'Howl’ Duo Recreate Poem’s Past

Poet Allen Ginsberg’s beat generation anthem “Howl” has long been considered impossible to adapt as a film. For co-directors Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman, this was a welcome challenge.

Four years ago, Ginsberg’s estate approached Epstein and Friedman with the idea of making a documentary in conjunction with the poem’s 50th anniversary. The two acclaimed filmmakers have won multiple Oscars for their documentary work, which includes 1984’s “The Times of Harvey Milk.”

While they were immediately interested in the material, “We knew at the beginning that we wanted to do something that would be formally challenging, and adventurous, in a way that would resonate in the way that the poem [did],” Friedman says. As such, the duo decided not to make the film a “traditional documentary.”

“We wanted the film to play in the present tense, rather than do a historical documentary when you are starting from the point of older people looking back on themselves,” adds Epstein.

There was also a logistical reason why making a straight documentary would be difficult. “There was no material from that period,” Friedman says. “We would have had to create it anyway.”

The directors ended up creating a kind of hybrid; a film that is stylistically a documentary, but with content that is scripted and acted out. “Howl” is divided into four parts: an interview of Ginsberg (played with aplomb by James Franco), short dramatizations from Ginsberg’s life, animated sequences accompanying a reading of the poem, and recreations of the obscenity trial from 1957 that helped make the work famous.

“The flashbacks are in black and white, and the present tense is in color,” Epstein explains. “Metaphorically, the world transitions from black and white to color when ‘Howl’ is launched into the world and Allen finds his creative voice.”

To some, scenes from the courtroom in which the obscenity of the poem is debated might initially seem out of place when compared with the rest of the film. The directors, however, see it as an essential piece. “We had to set it in a period context, and that’s why the trial seemed like an important element to us, because the trial really helped to contextualize it,” says Epstein.

The film’s numerous animated sequences are another element that the directors feel was critical to fully capturing the “Howl” experience. “Animation, to us, seemed like a way to create a cinematic experience that you wouldn’t have in any other form” Epstein says. “We thought of animated films like ‘Fantasia,’ we looked at Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall,’ where it just takes you into a very trippy experience of somebody else’s mind.”

In the dramatizations, it was important to the directors to be as faithful as possible to Ginsberg’s real experience. “All of the flashback scenes were inspired by photos that Allen took or were taken of Allen,” Friedman says.

“Even within the movie there’s some real documentary evidence. On the set, the photos of his parents are Allen’s real parents,” adds Epstein.

Having an actor of James Franco’s caliber also helped the directors accomplish that level of realism. “People who were close to Allen came to the set and they just couldn’t believe [Franco’s performance]” Epstein recalls. “They were just stunned when they saw it. We were watching on the monitors and you could just see, they were like ‘that’s Allen.’”

Other actors became equally immersed in their roles. Mary Louise Parker, who plays a school teacher testifying in the obscenity trial, even out-researched the directors. “Mary Louise Parker found out that Gail Potter was a blonde. We had no idea,” Epstein remembers. “She insisted that she have a blonde wig.”

Despite the film’s historical accuracy, a question remains as to whether it will resonate with a younger generation. For Epstein and Friedman, this is the key to the film’s success. “Allen talks about prophecy in the movie, and in his life talked about how he intended ‘Howl’ to be a time bomb that would go off for different generations at different points,” says Epstein.  “I feel like we’re at one of those points right now.”