John Early didn’t mean for Maddie’s Secret to be so personal. His directorial debut originated from a desire to ape the structure of made-for-TV issues movies – specifically Meredith Baxter’s bulimia drama Kate’s Secret and Perfect Body, an Amy Jo Johnson picture about an anorexic gymnast. But soon, creating the life of his titular food-media maven (who he also portrays) and her struggle with a deeply trauma-based eating disorder became “surprisingly emotional,” Early says.
Known for his frequent collaborations with Maddie co-star Kate Berlant (who plays Deena, Maddie’s obsessed best friend), Early says “it’s very rare that I write on my own.” The script, which started out more poppy and satirical, became “like walking into a nightmare” as he fell deeper into the solo writing process. “I felt an immediate protectiveness over Maddie,” says Early. “It just became about protecting her and hoping that she may make it out of the story alive … I was very, very emotional writing [the script]. I’ve never had that experience where it was just like I was typing the scenes through tears.”
Early found more of himself in Maddie than any other character he’s previously played, which he describes as a sort of trick he played on himself to make a more personal piece. “I really thought I was doing this total pastiche camp thing,” he says, “and before I knew it, it was way too late. I was in the editing room like, ‘Oops.’”
He didn’t completely abandon camp, though. Beyond TV movie titles, he points to Paul Verhoeven and the Dutch auteur’s combination of crude bluntness with refined craftsmanship as a major influence. “This movie is in some ways about food and sex, you know,” Early explains, “and Paul Verhoeven stylistically was very helpful for the subliminal communication of that … the expressiveness, the operatic intensity, the careening nonstop quality of Showgirls.”
There was also plenty from Verhoeven’s controversial picture that colored Early’s approach to his characters, as he compares Maddie’s relationship to Berlant’s Deena to Showgirls’ lead character Nomi and Gina Ravera’s Molly. “[Maddie and Deena are] always laughing and kind of twirling around each other,” he says. “There’s a real girlish choreography to the blocking of [their] scenes that is so inspired by Showgirls.” As Maddie’s story unfolds, though, Early says her friendships with “more rebellious women” allow the character he plays to “integrate these darker parts of herself with the angelic presentation she gives to the world.”
“Her capacity for friendship deepens by the end of the movie,” he says.
In addition to naming Elizabeth Berkley’s Nomi as an inspiration for his performance of Maddie, Early says he took major notes from Divine – specifically in Polyester and Hairspray, where the John Waters collaborator delivered acting he found “unbearably moving” and “incredibly tender.” Divine’s ability to go from the shit-eating antics of Pink Flamingos to her more nuanced portrayal of Edna Turnblad emboldened Early. “I similarly have played a lot of kind of raging narcissists [and] crazy people,” he says, “and so there is something secretly funny and even maybe personally revealing about actually playing a kind of angel, someone who’s a little pearl clutchy after doing such depraved things for so many years.”
Although the credits have rolled on this chapter of Maddie’s life, Early says he wants to revisit the character utilizing new reference points. One of those is Kellie Martin’s Nineties period drama series Christy, where the actress plays a teacher in a fictional Appalachian town, along with similar rural girlhood classics like Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie. “I see Maddie as in her kind of pioneer woman stage,” Early says. “That’s like starting to come into focus for me, for what will hopefully be known as Maddie’s Promise.”
Maddie’s Secret opens in Austin on Friday, July 3. See Film Listings for showtimes and review.
