Marsh viewed Petit as a European performance artist seeking his ultimate opportunity in the U.S. - just as Marsh did when he came here from his native England. (Sadly, he now finds it easier to make films in Europe, so he's going back.)
Burstein's high school years were the turning point of her life: She decided to focus on filmmaking after a junior year abroad, in Spain. She chronicled the senior year of a handful of high schoolers, both to revisit her own past and to see what kids were doing right now.
Burstein based American Teen in the Midwest, because she felt the region had a timeless, universal quality "and that anything that happened in that part of the country could happen anywhere in the country." She picked Warsaw, Indiana, because she wanted a town that was economically diverse and had a single high school "to make it that much more of a social pressure cooker."
Her goal was "finding people who felt they needed to accomplish something; if they feel that need, in all likelihood, their year will follow a dramatic arc." Burstein didn't seek to assemble a jock and a nerd, a mean girl and an art wonk. "All these people have sides that don't fit into the stereotype."
Her boldest stroke was to interlace the kids' stories with animation that depicts their inner lives; humorously and movingly, a social misfit morphs into a medieval warrior out of some sword-and-sorcery video game. Her teens provided candid interviews that supplied the cartoons with narration of all their dreams and fears.
American Teen derives potency from its unstated "back story" as much any fictional comedy-drama. In a sense, the back story of the movie is Burstein's involvement with the kids, which went beyond holding a camera to their faces. For a movie that features parents who don't know their own strength when imposing their desires on their kids, Burstein became an off-screen aunt, big sister or family friend, always ready to lend an ear.
The back story of Man on Wire was director Marsh's creative courtship of that visionary athlete-artist Petit. Marsh's recognition that Petit is a "superhero" who performs without the benefit of gamma rays or an iron suit helped him win the chance to put Petit's incredible saga on screen.
"I persuaded him with a lot of wine," says Marsh, with a laugh. "He knew I wanted to get his ideas and use his energy and engagement to bring his story to life. Many people in New York first encounter the tale of this Frenchman walking between the towers as one in the family of New York stunts. But it's really about an artistic performance made possible by a conspiracy. I always saw this as a suspense film: a thriller."
