True Story Teena Brandon

Notes on the movie

In late 1993, a quiet and dusty road southeast of Nebraska led the American media to an abandoned farm, where two ex-convicts have committed a multiple murder. What seemed an inexplicable and brutal killing soon became something much more revealing when it came to light the true story of the killers and victims. Among the dead was Brandon Teena, a young man who lived in town only for a short period, but had already become one of the most charming elements of that community: a playful rebel, a loyal friend and an irresistible lover. But who was he really? And he had incited such a violent reaction?

As soon reveal the headlines, Brandon Teena was not the boy that he and everyone wanted it to be. In fact, despite the fact that a boyfriend seem overwhelming for many women in the region, people were shocked to learn after his death that Brandon Teena was actually a woman, who came from the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, named Teena Brandon. As Brandon Teena was a young man trapped in a world that did not accept, Brandon Teena was a flirtatious fun with beautiful girlfriends who adored him publicly. What puzzled the police, parents and youth in the small town of Falls City that fell in love with him was as a person could take two completely opposite identities - and the fact that everyone had believed until the time he was exposed.

This is the mystery that initially attracted the director Kimberly Peirce for making the film, she said: "Here was a character who had become an icon a few months after his death. Brandon Teena represented many traits of our culture - he was a woman for men, a petty thief, the victim of a hate crime. Writers of true police cases, journalists and feminists were telling their story. There was no doubt it was a dramatic and tragic story. However, the real challenge to tell it was found that there was a human being underneath it all and find out what it was like the skin of Brandon since the first night they went through a boy. When we think of who he was, as we begin to see extraordinary what he did and the strength of their commitment, imagination and creativity. The more the story unfolded, the more I found that the mere fact that this person actually existed was totally exciting. To understand what went into it and find out how he had 'invented' within this fantasy guy, how he managed to find a place in the lives of so many people and it provoked a backlash so intense, it was worth the years it took to figure all this out. "

Peirce went on a five-year odyssey to understand Brandon Teena and turn your story in a dramatic film. The result, Boys Do not Cry, is a story where the mystery is the very human identity. The director explains: "Unintentionally, Brandon provided a sense of adventure and possibility in a place where there was very little of it, and also instilled the feeling that you could move on to realize their dreams. But when his identity was revealed, boy said to be a harmless and eager to please, became totally menacing. The story was classic mythic elements. The trick was to discover the hidden emotional truth and know how to tell it. "

As the real-life murders rural coolly portrayed in Cold Blood and The Executioner's Song, Kimberly Peirce saw the murderers as a contemporary evocation of dreams and desires, lost innocence and youth crimes nomads. Although no one could know exactly what happened during the short life of Brandon Teena, the director used a combination of trial transcripts, media coverage, interviews with local youth, the actual participants and your own imagination to probe the minds and souls of real characters, and with it all, decide on building your own version of this puzzle.

The facts of the case were terrible. Several days before Brandon's death, on Christmas Eve, two ex-cons, John Lotter and Thomas Nissen, Brandon raped and then took him to a hiding to avoid betraying that he, along with people who were with him. However, behind the facts there was an even more disturbing story about the journey of a troubled young man through the paths of identity, gender, class, violence and fate, with the backdrop of an arid landscape of rural America.

But the costume had a dark side. To repay attention in profusion, Brandon has become not only a thief of hearts, but a real thief, stealing bank cards, forging checks and using credit cards illegally girlfriends. In the end, these are criminal activities that ended up revealing the identity of Brandon. But it was the intensity of desire to Brandon - the shape in your own costume, lure people into this fantasy and realize their dreams of true love - that, in fact, Peirce attracted to the project.

The basic story was that Peirce saw a couple of Nebraska on the run, a misfit among misfits looking for love, who assumed the persona of a "perfect boyfriend" to beautiful young lonely, innocent and not so privileged. Brandon was everything a woman wants: loving, gentle - and he knew kiss. It was beautiful. A perfect gentleman. He knew how a woman wanted to be treated. Peirce often heard these comments from friends and former girlfriends. Brandon was a fantasy so skillfully drawn that even those who knew him intimately refused to doubt.

In April 1994 the director was being formed by the faculty of Columbia and was preparing his thesis / screenplay about a Civil War spy who passed by man when he read for the first time, the story of Brandon Teena. Peirce was fascinated by the tradition of women who experienced men in the roles of soldiers, spies and musicians throughout American history, but this was a different story. The story of Teena Brandon seemed to embody all the issues about identity that Peirce had sought in his script as he opened the Civil War to vital issues of American mythology and transcendence of love.

She writes: "I was enchanted by the story of Brandon. There was a girl living in a country town with little money and few - if there was one - to copy models and become the person I wanted to be. I was delighted by this someone who wanted to be loved for who he was and the courage it took to make your dream a reality in the harsh landscape of the American heartland. Then, finally, it reinvents itself in your ideal fantasy man. It's something very American venture, to reinvent itself , out into the world and find someone who accepts you as you really are. At a time when men are struggling to define themselves, it's amazing what Brandon did. It is a classical myth, although it was Brandon's life. I knew If we can capture the courage and humor experienced by Brandon, this character could be really wonderful. "

For the producer Christine Vachon, Boys Do not Cry was a fascinating glimpse of an American tragedy. She notes: "The story of Brandon Teena looked into the imagination of America. It's the classic premise of a stranger who arrives in town and changes everything, but it is also about building an identity - and endlessly fascinating subject. There is something very exciting in the search for Brandon and it's hard not be attracted. It is not a biography or a story about a real crime, but a story true to the spirit of Brandon Teena, who became a symbol of freedom to be who we want to be. " Producer John Hart adds: "The film is partly an assessment of our culture. The most violent crimes are usually committed in places that seem to be the safest. In a multicultural environment, the individual is celebrated, in homogeneous environments the individual is seen as a threat. "

When Peirce became interested in the story of Brandon Teena, she devoted herself to a huge investigation into the case and about the people involved, wanting to explore and evaluate what really happened in Falls City. She explains: "I always had the need to know the hidden side of things. I'm the kind of person who can not sleep if you do not know the truth. So I had to write this story. First, they had to answer some basic questions: Who was Brandon and he had lived this way? Who were the teenagers, and they really believed he was a boy? Why John Lotter and Thomas Nissen Brandon became friends and how much they know? Why his love for Lana was so strong the two and that their happiness was so threatening to people, to the point of having to destroy it? Why Brandon stayed there if I knew I had problems? ".
The director knew the answers were in Falls City, Nebraska. She continues: "The drama of the life of Brandon and the center of the film revolved around the events that occurred with him in Falls City - how to seduce people into a new city, as was accepted by these people, his love for Lana and the discovery of his identity. All this led to the murder. "
In Falls City, Peirce interviewed Lana Tisdel, Brandon's true love. Tisdel opened up and talked about her feelings for Brandon and his struggle between accepting and denying who he was. Peirce also interviewed the mother of Lana, the sheriff of Falls City, police and social workers as well as the self-proclaimed "people wall" - the local boys who spent the night at the Qwik Stop wall. From these interviews, she developed her portrait of nightlife in Falls City where the fun included karaoke, skiing and handles car with police on dirt roads.
"I was tracing the path of Brandon. The whole thing took shape when I sat down on the farm where he was killed at the spot where there was still blood on the carpet. Suddenly, I realized that was where it all ended, it was here that the person incredible died. Sitting there, it occurred to me several questions regarding why Brandon end up dead on that farm on the border of Nebraska. I knew I could not rectify his death, but I thought it might make it understandable. Thereafter I had to make sense of it all and give life to Brandon, "says the director.
Despite their hunger for information, Peirce was shocked to realize that very little of that obtained in Falls City was true. She reports: "It was interesting to observe how people's stories changed during the time I was there. Sometimes, people lie to themselves and sometimes for me. But I think people are always emotionally true, even when they are lying. The lies allow us to better understand the person who is counting. Lana was lying to me throughout the interview, but their lies portrayed his relationship with Brandon - the emotional truth was just poured. From this emerged what became is the center of the story: the love between Brandon and Lana, and how do I represent in the film. I wanted their romance was embodied in a fantasy and that still remain very real. "
For Peirce, that was the subject of the film: when the knowledge of anything - gender, identity, or even the truth of what happened to a person - it is sure? Or is the only truth is what we feel deep in our hearts? Brandon added something to Lana that she had never experienced or known in his life: real intimacy. Brandon became a kid better than the boys were. "He" knew what girls wanted and wanted to give it to Lana.
Throughout the journey of discovery of Peirce, the story of Teena Brandon went on to captivate the imagination of the country in the coverage of TV news in the crime pages of newspapers and intellectual analysis on the cultural significance of Brandon. Brandon became a mystical figure, somebody that reflected many different aspects of human existence in his short life.
Of all the people who have studied Teena Brandon, Kimberly Peirce should have collected the largest amount of information. That still was not enough. Although he used most of the facts he could to build his portrayal of Brandon, she also had to trust your own instincts about life and the myth of Brandon to tell the story. Peirce recalls, "I started with a real story. Ten thousand pages of transcripts, as well as a huge number of private interviews with people involved, but most people contradicted the testimony of others. In the end, I realized I had to look Brandon built the myth with the truth of my own life and experience and, thereafter, to distill the emotional truth between the lines of this story. So, I had the opportunity to tell something more true than what really happened and to show a life entire two hours of entertainment. It was a transformation of truth in fiction and then again in truth. "
Christine Vachon has worked with many promising new directors and totally believed in Peirce's passion for the project. "Kim's vision was so bright, she breathed and lived this story. Our job was to provide an atmosphere in which to do their best work," says the producer. Another producer, Eva Kolodner, Peirce worked with to provide this atmosphere. Kolodner was drawn to this love triangle that directs Boys Do not Cry for its surprise ending. She notes: "The center of the story is the love story between Brandon and Lana, as most love stories, challenges and expectations of society. Noticed Kim What is the story of Brandon Teena was not just about his tragic murder and brutality he experienced at the end of his life, but on this incredible love that he discovered on has finally found someone who would accept it as it was. "
Peirce got additional inspiration to draw the fine line between factual truth and a deeper truth to tell the story from literary works about U.S. crimes, including The Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer, and In Cold Blood, Truman Capote, studies psychological murder, as The Killer Inside Me (about Ted Bundy), Ann Rule, and crime movies, like Scarface, Bonnie and Clyde, Butch Cassidy, Badlands, Dog Day Afternoon, Goodfellas and The Night of the Hunter . The director and co-writer found himself in the American tradition of dissecting small town crimes. "Americans love to extremes, and against the arid landscape of the Midwest, violence and dreams become more contrasting. While we know that the interior is not always what it seems. That's where the violence and fear, the loss and love, become more intense. It's amazing where myths are born, "Peirce theorizes.
Everyone involved in the project knew from the beginning that the film could easily fall into a dismal sensationalism, especially given the allure of the tabloids by Brandon - but this was never an option. "From the beginning, people were curious about the story, but many did not see the fascination of this broader - issues of class, love and identity. Kim seen it all and brought up," says Kolodner.
What also fascinated by the producer was the dense atmosphere of desire present in the script, explains: "There is much desire tissue in this story. The passionate desire between Brandon and Lana. Sublinear desire that other people have for Brandon. The desperate desire to know what is happening. The desire of the inhabitants of the city of Brandon become what they want. Everywhere we look, the desire emanates around Brandon. Desire makes the story much more intriguing than the mere fact that someone who was dead. That's what makes the film a story about how two people go after what they want. "
With Brandon Teena, the actress Hilary Swank made the most complex role of his career, playing several different people under the same skin. The incredible nature of the story of Brandon is the result of the fact that many people believed this fantasy, and Hilary Swank knew it had to inspire that same belief while revealing the emotional truth of his character. Although a native of Lincoln, Nebraska, the actress had not heard of Brandon Teena even read the script. She was immediately drawn to the role. "I saw the film as a story about courage, about someone who dared to live life the way she thought it should be, the way she wanted," says the actress.
Swank was convinced that the identity crisis of Brandon was the key to the impact in Falls City, as revealed: "I wanted to show Brandon as a person who was chasing his dreams and trying to be accepted. All of us can identify with that because we also want to realize our dreams and be loved for what we are. But Brandon got stuck in a place where all were in compliance, sat up and dressed in a manner to be accepted ... and she broke all the rules " .
For producer Jeff Sharp, Swank was the perfect choice for the role in the film. "When we started to climb the actors for Boys Do not Cry, we knew we found our Brandon Teena was a great challenge. Our fears were assuaged when Hilary Swank took a plane to New York to audition. Passing by the reception of our office Hilary put all that long blonde hair in cowboy hat and passed by the receptionist, who announced that a boy had come to take the test. Climb Hilary made possible the realization of Brandon Teena, "says Sharp.
Then Swank underwent a transformation and had the chance to live on the skin of the opposite sex. She spent six weeks doing vocal training and exercising with a personal trainer to get more muscular forms. Then, his long locks were cut and his hair dyed a darker shade. The team had access to the picture of Brandon and the similarities were amazing. To test your male character - and so she could dive in Brandon Teena - Swank walked through the city in the skin of a man. She said: "I was happy to be able to test how I was doing as a kid. People talked to me like I was a kid and I actually looked into her eyes to see how they were perceiving me. If you were seeing through me. It was very intense. It gave me a sense of how Brandon felt. It was not just a role for her. It was his life. I learned a lot about humanity, about how the simple act of cutting the hair and speak with the voice a little more thick can change the way people act with us, and also how people judge others by appearance. "
For the cast and crew would accept as Brandon, the first day of rehearsal Swank appeared on the skin of her male character. "I did not want anyone to see me in high heels and short skirt. From the first moment, everyone treated me like I was a kid. I was more of a 'faces' of the set and, sometimes, back problems and had to be Hilary, "says the actress.
Brandon Teena's fate began to change when he won the love of Lana Tisdel, a pretty blonde girl of 19 years and also the most popular of Falls City. Lana fell in love with Brandon so he paid his bail to get him out of jail and was on his side when he discovered his big secret - even when his childhood friend turned against Brandon. To Lana, the filmmakers chose the actress Chlloë Sevigny, who personifies the young man who can find the substance of his dreams in the young man who came from Lincoln. "I also grew up in a small town and buying and Lana. When she meets Brandon, a person who was not like anyone around her, she sees a chance to escape. She had never seen such enthusiasm for life, and this counting. He was really gentle and romantic with her and she had never been treated well by a guy before, "says Chlloë.
Peter Sarsgaard stars as John Loter that in real life, is waiting on death row to be executed for the murder of Brandon Teena, a crime he committed when he was 22 years old. In a way, John was a reflection of Brandon. As this, he had passed several times by social services. But when their paths cross, the fears and insecurities of John exploded into brutal violence. Sarsgaard explains her character: "Brandon arrived in the city and allowed people to dream. But when John felt deceived, came to see Brandon as a 'thing', rather than as a person. And that allowed him to do everything he wanted . John has always been obsessed with Lana, and in his mind, he gave Lana to Brandon so he could control both. "
Peirce gives more details about the relationship of the two murderers: "John and Tom (Thomas Nissen) had several stints in prison and in some ways, they were bombs ready to explode. At the same time, I think they were trying to figure out how to act like men . They were attracted by Brandon and intimacy he offered and what it represented unconsciously frightened them. I think we all are afraid of being impostors, they were discovered, but I also think that sometimes we attract exactly what has the power to reveal and destroy us. The irony is that Tom and John were afraid of losing their masculinity as much as Brandon. When Brandon learns that - that was the antithesis of them - it was a girl who could be a boy rather than many, it threatened their masculinity and shook their identities. When the fantasy Brandon evaporated, turn to him as brutally as they had envisioned. "
The director continues: "I am thrilled with John. He was a boy who had been separated from his mother too small. Later, when he began stealing cars, said it was able to return home to his mother. He needed love. But he was also very charismatic and attractive - a dangerous form. Peter (Sarsgaard) had the challenge of showing the need for love while showing the possibility of threat. The violence has a seductive power and he got through it. " The accomplice in the murder of John, Thomas Nissen, was played by Brendan Sexton III.
Boys Do not Cry was filmed in Dallas, Texas, and its surroundings, which passed through the empty plains of Falls City, Nebraska. It was decided that it would be very difficult to shoot in Falls City, where the controversy over life and death of Brandon has lifted up the spirits. However, Peirce was determined to portray the world she had seen in Falls City and found in six Texas cities architectural similarities, cultural and behavioral aspects that enabled him to spend the same emotion that Brandon felt upon arriving in Falls City.

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