Building a Stock Company of Regular Actors
One of the great attractions of Joe Dante’s films is the trust he has built with actors over many years. The late Dick Miller held a special place among them, appearing in almost every feature film since Hollywood Boulevard in 1976. Miller enriched Dante’s films with his striking presence and humor, playing Mr. Futterman in the Gremlins series and the bookstore owner in The Howling, among other roles.
Other regulars include Robert Picardo, Kevin McCarthy, and Belinda Balaski. They may not be flashy, but their reliable performances and distinctive appearances support the worlds of these films. Dante knew their strengths well and enjoyed casting them in roles tailored to their abilities. These familiar faces give his films a distinctive, congenial sense of unity, and spotting favorite actors has become part of the enjoyment for fans.
A Directing Style Built on Trust in Actors
Dante’s directing style is based on deep trust in his actors. Dick Miller recalled, “The director hardly ever interferes on set; he trusts the actors and lets them perform freely.” He does not demand excessive takes, either. His quick approach to shooting, learned from Roger Corman and summed up as “We don’t do a second take unless the camera falls over,” felt comfortable to veteran actors.
Dante takes the same approach when working with stars such as Tom Hanks and Dennis Quaid. He said that making Innerspace was a “wonderful experience” thanks to its leads, and the relaxed atmosphere on set enhanced the film’s appeal. This trust in actors and willingness to leave things to them produce the free, uninhibited performances in Dante’s work. His openness to respecting actors’ individual strengths and his precise casting instincts stand out as features of his direction.
An Ideal Musical Collaboration with Jerry Goldsmith
Dante’s collaboration with composer Jerry Goldsmith was a particularly noteworthy relationship in his filmmaking. Goldsmith teamed up with Dante on nine films, from Piranha, The Howling, and Gremlins to Small Soldiers and Matinee. Dante was an ardent fan of Goldsmith and trusted him so completely that, when a scene was not going as planned on set, he would jokingly say, “Jerry will surely find a way to make it work in the end.”
Goldsmith’s music did much to enhance the appeal of the films. The eerie yet comic theme of Gremlins and the thrilling score of Innerspace harmonize perfectly with the images. Dante and Goldsmith’s collaboration is frequently cited as an example of an ideal relationship between director and composer. Even after Goldsmith’s death in 2004, Dante has continued paying homage to him in his work.
A Creative Philosophy Rooted in Personal Experience
Dante’s creative philosophy rests on the belief that he should “make what I would want to see as an audience member.” Born in 1946 and coming of age in the 1960s, he grew up against the upheaval of the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement. Those experiences are reflected throughout his work in skepticism toward authority and a countercultural perspective. Matinee directly draws on his childhood memories of anxiety during the Cuban Missile Crisis and his enthusiasm for monster movies.
His experience as an enthusiastic film fan since childhood is another important element. Years spent watching classic monster and science-fiction films in grindhouse theaters became the source of his style of reconstructing fragments and images from earlier films, as reflected in his own words: “I draw ideas from the treasure trove of images accumulated in my head.” Dante’s films are more than exercises in nostalgia; they function as “a mirror of the present through the popular culture of the past.” By combining the spirit of classic B movies with contemporary entertainment, he hopes to let audiences relive the excitement and thrills of childhood.
