FIVE QUESTIONS WITH “I AM NOT A HIPSTER” DIRECTOR DESTIN DANIEL CRETTON

A dubious term to be sure, it seems that one of the pre-reqs for hipster certification is denying that you actually are one. Based on this criterion, Brook, the main character in Destin Daniel Cretton’s feature debut, definitely qualifies. But I Am Not a Hipster is not so much concerned with labels as it is with crafting an intimate, small-scale character portrait. Adrift in San Diego’s music scene, Brook’s lackadaisical lifestyle is interrupted when his family visits with the intention of spreading his late mother’s ashes. Cretton, who made a splash at Sundance in 2009 with his Grand Jury Prize winning short Short Term 12, has employed the musical talents of singer-songwriter Joel P. West to help bring to life this introspective exploration of a character, a music scene, and a subculture.

Filmmaker: How long have you been involved in the San Diego music scene? How did your experiences within it influence this story?

Cretton: I lived in San Diego for 10 years and fell in love with a lot of local bands there. I can’t really say I was heavily involved in the music scene, because I’m not a musician (more of a groupie). But being a part of the creative community in that city was a constant source of inspiration for me. It’s just a really great group of down-to-earth people who love to get together and do creative things, whether that’s music or art or building a mini golf course in someone’s living room. But the movie isn’t just inspired by that community; it’s literally made by them. We shot most of the film in San Diego at a lot of the same venues we hang out at (The Casbah, Habitat, San Diego Velodrome). We basically rallied all our friends there to help make the movie. There was absolutely no way we could have done it without them.

Filmmaker: How did you conceive of Brook, the film’s main character? Was his backstory developed from personal experience?

 Cretton: Brook’s backstory is fictional, but still based on emotions that are close to me. I’m not a musician, but … Read the rest

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH “THE SURROGATE” DIRECTOR BEN LEWIN

Strictly speaking figures, The Surrogate has been the big Sundance winner thus far. Scooped up by Fox Searchlight for a massive $6 million, the film is already reportedly being groomed for next year’s Oscar race. The first narrative feature from filmmaker Ben Lewin since 1994′s Paperback Romance, The Surrogate tells the true story of journalist Mark O’Brien, a polio stricken man who, after living most of his life in an iron lung, decides to try to lose his virginity. Starring John Hawkes as O’Brien, The Surrogate received a standing ovation at it’s premiere, and it’s already being praised by critics as a light-hearted, accessible crowd-pleaser.

Filmmaker: How did you first come across Mark O’Brien’s story. What inspired you to adapt it?

Lewin: I stumbled across Mark’s article “On Seeing a Sex Surrogate” on the internet. I felt that if I could do on film what he had done to me with his writing, then I could potentially deliver something powerful.

Filmmaker: What kind of research did you do into O’Brien’s medical history? And how closely did you work with people who knew him personally

Lewin: I am very familiar with polio from my own experience and felt I understood Mark’s medical condition pretty well. I worked very closely with Susan Fernbach, Mark’s partner during the last few years of his life, and of course, Cheryl Cohen Greene, the surrogate.

Filmmaker: John Hawkes is a very versatile actor, but this role seems like quite a departure from the work he’s garnered acclaim for. What made you think he was right to play O’Brien?

Lewin: I was deeply impressed with the fact that John Hawkes strove to embrace the real Mark O’Brien as much as he possibly could.  It went beyond delivering a great performance. It became personal. I think he genuinely wanted to do this for Mark.

Filmmaker: Considering the obvious physical limitations, how did you work with John Hawkes and Helen Hunt to develop their on-screen chemistry?

Lewin: I was just there.  They created the chemistry themselves from their intense connection with the script and their determination to … Read the rest

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR “GOATS” DIRECTOR CHRISTOPHER NEIL

Goats might be Chrisopher Neil’s first feature as director, but he’s worked for years as an acting coach and rehearsal adviser on projects as wide ranging as Adaptation, The Virgin Suicides, and Star Wars: Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith.  And it’s clear that Neil has accrued quite a stellar reputation among actors, as evidenced by Goats’ impressive ensemble (which includes David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, and relative newcomer Graham Phillips.)  Based on the quirky debut novel by Mark Jude Proirier (who also wrote the film’s screenplay), Goats is an odd but bittersweet coming of age story.

Filmmaker: How did you first come across Mark Jude Poirier’s novel? What were you first impressions of it?

Neil: I stumbled across the Goats novel by reading a review of it in the New York Times.  My first impression was, “How the hell did this guy know and write my story?!” It was spooky. There were/are so many similarities between Ellis’ story in the novel and my own childhood. In fact, I grew up on a goat farm with a goat-herding step-father and a new-age mother. I ran to the bookstore to buy it. After reading about twenty pages, I knew I had to make it into a film. I showed up to my first meeting with Mark Poirier with my dog-eared copy of the novel in hand and we hit it off. He said, “You know this book better than I do.” I optioned the book myself and that’s how it all began.

Filmmaker: Proirier also wrote the screenplay. How intimately was he involved in the production and post-production processes?

Neil: Mark adapted it and we’ve had a strong, collaborative relationship from the beginning. I still love Mark’s novel as much as the day I first read it, and I wanted to honor it at every step of the filmmaking process. We worked closely on every draft of the script. Mark, who’s from Tucson where the story is mostly set, even took me to the real locations from the book. I also encouraged every actor to read the novel. … Read the rest

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH “SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS” DIRECTORS DYLAN SOUTHERN AND WILL LOVELACE

Over LCD Soundsystem’s ten-year career, the band grew from early blog darlings to lauded indie stalwarts. After telegraphing the group’s demise years in advance, band-leader James Murphy officially disbanded LCD last April with a star-studded, marathon-length performance at Madison Square Garden. Now, less than a year later, Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace present Shut Up and Play the Hits, a documentary that follows Murphy and his band-mates in the run-up to and aftermath of their now-legendary final performance. If the film’s trailer is any indication, Shut up and Play the Hits will serve as a great encapsulation of the excitement, madness, and poignancy of a band bowing out at the top their game.

Filmmaker: When did you first meet James Murphy? And how did you two end up directing this project?

Lovelace & Southern: We first met James in the summer of 2010 through a mutual friend. We’d just finished another film (the Blur documentary No Distance Left to Run) and were kicking around ideas for the next project. We were pretty sure we wouldn’t make another music film straight away, but then the opportunity to meet with James arose. As fans of his band, we were really keen to see if there was a possibility of something happening. We were surprised at how open he was to working together because we knew he had existing relationships/friendships with other directors, but at that point didn’t know us at all. So we were flattered that he even entertained two weird British strangers! But we got on really well with James in those initial conversations and talked over the different possible routes we could take with the movie. The thing we were most interested in was his decision to end the band at a point when it seemed to be hitting its stride. We knew we didn’t want to make a biography of the band. We were much more interested in making a film that was all about that very specific moment in time – that moment when the band ended.

It was only when James told us that they … Read the rest

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH “VALLEY OF SAINTS” DIRECTOR MUSA SYEED AND PRODUCER NICHOLAS BRUCKMAN

Musa Syeed’s Valley of Saints is a film warmly awash in setting and culture. Filmed in Kashmir, within the aquatic trading community of Dal Lake, Valley follows Gulzar, a young ferry driver who dreams of moving out of Kashmir, until the arrival of a beautiful American scientist begins to complicate things. Pairing with producer Nicholas Bruckman, Syeed’s first narrative effort patiently probes into a fascinating community (and part of the world) rarely seen on the big screen.

Filmmaker: What inspired you to make a film set in Kashmir?

Syeed: Both my parents were born in Kashmir. In the 1960s, my father was jailed as a political prisoner for participating in the Kashmiri independence movement. After being released and immigrating to America, where I was born, he was mostly silent about his previous life in Kashmir. We weren’t raised speaking the language, and we didn’t visit our family still living there. So Kashmir became an almost mythical place for me.

As happens with a lot of first generation Americans, once I became an adult I felt the urge to go back to my parents’ homeland. I was searching for all the usual things: my roots, my place in the world. But I also was just curious to know what day-to-day life was like in Kashmir. Whatever I saw in films or in the news was solely about the political situation, but I didn’t hear many personal stories. So, it was always hard for me to wrap my head around the place.

As a filmmaker, I wanted to find a story that helped audiences–and really myself–emotionally connect with a place overshadowed by conflict.

Bruckman:  My mother is Indian, and took me to Kashmir for the first time when I was 15. At that age, it seemed like a paradise on earth. Later, as a student, I made a documentary there which followed activists fighting for justice for the tortured and disappeared. When I first read Musa’s script, I fell in love with its unique approach to exploring the unthinkable tragedies of war through its effect on our relationships with each other … Read the rest

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH “THE IMPOSTER” DIRECTOR BART LAYTON

More and more often different mediums and genres of filmmaking are being meshed together and Bart Layton’s newest documentary The Imposter is no different. The film’s official synopsis declares, “Documentary meets Film Noir in this astonishing true story which has all the twists and turns of a great thriller.” But this is not just a hoax to get people into the theatre. Based on an extremely bizarre story of a young man who infiltrates a family by posing as their missing son, the film follows an intricate plot of testimonies that aim to recreate the story’s noir-ish tone. Just as the adventure of making the film and uncovering the facts led Layton and his producer on an unbelievable trip, The Imposter aims to leave audiences in a similar state of bewilderment.

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Filmmaker: How did you get involved with this story? What encouraged you to make this documentary?

Layton: In 2009 I happened upon an article in a Spanish magazine about Frédéric Bourdin, AKA Le Chaméléon – a Frenchman who had traveled the length and breadth of Europe passing himself off as an abandoned child. A quick Internet trawl threw up dozens of similar articles about him including a long piece from the New Yorker that described his time in Texas. The story was incredibly hard to believe – a twenty-three year-old French-Algerian man successfully steals the identity of a missing Texan child and begins a new life within the family posing as their son? I knew that this would make an incredible film but wondered if perhaps the imposter himself wasn’t the whole story but was perhaps a way into a more interesting film about deception and, in particular, self-deception.

Filmmaker: What techniques did you use to avoid making the re-enactments in your film feel hokey, cheesy, or like a crime show episode?

Layton: Re-enactment is a pretty dirty word in TV let alone in film so it was vital to find a visual style that didn’t feel like ‘re-enactment’, that felt cinematic and also fitting to a story as unusual as this one. My idea was to play with notions of memory and subjectivity … Read the rest

FOUR QUESTIONS WITH “MIDDLE OF NOWHERE” DIRECTOR AVA DUVERNAY

Over the last decade, Ava Duvernay has established herself as something of an indie renaissance woman.  An entrepreneur, distribution and marketing expert, and key player in the African American filmmaking landscape, Duvernay expanded her resume again in 2010 with her directorial debut I Will Follow, an intimate portrait of grief. Middle of Nowhere, Duvernay’s followup, centers on a woman (Emayatzy Corinealdi) forced to cope with the recent incarceration of her husband.

Filmmaker: Like I Will Follow, Middle of Nowhere tells a very small-scale, very intimate story.  What was it about these characters and this story that inspired you?

Duvernay: The lives of “women-in-waiting” always intrigue me. A person puts their life on hold – and how they break free of that and live their own life. I find that journey fascinating. The story of “Ruby” in Middle of Nowhere is really about a woman living inside a Langston Hughes poem, in a way. She’s living inside a dream deferred. A dream of what her life was meant to be, what her marriage was meant to be, what her career was meant to be. Through choices she makes, and choices made for her, nothing is happening as planned. Everything is put off. She’s in a middle place. Watching a character blossom from that place is beautiful to me.

Filmmaker: (Middle of Nowhere Director of Photography) Bradford Young has established quite a distinctive visual palette over the past few years.  How did you go about collaborating with him on this film’s look and style?

Duvernay: Brad is my brother first, and our collaboration was organic to our friendship. Our film’s look is us – two folks trying to push the black cinematic image forward. Both in narrative and visually. I don’t shy away from that and neither does he. Our skin tones are different, the light we attract through the lens is different, the way a sister walks up the street after a long day is different. And that’s okay. Let’s see the differences. Let’s see the nuances. Let’s see the shadows. Everything we did came from that … Read the rest

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH “ROBOT & FRANK” DIRECTOR JAKE SCHREIER

A futuristic buddy film focused on the relationship between an elderly ex-jewel thief and his caretaker robot, Robot & Frank’s premise might sound high-concept, silly even. But director Jake Schreier ‘s focus is on keeping the  action emotionally grounded. Anchored by the dexterous, empathetic, and ever-dependable Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon, Superman Returns) as well as a strong ensemble that includes Susan Sarandon, James Marsden, and Liv Tyler, director Schreir’s feature debut is a small-scale character piece with some very large ambitions.

Filmmaker: Robot & Frank started out as a short film in 2003, so the feature version has obviously been gestating for quite awhile. How did the project develop and what changed over the years?

Schreier: Robot & Frank was a short film that Christopher Ford wrote and directed when we were at NYU. I helped produce it for him. A few years ago, when he and I were trying to think of ideas that would make for a feature that was achievable but also had a hook, we returned to it and decided to develop it into a full-length. It took a lot of hard work on Ford’s part to flesh it out and expand the idea, the heist element was a new addition, and most of the family relationships are new as well. So it’s not as though we’ve been working on it since college, but it’s nice to think back on the core concepts that remain from the short.

Filmmaker: You were able to attract some very high profile acting talent, especially considering this is your feature debut. Can you talk a bit about the casting process?

Schreier: Our cast was incredible, not only in stature, but also in their commitment to taking on what must have seemed like quite an odd project with a first-time director. One of my producers, Galt Niederhoffer, has a long track record of getting great talent in indie films, and it’s really to her credit that we were able to attract this kind of cast. It can’t have hurt that Ford wrote such an alluring screenplay.

I think probably … Read the rest

BLOODY DISGUSTING FOUNDER BRAD MISKA ON SUNDANCE HORROR PIC “V/H/S”

“When we started Bloody Disgusting back in 2002, we were the only ones doing it daily,” says Bradley Miska about the origins of his all-horror site. Sites like Ain’t It Cool News, Dark Horizons and Jo Blo were around too, but as its name would suggest, Bloody Disgusting hammered a wooden stake in the burgeoning field of online horror coverage and now, 10 years later, it is reaping the rewards. Management company The Collective “bought into” Bloody Disgusting five years ago, says Miska, and today the co-owned website is just one part of a gory mini-empire that also includes a releasing label, Bloody Disgusting Selects; a TV series, Black Friday, on the new YouTube channel Black Box TV; and, here at Sundance, a film, V/H/S.

Remembering the site’s origins, Miska says, “It was when horror was starting to come back strong after the ‘90s Scream thing. Jeepers Creepers, Cabin Fever, The Ring — all those movies catapulted horror back into the spotlight. And while everyone always complains that it’s been ‘a bad year for horror,’ it’s been remarkably consistent. Each year there are a few films that move the genre along.”

But what has changed a lot in the last decade, says Miska, is less horror itself than the coverage of horror on the ‘net. “Now non-genre sites cover horror regularly. We have lots of competition. And publicists understand the power of the internet. They’ll send press releases at 6:00 PM on a Friday night because, you know, none of us sleep. So the site takes up a lot more time. I used to work two hours a day. Now it’s 24/7.” Along with Miska and co-founder Tom Owen, out of Chicago, Bloody Disgusting has one other major staffer and a dozen or so freelance contributors.

V/H/S had its origins when Miska had a conversation one day with The Collective. “We were talking about different ways of expanding the brand, and I wanted to do a TV series,” he says. “And then it evolved into an experimental film project.”

V/H/S is a horror anthology film — … Read the rest

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH “EXCISION” DIRECTOR RICHARD BATES JR.

Sundance’s Midnight section always includes a fair share of genre-heavy selections, but Richard Bates Jr.’s Excision sounds like it will pack a level of blood and guts rarely seen at the festival. A twisted coming of age tale, Excision follows young Pauline (AnnaLynne McCord), a high school girl with an unabated interest in picking scabs, dissecting road kill, and fantasizing about performing surgery on strangers. Bates’ debut seems to be the sort of grotesque horror comedy sure to play well to splatter-enthusiasts in Park City and beyond.

Filmmaker: You’re premiering at a festival not traditionally known for its horror selections.  How do you hope the film plays to audiences in Park City?

Bates: I sure hope people like it. I wanted to make a film that would have had a profound impact on me had I seen it as a teenager. In a lot of ways it’s a film I wish I’d made in high school but didn’t have the guts to.

I’m really happy to be part of the midnight section. I feel very at home there. Excision is very much a midnight movie.

Filmmaker: Another atypical aspect – AnnaLynne McCord’s Pauline is far from a conventional female lead.  How did you work with McCord to develop her character, and prepare her for the filming process?

Bates: I will never forget the first time I met AnnaLynne McCord. It took about a minute for every preconceived notion I’d had about her to go flying out the window. She was thoughtful, passionate, had a deep understanding of human nature and cursed like a sailor. I instantly liked her. When I asked her about the prospect of shaving her head for the part she removed the steak knife from the dinner table and took it to her hair.

We both had something to prove and we trusted each other. After our lunch meeting she had to fly to NYC to do a play. I sent her some strange stuff I thought her character would be into, several movies that influenced me and a Venus fly trap. We’d communicate over the phone … Read the rest