Creativity can be a kind of magic. Whether it’s actually an outpouring of the subconscious or something arbitrary that’s given meaning in hindsight, sometimes the art uses the artist to finally get born. If you’re an artist, you may ask yourself, “Where did this come from? How did this get there?” Especially if you’ve never done it before. That’s what happened with legendary film producer Denise Di Novi, who is having her first gallery show after four years of painting. “I never had any history of painting at all. I mean, I’ve been a creative person all my life, and my parents are creative. My dad’s a jazz musician. My late mother was a dancer, and many of my relatives are artists,” explained Di Novi in an interview with MovieWeb ahead of her exhibitions (information here).

Di Novi is the producer of numerous classics — Heathers, Edward Scissorhands, A Walk to Remember, Batman Returns, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Little Women, Focus, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Crazy, Stupid, Love, among many others. She’s also directed and done a variety of impressive things in Hollywood. But if filmmaking is external, painting is internal, and a very different thing. (Explore her artwork here.) She explained:

“But my creativity went into being a filmmaker, and I approached producing from a very creative standpoint. But to do something like this, that was a direct expression of my singular creativity — it was the first time I had ever done anything like that. And
it really was an expression for me of what I was going through. It was also kind of a balm to the soul for me
.”

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The Producer Paints Her Grief
Molly Marler

What she was going through was a distillation of loss and anxiety. “I did not start painting thinking that I would have an exhibition. I started painting as a way to, not to sound too dramatic, but kind of keep myself alive,” explained Di Novi. “My husband passed away the day before lockdown, and it was just a very difficult time. And like most people, I struggled during the lockdown and pandemic, and it was compounded by losing my husband.” Di Novi added, referencing her art on display at The Honarkar Foundation in Laguna Beach (find information here).

And I just could not stop painting. And you know, people started to see my paintings and would be encouraging. And I have a home in Laguna Beach, I grew up there, and [getting a gallery show there] just kind of happened.

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Sometimes art’s too raw for other eyes, and we try to contain it for ourselves. Considering the catalyst for this creative outburst, it makes sense if Di Novi was ever hesitant to share her work; it’s tethered to grief, after all. But the only way out is through, and she’s ready. “In thinking about it, I really felt like I wanted to share them for many reasons. I think the organic cycle of creativity is to share your work,” said Di Novi. She elaborated:

“But most importantly, I just really wanted to share with people that beauty can come from grief, that
you can move in a direction where you know you can create something beautiful in whatever way you choose
, whether it’s gardening or sewing or painting or writing or whatever it is. I think creativity is a gift that we’ve been given as human beings, and sometimes, I think, in our culture, in particular in this country, it is not valued enough. So that’s really the main reason I’m sharing it, is to, hopefully, be inspirational to people.”

Gemma Totten

It’s been four years of painting, so I think I have moved emerged into being a painter, being an artist.

“I do feel like it’s a way to honor my late husband, and to see people have very strong responses to the paintings is very emotional for me,” continued Di Novi. “But, you know, there’s always this argument about, ‘Does suffering make better artists?’ […] It is fuel for art. I mean, I think you can create art when you’re happy too, but there’s no question that when you do touch on something very deep, which is often painful, your creativity becomes a place to go to express it. So then, when you share it, you’re reminded of that process.”

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Lifting ‘The Veil’ with Denise Di Novi
The Veil (2024) FX’s The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. In the shadows, mission controllers at the CIA and French DGSE must put differences aside and work together to avert potential disaster.Release Date April 30, 2024 Cast Elisabeth Moss , Karol Steele , Alec Secareanu , Thibault de Montalembert , Yumna Marwan , Dali Benssalah , Josh Charles , James Purefoy Seasons 1 Writers Steven Knight Streaming Service(s) Hulu Expand

On Di Novi’s website, a highlighted part of her biography reads, “My art is an imagined world where the veil is thin and what is lost can be found.” It’s a subtle and unconscious connection to a great TV series she recently produced for FX on Hulu, The Veil. The miniseries was written and run by the superb scribe Steven Knight (Eastern Promises, Locke, and Peaky Blinders).

“I did not think of the title, The Veil, for the show. The brilliant Steven Knight, who wrote it, did, and when he said the title, I just thought, ‘Oh, that is so perfect for this show,'” explained Di Novi. “Because the show is about going deeper and finding authenticity in relationships and going beyond labeling people. You know, one character is an MI6 agent, one is an ISIS commander, and we think that they’re going to be good versus evil. It’s much more complicated than that, and we go behind that veil that they both put on in front of each other, their identities.”

“It was actually an original idea of mine. My son lives in Paris,” added Di Novi detailing the remarkable origin of The Veil. “And I had a conversation with a retired French intelligence officer at my hotel bar, who was talking about how difficult it had become in Paris with terrorism and those kinds of crimes, and everything, and that they’d had to reach out to MI6 and the CIA, and the culture clash between all of these three organizations in Paris was really creating problems.” She continued:

“And I thought, ‘Gee, what if you had a female MI6 agent — because many of the MI6 agents are female — and what if she kind of came to Paris and is given this assignment? And then I pitched it to my old friend Steven, who just transformed it into this brilliant story with these two women, female characters.”

Elisabeth Moss is phenomenal as the MI6 veteran in the show, which premiered April 30, 2024. “I can say it, because many of the reviews said it,” smiled Di Novi, “this is her best performance.” Meanwhile, Di Novi is busy developing several different projects, including a sequel to her classic ’90s production, Practical Magic. But now her creative tap is on, and who knows what kind of magic awaits us all.”

Watch The Veil