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| SXSW ’07 Interview: "When a Man Falls in the Forest" Director Ryan Eslinger |
Sharon Stone and Tim Hutton in "When A Man Falls in the Forest", screening at SxSW |
by Jason Whyte
THE PITCH: The average person sleeps for twenty years over the course of a lifetime. Six of those years are spent dreaming.
Is this your first film in SxSW? (Or the first film you have) Do you have any other festival experience? If you’re a festival veteran, let us know your favourite and least-favourite parts of the festival experience.
This is my first experience at SxSW. My first film, "Madness and Genius", played at Toronto, Hamptons, Slamdance and other festivals. My second film, "When a Man Falls in the Forest", screened in Berlin before coming to SxSW. Favourite part of the festival experience: watching the film with an audience and seeing how they react to it. Least-favourite part...nothing comes to mind!
Could you give me a little look into your background (your own personal biography, if you will), and what led you to the desire to want to make film?
I have been writing screenplays I was 13. I knew I either wanted to be a filmmaker or something dealing with criminal psychology. During high school, I saved up money working part-time jobs to make my first feature, which I shot while I was a sophomore in college.
Growing up, you were no doubt asked the eternal question “When I grow up I want to be a …” Finish this sentence, please!
... thoughtful, decent person.
While you were making the movie, were you thinking about the future release of the film, be it film festivals, paying customers, critical response, and so forth?
During the filmmaking process, the only thing I was thinking about was making the best film possible. Plain and simple.
How did this project come to fruition? If you could, please provide me with a rundown, start to finish, from your involvement.
I began writing the screenplay the day after I finished shooting my last film, in August of 2002. I continued working on it over the next four years and asked Sharon Stone if she would play the role of Karen. She agreed to be in the film before there was any money attached to it. Then, I met Kirk Shaw at the American Film Market in the fall of 2005, and he financed the project through his company Insight.
What was the biggest challenge in the production of the movie, be it principal photography or post-production?
The biggest challenge was maintaining the spirit of the screenplay. The material is fairly subjective, so it would have been easy to accidentally lose that in production or post-production.
Please tell me about the technical side of the film; your relation to the film’s cinematographer, what the film was shot on and why it was decided to be photographed this way.
The film was shot on 35mm anamorphic. Lawrence Sher was the cinematographer, and I approached him because I loved his work from his previous films (namely “Garden State”). He convinced me to shoot in anamorphic, and I now hope to shoot every film with those lenses. They simply allow for more options when framing (For example, it is easier to place a character on one side of the frame and retain much of the information about his or her environment on the other side. This seems to have an isolating effect on the character in the image.) On set, Larry is fast and every shot is beautiful, so I trusted him completely and hope to work with him again.
Talk a bit about the festival experiences, if any, that you have had with this particular film. Have you had any interesting audience stories or questions that have arisen at screenings? (This can also apply to non-festival or even public screenings as well, if you have had one.)
An interesting question that arose in Berlin was "Why is the film so depressing?" In fact, I don't find the film depressing at all; it was my intention to make the film largely subjective. Much like a painting or a classical composition, film has to opportunity to be mysterious and ambiguous -- it does not have to beat people over the head with information and plot points via artificial-sounding, expository dialogue. It is my hope that each person comes out of the film feeling/thinking something different. This seems to be the case. In fact, many people find the film hopeful (myself included).
Who would you say your biggest inspirations are in the film world (directors, actors, cinematographers, etc)? Did you have any direct inspirations from filmmakers for this film in particular?
I tend to look towards other art forms to draw inspiration. I certainly do not want to emulate other directors.
How far do you think you would want to go in this industry? Do you see yourself directing larger stories for a larger budget under the studio system, or do you feel that you would like to continue down the independent film path?
Budget aside, I only hope to do projects that are meaningful and important to me.
If you weren’t in this profession, what other career do you think you would be interested in?
Criminal Psychology.
Please tell me some filmmakers or actors that you would love to work with, even if money was no object.
Actors I hope to work with include Brian Cox, Rutger Hauer, Mos Def, Leland Orser and many more.
Do you think that you have “made it” in this profession yet? If you don’t believe so, what do you think would happen for that moment to occur?
People would be much better served just trying to do good work (example: something they believe in) rather than worrying about the amorphous concept of whether or not they have "made it".
You have been given the go-ahead to make your next movie, but you must include one piece of product placement. Luckily, you get to choose said product placement. What would you choose?
Books.
How important do you think the critical/media response is to film these days, be it a large production, independent film or festival title?
I have no idea. I am not saying that to sound dismissive or indifferent, I simply have not done the market research to have an educated opinion on the subject.
If your film could play in any movie theatre in the world, which one would you choose and why?
I love to hear how different countries and cultures respond to the material, so I would screen the film some place as far away as possible from where the film was created.
Do you have an opinion on the issue of “A Film by (Insert Director Here)”? Is this something you use? Many people collaborate to make a film yet simultaneously, the director is the final word on the production.
I have used it, but I would be fine doing away with it and simply listing my technical credits. It is fairly egotistical.
What would you say to someone on the street to see your film instead of the latest blockbuster playing at the local twenty-screen megaplex?
Hopefully this film will be a blockbuster playing at the local twenty-screen megaplex, so no convincing will be necessary.
No doubt there are a lot of aspiring filmmakers at film festivals who are out there curious about making a film of their own. Do you have any advice that you could provide for those looking to get a start?
Write a screenplay, audition actors, rent a digital camera, and shoot it. If you have to work another job to afford renting a camera, then do it.
And finally…what is your all time favourite motion picture, and why?
There are too many great films to say what my favourite all time film is. Favourite film of last year: “Children of Men”. I loved how the film didn't go into too much backstory. I loved Clive Owen's performance; it reminded me of why I go to the movies.
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“When a Man Falls in the Forest” is playing at this year’s South By Southwest. For more information on the film and its screenings at SxSW, point your browser HERE. And check out BSide.com for even more info!
Jason Whyte, efilmcritic.com
link directly to this feature at http://hollywoodbitchslap.com/feature.php?feature=2123
originally posted: 02/28/07 02:07:14
last updated: 03/06/07 16:57:38
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