Harvey Pekar

• Comic book artist in the 80’s• Made work about depression

and overcoming it through creativity

• Pekar’s wife worked out a deal with Good Machine when they needed money

• Hybrid of narrative and documentary

Directors• Shari Springer Berman and

Robert Pulcini• Documentary background

• This Film’s story is about the whole family • Thought of himself as a reject who would

never have a family • His creativity and uncommon relationships

helped him form one • So many of these film worlds are about

creating families and connections

• Ted Hope decided that Harvey had to be in the film even if for a short time

• He (Harvey Pekar) was idiosyncratic and no one else could play him as well as he could play himself

• Film had to capture Harvey’s aggressive yet affectionate personality

• American Splendor incorporates archival footage and animation

• The director had to understand how challenging relationships could be

• Pitched to HBO films• Producer at HBO, the directors, and Ted Hope

all understood the importance of telling stories about everyday people

Script

• The directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini reworked Harvey’s script

• Greenlit on first draft • Shooting began on second draft

Production

• Budget was increased when HBO saw the first cut of the film

• Allowed them to get the animation effects they wanted

• A lot of freedom to decide what kind of animation was needed based on the footage they had already shot

• “When artists experiment, when they work without a net, the work becomes more alive”

Funds for Music

• HBO allowed more funds for copyrighted music • Marvin Gaye• Dizzy Gillespie• John Coltraine • Over 100,000 budget for the rights to the music

9/11

• The shooting of the film came right after 9/11• Reaffirmed for the crew working on the film of

the importance of creative output • “We weren’t saving the world, but American

Splendor resonated with audiences”• “People felt close to those character”

characters different from themselves

• 1/3 Documentary • 1/3 Fiction • 1/3 Animated comic

books• These parts tend to

overlap and alternate keeping the audience on its toes regarding issues of representation

• Harvey Pekar worked his entire life as a file clerk in a V.A. hospital in Cleveland

• The shot of the retirement party is real • Graphic Novel • R. Crumb (legendary comic book artist) met

Pekar• Pekar observed that comics were never

written about people like him

• The comics are true • “We are all superheroes doing daily battle

against twisted and perverted villains”• Fact and fiction coexist in the same frame• “The filmmakers have taken the challenge of

filming a comic book based on a life, and turned it into an advantage--the movie is mesmerizing in the way it lures us into the daily hopes and fears of this Cleveland family.”

• “Pekar’s genius is to see his life from the outside, as a life like all lives”