At the high point of her career, Sally Kirkland enjoyed the lifestyle of your average A-list star.
In 1988, after more than two decades working in the business, she earned a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for Anna, an indie drama in which she played a former Czech film star who has relocated to New York City following the Soviet invasion of her homeland, grappling with a faded career, a sense of displacement, and her fading dreams. She contended for the Best Actress Oscar opposite the likes of Glenn Close and Meryl Streep, cementing her reputation as a powerful dramatic actress, as she was whisked from one red carpet to the next.
But this isn’t the part of Kirkland’s story that Sallywood chooses to tell. An award-winning indie drama from director Xaque Gruber, the film examines his real-life friendship with the star, which began when he moved out to Hollywood from Maine to pursue his 20-something dreams and started working as her assistant. Gruber idolized Kirkland — first from afar, and then up close — even in finding her at a professional lull, taking on B-movies to pay her bills and feeling somewhat left behind.
“When I met Sally, I had a fantasy that she lived in a mansion with a butler and a big chandelier, and none of that turned out to be the case,” Gruber tells Deadline. “Then, I learned that she actually didn’t have much in the way of family, was not married, did not have children here. I was alone in Hollywood, and we were these two misfits who find each other and complete each other.”
While Kirkland admits that there’s been a somber aspect to some of experiences later in life, Gruber clarifies that he never saw her story as “dark and tragic,” or wanted to portray it as such. Instead, he hoped to pay tribute to “a beautiful friendship story, a little like maybe Harold and Maude,” with Tyler Steelman portraying a version of himself.
Co-starring Eric Roberts, Jennifer Tilly and Michael Lerner, Sallywood is screening at Laemmle Town Center 5 in Encino for one week beginning November 8. Ahead of the film’s release, Kirkland appeared on Zoom with Gruber and Steelman to discuss the genesis of the project, navigating the highs and lows of a show biz career, women’s experience in Hollywood today compared to when she started, and more.
DEADLINE: Sally, what were your thoughts when Xaque approached you about making a film on your friendship?
SALLY KIRKLAND: The minute I read it, I was in love with the script and his memories and couldn’t wait to do it, and there was a whole long audition process to find Tyler to play Zack. We had many, many young men come in, and then the last one who came in was this funny little guy named Tyler Steelman, and he just blew us all away. That was so exciting, to find him. [Xaque and I had had] like a 12-year relationship, being Sally Kirkland and him being assistant, and when he wrote this, I was just really amazed that he turned it into gold.
XAQUE GRUBER: She says it’s a 12-year relationship, but I’m still her assistant, actually. [Laughs] It never really ended.
DEADLINE: Xaque, How did you know that you had a film there, in that relationship?
GRUBER: Well, basically, this is 2014. I was at a friend of mine’s birthday party just telling a story about how I became Sally Kirkland’s assistant, and everyone at the party said, “That’s the funniest story we’ve ever heard. Write it, make it into a script.” I’m a writer, so I just thought, “Okay.” So I went home and started writing the script, and when it was done — it took me about three months to write the first draft — I handed it to Sally and she said, “Give me the weekend to read it.” At the end of the weekend, she said, “You’ve written me as the world’s biggest narcissist — and I can’t wait to play myself that way.” So we just gathered our friends together and raised money [for the film] within our own little circle, and actually the apartment scenes with Sally are her actual apartment. This is a very, very intimate look at Sally’s life with me.
DEADLINE: How did you feel initially, Tyler, about the prospect of your director watching you play him?
TYLER STEELMAN: Luckily, I created the character before I met Xaque because I didn’t even know it was a true story yet. I had heard rumors, but I came up with my own character and said, “If they want to change anything, they’ll change it at the audition or the callback.” Once I got the chemistry read with Sally, which was actually at her apartment, on her bed, I walked in and was like, “Wait, you guys want me to get on her bed?” And they’re like, “Yeah, jump on in!” And I was like, “What?” After I did that, Steven Wolfe, the producer, was there, and Xaque was there. Nobody ever instructed me to change anything. So I was like, “Oh, either I just happened to get gold and be just like Zach, or they kind of want a caricature.”
We went to lunch shortly after I had landed the part, and Xaque and I are alike in so many ways, but different in so many ways. If you notice, the spelling in the movie with Zack is actually different than the way Xaque spells his name in real life. So it’s sort of a caricature but sort of him as well. He never had any crazy notes or any pressure on me. He liked what I brought to the table, which I think was awesome.
DEADLINE: What did it feel like to land a quality lead after many years hustling in this business?
STEELMAN: It’s cool because I’ve done so many indies over the years, and it was frightening to take a lead in an indie alongside Sally Kirkland, who is phenomenal, and it happens to be the one indie that is going places — that is getting fantastic feedback, that keeps getting into festival after festival. It’s an honor that it happens to be the one that I’m also the star of. So it’s been intimidating, but really cool and rewarding at the same time, and I don’t think it would’ve happened…We wouldn’t have gotten this great of feedback if it wasn’t for Sally.
DEADLINE: Tell us more about your experience working with Sally.
STEELMAN: I mean, it’s really cool hearing her after all these film festivals we keep going to. She gets on stage at the end and talks about how this is her favorite film of hers besides Anna, which is really humbling, and that makes me so happy because she has over 200 movies. The last thing you want is to be the one that ruins her biography movie, so I was really happy that she, 1), just loved the movie, and then 2), loved me starring with her. Because I can’t imagine if somebody made a movie of my life. I’d be very picky on who played who, and who directed it, and she was so kind.
She was sort of the white rabbit to my Alice in Wonderland story. You know, Xaque says that in the film — he says, “I feel like Alice in Wonderland because I’m meeting all these different characters.” And I felt that way filming the movie. Whether it was Eric Roberts or Jennifer Tilly or Michael Lerner, I was meeting all these characters, and each one of them had such a specific, bright personality. But at the end of the day, Sally was always my home base.
DEADLINE: You seemed to find a really effortless comedic chemistry together. It’s a fun odd couple dynamic between your two characters.
STEELMAN: Yes, and there were so many happy accidents. There were times where Sally couldn’t hear, so she didn’t know if I said a line or not, and so we would sort of just have our little improvs on accident. I think that we’re such different people, and so unique in our different ways that you couldn’t script it, our little, fun moments together.
DEADLINE: This being very much a show biz story and a look back at your professional trajectory, can you tell me, Sally, about some of the memories you most cherish from your career? Beyond the obvious, like landing the Oscar nomination.
KIRKLAND: Well, going way back to the beginning, it was really great being with Andy Warhol in 1964 and being one of The 13 Most Beautiful Women for him and asking him to do publicity for Anna. We didn’t really have any budget for publicity, and Andy had a television show called [Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes], and he let me and Paulina Porizkova come on the show and interview each other. So that was fun and exciting…
I don’t know. David O. Selznick had been my mentor since I was 18, and he was giving me advice. He was telling me from when I started, when I was a kid, “You’re not going to make it as an ingénue because you’re too tall and men don’t like tall women, so you’re going to have to wait until you’re middle aged and then they’re going to let you be a star.” Sure enough, I was 44 years old when I did Anna.
DEADLINE: As much as Sallywood honors your highly lauded work, it also pokes fun at some of the more absurd experiences you’ve had working on the fringes of Hollywood later in your career. Is there anything particularly funny or outlandish you can recall from your real-life experience?
KIRKLAND: I did many, many Roger Corman B-films, all through the ’70s. He kept me going when no one was hiring me, except for Starsky and Hutch and Charlie’s Angels and various television shows. Yeah, Roger Corman, he’s in heaven now. God bless you. He kept me going; he really loved me.
DEADLINE: What would you say your secret’s been in weathering the tougher moments of your career?
KIRKLAND: Well, I’m lucky in that I’ve always worked, and I’ve always wanted to work. So whether it was a great script or a not-so-great script that I could do something with, I took it. I didn’t really have any down moments in my career. I was just very lucky.
There’s certainly been a lot of rejection, and I guess I get to mention or allude to that in Sallywood. I remember one line where I say to Tyler, “I don’t know where I belong…anymore.” [Tears up] So obviously, that was said with some meaning. But then you have a Xaque Gruber come along and put that on screen, and suddenly the warts are all showing, but it works.
GRUBER: Yeah, I mean, listen. When I first met her, as you see in Sallywood, she was going through a bit of a low period, and it’s normal. That happens with everybody. But I was such a cheerleading fan of hers from a young age that I could not allow her to not be at full steam. I wanted to champion her in every way I could, and I did, and I still do. In fact, I am right now. So it is really a love story about us and about how someone from out there, who admires someone from in here, in the Hollywood inner realm, can come in and spread some magic. I want to see Sally working, I want to see Sally thriving, and that’s always been my mission.
DEADLINE: What’s your feeling, Sally, about the way women are treated in this business today, compared to when you started, and the level of opportunity available to them? Certainly, much has changed, particularly on the heels of the #MeToo Movement.
KIRKLAND: I think so. Yeah. The #MeToo thing, I never really was involved with that. Maybe once, I had an experience, which was somewhat sad, somewhat terrifying. But with the exception of that one experience, I’ve always been treated with tremendous respect in the industry. And I’d like to think that today is much, much better for women.
DEADLINE: Tyler, what about this project did you find most challenging?
STEELMAN: To shoot a feature with not the biggest budget in a certain amount of time. You don’t want to sacrifice anything by saving money, so you’re trying to honor it as best as possible, but you’re also under time constraints. So to navigate around filming a lower-budget film, but still preferring quality over just getting it done, that was a little difficult. Some days, our days would be long and we would shoot so many scenes, but as you can tell by the movie, we never sacrificed quality. We always made sure we had a home run.
DEADLINE: Xaque?
GRUBER: Well, this is my first feature-length film as a writer-director. I’ve done documentaries and TV and short comedy films. So when you’re dealing with a feature, it’s a beast to tackle. I was learning as I went, and I was so fortunate to have all these seasoned, Oscar-level actors in this cast as a first time director. And then the actors who were the next generation, they’re terrific. Honestly, it was a magical experience for me, directing these people who came so prepared and really knew their characters. Lightning in a bottle. And to recreate my story for all to see, it’s a surreal experience.
DEADLINE: What do you hope people will take away from the film?
KIRKLAND: I love this film because there’s so much joy and so much poignancy, so much of everything. A lot of grown men have told me that they cried, and that was really beautiful for me to hear. I love Sallywood; I hope it goes the whole distance. I’ll do whatever it takes.
STEELMAN: I think there’s a lack of movies, especially comedy movies nowadays, that don’t rely on drugs and sex. We’re not even entirely wholesome, but we’re a different type of comedy that I don’t think is made as much anymore. You don’t see movies like this as much, and these types of movies have always been my favorite, movies where unlikely people become best friends. I think audiences will relate with that.