Greg In Hollywood drops in on filmmaker Ira Sachs, writer-director-producer of “Keep the Lights On”

It was so nice to sit down with Ira Sachs Friday morning to talk about his acclaimed film Keep the Lights On and about today’s Independent Spirit Awards.

Ira flew in from his home in New York City a few days ago and it just so happens that he is staying right upstairs from where I live in Silver Lake. He is a longtime friend of my landlord.

There was a little bit of comedy involved as I tried to conjure up ways to bump into Ira in the front yard then casually ask for an interview.

Think I Love Lucy and the episode called “The Movie Star Upstairs” when Lucy Ricardo schemes to meet Cornel Wilde who is staying right above her. [See a clip HERE]

After walking by on various “errands” a few times and updating my 2,500 Facebook friends about my lack of progress, I decided to just leave him a note on the door.

It worked!

Anyway, Ira’s film is nominated for Best Feature and he is also nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay and the film’s leading man, Thore Lindhardt, is nominated for Best Male Lead.

‘In the world of independent cinema, our little film is a smaller film and a truly independent one,’ Ira told me over coffee. ‘I think having the recognition from Los Angeles and from Hollywood in general and having these multiple nominations was really meaningful for us.’

The acclaimed film chronicles one couple’s emotionally and sexually charged journey through love and addiction.

Documentary filmmaker Erik (Lindhardt) and closeted lawyer Paul (Zachary Booth) meet through a casual encounter in Manhattan.

But they soon find a deeper connection and become a couple. The film tells the story of their decade-long relationship impacted by one partner’s drug use, by secrets and dysfunctional patterns.

It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival a year ago and went on to win various awards including Best Feature at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Today’s low-key but very star-studded Spirit Awards ceremony will be hosted by Saturday Night Live star Andy Samberg. It is held each year the day before the Oscars in a giant tent on the beach in Santa Monica.

Although Keep the Lights On is far less known than some of its competitors, which include Silver Linings Playbook, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Amour, it still managed to receive more nominations than most movies.

‘The film has made an impact and I think that’s what you hope for,’ Ira says.

But word has gotten back to him that Samberg plans to have some fun with the underdog status of his film saying in an interview something like, ‘If you haven’t heard about Keep the Lights On, you will by the end of the show.’

‘I’m curious what he’s going to say,’ he says, laughing.

Win or lose, he’s certain it will be a good day.

‘We’ll have a table of 10 of people who are deeply involved in the film including the two stars, my fellow producers, my co-writer, my husband,’ he says. ‘We’ve spent the last year-and-a-half hanging out with each other. So to be at this event with stars and our little close-knit group of friends who made a film will be really fun.’

It’s the latest high in a remarkable 14 month period.

‘I got married on January 6, we had twins on January 13, then Keep the Lights On premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20. So it was a big, wonderful month,’ he says.

He and artist Boris Torres have been a couple for five years and are parents of twins – a boy named Felix and a girl named Viva.

Sachs, whose previous film credits include The Delta, Forty Shades of Blue, and Married Life, is set to begin shooting his next film, Love Is Strange, in June and he’s got a top-notch cast assembled that includes Alfred Molina, Michael Gambon, Kelly Reilly and Tracy Letts.

‘I think the recognition that [Keep the Lights On] has received has made people more interested to see what I do next,’ he admits.

But it’s not like the big Hollywood studios came knocking at Ira’s door despite the accolades and Spirit nods.

‘It will happen because I willed it to happen,’ he says of his next film. ‘It’s not happening because doors are the flinging open. I think we still have to fight for space and then we have to build an audience. These films are extremely difficult to get made and they’re extremely difficult to find an audience. Lights On came out of a very personal passion to tell a story.’

He finds it just as tough to get an independent film to made as it ever was – if not tougher.

‘Twenty years ago, a film that made a million dollars was considered a success and that’s not true anymore. A film needs to make $20 million and that’s a lot of money,’ he says. ‘I think there’s an idea that we’re not going to waste our time for our board of directors, for our shareholders. Shareholders need higher profits.’

If that film is LGBT-themed, there can be even more of an uphill climb despite the presence of gays and lesbians in positions of power.

‘I do find that in dealing with Hollywood, there is a lack of embrace from gay people within the industry, a fear of taking risks within the studio system,’ the filmmaker says. ‘Risks are risky. This is a really capitalistic city. They might want to support something but from a distance. That upsets me. The people within Hollywood are not activists when it comes to telling gay stories.’

But he pushes ahead anyway.

Unlike the darker themes of Keep the Lights On, the new film will be about the lighter side of love and be reflective of the happy life he has built with Torres.

‘We started a relationship with one commitment which was to be honest with each other,’ Sachs says. ‘After five years, there’s still a quality of intimacy and trust and optimism about our relationship which is something that my new film reflects for the first time. I’ve already made a lot of films about the pain and torture of intimacy.’

Keep the Lights On is available on DVD, iTunes and Neflix. See the film’s trailer below: