TAG - Jeff Tomsic - video Dailymotion

Beasley Digital

Jeff Tomsic, director of the film TAG, talks about his inspiration for making a film about friends continuing a childhood game into their adult lives.

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00:00Now, I had read in another interview that you do this with a group of friends.

00:04You go up to a cabin in Canada?

00:07Yeah, yeah.

00:08And spend time?

00:09Yeah, when I first read the script, I was up on this trip every year with my childhood

00:15and college friends.

00:16For the last 10, 15 years, we've been going up and fishing on a little remote lake.

00:22And when I got the script, it was the first year that none of them could come, so I was

00:24just up there with my family, which was great, but I missed my old friends so much, and I

00:31read the script not thinking it would be emotionally resonant with me, but realized that it was

00:41about the same thing.

00:42It was about this group of guys that had created this insane tradition, but just to stay connected

00:48for the rest of life.

00:49And it really sort of punched me in the gut hearing about their story in that moment

00:54where my buddies couldn't come because they just had kids, or their parents were ill, or

01:01one guy's brother just had a heart attack, so life obstacles get in the way of keeping

01:08up with those people in your life.

01:09I think your movie, when I saw it, it's very wholesome.

01:13It's something where I think it's going to resonate with a lot of people.

01:16And one of the things we've talked about at the radio station has been, we're doing a

01:20whole thing with teachers right now where they call in best teachers, and they're talking

01:25about how a lot of kids are watching the trailers for this movie, and they might not be able

01:29to see it because it was rated R. But they're being inspired to play this game again, to go

01:35outside, play the game with their friends, make these connections, and you're doing that.

01:40You're inspiring a new generation of people to be connected.

01:43It's hard to believe, but I'd be so happy to do that, because I grew up in the 80s, and

01:53all you could really do was run around and play with leaves, and there was not a lot of

01:58video games, or there was no phones or anything like that.

02:01So I think it's important both for kids, at least I would hope for both kids and adults

02:08that put your phone down and actually see those people and have fun with them that you love.

02:15Because talking to them on Facebook and Instagram only gets you so far, and it's much better

02:21just to see them in human form.

02:24Yeah.

02:25So if you got to play this game, and you know, aside, I'm sure you'd want to play with your

02:29friends, but if you got to play the most epic game of Tag, and you choose three people dead

02:34or alive, who would you choose to play with you?

02:37Well, I feel like I need to choose from my cast.

02:41That's true, that's good.

02:46I would take Jeremy, Isla, and Jon Hamm, I think.

02:52Did you play Tag on set one day, maybe just to get the vibe?

02:57We were playing Tag so much while shooting that mostly when we were done, we would just

03:05sit down.

03:06Because really, we were in Atlanta, it was 110 degrees most of the time, and we're running

03:14around and we're not 22 years old anymore, so we were just like, mostly it was a lot

03:20of this, oh man.

03:23Have any of your friends reached out, do they know that, you know, this came out of you missing

03:30them?

03:31Yeah, you know, it's funny because I, when I met Warner Brothers about the movie and New

03:37Line about the movie, I did a whole presentation and it was all pictures of my friends from

03:43home because I wanted to make this a love letter to them, but they didn't really know

03:48that until I was home for the holidays this year and my sister got all my buddies to come

03:54over.

03:55We actually hadn't been together in the same room for like a year or so, so it was a really

03:58sweet moment.

03:59And then I showed him sort of this book that I made to inspire the movie for everyone in

04:07the crew and studio.

04:09And it starts with our like kindergarten photos.

04:13And it was a really, it was a really sweet moment and I'd sort of forgotten to like tell

04:19them that they were this important to me that they had inspired so much of this film I made.

04:26And then I brought them to set and it was so nice for them to like be there and see the

04:33movie.

04:34And it's, it's really great and they actually met the real tag guys and they all got along.

04:37So, um, yeah, it's, it's, it's helped, it's helped bring us back together, even the process

04:43of making it.

04:44Well, congratulations on your movie.

04:46And I hope that, you know, next year when you have this cabin camping trip, everybody's

04:50able to come and you're able to have a really good time.

04:52Thank you so much.

04:53Thank you so much.

04:54So nice to meet you.

TAG - Jeff Tomsic

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