In the midst of the Star Wars bombast and Disney remakes, the summer of 2005 does have its share of extraordinary and personal films. Me and You and Everyone We Know, written and directed by openly bisexual filmmaker Miranda July, is one such movie. In it, Christine (July), a struggling artist, encounters a newly single father named Richard (John Hawkes) and soon their lives, and the lives of those around them, become loosely interwoven to create a colorfully populated patchwork.

July, whose film received major awards at the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals, spoke with me when she was recently in Chicago.

AfterEllen.com: Me and You and Everyone We Know opens with your character Christine improvising a dialogue between two people. The manipulation of voices is something that I know of from your recorded spoken word work. What can you tell me about the dramatic dialogues that you create?
Miranda July: When you’re alone in your room, they’re the easiest way to begin (laughs). It’s certainly how I began making everything that I made. So it seems like kind of a fitting thing for her, and for the beginning of a movie, too. This is where it all comes from, in fact this is where this movie comes from, too. And also it tells us that she’s lonely, but she’s not just waiting for someone to come and get her.

AE: The movie also comments on the artists’ need for dual careers. Christine is a really creative and original performance artist, but she also has a “day job” as an Elder Cab driver.
MJ: That job is a little bit modeled after my last day job which was working for a company called “Pop-A-Lock,” where I unlocked people’s car when they locked the keys inside. I wore a vest like [the one Christine wears] and I had the big magnets [signs that affixed to car door advertising the company] and it was that same kind of--all though not as intimate--one-on-one interactions. A few years later, I did work it into a performance. I think she does it in a way that I admire. She literally collaborates with someone she’s working with, and I love that.

AE: Were there any other interesting day jobs that you’ve had over the years while you made your art?
MJ: A handful of them. I was a cow for Halloween Warehouse. Walking around in a cow costume, holding this sign that said “Halloween Warehouse” (laughs). The truth is that I always seemed to gravitate towards jobs that one couldn’t do forever. They’re not careers.

AE: Was the scene with the museum curator Nancy (Tracy Wright), in which Christine attempts to hand-deliver a sample of her work, based on your own experience or that of another artist?
MJ: It’s much more my own experience. It’s funny because recently in Boston, someone wanted to give me something right after the screening (laughs). I didn’t even notice it, but she laughed because I opened my mouth to say, “You know what? You should send it…” I mean, I’m on tour, so obviously she should send it, but she caught me luckily before I said it, and she laughed and said, “I was thinking, after watching the movie, that I should probably send it.” (Laughs)

AE: That’s great. So the roles have been reversed.
MJ: Right. But yeah, actually, when I submitted this to Sundance and it was accepted, later that day I got an e-mail from the director, Cooper, and it just said “macaroni” in it. At first, I laughed and then later, I almost started crying. It was like, “message received.” Just that he understood. On some level, that’s all one wants.

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