You've been told...

Nicole Holofcener on her new film Please Give and those always touchy relationships with studios. (AV Club)

AVC: What do you get told?

NH: “We don’t know how to market this.” “This is too dark,” with Please Give. And I said, “Too dark? There’s a laugh here, a laugh here, a laugh here.” “Oh, those are funny scenes?” “Yeah, those are funny scenes. You couldn’t tell? “No, we couldn’t tell.” And yes, it is dark. But so what? Intelligent audiences want a combination of both things. I hear, “It’s too soft.” “Doesn’t have a hook.” That’s the same as the marketing problem. Or that it’s an ensemble. There isn’t a role for one major star. “Can you get a major star in a small part?” What else do I hear? That’s about it. I’m sure they say plenty of things that I don’t hear like, “This is a shitty script” or “I don’t like it.” But the other things are the excuses I hear.