"Get Low" would represent a high point in many a show-business career.
After all, the 1930s-era fable features some pretty well-known — if supposedly "past their prime" — stars. They include 70-something Robert Duvall, 60-something Sissy Spacek and 50-something Bill Murray.
And for Spacek, making the drama was "both an honor and a thrill." She had clear affection in her voice as she talked about working with co-stars "Bobby (Duvall)" and "Billy (Murray)."
"I would have been happy just to share the screen with one of these wonderful gentlemen, but being there with both of them was ridiculously good luck."
But Duvall insisted that Spacek was just being "modest."
"She's a pro's pro and a real sweetheart. We're the ones who lucked out by having her around to make us look better," he added with a wink.
The three actors all spoke with the Deseret News in brief interviews at the film's red-carpet premiere during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Duvall stars as Felix Bush, a hermit who wants to pay for his funeral — and an accompanying "funeral party" — while he is still alive. Murray plays Frank Quinn, a local funeral director who helps Felix stage the "wake." Spacek co-stars as Mattie Darrow, one of the reclusive Bush's longtime friends.
Filmmaker Aaron Schneider won an Oscar in 2004 for the short film "Two Soldiers." But the cinematographer-turned-director said that "paled in comparison" to his feature filmmaking debut.
What he called "dream casting" certainly helped make the experience even better.
"Obviously, when you read a script, you see certain people in certain roles, or at least hear their voices," he said. "We were lucky enough that we got nearly everyone we were trying to land for the movie."
(Schneider was also in Salt Lake City for "Get Low's" U.S. debut and gave a brief interview.)
Fortunately, Duvall was keen to play Bush, a character that he said "really spoke" to him.
"And that's a good thing, because my character doesn't talk a whole lot in the movie," he chuckled.
"Really, I enjoy quiet character moments, and playing a guy who doesn't like to talk was an interesting challenge for me."
And besides, that meant more lines of dialogue could go to Murray, who is "as cynical as he is shrewd."
"I think my character is a lot like the audience," he said. "Frank wants to believe that Felix is sincere but is still skeptical about why he wants to have a wake while he's still alive."
Still, Schneider says that making the film was not without its risks. As he explained, there aren't a lot of studios willing to take chance on a film that features actors who might be seen — by Hollywood standards — as being "over the hill."
However, the film's producers quickly sold its distribution rights to Sony Pictures Classics on the strength of early screenings. "Get Low" first unspooled at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival, followed shortly its Sundance debut.
"It's the kind of movie where word of mouth will mean everything," Schneider said, adding that the film has been well-received, both critically and by audiences.
Obviously, everyone involved hopes it finds an audience — especially Spacek, who says that would "send an important message to Hollywood."
"Everything there seems to be youth-oriented," she said. No matter how long and how long or how hard you've worked in your career, you have to work harder and harder just to get parts."
And even then, "the parts you get offered get smaller and smaller, to the point where you finally disappear from sight.
"It's becoming discouraging," she sighed.
e-mail: jeff@desnews.com