Hannah Marks has spent most of her life on set. A native of Southern California, she began acting at the age of 6 following in her mother’s footsteps, and by the time she was a teenager she was already a veteran of the television series circuit, having participated in all manner of comedies, procedural and somewhat prestigious dramas, including several seasons on “Weeds.”
But he always had directing in mind. Now 29, with several feature films under her belt, she is making a name for herself behind the scenes. His most recent work is the father-daughter road trip drama “Don’t Make Me Go,” which premieres Friday on Amazon Prime Video, and an adaptation of “Turtles All The Way Down.” until forever”) by John Green recently completed.
“I’m so lucky that I was basically born knowing what I wanted to do,” Marks said. “It’s hard to have drive, passion and motivation if you’re not sure. I’m pretty sure what I should be doing. This is really all that interests me.”
While other children were dedicated to being children, at the age of 11 she and her mother studied “Paper Moon” (“Paper Moon”) and “A Patch of Blue” (“When only the heart sees”) while attending auditions together. to other child actors who lived in the Oakwood Toluca Hills apartment complex, dubbed the Hollywood Elementary in a 2006 New York Times Magazine article.
By his early twenties, Marks was binge-watching movies like “Catch Me If You Can” and “The Social Network” with his scripts in hand, pausing, rewinding and studying what was required to make something appear on the screen. Basically, she was giving herself her own education at a private film school. As a director, Marks brings with her not only a passion for the seventh art, but also the perspective of someone who has been on the other side and seen the good and the bad of the industry.
“I can’t imagine how some directors go on a set and it’s their first time directing and they haven’t really seen how the rest works,” he said.
In “Don’t Make Me Go,” his biggest project to date, he directs John Cho as Max, a single father of a teenage daughter, Wally, who learns he has terminal cancer but decides to keep it from his daughter. as they embark on a road trip across America. While there are bound to be tears, this is by no means a maudlin movie.
“I wish there was a way to describe the movie without using the word death or terminal illness,” Marks said. “There is a lot of love and humor. I didn’t want it to be sad and depressing. Every day on set, we really tried to find humor where we could in their relationship.”
Peter Saraf, co-founder of Big Beach and producer of “Adaptation.” (“The Orchid Thief”) and “Little Miss Sunshine” (“Little Miss Sunshine”), he thought of Marks for the project. She read the script, by “This is Us” veteran Vera Herbert, and found herself crying on a plane.
“I loved the central story of father and daughter. Their relationship felt really beautiful and pure,” she said. “And I feel lucky to tell a story about a man in his 40s. Not everyone would think of me for that.”
Several years passed between when he read the script and when the film became a reality, and in that time, Marks found more in common with Max than when he was 25 years old. But Wally had a special place for the director, whose own father is a cancer survivor. To play Wally, Marks cast newcomer Mia Isaac.
“I think at the time I didn’t really realize how special she was because she was pretty much the first female director I’d ever worked with,” Isaac said. “I think she screwed me up a bit because I thought that was always going to be the case. I assumed that all directors paid so much attention to their actors.”
Marks helped Isaac feel at home on camera and also to come to terms with his self-described “nervous energy.” He also led her in for what was essentially her first kiss.
“It was very, very uncomfortable for me and I was super nervous,” Isaac said. “Hannah helped me a lot that day. I don’t think I could have done that scene without her.”
Marks has her own child actor horror stories, like throwing up in the middle of an audition for “Malcolm in the Middle,” but she also has fond memories like playing Justin Long’s little sister in the comedy “Accepted” (“Admitted”) and the joy of improvising in a comedy at an early age. And she has gone out of her way to try to make things better than they were for her for her actors.
Coming soon, he will begin editing “Turtles All the Way Down,” starring Isabela Merced as a teenager dealing with mental illness and searching for a missing billionaire. And she’s figuring out what she’s going to do next in her ever-evolving industry. Steven Soderbergh, he said, is someone he admires for his ability to tackle works big and small for film and television.
“That’s really inspiring to me: someone who surprises and takes risks and constantly diversifies,” Marks said. “I have to see where the pieces fall, but I know that I want to continue to grow more and more.”
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