Director puts his friends first

One of the hottest trends in independent filmmaking these days is actors becoming writers and directors. It's a slightly selfish strategy — so they can get themselves better film roles.

Tom McCarthy, however, has taken a slightly different tack. With "The Station Agent," the actor-turned-filmmaker has managed to create roles for his actor friends, including Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Cannavale. "I know it's probably not supposed to work that way. It's supposed to work in my favor. But what can I say, I guess I'm just a little backward," McCarthy said with a laugh.

McCarthy said he met all three actors through his New York stage work and was so impressed by their talents that he wanted to work with them again. So he came up with something they could all do together. "These are such amazing talents we're talking about, people who invest so much of themselves in everything they do," he said during a telephone interview from New York. "So it just seemed natural to get them all together."

What McCarthy came up with is a comedy-drama about a diminutive man (Dinklage) who inherits an abandoned train depot in a small New Jersey town and then befriends a hot dog vendor (Cannavale) and an unhappily married artist (Clarkson).

It's a decidedly offbeat premise. And since McCarthy isn't exactly a name actor, just getting the film made was a challenge. (His biggest roles to date include a supporting turn in "Meet the Parents" and a starring role in the TV movie, "Saint Maybe.") "I had to do a lot of talking — a lot of fast-talking, I'll say that. There was also quite a bit of head-scratching, and several people who said to me, 'You've got some very interesting ideas, but. . . . '

"I knew it was probably going to be like this. I just didn't know it would take so long. But it was definitely worth it."

McCarthy credits his producers — Robert May, Mary Jane Skalski and Kathryn Tucker — for continuing to encourage him throughout the lengthy filmmaking process. (He estimates that from conception to execution, the film took at least four years.) "I'm not sure exactly what it says about them. Maybe that they're crazy for believing me — for believing in this project.

"But, seriously, it was nice to have some believe in me, to take a chance on me. And they took an awfully big one there."

McCarthy believes that the lengthy filmmaking process actually helped the film, "because I was able to take my time with the script, I was able to really develop the characters. Of course, I had great actors to work with there as well."