
KW:
What inspired you to write Novitiate? After all, it takes place
before you were even born, in the Sixties, during a period of
upheaval in Catholicism because of the modernizing changes in the
church as a result of the Second Ecumenical Council, better known as
Vatican II.
.
MB:
It was
all sort of accidental. About six years ago, I picked up this
biography of Mother Teresa in an airport, just because I was curious
about her. The book was really just a collection of letters she had
written over the course of her life. The book is beautiful.
KW:
They
made it into a movie called The Letters.
MB:
I
haven't seen the movie yet, but I heard it's great. All the letters
were focused on her love relationship with God. It was intense,
powerful and, at times, completely debilitating, and at other times,
completely uplifting. The book was truly a love story. I had never
really conceptualized the fact that someone could have an intense and
complicated love relationship with God. And I hadn't even known that
nuns were married to God. So, just that one concept, which really
moved me, inspired me to do lots and lots of research. I started
reading memoirs by ex-nuns.
KW:
I would
guess they're pretty rare.
MB:
No,
there are way more than you would ever imagine. Most of the more
popular ones were coming-of-age memoirs written by women who left
right around the time of Vatican II. Initially, I was just curious
about the lives of nuns, so i bought all these books. But then
Vatican II emerged as an inescapable element of that history and that
story, sort of like the result of the domino effect of the research.
KW:
Well,
the film certainly feels very authentic, as it offers such a rich and
revealing look into this Sister Cathleen's life. It made me think it
might be based on a real-life person.
MB:
It took
all the common elements out of 30 or 40 biographies. The nuns'
individual stories are very different, yet there are certain themes
that run throughout. So, I kinda compiled all these memoirs and
created my own story from their common experiences by exploring the
common themes.
KW:
How did
you manage to craft such a convincing tale?
MB:
Although
I didn't go through the training to become a nun back in the Sixties,
and I'm not even religious, there's something universal about that
coming-of-age moment that's no different in this movie than it would
be for a young woman who goes off to college or for a year-long trip
to a foreign country. It's the age when you're sort of figuring out
who you are. That's what transpires in this movie, and it just
happens to take place in the context of a convent.
KW:
What
message do you hope people will take away from the film?
MB:
I
really just want people to come away from the film thinking, "These
are really complicated women." I wanted to present an
alternative to the one-dimensional images of nuns presented in pop
culture. What I learned from my research was that they're incredibly
fascinating women leading complicated lives. There's a whole canon of
films that, as soon as you see a nun in a habit, has you conjuring up
an image of someone who's really holy, or really mean. In truth,
they're dynamic women with a whole range of emotions and personas.
I'll never look at nuns the same way again. And when you realize how
tough their lives were, your admiration for their commitment to their
faith becomes undying. I do hope that people who see the film feel a
deep admiration for this lost community of women which is pretty much
dying out now.
KW:
I
certainly have them to thank for my excellent education from
kindergarten through 8th grade.
MB:
We
don't credit their academic achievements enough. But it was really
nuns who, from the turn of the 20th Century, advanced the entire
Catholic school system which, by the Fifties and Sixties, was the
best private education you could get in this country. They were
incredible educators and achievers. The parochial school system was
pretty amazing.
KW:
Editor/Legist
Patricia Turnier says: Given that your latest film concerns women,
I'd love to raise this issue with a female director: In 2010, at the
Academy Awards, Kathryn Bigelow broke the glass ceiling with her
movie, The Hurt Locker. She became the first woman in history to win
an Academy Award for Best Director. The Canadian filmmaker Deepa
Mehta had earned a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination in
2007. Her movie, Water, which focused on women issues.
What do you think it will take for female filmmakers to get greater
recognition for projects focusing on women’s issues?
MB:
Look,
52 or 53% of the population is women. So, first and foremost, women
should support films made by women and movies with female narratives.
If the Hollywood system sees that it can profit from female-centric
stories, then they will start making more of them. There's a
confusing belief that movies made by women for women about women
aren't going to make money. But there's no basis for that thinking,
and everything from Bridesmaids to Wonder Woman to Girls Trip keeps
proving otherwise. Women just need to keep going to female-driven
films to keep showing Hollywood that these are the pictures that we
like.
KW:
Patricia
also says: I am from a generation that grew up with plenty of
biracial people. Beyond the Lights was the first movie I saw where
the main character of the film, an African-American woman, had a
white mother. I think we do not see enough diversity in movies. Do
you have any desire to develop stories related to that in your future
projects? If so, is there one in particular dear to your heart?
MB:
Yes,
I'm actually the product of a biracial marriage. The other project I
considered before committing to Novitiate was Loving. I'm sure
Patricia's familiar with it. [Director] Jeff Nichols ended up making
a beautiful movie. Being biracial in this day and age, when you get
to the topic of race, you really want to say something powerful. So,
it's a subject that I'm really looking forward to dealing with, but
it needs to be exactly right in terms of what I have to share, coming
from my unique background.
KW:
Was
there a meaningful spiritual component to your childhood?
MB:
Yes, my mother's deeply religious. My dad's somewhat religious, too,
but he didn't want to waste any time he had with his kids, since he
worked really hard and only had the weekends with us. But going to
church and being active in her religion was so important to my mom
that I was well aware of her relationship with God. As a child, I
interpreted it as her longing for this other person. In a way, I made
Novitiate for my mom, in order to investigate what that loss meant to
her. Spirituality was a part of my life from very early on. I was
always talking to God, even though I didn't go to church.
KW:
Patricia
wants to know whether Novitiate will be presented at any more film
festivals with cast members in attendance?
MB:
I know
that we're showing the picture in quite a number of film festivals
and that I'm going to one in Poland, but I don't actually have the
answer to that question. If you pay attention to Sony Pictures
Classics' Facebook page and website, you'll get some answers. They
update them pretty regularly.
KW:
Ling-Ju Yen asks: What
is your earliest childhood memory?
MB:
I
vaguely remember going to the circus and being so excited and happy
when I was about 4. What I remember most about it was playing with
this toy that had the Ringling Bros logo on it,
KW:
Harriet Pakula-Teweles asks: Is there a classic film you'd like to
remake?
MB:
[Chuckles]
Part of me was remaking my own version of The Nun's Story with
Novitiate. It was one of my favorite movies growing up. As a kid, I
was obsessed with Audrey Hepburn. I still am. She was my favorite.
She was an icon I just fixated on. Halfway through writing Novitiate,
I realized I was trying to write my own contemporary version of The
Nun's Story. [Laughs some more] But I don't think there's a classic
film I'd like to remake because I love the originals so much. What I
like about a film the most is the director's vision and viewpoint,
which is better than anyone else could do, because it's so specific
to them.
KW:
Finally,
Samuel L. Jackson asks: What’s in your wallet?
MB:
Well,
there's some money, not much, my driver's license, a lot of business
cards, and that's it.
KW:
Thanks
again for the time, Maggie, and I hope to get you on the phone again
soon, because I have a lot more questions for you.
MB:
Any
time, Kam. You know where to find me. Thanks.
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