Three Imaginary Girls - SIFF 2009

Imaginary Interview: Cold Souls creators Sophie Barthes & Andrij Parekh

Imaginary Amie — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:25:58 +0000

Being a rabid Paul Giamatti fangirl, I saw Cold Souls earlier this year at SIFF and have been pretty much dying for it to be released so I could harass everyone I know into going to see it.

Writer and Director Sophie Barthes worked with her partner, Cinematographer Andrij Parekh, to create a film that I loved, loved, LOVED – and I got to ask them all about the process.

I read that you had a dream, and that was the basis of the story – and that you two talked about it and decided to develop it together – is that right?

Sophie: Yes. We live together, we’re life partners – and we shot short films and documentaries together, and he works as a Cinematographer, so he has a career that is much more established than mine. Because we're together we always share ideas, and so he wanted to shoot this.

And how long did it take you to write the script from the time that you had the dream – the initial concept?

Sophie: I write pretty fast, so I had the first draft after a month of two. But what took longer was when I decided to write it for Paul Giamatti. Originally I didn’t write it for him – but after months I thought I’d change it and really write it for him. And then from the moment he read the script to the moment we produced the film a year had passed, because he was booked in all these movies. He had like, one after the other.

Andrij: Wasn’t it like a year and a half?

Sophie: Yeah. So we waited, and it was good because I rewrote the script. I went to the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab – and the Director’s Lab – and the Producer also had some notes, so it gave me a year to like really work on the script more. So in total I think it took maybe a year and a half.

Yeah, I think you can really tell that it was written for him. It definitely embodies sort of the spirit of Paul Giamatti – not that I know him, of course, but it just really fit.

Sophie: What we imagine of him, right?

Exactly. So had you always intended for this to be your first feature film?

Sophie: Well, I graduated from Columbia University in 2003, and you know it’s so hard, once you finish school and you’re by yourself, and you hope someone will read it one day. So I wrote like two screenplays before this one. One that was adapted from a Columbia writer that we couldn’t get the rights for. And then I wrote another one that fell through, so this was the third one and I really wanted to make it. It was like I just decided that this was going to be my movie. It was just perseverance. You have to just not give up and write and write and write. But I gave myself like 4-5 years – I thought, “In 5 years if no one reads my stuff and no one cares, maybe I’ll think of doing something else”.

That’s what I tell young screenwriters – I think the best advice is to really give yourself time and be perseverant. You know? Be patient for 5 years and see what happens. Because if you give up after a year or two – a lot of times people give up, but you never know what’s going to develop from all the effort you put it. It’s like training for a marathon. Something will develop from you and a good idea will come. It’s just discipline.

Andrij: But there’s also a lot of timing involved. A friend of ours runs a Nantucket writer’s colony, and suggested that we submit our idea and the screenplay was accepted, and then it won this award at the Film Festival, and that’s when we met Paul.

Sophie: Yeah, there were some great coincidences that happened.

Andrij: Very important coincidences.

Sophie: We were there to get that award, and then Paul was there to give an award at the same time. So we were at the same awards ceremony and I had to tell him that I wrote this for him. This was a great coincidence – I mean what’s the probability of being able to meet him in person and be able to tell him about the script? Otherwise you have to go through all the agents and managers and it can take months and months and months. So we kind of shortcut the entire system and just got him directly involved and he was very responsive. He read the script immediately. We met him on Saturday, and on Monday he read the script and on Tuesday he said he wanted to do it.

So was he flattered by the script? Or did he question your view of him?

Sophie: I think both – he was very intrigued, and he loved the idea of the dream and the chickpea-sized soul. And I think because he was playing himself, he had things that he didn’t want to be too autobiographical, so there were elements I had to take out. Because the whole funny aspect of it – it’s like, it’s him as we imagine him, from what we’ve seen him in, but in life he’s a different guy. It’s playing with that kind of notion, like what is fiction and what is reality. And that’s what I love about actors. Like you feel you own their lives, because they’re in the tabloids and they’re so exposed – but we don’t know them. We just think their personas belong to us, and I love that idea, I love to play with that.

Right, you played on that idea of “owning” an actor by being able to rent someone else’s soul.

Sophie: Right, right exactly. It’s like something you can extract and rent and have. And like this untalented Russian actress, she thinks she’s not going to make the effort to become talented, she’s just gonna buy it. And if it was possible, I guess a lot of people would want to do that so they can shortcut an entire effort. Like when you see the character of Paul, he’s worked so hard for over 20 years, he’s a man of craft and discipline, and to reach that level that he has in acting – I think he’s one of the best actors of his generation – he worked a lot, you know? And sometimes people think that movie starts don’t really do any work. But no – I think it’s a craft, it’s an art.

So I think all these themes were interesting for an actor to explore, and it was pretty challenging also on paper for him to see that he would have to act with a soul, without a soul, with a Russian soul – you know it’s pretty challenging from an acting point of view.

And so when Andrij read the script, did you both immediately start having ideas about how you were going to shoot it together, or did you wait until you looked at locations?

Andrij: Yeah, we put together a visual treatment, picking from photography and paintings that we liked, and strangely enough after we finished shooting I went back and looked at the visual treatment, and it looked very similar to what the movie looks like.

So we put together this visual treatment in order to get financing and as our visual guide, but then sort of forgot about it almost when we went into Production. And then going back to it was really surprising. It was really a very pleasant surprise that it was so close to what we hoped to achieve.

Sophie: We lived with those images for a year – just adding more pictures, so we had this book of pictures just for the colors and the mood. We had a lot of things that visually we love. And it helps because then you start to create that universe that you immerse yourself in.

Andrij: It’s definitely like the most Pre-Production that I’ve ever had on a movie.

Sophie: But we also love location scouting together. It’s one of our favorite things. We went to Russia a year before in the Summer and went to every single hotel in town to find that weird Soviet hotel style.

I love locations, because they’re a great marriage between architecture and cinema. And I think in the 60s they were paying a lot of attention to locations, and now you feel in movies sometimes that the locations are generic and they just build it. And for us, because we had a small budget we couldn’t afford to build anything and have too much Production costs, we had to have existing locations that were special, so actually the location manager was pretty incredible. He got the script and showed us those locations in New York that were really interesting. But that’s a beautiful part for me of movie making, because you really start to see it come alive.

Well one of the things that I thought was great about the movie was that even though it was this total fantasy it felt real. It felt like you could absolutely go to a Soul Storage place and extract yours, and rent others.

Sophie: Great! That was completely on purpose, because we wanted to portray this idea that it’s like Prozac – like the next step after Prozac. Because if it was available, how many people would go and rent a soul, or freeze theirs so they won’t feel anything? So we thought, it has to be Science Fiction, but also be completely believable. This could be in New York today and a guy like Giamatti could just go and do it.

It definitely worked. Obviously you guys working together means you’re making amazing films and I hope you do it again soon.

Sophie: I hope so! He’s a busy guy, I have to like – seduce him to have him shoot the next film, you know? [laughing] But yes, it’s been a great collaboration. It’s nice to work with the person you live with. Two percent of the time, you want to throw the other person through the window, but ninety-eight percent of the time, it’s a beautiful thing. Because cinema is like – there’s no separation between your life and your work – it’s like 24 hours, so you might as well do it with the person you love.

That’s awesome. I was wondering for my final question, if you guys would share what kind of music you’re into now or what you were listening to during filming?

Sophie: I love Tindersticks – which is a group that one of the composers from the film is in. It’s like an alternative UK band. It’s one of my favorites.

Andrij: For me – Bon Iver, Gruper and Grizzly Bear.

Sophie: I love Feist too. We have kind of eclectic musical tastes.

{Cold Souls opened Friday, August 21 in Seattle. It’s currently playing at The Metro and the Uptown. Photo Credit: Adam Bell/SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS}

Being a rabid Paul Giamatti fangirl, I saw Cold Souls earlier this year at SIFF and have been pretty much dying for it to be released so I could harass everyone I know into going to see it.

Imaginary Interview: In the Loop with Mimi Kennedy & Anna Chlumsky

Imaginary Amie — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:24:13 +0000

Armando Iannucci’s wry political comedy In the Loop started off The 35th Seattle International Film Festival this year and opens in Seattle this Friday, July 31st.

The ensemble cast had many great performances, but I was most drawn to the female duo of Mimi Kennedy as Karen Clarke and Anna Chlumsky as her assistant, Liza Weld. I was able to grab a few minutes with both of them during the festival to talk to them about the experience of making this film.

So I wanted to interview you two because I thought that your relationship in the film was so hilarious.

Mimi Kennedy: Yes!

Anna Chlumsky: Thank you, we did too.

Like, the little eye roll when Karen said her teeth were hurting, it was so real. I just felt like I already knew the characters.

Anna: Totally, totally.

I read that Ianuucci does a lot of improvisation. Was this mostly improv? Or was it scripted at all?

Anna: It’s a lot [of improv]. They do it scripted first – which is awesome, because you get the story in, and you have all this brilliant writing in there. Brilliant writing! You can’t get better than that. And then, he comes by and says “should we muddy it up a little?” and then that’s what you do.

Mimi: What’s really improvised in the way – I mean, we did a lot of improvised lines, but it’s really in the rhythm of your relationships. So it’s interesting. What you’re saying, is what we created – which is, how would we say it? And we fell into some great stuff.

Anna; Right, right. It just loosens it all up and dirties it up and…

Mimi: Your mother, for instance.

Anna: What? My mother?

Mimi: You told me at some point that it’s like mother/daughter stuff.

Anna: Oh yeah. Absolutely.

Mimi: and for me, too – it was like my daughter.

Anna: And female bosses too. Female bosses have that weird dynamic where they’re not really sure if you’re their protégé, or you’re their threat.

Mimi: Yeah, whether we’re taking care of each other or trying to undermine each other.

Anna: Exactly!

Right. And then, I wanted to ask you about the PWPIPP? How do you say that? P-whip-pip?

Anna: Pwip-pip.

How did you guys not just die laughing every time you said that?

Mimi: She had to say it more than I did.

Anna: Yeah, I definitely did. But, well – I think that’s just as good a question to ask the people in the state department, or in any bureaucratic environment. How they don’t just die laughing with all the acronyms that they’re given. That was actually in our audition, and I was like “oh BRILLIANT”. Thank you for bringing up the acronym plague upon our entire English language.

Mimi: Is David Rasche the one who said “Pwip-ip, what is that? Something about birds?”

Anna: Bird-calling, yeah. I think he was the one. Also, Enzo does such great delivery. He’s like “pippip”.

Mimi: I know, Enzo. He’s brilliant in this.

Well, it was just an awesome cast all-around. It just looked like you guys had so much fun.

Mimi: Oh god. We did.

Anna: We did! It was ridiculous.

And it really comes across. It’s not stilted at all – the delivery is very natural. It’s like you guys were actually in DC, doing these jobs.

Anna: OH my god. And the set department was so great.

Mimi: They way they set up the UN.

Anna: And that’s really – the way they did it too: they didn’t set up marks! They just did it…what they call it these days, Guerilla style?

Mimi: Guerilla Cinematography?

Anna: Yeah – that’s what they did. And so, you’re free to go anywhere you feel like going, and it’s completely impulsive. Even when you’re on lines – it’s just so impulsive.

That is so cool. And then your scenes with James Gandolfini of course. Just hilarious, with your underscore of romance.

Anna: (laughing) Sometimes OVERscore!

What did he say later on about it? In the film?

Both in unison: And I don’t even remember it!!! (laughter)

Mimi: That is a very funny line.

My heart actually broke a little bit for you when he said that.

Mimi: Oh god yes. We had originally stumbled onto that in my office during an improvisation. And I brought it up and could see that he didn’t remember that. So I said Never mind, forget it –it was a mistake, I shouldn’t have brought it up. So that was there, but not in the movie.

But I have to recall now, that when I met James. I brought up something that I thought he was part of that I had been part of – you know, way back when, that we wouldn’t have even met each other on, and he was going “No. no. I wasn’t there”. And then I started to blush, because he was this big, huge star of an actor. So he laughed and said “Well I’m glad I could make you blush within 3 minutes of meeting you” And I think that now – I look back and think that that’s probably fed into that.

Anna: Oh, yeah.

Mimi; Of course. Because it comes into everything actors do together.

That’s so cool. Well, I’m so glad this movie came here to play at SIFF – and thank you so much for giving me a couple of minutes.

Anna: We’re so glad to be here too.

Mimi: Thank you so much for having us!

Anna: Yes. Thank you!

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Armando Iannucci’s wry political comedy In the Loop started off The 35th Seattle International Film Festival this year and opens in Seattle this Friday, July 31st.

Imaginary Interview: Lynn Shelton

ChrisB — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:50:39 +0000

It’s probably stating the obvious to say that Lynn Shelton is the most celebrated filmmaker in the Northwest right now. Her latest film, Humpday, which received great acclaim from critics and filmgoers alike when it played at the Sundance Film Festival, is a story of two dear friends who find themselves in a dare to make a homemade gay porn film, even though both are straight (and one is married). It’s based on Hump, The Stranger’s annual, amateur porn contest. It’s a really great film that explores the boundaries of friendship. It’s both very funny and moving.

Her second feature, My Effortless Brilliance, played at SIFF in 2008. It also deals with a friendship of two men, who are played by musicians Sean Nelson (of Harvey Danger) and Basil Harris (of “Awesome”). It was also a great film that explored the egos and relationship of those characters. It also has several themes that lead into Humpday.

Lynn Shelton is one of those people you meet that no one has a negative thing to say about them, and it’s all true. When I interviewed The Stranger Genius Award winner a few days before Humpday screened as the Centerpiece film at SIFF, I wish I had let my tape recorder run for about five minutes longer because she had several very positive things to say about the cast and crew of all of her films and said she felt really lucky and fortunate to have worked with the people she has.

How did the idea for Humpday come about?

Well, my first film, We Go Way Back, was made in a traditional manner well I just sat down and wrote the script and thought of these characters in my head and once the script was done I went out into the world and looked for somebody to fit these roles I made up. It’s especially a hard thing to do with such a smaller town like Seattle if you want to make a film regionally: you don’t have thousands of twenty-three year olds that you can audition; you have about forty; same with women in their twenties. They’re all great actors or actresses but no one is going to perfectly fit the idea you have in your head.

I also found that traditional filmmaking method, which is my first time on a set, I never went to film school, I was an editor and so I learned how to tell stories cinematically through editing but I had never been on a film set before. With having an acting background I found it was so hard on the actor, that’s not bad if you have well-trained actors used to being in front of the camera, but all of these theater actors who were so great in auditions were just relaxed and natural in the audition but when they get in an artificial environment they have a harder time being at ease. I started to fantasize about creating a completely actor-centered set. My Effortless Brilliance was a total experiment; I didn’t even know if it was possible to work that way. I knew other people employed some of the elements I employed but this was my own specific recipe. I started with a person that I wanted to work with and adding people to that and custom designing characters for them and allowing them to participate in the development of their own character so it wouldn’t be this far reach, it would be an easy, glove-like fit. Once I knew who the characters were I could really figure out how they would interact with one another and really cement what was going to happen in the film. When I show up on set I have a really structured outline but I don’t have a script because I want them to provide the words because I think they can come up with more naturalistic writing than I would be able to.

It’s like setting up a false documentary in a way because you’re creating this scenario and everyone has tons of back story and they really know who they are and we talk and talk and talk before shooting each scene. We have two cameras and I let them go and it’ll often be a twenty or thirty minute take. Maybe we’ll do that two or three times. And then in the edit room is where it all gets carved out and really written, like a documentary. You’ve got hours and hours of footage and have to figure out how you’re going to find the nugget of the story. The final draft of the script really comes in the edit room.

The starting point for Humpday was Mark Duplass, who I met and really wanted to work with. We bonded as filmmakers and people but I saw him on the set of this other film, True Adolescents, that was shooting up here and I was the still photographer and got to see him acting first-hand, so I knew I wanted to use him as actor. He said “pitch me an idea” and he went back to LA and about a month later a friend who was staying at my place in Seattle went to see Hump and he had a really interesting response to the gay porn that he had seen, which he never sought out before, he’s straight. He just kept talking about, it was the main thing he would talk about and after a couple of days I started thinking about the relationship between straight guys and gayness. It’s obviously different for everybody but I have noticed that straight guys happen to be more attached to their sexual identities as straight guys than most people; they’re nervous and there’s this anxiety around them that everybody knows they’re straight. They have to be cool, especially these days, with broaching gayness; it’s not cool to be homophobic and they’re cool to have gay friends, it’s fine if everyone else is gay, that’s fine as long as everyone else knows they’re straight. You know what I mean? There’s this attachment and anxiety that maybe they’re secretly gay. I don’t know, it’s just really interesting. It’s not everybody but I did notice a lot of straight guys have this weird anxiety, so I thought it would be an interesting challenge to get two straight guys and box themselves into this bizarre mutual dare and get it into their heads that they have to do this and have sex together. That was the starting point of the film and it devolved into where it went.

I went to Hump one year, the very first year, and remember Dan Savage complaining about how there wasn’t any gay porn in the festival. I think there was one scene but that was it and he was really disappointed. I was thinking about that as I was watching the film. I never saw the film, though, as being about sex. I saw it as being about the male ego.

Yeah, much more about the male ego and relationships, I think. It’s about marriage and friendship and male ego but it’s also about these two guys going through an identity crisis with each other. It’s in a way like seeing an old friend from a long time, like ten years, and examining the past that you had and you size up your own life, like a mirror is being held up to your life. I think it’s a very common experience. It’s interesting how they engender identity crises in each other and have this sense of competition. Other straight girls, other women have competitions too but there’s something about certain straight guys together that can be really funny.

I agree. I also thought the character you played, Monica, upped the stakes with the film and set it on the path it followed, especially the scene that took place in bed in the middle of the film. I thought it was the turning point in the film.

I’m glad you said that because that was a scene I’m particularly proud of. I wanted to accomplish a few things with that scene: one was to show that people are able to be fluid with their sexuality, and these two women are fine with being able to be fluid and have fun and be comfortable in their skin at the same time it’s this opportunity for (Andrew) to be challenged. That character’s whole identity is based on this idea he has of himself that he’s open-minded, adventurous and he’s coming up against his own limitations. I think it makes him more sympathetic; it’s this opportunity for us to feel for him because he finds the edges of where he’s actually able to go.

I really thought there were a few scenes from My Effortless Brilliance that led indirectly into Humpday. One was where Eric, Sean Nelson’s character, was being interviewed by the flirty writer.

That’s really interesting; no one has made that comparison before but I think you’re right. I am really interested in the poignancy of people trying to connect and not quite being able to, the sort of awkwardness.

What else are you working on? Did I hear correctly that you filmed another film with Sean?

No, no. I am planning to. I have an idea for a film that hopefully we will be shooting in the fall or winter. It’s not a remake at all but it’s modeled on the structure of My Dinner with Andre. It’s going to be Sean playing a version of Sean, and I’ll probably use their own names, too, as a journalist and Sherman Alexie and Sherman will be playing a version of himself. It’ll take place in a restaurant and it’ll be these two guys talking over dinner. I’m really, really excited about this film. There are a lot of unanswered questions I don’t think I’ll know until we’re actually shooting but it could fall flat on its face, too. But I have a really good feeling about it.

Another opportunity came up before that and I was intrigued enough to take it on. If all goes well, I’ll be shooting a web series for MTV.com that is a Seattle version of web series developed by Craig Brewer, who directed Hustle & Flow, but he developed a web series for MTV called “Five Dollar Cover: Memphis” and he based the narrative on the lives of these musicians and their soap opera-type stories and they’re performing. The producer from MTV saw Humpday at Sundance and really enjoyed it and said I would be a really good candidate to direct the Seattle version of this web series. If it gets green lit we’ll start shooting in the summer. It’s an interesting hybrid between a documentary and docudrama. The form is also really interesting: these six-to-eight minute episodes where you drop in, it’s like a short story and there isn’t a lot of time for an intricate back story or development, it’s just dropping in and dropping out.

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One more chance to catch the best of SIFF '09

imaginary embracey — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:05:51 +0000

Just when you thought SIFF '09 was over and done, SIFF Cinema is presenting a three-day, 13-program selection of award winners and audience favorites this weekend. SIFFed out as I still am, I'm actually kinda glad, especially having missed Grand Jury Prize winners talhotblond and The Other Bank.

Anything you missed at this year's local cinema-bration but wish you hadn't? Or did SIFF not make it onto your calendar at all this year? (If the latter, you might consider the full weekend pass for admission to all programs. Because you have lameness to account for.)

Imaginary Interview: Paul Solet

Imaginary Amie — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:39:34 +0000

Grace was definitely the most uncomfortable and most horrific film I’ve seen in a long time – as I said in my review, the last time I remember being so squirmy in my seat was when I saw Lucky McGee’s 2002 film May. I’m affected in this way so rarely by horror films, that when I see something like this, I want to tell everyone I know and I want to find out everything I can about it.

This is simply an exceptionally well-written horror film, and after sitting down with Writer and Director Paul Solet, I could see why it turned out as good as it did. He’s charming, intelligent, intense – and very, very passionate about Grace, and about making films in general.

So, in addition to directing, you wrote the script. I have to ask: how did you come up with that idea?

Paul Solet: On a personal level, the genesis was a conversation with my mom when I was 19 years old – she told me I had a twin that didn’t make it. But it wasn’t until a few years later in another conversation, where it came up that if you’re pregnant, and you lose your child and labor isn’t induced, you can sometimes carry that baby to term. And that this is actually a decision people make more frequently than they talk about.

And to me, even as a man, that’s – well, look. As a genre fan I’m always looking to be shaken up like I was when I was a little kid, and it’s getting very, very hard for me to get disturbed by films. So when I find an idea that really shakes me up, I’m all over it. And this – even as a male – was just such a potent kernel of horror that I was like, this is a fucking movie. You know?

It’s definitely different from anything out there – at least anything I can think of. It could have very easily been campy and over-the-top, and you didn’t craft it like that at all. I’m curious about how you came across Jordan Ladd?

Paul: Eli Roth is an old friend – I’ve actually known him since I was 11 years old. I read the script for Cabin Fever when he wrote it, and watched the whole process, and so I was already very familiar with Jordan. You sort of – you can’t not have a crush on her, you know what I mean?

And what this character this needs, since she’s making some fucked up decisions and doing some fucked up things, you need to stay with her. You cannot dismiss her as a whack-job. So what we needed for Madeline was someone that has this natural empathetic quality, and Jordan has that. She’s someone you like, and she’s accessible – she’s a beautiful, blue-eyed blonde girl, but also she has substance and character. She’s a very smart girl. She was perfect.

And how did you cast her Mother-in-Law? Because she was also amazing.

Paul: She was fabulous, wasn’t she? Gabrielle Rose is fucking amazing. We shot the film in Regina, Saskatchewan. And so we cast out of Vancouver (everybody but Jordan). So I had this amazing casting director, Carmen Kotyk, in Canada, and the crop of actors I saw there was phenomenal – but Gabrielle Rose is just a cut above. And she was someone who was extremely passionate about the script.

And I’m not someone who sits back behind the desk at casting sessions, because it’s your first chance to see the actors, and see how they take direction, and who they are. I mean you’re going to be with this person, so you need to connect with them.

And I hope you get a chance to meet Gabrielle someday, because she is as amazing a woman as you would think – and of course, she’s nothing like that woman [in the film]. Nothing at all. But she is an extremely generous actor. She’s always absolutely engaged with the other person in the scene, she elevates everyone’s performances, and she’s just remarkably present. She’s hot shit. I mean, this woman has fucking chops. There are just very few actors I’ve seen working that can even do what she does. She’s fucking amazing. So when I saw her, I said; “If we don’t get her, I’m going to cry”.

One of the things that I really liked about the script was that you had this really strong theme of “obsession” across all the characters - did you build out on that original idea and spin it into this multi-layer story? How did that evolve?

Paul: Yeah, I’m glad you noticed that. It’s cool to see you articulate that. It’s slightly more surface-y theme of – obviously – the uncanny power of the bond between a mother and a child, but even below that is what you’ve just described. Which is; everybody wants something they cannot have. That is sadly, a human phenomenon that we all can relate to. And that’s how I engage with the story on a personal level.

I’m not a mom, I’m not a woman – but from the start, it was very important to me to sustain enough humility to understand that I needed to continually solicit the input of women and moms. Because I knew if I didn’t do that, masculinity would be all over the film where it shouldn’t be. And it can’t be that. That’s not what it’s about – but I digress. Yes, obsession is the web that links everybody. That is the core of the film.

Yeah, that was something that really struck. That it was so much more than just the story of the mom and the baby and what was happening there. And I definitely think that it’s something that will be hard for everybody to watch. But that’s what you want with horror films – you want to feel uncomfortable and, well, horrified.

Paul: Right, that’s our job. Horror films should be horrific. I love watching this film with audiences – I know a lot of directors don’t like to do that, but I’ve seen this film with audiences all over the world, and it’s still immensely satisfying, and always a huge learning experience. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a film with people after years of trying to craft these beats, and seeing that they work. So, I still sit and watch every single screening.

So you watched it with the midnight crowd here [in Seattle]?

Paul: Yeah, it was a great crowd. The place was packed, and it feels like a room full of me. That’s what I love about the midnight crowds. I’ve seen it with like, a 6pm crowd and it’s a very different theater. You can hear a fucking pin drop. And people are just like “Oh my god. Oh. My. God”. But a midnight audience gets the dark humor. They just get it, you can feel it. And I felt very much at home with this audience. They were a very good audience.

I was really impressed also with all the little details in the film, and so I wanted to ask about your special effects guy. How did you find him?

Paul: We shot this movie in seventeen 9 and ½ hour days in Regina, Saskatchewan. So, we were getting 1-3 takes, if that. And we were also using local crew. Luckily, I brought my Production Designer, and I brought my D.P. but there were like, okay, your special effects guy is this 20-year-old guy who works at the museum punching hair on the horse displays. And I was like...”I’m sorry?”. But I thought, okay, let’s meet him. And I met him, this kid Emersen Ziffle – and he showed up with his book, and his shit is fucking amazing. He came out of the womb doing Fangoria. This kid was like a kindred spirit to me. And I thought; this fucking kid is awesome. You’ll see more from him. He’s doing every bigger show in that area.

He’s young and he’s passionate, and he’s definitely someone I want to work with. He’s someone who wants to tell the story through his craft. That’s the question you ask your crew; “How would you tell the story through your craft?” and if they’re like uh…..you don’t want that.

My Director of Photography gets story. He understands the story. He’s like, let’s get the fucking beats. Let’s do it! Because if you don’t have that, you’re fucked. And that goes through every member – I mean it’s a cliché, that every single person on the set is valuable, but that’s the real deal. If you don’t value every single member of that set, down to the P.A., you are in deep shit. You’re cheating the whole process. And that runs through to your special effects guy. He needs to be in the story emotionally, he needs to understand – “No, this isn’t a scene where’s it’s blood squirting out of her neck”. He needs to understand that intuitively, you know?

Like, even the Dolly Grip needs to know the story. The ideal situation is this synergy – where even the PA’s are passionate, and they’re coming in early. A film like this, you’ve got the Art Department putting shit on their own credit cards. We were trying to figure out this move, because we couldn’t build it – we were out of money. And we were shooting on 35, so there’s a lot of challenges, and Martin, our Dolly Grip, steps up and makes a suggestion on how to do it. And he was absolutely fucking right, because he knew the script, he knew the scene – he knew what we were trying to achieve emotionally.

You know, your job as a Director is not to be a fucking expert at everything. In fact, your job as a Director is to have the fucking humility to recognize that you’re not a fucking expert, and to hire the right people. And then create an environment in which they can do their best work.

And that’s what’s great about Indie film, right? You have a small group, and you’re working very closely together, and you’re aware of what the budget is and what you need to get done.

Paul: Yes, you’re definitely under the radar when you’re working with this budget.

I can’t even imagine what this film would be like with a bigger budget.

Paul: It would over cooked and it would be cut down, and it would turn into a Creature Feature or something. And it would make a lot of money – but, I still think this film will make people money. It’s definitely a film that’s broadly accessible emotionally and it’s very important – I mean, I fucking LOVE horror movies. But somewhere along the line, this genre convention developed of alienating half your audience, or at least neglecting them. And I just never got it. I never understood it – it doesn’t make sense to me.

I will never compromise story to achieve some social or political end. I don’t give a fuck, really. My job is as a storyteller. But at the same time, we’re all audience. And if you don’t respect that – what’s the fucking point? So it’s just very important for me to make a film that is horror for humanity. Not horror for boys 18-25. That said; boys 18-25 need to be scared shitless of this film too. You know what I mean? I’m not trying to make a Lifetime-fuckin’ horror movie. And that’s not what happened. To me, the models are films like The Shining, and The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby. This is horror for everyone – it is accessible to everyone. And that’s the goal of Grace.

We’re getting under your skin, we’re not just working viscerally, we’re working emotionally and we’re working intellectually, and if we’re doing our job – not to get too precious, we’re going to try work spiritually as well – we’re going to try to reach you on all levels.

Right. It’s not like the gore was the point of the film. It just accentuated what she was willing to do to keep her baby alive.

Paul: That’s right – you have to earn that. No gratuity. The mistake that gets made so frequently, it seems to me, is that spectacle becomes the priority. And it’s building films around set pieces. And you don’t have to do that – you can work on a smaller canvas, with smaller brush strokes, and you’re still affecting people the same way. You’re just establishing a different arena. Does that make sense?

Yes, definitely. And I think there are sort of two basic groups of horror films, there’s something like Grace, which I actually think is very rare – to be so deeply disturbing. And then, there’s the more over-the-top type of film with a campier feel, like Raimi’s newest Drag Me to Hell, which I still very much love.

Paul: Absolutely. I love those films too. I fucking love them. But my goal is to make films that will make people remember why they’re fucking here. You know? This is not just a fucking job.

My last question – and I’ve been asking everyone this – since Three Imaginary Girls is focused on music, I’m wondering if you can tell me what kind of music you’re listening to right now. Note: When I pulled out my iPod to record this interview, Paul told me that his old 160G was totally full, and he needed to get a new one – which is how I knew his answer to this question would be really interesting.

Paul: Oh man, I listen to a lot of music – but I’m on a Glitch Mob kick. It’s like the nastiest, electronic shit. Just the funkiest, illest, most distilled future Hip Hop, no lyrics generally – but just nasty, nasty break beats. I love that shit, I used to spin records a little bit. But I grew up in a punk rock, hardcore scene in Boston. So, that’s sorta in my blood. I’ll always be listening to Blood for Blood and stuff like that. And, like The Dwarves. I fucking love them, and Zeke. That type of shit. I just love it. But checkout Glitch Mob. They’re unique – and edIT also. Check out edIT’s album – Certified Air Raid Material. It’s just so fucking sick. You need to get it. Go home and get it.

Paul_Solet.jpg

Grace is an exceptionally well-written horror film, and after sitting down with Writer and Director Paul Solet, I could see why it turned out as good as it did. He's charming, intelligent, intense - and very, very passionate about Grace, and about making films in general.

SIFF gives out Golden Space Needle Awards

ChrisB — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:44:52 +0000

As promised, TIG would continue its coverage of SIFF "until the final Golden Space Needle Award was given out" and early this afternoon, they were. Amie Simon and I were on hand to watch the winners receive their awards.

SIFF Take: talhotblond

ChrisB — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:34:08 +0000

talhotblond screens again today, Saturday, June 13 at 4pm at Pacific Place.

In theaters or DVD, see Icons Among Us

Chris Estey — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:33:27 +0000

When It Hits Theaters Or DVDs, See Icons Among Us

Tonight at SIFF: Youssou N'dour: I Bring What I Love

Chris Estey — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:28:42 +0000

{Youssou N'dour: I Bring What I Love screens at the Seattle International Film Film Festival tonight, June 12, at 9:30pm and Sunday, June 14 at 1:30pm, both screenings at the Harvard Exit.}

SIFF Event: No Age performs live soundtrack for "The Bear"

Imaginary Amie — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:27:22 +0000

Okay, here's the deal: SIFF live-music events are always amazing. Every time I run into someone who's been to one, they insist it's one of the best shows they've ever seen – so I feel compelled to plug this as a recommended Friday show.

SIFF weekend 4 preview

imaginary embracey — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:34:45 +0000

Has SIFF saved the best for last, or is it scraping the bottom of the cinematic barrel? We'll soon find out, and I'll be in queue for these films.

Imaginary Interview: Julie Davis

ChrisB — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:27:53 +0000

In Julie Davis’ hilarious new film, Finding Bliss, Leelee Sobieski stars as Jody, a recent film graduate who takes a job as an editor, to only find out it’s working in the porn industry. She takes the job because it gave her the opportunity to work on making her first film. The film recently screened at the Seattle International Film Festival and the crowd I watched the film with laughed throughout the entire screening. Finding Bliss works as a film because it stars actors like Jamie Kennedy, Denise Richards and Kristen Johnston who are all very funny.

Although the film is set in porn industry, it is, at heart, a romantic comedy. After it screened at SIFF, I talked with Davis about making this film on a shoestring budget, working with this cast and finding the music for it. While trying to remain free of hyperbole, Julie Davis was the easiest person to talk to that I've ever interviewed; she was friendly and charming and candid.

How much of this film was autobiographical?

When I first moved out to Los Angeles in 1990 I had just graduated college, went to Dartmouth, I wanted to be a filmmaker and didn’t know anybody when I moved out to LA. After about 3 years, I just couldn’t get a decent job, where I could make a living and pay my rent and be a responsible adult, which I wanted to do so badly. The first job that came my way where I was making a good salary, good benefits and stability was as an editor for the Playboy Channel. I was very conflicted because I was a hopeless romantic, I believed in love and pornography is everything that is separate from that. When you think of pornography, you don’t think of Playboy but they actually had a channel that ran under a different name that ran porn. So, the film was based on that. I had to make a movie about this. I was only working there for a year. I was writing my dream script that I was going to make for no money, which I did, and it got into Sundance and then I actually had a career that I could quit at Playboy. But that whole year at Playboy was such a turning point in my life.

Were you also shooting the film after hours at the Playboy Channel with their studio and sound and editing equipment, like what happened in the film?

No, that was made up. I didn’t make my movie when I was working at Playboy; I made it once I left. I was using their stuff for my preproduction like their Xerox machine and their phone but in the movie I had to find a plot; your real life never has a first, second and third act or a turning point. A friend of mine, Don Bloomfield, who is a co-producer on the film, had the idea that (Jody) takes the job because she sees the sound stage and thinks “I can shoot my movie here at night.” It’s completely his idea and I can’t take credit for it because I never would have figured that out. I was really stuck and I had written two drafts of the script and I had a TV pilot of the script; it was originally written as a pilot for Showtime as an hour TV pilot. In the pilot, she never took the job to make her movie; she took it to keep her head above water. I didn’t need to have this strong plot. I was so struck when I was trying to figure this out and he said “she should shoot her movie there at night.”

He kind of used Bullets Over Broadway, the Woody Allen film, as an inspiration. It really had a lot of parallels to that, like how John Cusack’s character has to use mobsters and get involved with mob people to make his play. That’s what should happen with Jody and she had to use all porn people to make her film.

You mentioned being a Woody Allen fan in the Q&A last night, so I knew we would get along well because I am too. One scene in particular reminded me of one of my favorite scenes in Annie Hall.

Awww…that’s the nicest thing!

It’s true. I’m referring to one scene in particular that reminded me of the cocaine scene in Annie Hall.

It’s such a great scene; that’s so nice. It’s funny because I always hope people don’t think (of that scene) as just a slapstick scene, even though I do like slapstick; I like Mel Brooks and I like great commercial comedies. I’m not ashamed of that.

But with film festivals, I really stuck because there’s a commercial feel to the film, but it’s still really independent. It makes it very hard because you either have to be Judd Apatow or Adam Sandler if you’re going to make a comedy like that, a broad comedy that has a lot of heart. I just didn’t have the budget or the huge stars but it’s not a true indie because it’s too commercial and too mainstream, even though it’s set in the porn business. The people in this business are always looking for a reason to say no and there are definitely a lot of reasons to say no. But to me, I want something that defies description.

This morning, I knew I was going to be talking to you, so I was up very early watching one of your previous films, Amy’s O. I noticed how that film led to Finding Bliss.

You’re a good reporter doing your job!

Well, I’m not usually a film writer, I’m usually a music writer, so I wanted to be somewhat prepared, but I just didn’t have the time to watch your other films, All Over the Guy and I Love You, Don’t Touch Me but Netflix did deliver them all yesterday afternoon.

That’s great that you’re a music writer because music is hugely important to me. In fact, I think I make movies because I’m a frustrated composer. I really believe that is how I really want to express myself but I can’t and making movies is how I express myself.

I can’t wait to work with a composer and pick music. That’s like casting the lead, it’s as important. I think I spend more time with the music, stressing out over it, really it determines what the movie is going to be. You can really elevate or you can really ruin the movie with (your selections of music). What did you think of the music in the film?

I really enjoyed it. I thought it was good, especially segueing into particular scenes.

We had no money, no song budget. We had $2000 for all of those songs. They were all unsigned artists and it was torture trying to put everything together. My friend Donnamarie (Recco), who played Kathleen, is a struggling musician as well, so she knows struggling musicians and that was how we got a lot of those songs. We just couldn’t get any known artists. And trying to find what the score should be was also really hard.

Was it difficult getting to clear songs once you found ones that would work?

It took months to pick the songs and then we had to start from scratch again. With the score, I think we used part of the score from Desperately Seeking Susan, which has that eighties feel, which I thought was good because it’s sexy but fun. I love music from the eighties but then it came time to replace it. You want to let the composer find their own sound, you don’t want to just say “copy this”. I think (John Swihart) did a really good job.

How did you find him?

He also composed the score for Napoleon Dynamite and that really put him on the map. He’s done a lot of films since then and he was just fabulous to work with. I found him through his agent.

You filmed this movie in Spokane but had a lot of known Hollywood actors in the film; did everyone fly up to Spokane to shoot?

Yeah, we shot 16 days in Spokane and four in Los Angeles, so the majority was shot in Spokane. We all lived at the Doubletree Hotel in Spokane and it was really fun. The day players were all local Spokane actors, and maybe a few from Seattle, as well.

Because this was filmed sort of locally, in Spokane, there were a lot of people who were at the screening last night that were friends with people who worked on the film and whenever their friends’ names would appear in the closing credits, a lot of people would applaud. I asked Natasha Lyonne about this when I interviewed her a couple of weeks ago and she said that was what independent filmmaking should be.

It is. You work so hard and everyone works really hard on the film and those unsung heroes are the grips or the people who work fourteen hours a day and don’t get the credit they deserve.

Also, when you’re here, people aren’t jaded in Spokane. The crews were really jaded in LA and no one wanted you to shoot on their street or near their house. But here, people here were so excited and so nice. Last night, the script supervisor, Cheryl Cowan, was in Seattle and she got to see the film the movie for the first time. And then our second assistant camera woman was in Seattle and she got to see the movie for the first time and then our colorist got to see it for the first time with sound last night. It was really great to have all of them there because they worked so hard and had never seen it. A lot of times people work on films and never see them.

One other thing I really liked about this film was that you had people that really had good comic timing and really understood comedy. I saw a film a few days ago that was with a first time director and lots of inexperienced actors and it was difficult to watch. Jamie Kennedy was hilarious, Denise Richards has been in quite a few comedies, Kristen Johnston was on “Third Rock from the Sun”, and she’s very funny…

Kristen Johnston, oh my God, can you have better timing than she does? She doesn’t do many tiny, low-budget movies but she’s a friend of a friend. I don’t think she knows how good she is in this movie. She’s the only one in the cast who hasn’t seen it yet. I told her people love you in this movie and she says “I’ll see it when I see it”. I also told her that she looks really pretty in it.

Definitely, she looks gorgeous.

It’s always great to tell an actor they look really great in a film because, let’s face it, actresses care. Denise Richards is beautiful but she looks really beautiful in this film, doesn’t she?

Of course, she looked in stunning in almost every scene she was in.

Someone told me “this movie is too racy for Pacific Place”. Do you think so?

Oh no, not at all. I didn’t the movie was about porn anyway, that was just where it was set. It wasn’t Inside Deep Throat.

That’s what people are going to call it, “the porn movie”, but it’s not. It’s a coming of age story. People are still going to say that, though.

We did have an offer from a small company that made an offer to buy the film and distribute it and start off small in a couple of cities and they just said “we think it’s really commercial and really funny.” That’s it. They think it’s commercial and funny and has a good cast. If they’re willing to put it out there, they aren’t afraid of the whole porn element.

I think it has a lot more depth to it than the corny porn jokes. They’re great and people laugh but that is the first half of the movie. As it goes on, it gets more serious. I love all of that stuff, the silly sex jokes, but are they prepared to get into the serious part of the movie?

But you also didn’t shut off the silly sex jokes in the second half of the film. The scene at the AVN Awards with Kristen Johnston and Ron Jeremy was one of the funniest scenes in the movie.

I love seeing the two of them together. I have a really funny story about that. She did not want to do that scene. She said she had to get back to New York and teach her class – she teaches at NYU. She finally asked “do you really need me for that scene because I have to stay two extra days?” and she said “I just don’t want to be in a scene where I’m on a stage with Ron Jeremy.” I said, “That is what this is about? That is what this movie is about Kristen, a good actress like you standing next to the biggest porn star in the world”. I loved just having the two of them in a scene together. I just thought it made for a great photo of the two of them and now I can say to Kristen “see, that photo is going to wind up on the internet” and she’ll go “oh no! I’m on the internet with Ron Jeremy!”

juliedavis.jpg

Julie Davis' latest film, Finding Bliss is a very funny, semi-autobiographical story of a film school grad who finds a job working as an editor in the porn industry but it is, at heart, a romantic comedy. After Finding Bliss screened at SIFF, Davis spoke to TIG about making this film on a shoestring budget, working with this cast and finding the music for it.

SIFF Giveaway: Free tickets to see Rain

Imaginary Amie — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:59:12 +0000

The generous folks at SIFF have given us 3 pairs of tickets to see Rain this Saturday, June 13 at SIFF Cinema, 7pm.

Sounds great, non? Director Maria Govan is expected to attend the screening too. If you want a pair, the drill is thus: email me (lulafortune at g mail dot com) saying you want ‘em, and I’ll reply and arrange a meet-up sometime between now and Saturday.

SIFF Take: (500) Days of Summer

Imaginary Amie — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:49:16 +0000

Director Marc Webb channels Cameron Crowe at his best – great conversation, lots of laughs and a killer soundtrack – with his feature debut, (500) Days of Summer. If this is where he's starting, I can't wait to see what he does next.

Win tickets to see My Suicide at SIFF

ChrisB — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:52:01 +0000

My Suicide features music from Rocky Votolato on its soundtrack (and I hear that he will be at the screening, along with the film's director, David Lee Miller). The film screens on Wednesday, June 10 at 9:30pm at Pacific Place. If you want to see My Suicide at SIFF, just e-mail tig@threeimaginarygirls.com before 9am on Wednesday, June 10 with "My Suicide" in the subject line and we'll notify you shortly thereafter if you've won tickets to the screening that night.

SIFF Take: Cold Souls

Imaginary Amie — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:43:06 +0000

A comedy that makes you think as much as it makes you laugh is hard to come by, but Writer and Director Sophie Barthes has produced one that's nearly flawless for her first feature film.

Imaginary Interview: Little Joe

ChrisB — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:42:43 +0000

The film Little Joe is a one-person documentary that tells the story of Joe Dallesandro, an actor most known for his starring role in many of Andy Warhol’s films, including Flesh, Trash, and Lonesome Cowboys. The documentary is a fascinating portrait of the Warhol superstar who shares many of his most interesting stories as he tells how the chance meeting with Warhol shaped his life and career.

For many years, he had one of the most iconic images, with his likeness appearing on the cover of The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, as well as The Smiths’ debut, self-titled album. The director John Waters said he “forever changed male sexuality on the screen”. After moving on from films with Warhol, Dallesandro worked with other notable directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Waters and Steven Soderbergh and was immortalized in the Lou Reed hit song "Walk on the Wild Side".

Just a couple of hours before Little Joe premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival, I sat down with Joe Dallesandro and the film’s director, Nicole Hauesser. We talked about making the film, getting permission to use all of the rare footage and photos featured in the movie and working with one of the most notable artists of the twentieth century.

How did the idea for this film come about?

Nicole Hauesser: It origination with Vedra (Mehagian Dallesandro), Joe’s daughter. After Joe wrote an article for a book called Letters to the Next Generation, he and Vedra started working on it and I got involved much later.

This film is told only through Joe’s perspective, no one else is interviewed. How did you make the decision to only feature Joe?

Nicole: There were so many different versions. I think at one point were people interested in giving us a big budget and let us shoot on film and wanted to finance it but they wanted to wait until after Joe wasn’t around anymore. Then we just decided to do it ourselves and that was how it came about. Joe said “they can make that film when I’m dead.” We decided to ask him the questions instead of asking other people. I also thought we had to either get many people or just have Joe tell his story.

What kind of reaction have you gotten from showing the film to audiences?

Nicole: We just premiered the film in Berlin in February. It was a wonderful experience; it was very well received, we had gotten some great write-ups. This is our North American premiere and hopefully we’ll have the same reaction.

Berlin was a different experience though because Joe received the Teddy Award for his contribution to gay cinema. It was very exciting for him because a very small film was received like that.

Joe, in the film you talk about not having an ambition to become an actor and that your meeting Paul Morrissey and Andy Warhol was a fluke.

Joe Dallesandro: Yeah, that has been my story forever and it’s the truth. I showed up at a place to meet someone who did Campbell Soup and I thought I was going to get a meal but those were the paintings that Andy made. He was behind a camera with a newspaper and reached out with his hand and turned the camera on or off if he heard something funny and that was Andy’s idea of shooting a film.

Paul Morrissey would run around giving the characters in front of the camera directions on what he wanted them to do. He approached me and said he wanted me to be in the film. It was a homemade movie and I said sure and did a small scene with them and that was the beginning of my career with the Warhol people.

Being the youngest person in the film, they used my picture to advertise the movie. They said “put Joe in another one” and I’m a real easy-going guy to work with. Paul called me up and said “we’re doing a cowboy movie, would you like to go to Arizona?” I said “sure, I’ll be a cowboy.” I was young and had lots of time. It was a learning experience working on the film. There wasn’t a desire to be an actor but it was pointed out to me by someone that I trusted that what I was doing was good and I decided to listen to him and take direction from them on what they wanted me to do and I became better at it.

Were you aware of Andy Warhol and who he was prior to meeting him?

Joe: No.

In the film you talked about Warhol films not having a consistent story but after you stopped making films with Warhol and Paul Morrissey you began making films with other directors that had more conventional stories. Was that what you expected filmmaking to be?

Joe: It’s two different types of films. What I was doing with Paul and Andy was like my school, my learning how to be an actor. Improvising dialogue was one of the other things that I did. Later on in Europe and later, everything I did was scripted and I added my talent to the story.

I thought the things I did with Paul were more like documentaries because I put so much of myself into them.

Your likeness has been iconic for many, many years. Do you still find images you had forgotten about or hadn’t seen before?

Joe: I run a MySpace that has a lot of friends on the site and a lot of fans and they sometimes have photographs, many I haven’t seen before. Someone called me this morning before I left (for Seattle) and found this film I had been asking about and someone else in the film traced it down after I left for Europe. I remember it being a short where I played a psychiatrist. I had never seen it before, so I’m getting a copy sent to me and I’ll see it for the first time.

There are a ton of images of Joe in this film, was there any difficulty in getting those cleared to be used in the film?

Nicole: Because we did this for no money, it was DIY and everyone we approached was willing to donate everything: the stills, the music. It definitely took us a while to track everybody because not everyone has websites. Making this film would have been much harder ten years ago, without the internet (being what it is today).

Were there any images you wanted to use but couldn’t?

Nicole: Almost everything we wanted we were able to track down and get for free but there was one image we wanted to use but they wouldn’t let us. It was the Avedon Foundation, who was not helpful at all. I’m not sad to say it but they were not nice; they were the only ones. Everyone else said “this is great, oh my God, we love Joe, I’m so happy you’re doing this, here is everything we have”.

A few times fans sent us stuff, too. I don’t know if you remember in the film that there is a lot of Super-8 shot from above where Joe and Paul Morrissey are standing on the steps of a brownstone in New York. Someone in Austin came up to Vedra and said they had this footage of Joe and Paul Morrissey, shot out of a window when they lived next door.

There was a lot of “found footage”, which I really loved.

{Photo by Kathy Ann Bugajsky; l-r: Nicole Hauesser, Vedra Mehagian Dallesandro, Joe Dallesandro}

littlejoe09jun.jpg

Little Joe is a documentary about former Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro. Dallesandro and director Nicole Hauesser talked to TIG about the film before it made its North American premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival.

Recommended show tonight: True Adolescents SIFF party at The Comet

Imaginary Amie — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:58:59 +0000

As I’m sure everyone knows by now, I am completely in love with the film True Adolescents, and I also think Director Craig Johnson and Producer Tom Woodrow are totally cool. How cool are they, you ask? They are so cool, Furnace Films is hosting a rock show/party at The Comet tonight to celebrate their awesomeness.

Imaginary Interview: Craig Johnson & Thomas Woodrow

Imaginary Amie — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:24:14 +0000

When I first sat down to watch True Adolescents, I only knew a few things about it: that Director and Writer Craig Johnson is a Washington native, that The Blakes were featured as the main character’s band, that Mark Duplass starred in it - and that it had been labeled by some as “mumblecore”.

By the time the end credits rolled I loved it so much that I jumped at the chance to interview the Director and the Producer (Thomas Woodrow) to find out more. We talked about everything from Indie budgets to archetypes – plus the reasons why True Adolescents is definitely not mumblecore.

Did you pick Mark Duplass specifically for this role? Or was it just something that happened by accident?

Craig: Well, I wrote the script without an actor in mind. When we were talking about how we were going to make it, we thought we might be doing it just super lo-fi – like running out with a video camera on the fly. So, I watched a movie called The Puffy Chair that Mark made and starred in, as an example of lo-fi filmmaking. I remember though, you [Thomas] said; “Keep an eye on this lead actor because he actually might be right for our movie”. And, like 20 minutes in I remember pausing the movie, calling up Tom and being like “This guy is PERFECT”…

Thomas: He’s it!

Craig: …which was crazy, since it was so early in the process of developing the movie, that we found someone that was so right on. Turned out, he had met Mark before. They hard worked on a short film years ago, so they had a connection. We were able to get the script to Mark directly, and he got back to us right away. He dug the script, and we had a few a conversations.

Thomas: Well the great thing was, in terms of putting the movie together, is that there was kind of a critical moment quite early on when we had like a little chunk of money and knew we could literally make this movie, even if we didn’t get any more money – I mean, it would have been a very different movie if we’d made it that size – and it was right around that same time that we started talking to Mark. His thing was, if you will commit to making the movie with what you have now (even if you don’t get any more), and you will commit to a date, then I will put aside the time.

And so, at that moment it was like “Okay, we’re Greenlit, I guess - we’re making the movie”. And then from there until we shot, it was just a matter of putting together more money to hit our optimum budget, and be able to shoot film, get a larger crew and all. So, we were able to do that, kind of because he was cool enough to commit to us and because we had that little chunk of change.

I was also reading that you had developed the story about these characters in the woods first, and then the rest of it grew around that.

Craig: Exactly. I’ve got my little “writer/director notebook of ideas” and I flipped back and I had written this one scene about a dude and a kid on a camping trip, kind of arguing about something. And the way it was written, the grown-up was being way more immature than the kid. So that dynamic is kind of what kicked off the whole thing. Then as I was actually developing the story, it really became about that guy and his journey. As I call it “the coming-of-age of a 34-year-old rocker”. But he was always paired with an actual 14-year-old kid, which ended up becoming two. So there’s all kind of traditional coming-of-age stuff going on with the kids, but then also, there’s the stuff going on with him.

You obviously know a lot of Seattle rockers – because the way it was written and the way Mark performed it, I felt like it was dead on. Not that I’m saying everyone is the same, but I definitely feel like I know guys like Sam.

Craig: Well, it’s funny to hear you say that, because you’re not the first to say it, especially in this region. When we were first approaching people, having them read the script, and talking about the music world that is so specific to Seattle – I mean, I’m a Washington state native, I lived in Seattle for 8 years, I grew up in Bellingham, I’m very aware of the world I wanted it feel like. So, when we were approaching everyone from bands to people who worked in the music industry…

Thomas: Even just crew - just people in Seattle, in general.

Craig: Their response to the script was either “Dude, I know that guy, I dated that guy, or I am that guy”. People related to it. It’s just real – I mean, it’s an archetype, but I think it applies, not only to Indie rockers, but to Indie filmmakers and just artists in general. You hit a phase in your life where it’s like – is your big break around the corner, or are you just spinning your wheels? You know, my own anxieties are part of the character. When I wrote it, I was turning 30, I was just out grad film school – not sure if I would be making this movie, or making any movie, ever. So, there’s parts of me and certainly parts of Seattle friends of mine who are in bands in him, and just…guys I know.

Yeah, one of my favorite parts is when the kid says “Why don’t you get a job at a record store?” and he’s like “Uhh…that’s not for me”.

Craig: Exactly. Maybe he’ll come around to that in a few years. Well…the movie has an ending that we actually nixed. We actually shot.

Thomas: It just had a more literal explanation about what does happen to Sam.

Craig: And I don’t want to say what it was - but we did a couple of screenings for small groups when we were cutting the movie, and people were just like “We don’t need to know that”. Whereas, where we left it – it just gives you a good sense of what’s happening with him.

Actually, I’m really, really glad you guys did cut it. Because part of what really made me love the movie was where and how you ended it.

Craig: Oh, I’m so glad you think that.

I think it’s also really key that Sam isn’t a bad guy – he’s just a guy. Maybe he’s not perfect, but he’s not a total asshole to everyone either.

Craig: That’s what so great about what Mark brings to the roll. Even given the script, there’s a way to play it wrong where the guy’s an insufferable asshole. But Mark is so charming, and you can tell he’s got this underlying sweetness, and he’s trying hard. And anything asshole about the character comes from a really deep sense of insecurity.

Right, he’s just trying to be cool.

Craig: He’s just trying so hard to be cool. To the point where he gets his feelings hurt because 14-year-olds don’t wanna hang out with him. Your heart kinda breaks for the guy. There’s also, I gotta admit, a little archetype I’m playing with too, which is the “uptight slacker”. The guy who actually gets stressed out about being cool. It’s a Type A thing for him. One of those guys who’s like; “Can we all just fucking chill??? Dude”.

So, how did you two get on this project together? Have you been friends for awhile?

 Craig: We went to NYU graduate film school together, and although we were in different classes, we were acquaintances and knew each other, we just didn’t know each other really well. Technically, True Adolescents is my thesis film for NYU, which blew my mind a little bit. I wrote it while I was still working on what my thesis would be, and did a reading of it at school. The Chair of NYU was really supportive of my doing this film, and at the same time Tom was graduating as a Producing Major and looking for…

Thomas: It was this weird thing where I had done this other bigger film in Europe, and they [NYU] were like, “Well, you have to actually create a board and budget for a script and hand that in”. So I said, well, give me a script and I’ll do it. And so, they came forward with the script for True Adolescents and said here’s one you might actually be interested in for more than just this. I contacted Craig and did do the board and budget and that’s when I realized, “Hey, we can actually do this”. Not only that, but it was great.

Craig: We went out and had a beer after he’d read the script, and talked about how we might do it, and decided that we could do it on two different budget levels. We could of done it much lower-fi than we ended up with. I mean, we basically Greenlit ourselves, so that was really liberating. And the nice end to that story is that we ended up getting our optimum budget, so we were able to do it on the larger end of the Indie scale. I mean in the realm of movies, it was still a tiny budget, but it was like Titanic for us.

As far as locations go, I definitely recognized, of course, The Comet. And was the other bar The Funhouse?

Thomas: And the Redwood.

Craig: Yeah. The Redwood bar is there. We did an exterior of Café Vita but it’s not the actual Café Vita interior. I can’t wait for some of the Seattle people to say; “That’s not Café Vita!” We cheated a little bit. But for the most part, I’m so familiar with the area. We got into specifics about the kind of rocker Sam was, it got into very specific details about the Seattle garage music scene. It got into what venues would he play at? Where exactly he would play on Capital Hill. Would he be in what kind of band? And we were so lucky to find The Blakes, who we realized would fit Sam’s really rockin’, kinda 60s throwback kinda guy.

Our music supervisor Sandy Wilson, who works for a local label called Light in the Attic knows tons of bands. And he knew The Blakes, and so when we talked about having an actual band be in the movie and play the band that the lead character’s in, he said; “What about these guys?” and I thought, oh my god. They’re perfect. And I remember the first time we met them at the Twlight Exit. They walked in…

Thomas: We just felt like a couple of squares.

Craig: …like dumpy nerds! Yeah. I felt like Mick Jagger circa 1966 and his buddies were coming in – and they were all “Hey man, you guys doin’ a movie?” sitting there, looking cool, ordering their whisky on the rocks, at like noon. I felt like; (raising voice and sitting straight up) “Yes I am! We’re filmmakers from New York City and we’re doing this movie and we would like you to be our rock stars in it”. I was nervous.

Thomas: Yeah, sort of star-struck and didn’t know how to act.

Craig: And they were great! They were so great. And it turns out Snow Keim who actually has this little scene at the end of the movie is a great natural actor. He had a bigger part in it, honestly, that he was great in and we unfortunately had to cut it out because of time. There’s this whole subplot where he’s actually sleeping with Sam’s girlfriend, but we just had to cut it. Snow was awesome in it, though.

Thomas: Yeah, he was really great.

And how do you guys feel about the “mumblecore” label?

Craig: Well – Mark Duplass, who’s more associated with it, he says it only means so much. We as Indie filmmakers love all the press we can get. I mean, we’ll take it if people want to write about mumblecore. But this film is not mumblecore – even by the loosest of definitions. The only association with it, actually, is that Mark Duplass is in it.

I love where the movement comes from – which is, as an Indie filmmalker you spend a lot of time not making films, because they’re too expensive or whatever, and the whole mumblecore thing comes from just wanting to make a movie. Get your friends together, let’s do it for cheap, and do it in two months.

Thomas: There’s also an aspect that we do share with it a little bit, which I think is a very valuable part of the movement, which is just our generation speaking to itself, in its own vernacular. This is how we look, this is how we talk, this is what we’re concerned with, and even in what I think is a very universal story like True Adolescents, this coming-of-age of this character – just having that couched in our world, in a way that’s familiar to us makes it resonate. Just to see yourself mirrored on screen is very gratifying.

Craig: I definitely took some queues [from it]. One of the things I love about what mumblecore does do well is the way it observes micro-human behavior. There’s definitely moments where I wanted to feel more observational in True Adolescents, but the story is much more classic in its narrative arc, in its three-act structure, and it is scripted. Even though we were loose, because I wanted to riff on the lines a little bit to add spontaneity and a more natural feeling to it.

Great explanation, good to know. Is there anything else you want to tell people about True Adolescents?

Craig: It’s really just so exciting to be here for our first time.

Thomas: Yeah, it’s come full circle.

Craig: It is like coming full circle, and what we’re just starting to hear from people who have seen the film is that they feel like we did capture something accurate about Seattle, and how it feels and how the music scene feels. Authenticity is a big deal in Indie culture, and we wanted it to feel real. And people are starting to tell us that it feels real, and that’s a big deal too. Even though people might still say “That’s not the interior of Café Vita!”.

Well, it’s great that you guys are obviously very excited about it. And hopefully you’ll carry that excitement through to the next film and the next film and the next, and you won’t get tired of it.

Thomas: It’s so hard to actually make a film, that if we get that jaded, it would only be if we were too lucky or something.

Craig: Right, exactly. This is one of the one’s where I think I’m going to be the most nervous. They’ll be a lot of people there, a lot of crew members who are seeing it for the first time…

Thomas: It is a blast being able to bring it back to them.

Craig: Some of the cast members are seeing it for the first time, I have tons of family members seeing it for the first time. So, you know, I’ll definitely be kind of in the back row, biting my nails.

You guys also put together an awesome soundtrack. For the last question, I was wondering if you could share what you guys are listening to right now?

Craig: Let’s see. I’ve been listening to a guy named Loney, Dear. Who is actually on Sub Pop. He’s amazing. It’s this crazy, soaring pop. Check him out, I’m listening to him tons. I’m listening to Midlake – they’re also kind of Indie Pop. And I’m totally into Grizzly Bear. They’re awesome.

Thomas: Um…

Craig: You’re listening to Christina Aguilera. And Britney! (laughing) Oh – also, I wake up in the morning and turn on the Ting Tings. They get my morning started.

Thomas: Yeah, right. Thanks. I actually can’t stop listening to Andrew Bird. Just been loving him recently. I threw in 69 Love Songs a couple days ago and was like “Oh I forgot about this! This is incredible”.

 Craig: Oh! Bon Iver. Do you know Bon Iver? He’s kind of Andrew Bird-esque. One of those guys that it could just be his voice and a guitar, but it’s so unique.

Thomas: Also, Fiery Furnaces, New York-based. And then there’s this one that I keep coming back to, it’s one guy from Iceland and his wife – they’re called Mugison. He is crazy-insane. He plays like 97,000 instruments and does it all himself.

Craig: I’m going nuts for the new Sigur Ros album, speaking of Iceland. I listen to that like non-stop. I had to take a break, actually…

True_Adolescents_04.jpg

By the time the end credits to True Adolescents rolled, I loved it so much that I jumped at the chance to interview the Director and the Producer (Thomas Woodrow) to find out more. We talked about everything from Indie budgets to archetypes – and the reasons why this movie is definitely not mumblecore.

SIFF Take: Art & Copy

Roxie Rider — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:22:29 +0000

Director Doug Pray does something interesting and subtle with what’s a temptingly fat target for derision—he teases out the artistic, inventive, and influential aspects of an industry steeped in mediocrity at best and toxicity at worst.