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American Morning

Interview of Nick Cassavetes, "John Q"

Aired February 13, 2002 - 09:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: 48 million Americans are without any kind of health insurance. That is what it says, right up on the screen at the end of a new movie, "John Q." The film tries to shed light on what it says is the troubled state of health care in this country, through the story of a desperate parent, played by Denzel Washington, unable to secure medical care for his child's potentially fatal illness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Transplant surgery is very expensive, in most cases prohibitively so.

DENZEL WASHINGTON, ACTOR: Well, we got insurance, I mean, I got Major Medical. He's covered.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've already checked with your carrier, Mr. Archwald (ph). There are no provisions in your policy for a procedure of this magnitude.

WASHINGTON: Oh no, no, no. That's a mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: "John Q" is a dramatic story, and a very personal one for the director, Nick Cassavetes, and he joins me now. Thanks very much for being with us here on "American Morning."

NICK CASSAVETES, DIRECTOR, "JOHN Q": Thanks for having me, Anderson.

COOPER: Mr. Cassavetes, as I understand, your daughter has a heart problem and she will require a transplant sometime in the future. Is that what motivated you to make this film?

CASSAVETES: Well, it certainly got my attention when I read the script, and it seemed like a very good reason to make the movie.

COOPER: This film is being marketed as a star-studded film, a big drama, but it is also a film that has a very pointed -- some would say, one-sided, political message. I want to read to you. "Variety" went as far as to call it -- quote -- "a shamelessly manipulative commercial on behalf of national health care."

Is that your agenda?

CASSAVETES: Well, I mean, if making people aware that there might be a crack in the system is shameless, then I guess they're right. But I guess some people have said, Nick, do you think you went too far, and I say, no, I don't think I went too far, I don't think I went far enough, and if I wanted to make a movie that told about the ills and the improprieties in the health care industry, I would have made a documentary with hundreds and hundreds of case studies -- thousands of case studies if I could, and I would have -- it would have been exhaustive, and it would have exposed a lot of the improprieties that are going on the with the system.

COOPER: Does this --

CASSAVETES: I mean, people... I'm sorry.

COOPER: I'm sorry. I mean, this is a dramatic story, but at the end of the film, you add on a tag line which says, as we said earlier, 48 million Americans are without any kind of health insurance. You then go on to add interviews with some celebrities. Among others, Hillary Clinton and Gloria Allred. That's what a lot of people are pointing to as being manipulative.

CASSAVETES: Well, maybe it is manipulative, but a lot of people are talking about it. We do have a problem in this country. You can either make a movie and ignore that, or you can acknowledge it and say, this is the water that we're living in. You know this -- the movie lives in this -- it's centered around this particular problem, and I chose to acknowledge it.

COOPER: The other comment that a lot of people have been saying about the movie is that it doesn't really offer any solutions other than violence. Is violence the solution to this problem?

CASSAVETES: Well, I think people that interpret it that way are wrong. What the movie is saying that it is wrong to take a gun, it's wrong to use force to get what you want, and in any respect, make no mistake about it, what "John Q" does is absolutely wrong. It's a what-if type of situation with this movie, as far as not offering any solutions, that's correct. The one solution that we have -- people solve problems, movies don't solve problems. And if I did offer a solution, then it would be using my own political -- I would be using this movie for my own political platform.

COOPER: But in a sense, you are offering a solution. I mean, the fact is that -- I won't give away the ending of the movie, but violence, you know, plays a big role. This is about a man who, denied health insurance for his child, takes over a hospital, takes hostages. Do you think this is a climate where that kind of movie is going to fly, that kind of a message?

CASSAVETES: Well, I think that people are smart enough to understand the difference between a movie and real life. I think that what happens in the taking of the hospital, it only -- it's not -- we're not suggesting this is what people should go out and do. We're -- it's a dramatic conceit to show a guy between a rock and a hard place.

COOPER: All right, Nick Cassavetes. Thanks very much.

CASSAVETES: Hey, thanks for having me.

COOPER: The film is "John Q," opens this Friday, and we appreciate you being with us this morning.

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