Interview - Greg and Jeff Sherman on The Boys
Songwriters Wrote for Disney's Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book,
Aug 20, 2009
Imagine a dysfunctional family, set to some of the most famous music of the Twentieth Century. That's the story filmmakers/cousins Jeffrey and Gregory Sherman faced when they made Disney's The Boys: The Sherman Brothers Story, opening in theatres August 21st.
In Part #2 of this exclusive interview, the Sherman cousins discussed making the film and bluntly assessed their fathers' personalities. In this installment, they delve deeper into making the film, and the impact their parents' feud had on their lives.
The Sherman Brothers created great music together, but what was the fallout from that for you guys? Other than the fact that you didn’t even know each other for most of–
Gregory Sherman: “That was the fallout! The fact that they had to work so intensely together for so long, and be so different: the fallout was that we didn’t get to know each other until we were adults.”
What brought that on? Did the work come home with them?
Jeffrey Sherman: “My dad, not so much. He would come home, throw me a baseball glove and we’d go out and play catch. He probably wrote lyrics at night once in a while but mostly the work hours were the work hours, and then he’d come home and paint and do whatever he was going to do. But I think the rift comes partly from the difference in personality, partly from the proximity, the amount of time they spent sitting in that room together. Then there were certain family issues too–“
Greg: “There were other family members, and that created more dynamics, more different personalities, more disparate issues, but that’s not important. What’s important is that these two personalities created this important body of work, but also led to a challenging personal struggle to maintain a connection.”
It seems to be a common theme with great artists: you look at the rift between Goro Miyazaki and his father Hayao, and it seems great artists aren’t the easiest people to deal with when you’re related to them–
Jeff: “What we’ve found too, in making the film, is that it’s not unusual for siblings to fight and be different, especially when they go into business together–
Greg: “You hear horror stories about it, especially when there’s a creative partnership on top of that.”
Jeff: “But to be able to do that for 60 years and, even with those things going on, to create these beautiful, living, lasting pieces about family and charity and hope and friendship . . . beautiful things. It’s really a testament to them and I think that’s why this film is so special.”
Greg: “Sixty years together, and they were able to find a zone and block out a myriad of issues between them and their extended families, and concentrate on what needed to be done, and go to a place that we found remarkable. We both knew that our dads had written all these songs, but truly going through all those songs and seeing the breadth of their work. They were such complex men and they made things simple and resonating. It was just phenomenal for us to be able to create this film about them, and for them and for our future generations. Because we each have a set of Sherman brothers: I have two boys and he has two boys. There’s a time capsule now.”
Jeff: “And it’s a universal story, it’s a cautionary tale that you don’t let these rifts go on because you don’t know what could happen.”
Greg: “It’s a generational thing, too. Their generation swept things under the rug. Very early on, we have a section where Jeff asks his dad, ‘What was the hardest thing about working with Richard?’ and he says, “I don’t wanna talk about it.’ Often, we knew what the line was with them, and several times they would say, ‘I don’t wanna talk about this anymore.’ Because that’s a generational thing, and we didn’t want to fight through that because ultimately it wasn’t important: their differences were what made them work so well on a professional level, and not so well on a personal level.”
(In Part #4 of this exclusive interview, The Boys writer/directors discuss the pitfalls of making this film, and how a famous director helped them stay on track.)
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