ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Alex Mechanik worked side by side with wife Samy Burch on short films before the two broke through with ‘May December,’ and his debut feature ‘This Is the One They’ll Remember Me By’ finds him directing alone, with Samy credited for the story. He recounts how they divided the early groundwork and why this was the project to steer himself. The role of Robin Beck was imagined for his friend O-Lan Jones, a character actress long overdue for a showcase, and he describes when she learned about it and how it changed the character.
Instead of a locked script, Alex wrote a skeletal outline that left the cast room to riff, a looseness inspired by his love of improvised television comedy, and he says just how bare that outline was on day one. Keith Carradine, Ray Wise, Aidy Bryant, and Charles Melton all play themselves, and he marks the boundary between poking fun at their public images and keeping them inside Robin’s reality. Cinematographer Lance Bangs lends the convention scenes the immediacy of nonfiction, and Alex explains how far that raw feel went before the film eased toward conventional storytelling, along with how grainy tape footage from Robin’s earlier career was shaped into her own recollections.
Umberto Smerilli’s sweeping orchestral music plays against that imagery, and Alex answers whether it mirrors the grandeur Robin imagines for her own life or gently teases the awkwardness around her. He also explains why the story follows someone who has already tasted fame instead of a newcomer fighting to be noticed. The closing tribute to Paul Bartel and Jackie Burch carries personal weight for a film so preoccupied with being remembered and loving the work.
(Photo credit: Lance Bangs)
