00:26This is Tim Wasprick from Fast Trek on CERC TV.
00:29I'm here in Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest Film Festival.
00:33Could you talk about taking all these different ideas and skills and mixing them into this as the different step
00:42process?
00:43Josh, if you could first talk about that with the writing and then Joe and then Zach in terms of
00:49the acting.
00:51Yeah, for sure.
00:53So, you know, for me, I think in particular, this question makes me think of, you know, I identify as
00:59a poet before everything else.
01:01And so, like, I always want poetry and everything that I write.
01:05And this was my first screenplay.
01:06And I'm just so excited and, like, feel so lucky that I get to put poetry into it.
01:13And I knew that when we're sort of developing the idea and putting it all together, that, like, the poetry
01:19for it to work on screen really has to be tied into the stakes of a character that feels real
01:25and feels compelling.
01:26And so that was really, like, the really fun and creative part for me was writing poetry from the perspective
01:32of these characters that I love so much.
01:35And, yeah, it was a new way of writing poems for me, for sure.
01:39But I'm so glad that, yeah, people get to enjoy it.
01:44And then I was an acting major at NYU.
01:48Oh, you were? Okay.
01:48And so was Zach.
01:50And we never saw each other, not once.
01:52I think I graduated before he did.
01:54But we were at the same studio.
01:56So we did the same kind of training at Lee Strasberg Institute.
02:00And I think that actually did inform, like, our relationship on set in terms of, like, you know, our lead
02:06actor and me.
02:07We had a similar language.
02:09And we, you know, we both studied at the same place.
02:12So it was, like, a shorthand there, I would say.
02:15And a lot of trust put in each other.
02:17And then when it comes to the writing, Josh was writing the entire time.
02:22I was married to him.
02:23So I got to see the process unfold and understand, like, you know, what his inspirations were, what the vision
02:29of the project was.
02:30So by the time we got to set, I would say, like, all the people here on the Zoom, like,
02:35we already knew exactly what we wanted to do.
02:37I think Zach had been part of two different table reads for the project before we even got to the
02:41set.
02:42So we just had a really deep understanding of what project we were doing, what the tone of the project
02:47was, the vibe, and, you know, how we worked together.
02:51We kind of already figured that out before we flew to Washington to film it.
02:54It really did help that Joe and I had the exact same acting training.
02:58Because usually when you're acting, you have to sort of, you're speaking different languages, right?
03:03Like, I have to translate what's happening inside of me and sort of, like, you speak in a way that
03:08I think the other person will understand.
03:10And Joe, there was no filter.
03:13You know, we're using a lot of Strasburg.
03:15We both studied at Strasburg.
03:16So we're using, like, emotional memories and specific techniques that he introduced that I would just say.
03:22Joe would tell me, whatever emotional memory you're using there is great.
03:26Don't use it here.
03:27And we were able to, instead of saying, like, be more sad or be happier, she was using the language
03:33that I was secretly using that I wasn't saying out loud.
03:37And Joe would come right in and be like, yeah, that one was good.
03:39Use something else here.
03:40And we were able to sort of build it in a, it was a very, we were able to be
03:47more technical with each other, which I think allowed us to be more specific in what, what.
03:53I point this poem at you.
03:54I pull the trigger.
03:55I point this poem at you.
03:57I pull the trigger.
03:58The big kind of scream is one of the sadness.
04:02The fifth time I woke up screaming, I carried the dream out with me.
04:15That brings up a good point.
04:17I mean, I was in the film program, so I, but most of my friends were actors.
04:20We always think, how do you have to talk about these things?
04:23How do you have to direct?
04:24But what's interesting in what you said, Zach, and this refers back to you, Joe, is the aspect is that
04:29Jack has to be the North Star for the characters, but also for these younger actors who have not had
04:36the training that you've had at this point.
04:39Both of you.
04:40Could you talk about that and using that emotional memory, because it is a story of trauma, to inform the
04:47cadence in a way?
04:49Because the cadence, that's editing and writing and everything, but then you have to act it.
04:53If you could talk about that first, Zach, and then Joe and Josh, if you could talk to that as
04:57well.
04:58Yeah.
04:59I mean, I felt the, it's such a beautiful script.
05:04Just reading it is so, so moving.
05:07And I felt the pressure immediately that there were certain moments in Jack's life that had to be, that certain
05:15emotional moments that I had to be able to fulfill sort of throughout it.
05:19You know, Jack has sort of trauma that is recurring throughout the piece.
05:26So I spent a couple months before just trying to find those things, but by the time we got onto
05:30set, I think I felt comfortable enough with accessing that within me, that working with the other actors and working
05:40with the crew and working with everyone, there was no, there was, I think there was.
05:45Because just your hand, just your hand on the windowsill, just how it's sitting there says so much.
05:52Just to say that.
05:53I don't want to be like nerdy, but that's the magic of using emotional and effective memory.
05:59It's magic.
06:00It's like, you don't even have to do anything.
06:02You do the memory and you know the lines and it just happens.
06:04But that's maybe technical and whatever.
06:07That's, that's how.
06:08No, it's great.
06:09We go out to students.
06:10We go out to students.
06:14If you know what, if you can access the emotion and you can know your lines, the rest just, and
06:21just let go and let it all happen.
06:23I feel like the rest is easy.
06:26So, and I think it did feel easy because of that, that homework.
06:30And then I think hopefully it made it feel easy for everyone.
06:36Hold on.
06:36Let's start this again.
06:42Let's go dead, dear high.
06:44All right.
06:44Yeah.
06:45Let's go dead, dear high.
06:46Let's go dead, dear high.
06:55Joe, but crafting this film, that's not easy.
06:58You know, this is an interesting tone that you have to play with both in the writing, but then also
07:03in the directing.
07:04Could both you and Joshua talk about that?
07:07Because, you know, this is something very relevant in our culture, but it's also something that art transforms society if
07:15it's done right.
07:16With the tone, I feel like we were constantly, Josh and I were constantly making sure that there was some
07:21levity in the story.
07:23Because when we were teaching, there were days that were really hard, like really, really difficult.
07:28But there were also some days that were just so funny and so much, like the kids can say the
07:34funniest things or fellow teachers can say the funniest things.
07:37So I think it was finding the tone.
07:39It was like just being as realistic as possible with the circumstances that the characters were going through and making
07:46sure we lean into that realism.
07:48Like when we were doing post-sound, making sure we don't push it too far into darkness, because you can
07:54really do that with the sound.
07:56But keeping with more naturalistic sounds and using the choir music, it's kind of haunting.
08:02But it's also, I find myself comforted by this music.
08:05Like I play it all the time still.
08:07So just like leaning into a tone where it just captures the reality of the situation the characters are going
08:14through without pushing it one way or another.
08:16We don't want to push it so it's so dark that we're sobbing on the floor when we're watching this
08:20movie.
08:21But yeah, I think it was just finding the right balance and making sure that we don't go too dark.
08:26Yeah, and I think, you know, from the very beginning, the sort of the goal was to make a film
08:32that you could watch more than once in a way that doesn't sort of like there are so many good
08:38films that you can watch just once and it wrecks you and that it's a beautiful experience for that.
08:43But we wanted ours in the writing too, and because of our love for young people as teachers, like we
08:49wanted this film to be something that young people could watch again and again, and still like have a space
08:55to process this grief and this trauma.
08:58But in a way that like, yeah, that you can do more than once that it's funny, that's joyful, that
09:05ends with like affirmation and light rather than darkness.
09:34But in a way that we can do more than once that it's like a film that we can do
09:35more than once in a while.
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