By TAYLOR VAN ARSDALE Special to the Daily Press
Despite the fact that she’s been to bed at 10 p.m. the past two nights in a row, Lori Petty’s feeling a bit worn out. It’s the stringent pace of festival craziness.
When I meet up with her, she’s just been to a photo shoot, so her makeup is perfect and her close-cropped hair is gelled to coiffure perfection; and had she not mentioned she was, “tired” I would never have suspected it.
You may remember Petty the actress portraying the youthful kid sister, Kit Keller in Penny Marshall’s “A League of Their Own” screaming gleefully while jumping into Geena Davis’s arms yelling, “I’m a Peach!” Sixteen years later, her enthusiasm is every bit as infectious, and her vibrant blue eyes sparkle as she discusses her directorial debut “The Poker House.”
She is all at once genuinely thrilled, grateful and excited that her film has been deemed worthy of the 2008 L.A. Film Festival. Though technically not her first piece — she directed “Horrible Accident” in 2001 which she quickly dismisses saying, “It was just a short … shot in my own house, it wasn’t even a real movie” — “The Poker House,” set in the 1970s, is a real movie; real and visceral because it is based on actual events that transpired during Petty’s tumultuous youth.
Her coming-of-age story, co-written with longtime friend, actor and comedian David Alan Grier, revolves around Agnes (Jennifer Lawrence), a dirt-poor Iowan teenager living with her junkie mother (Selma Blair), as she strives for normalcy during her formative years. Agnes juggles schoolwork, high school basketball games, an after-school job and the prospect of falling in love, while protecting her two younger sisters from the pimps and addicts who frequent her residence for nightly “Poker Parties” replete with drugs, booze and hookers.
It’s not quite the picture-perfect home, however this background imbued Petty with experiences that she’s been able utilize to her advantage; filling her with an emotional reservoir she has been able to tap into and parlay into a notable acting career.
Her first film, “Cadillac Man” had her sharing screen time with Robin Williams, whom Petty credits as her, “best acting teacher.” After a scene wrapped, Petty noticed Williams continued crying off camera.
Petty says, “That’s when I learned just give 100 percent always. The more you give the more you have to give. People think there’s a finite amount [of giving] but there’s not.”
Director Penny Marshall taught her to, “hire really good people and let them do their thing.” Petty refuses to micromanage.
This ability to trust combined with an innate actor’s sensibility evident in Petty’s direction allows her to elicit fine performances with the gentle nuance of an industry pro. Indeed it’s no surprise that Lawrence won the LAFF award for “Outstanding Performance in the Narrative Competition” or that Blair’s performance is both startling and magnificent. Of it all, Petty modesty says, “I let the actors do what they want then reel them in or give them direction only when absolutely necessary.”
Midway through the film, a scene depicts the betrayal and brutal rape that took place in Petty’s past. Petty, “only filmed from the shoulders up,” but such is the skill of Petty’s direction (as of the actors) that you will swear the scene is more graphic than it actually is.
And though a dark tale, “The Poker House” is also an incredibly moving, loving and hope-filled piece, and Petty is keenly aware that her film has become an emotional outlet for victims of rape.
“Women come up to me all the time saying, ‘I’ve never told anyone this’ … and I listen.”
It makes you speculate how someone with such a troubled past, has been able to overcome such tragic obstacles but Petty, a heartfelt optimist, intuitively says, “I’m blessed that I had the clarity to know that I am not what happens to me … that we don’t have to carry [our] baggage around.”
These days, Petty has a great relationship with her mother who is now clean and sober. In addition to her upcoming film projects, Petty, an accomplished artist, has been invited to participate in the 2009 Florence Biennale of which she is extraordinarily proud to be a part. Next to look forward to: Sabian Glover’s attached to a project Petty describes as “The Way We Were” with tap dancing.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 19, 2008. Read the original PDF.