“NOBODY WALKS” A STUDY OF DESIRE, ATTRACTION

Gerrad Hall October 19, 2012 No Comments

Anyone familiar with the hit HBO series “Girls” knows the name Lena Dunham (and if you aren’t, get familiar quickly because you’re missing out). The creator, writer, director of several episodes and star of the comedy centered on four women in New York City (think “Sex and the City” but younger – these characters in their 20s – with a different tone and very different stories) tackles real issues with sarcasm, truth, a nice dose of dramatic reality and some big laughs along the way.

Before Dunham hit it big with “Girls” – which just earned the 26-year-old four Emmy® nominations for Best Comedy, Lead Actress, Writing and Directing – she wrote the screenplay for Nobody Walks with Ry Russo-Young, who also directed the movie opening in New York and Los Angeles this weekend.

Nobody Walks Thirlby NOBODY WALKS A STUDY OF DESIRE, ATTRACTION

Like ”Girls,” this story also centers on interesting female characters, specifically the lead role, Martine, played by Olivia Thirlby.

“I hadn’t really read a script like this before, and I thought that it was very funny, but also very quiet in a way that I really, really liked,” Thirlby told The Seven Sees. She says she had known about the script for a couple years and was excited that it came from the perspective of young women artists. ”It was already enticing and the character was slightly terrifying because she doesn’t do things that would necessarily endear people to her. That was a scary prospect, so I thought, ‘Oh, well I better do that.’”

Best known for playing the wise-cracking best friend of Ellen Page in Juno and seen most recently in Dredd opposite Karl Urban, subtlety is Thirlby’s magic trick in Nobody Walks where she takes center stage as a young artist oblivious to the strange desires she awakens in those around her. Nobody Walks Dewitt Krasinski NOBODY WALKS A STUDY OF DESIRE, ATTRACTION It happens to Peter and Julie – “The Office”‘s John Krasinski and Rosemarie DeWitt (Your Sister’s Sister, “United States of Tara”) – a couple she stays with as he helps her with a film project. As Peter and Martine’s time begins to turn unprofessional, Julie, a therapist, can’t help but find herself flattered by the kindness of her ex-husband (Dylan McDermott), and more so by the advances of a patient, played by Justin Kirk, who says the “voice” of the script was attractive to him. And like Thirlby, he was aware of it before it came his way.

“A circle of actor-friends were hot for it,” Kirk explained, “so I was very excited to get my hands on it and more excited to get the offer.”

While Kirk’s screenwriter character is trying to impress Julie, her teenage daughter, Kolt, is becoming increasing curious about her own sexuality thanks to the presence of her stepdad’s, David (Rhys Wakefield), who has his eyes on Martine as well.

“Lena and I were careful not to make the film a heavey-handed morality tale, with someone floating dead int he pool at the end to pay for the sins of the family,” Russo-Young explains of the movie that premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival and was up for the Grand Jury Drama Prize. ”We wanted to examine how people in loving relationships justify hurtful actions. Families go through rough times and compromise their trust in one another, and then life goes on, but nobody walks away unscathed.”

The Seven Sees takes a closer look at the story as Thirlby and Kirk examine the mentality of their characters and the places they go – aware or not – trying to make a connection.