00:04Hi, I'm Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter, and I'm here with Sean Baker.
00:07We're in studio today to talk about The Florida Project.
00:10Thanks for having me.
00:11Yes, thank you so much.
00:12So, okay, this is one of the first movies you wanted to make.
00:17You made it, you were interested in making it before Tangerine.
00:21Yeah.
00:21This was actually, it was a little bit after Starlet, I believe, where my co-screenwriter
00:27started sending me news articles that focused on the situation down in Kissimmee and Orlando,
00:34Florida, in which there were families living in budget motels right outside of the Magic Kingdom, in the parks.
00:42So, it brought it to my attention around 2011, 2012, and we just could not get financing.
00:51I think it was because our treatment wasn't fleshed out enough, and I think people read through it.
00:57And so, we went ahead and made Tangerine, which was a micro-budget film.
01:02And that opened the doors for us, and really allowed us to get, first off, a grant from CineReach,
01:08a wonderful nonprofit that allows independent films like this to get off the ground.
01:13And that gave us a grant that would allow us to travel back and forth and really then absorb the
01:18environment,
01:19approach it in a journalistic way in which we could then write a script.
01:22And then June Pictures came on board to finance the film, and we shot in the summer of 2016.
01:29Do you feel like all of that time, like taking the time to kind of ruminate on it, like was
01:35that good?
01:35Or were you really raring to make that movie, and was it disappointing, or do you think it worked out?
01:40It was very disappointing at the time, but then, of course, in hindsight, what would this movie be without Brooklyn
01:47Prince?
01:48You know, she would have been one years old when we were trying to make this film at first, so
01:52it all works out for a reason.
01:54And then also on top of that, I think making Tangerine really helped us with gaining the confidence to approach
02:04this more using comedy,
02:08and making it an overt comedy.
02:11Maybe my films leading up to Tangerine were dramas with comedic elements,
02:16and then Tangerine in this film have become comedies with dramatic moments.
02:23So it really, it's slightly changed our approach to storytelling.
02:27Right, and is that kind of the storytelling that you want to continue on with?
02:31I think so, I think so.
02:33I think it's a, it's been getting a warm reception, and we obviously got a good reception with Tangerine,
02:38and I think what it's told me as a filmmaker is that, you know, keeping in mind always that this
02:47is an entertainment medium,
02:48and people are going to be spending their hard-earned money and dedicating a Friday or Saturday night,
02:54and there still has to be a degree of escapism.
02:57I mean, that's why people go to narrative films, fiction films.
03:01And so, using that, using that approach, but then of course, using it to shine a light on an important
03:11subject,
03:11or to bring awareness to an issue that perhaps is, I feel is important to bring awareness to,
03:18that's the best of both worlds.
03:19Because you entertain an audience, and then you leave them thinking and sparking discussion.
03:24I talked to another filmmaker who was talking about going from dark to light rather than light to dark.
03:29That's kind of her path. Does that make sense to you?
03:33Like this idea that you start in a dark place and then end up in a lighter place?
03:38Yeah, really, that all, I guess it all, who, which filmmaker, if you don't mind asking?
03:42Mariana Palka.
03:42Oh, interesting. Yeah, yeah, she, okay. I have to see her new film.
03:46I can see that, yeah. And it all really depends on the subject that you're covering,
03:52and your focus on, you know, on the characters.
03:56And so it really, it really depends. But I do see that. There is a, in our film we have,
04:04and I don't want to, for people who haven't seen the film, I don't want to scare them off,
04:07but there is a sobering moment. There is a, there is a time in which the film moves from a,
04:17you know,
04:18a joyous experience to one that's based in the harsh reality that these characters are living in.
04:25Yeah.
04:26I wanted to talk to you a little bit about Willem Dafoe because you went to NYU.
04:31Yes.
04:32Growing up around the New York area.
04:34Yeah, yeah.
04:34When you were young, in college, Willem was kind of a huge scenester in the downtown New York art scene.
04:43Yeah, yeah.
04:43Can you tell me about how it, you know, what your impressions were of him before you, you know,
04:50so many years after you end up casting him?
04:52Well, I remember it was one of my classmates actually made a small, short documentary on the Wooster Group.
04:58And I remember being starstruck. When I was there, we were shooting this doc and he walks in and it's
05:04like,
05:05it's Willem Dafoe.
05:05So, but even before that, just, just in high school, him making such a, just a really, really, really impactful
05:16impression on me with Platoon, To Live and Die in LA, Mississippi Burning.
05:20I mean, he was already a hero of mine. So, my, my, and I still look back to that time
05:28when people say, oh, this is unconventional casting for Willem.
05:31Well, it's not really.
05:32I mean, if you look at those earlier roles in which he was always the protagonist and sort of the
05:37moral compass of the film, I mean, that's how I saw it going into this one.
05:40I knew that he could pull off Bobby because I've, I've seen him do it before in his earlier work.
05:46Yeah.
05:47What are you hoping to accomplish when you kind of step in, you base your films in like a world
05:54of extreme poverty?
05:55Like, it's obviously something that's interesting to you.
05:58Well, I, I, you know, it's, it really is, again, it's like a film, a project by project basis.
06:05It's, it's, it's not just poverty that I'm trying to look at. It's, it's usually an issue.
06:10It's usually a group of people or for maybe a subculture that is underrepresented or perhaps, you know, living on
06:20the margins.
06:21Again, this is stuff to me. I don't go into it with the, with, hey, what marginalized group can I
06:27do now?
06:27No, that would be offensive and insulting. It's, I, I, this has been brought to my attention through journalists and
06:33through, you know, press.
06:35And it's something that I guess it's my, I guess it's a response to what I'm not seeing enough of
06:40in film and TV or what I want to see more of.
06:43So with this, with this particular film, you know, this has to do with an issue that the entire country
06:51is dealing with.
06:52And that's one of the hidden homeless. And it's a term that I didn't even know existed.
06:57Um, I lived most of my life in New York City. I lived for a while out here in Los
07:02Angeles.
07:03The way that we see homelessness is, is on the streets. We see people on the streets.
07:07We hear about Skid Row and overcrowded shelters, et cetera.
07:10But there's, there's a, there's a population of people who are, uh, who are technically homeless, unable to, uh, secure
07:19permanent housing and who, um, but are still keeping a roof over their heads, struggling, you know, week, uh, week
07:25to week, sometimes night to night to keep a roof over their heads.
07:27And that can be a budget motel. That can be a friend's or family's, uh, uh, home, or that can
07:33be a car.
07:34I mean, this is, this is, uh, something that I didn't really know a lot about. And so this, this
07:39film, what I would like this film to do is, is, is, uh, is first bring awareness to the subject.
07:44Cause that's the first step towards change, you know, uh, removing the stigma from, from something like that through, through
07:51awareness and education is always the first step towards change.
07:54But then ultimately I would love people to, you know, to hopefully be motivated to look into it in their
08:00own community.
08:00I mean, this is not just Kissimmee in Orlando. This might be existing right under your nose and you don't
08:05know it.
08:05I mean, we're here in Los Angeles and we have a major problem down in Anaheim. We have one down,
08:09uh, out in San Bernardino.
08:11And, um, so this is something that, hey, look, if you're motivated, if you, if you're inspired, if you're thinking
08:16about the real Moonies out there, um, become an advocate for your local organization.
08:22Support them. Doesn't mean you have to donate. I'm not asking people to donate money.
08:25I'm saying perhaps spread the word, uh, volunteer, uh, you know, again, become an advocate for, uh, that's what we're,
08:33that's the, that's the message we're, we're getting out there.
08:35Because what we do have an affordable housing crisis in the U S and, uh, we need the federal government
08:42to step up.
08:42And until they do, uh, we have to, we have to do everything we can do to, to, to get
08:48people out of this situation.
08:50Why do you think women have it particularly hard in your movie? What I noticed is that you do see
08:55this, like, it's, it's kind of rare to see a man.
08:58Every once in a while you'll see a man and, but it's mostly like single moms and, uh, caretakers of
09:04children who are women. You don't see the men around.
09:07There are a few men and, but, um, yes, it's true that a lot of the single parents that I
09:12came across were, were women were mothers.
09:15Um, and you know, one, one third, the, the last statistic I heard is that, uh, one third of, of
09:23single mothers are living below the poverty level.
09:26And this is something that's just, this is a society, uh, issue and problem. And it's just something that, uh,
09:33all my films are usually we do our absolute best to, to, to base it in, in reality as much
09:41as possible.
09:41So using, you know, proper, the proper demographics, the proper, you know, details and statistics to back up our narrative,
09:49uh, storytelling.
09:50Yeah. Um, what's the most difficult part about producing your own film?
09:56Well, I'm one of the producers on it. I had a, a group of wonderful producers around me. So at
10:01some point I'm going, I'm in creative mode, guys, you can take over.
10:06And, and, uh, Kevin Chinoy, Francesca Silvestri, uh, Shi Ching Zou, Alex, uh, Sachs and Andrew Duncan, they, they stepped
10:16up and they, they make it happen.
10:18You know, it's for me as one of the producers, what it means is that there's always, there's always ownership
10:23there.
10:24There's always, um, of course, uh, a say in, in how the film, uh, the life of the film, you
10:31know, it's not just, I, I'm not just a director for hire.
10:33I want to see the film out. I'm involved in it right now, you know, promoting it and, and figuring
10:38out the selling it around the world, talking to our sales agents, uh, being part of the decision-making process
10:44on every aspect of it.
10:46It's, that's a producer's role and that's, I need, this is a baby, this is my baby, right?
10:50It takes three years to make each one of these films.
10:52So how can I not want to involve myself more than just that, you know, just on the director level?
10:58Right, right. How much, um, are your first time actors influencing, um, the movie, the tone of the movie?
11:08That's an interesting question. I, I, you know, I'm, when you find, when I find my first time actors, there's
11:13always a degree of the character in them, but they also have to prove to me that they actually can
11:20act and understand the craft of acting and, and can be different from who they are.
11:25You know, there are certain characteristics, of course, you know, Bria Vinayta, you know, she had the physicality that I
11:31was looking for in Haley, but it doesn't mean that she's Haley.
11:34So, um, uh, but there are aspects of their personalities or perhaps their physicalities that always lend themselves.
11:42Um, and that's what I'm looking for first.
11:45Uh, I've also just been extremely lucky in one of these days, but I've been extremely lucky with Prince of
11:52Broadway, Starlet, Tangerine, and this film, and even Takeout, actually, to find really incredible first timers who have, uh, who,
12:02who really have an incredible gift of, you know, and not only can, not only, uh, are convincing in their,
12:09in their portrayals of their characters,
12:11but also they have the gift of, uh, improvisation and I encourage improvisation on set.
12:16So I've been very lucky to find a lot like that, that have that, uh, thing about them. Yeah.
12:22Uh, last question. Um, one of your, uh, one of your actors, Brooklyn Prince wants to direct.
12:28What are you hoping that young filmmakers do in the future?
12:32I mean, we're living in a time where filmmakers have so many tools and so many platforms.
12:39So it's really exciting. There can actually be much younger filmmakers.
12:43Now it's not like you have to, you know, for me, it took, it's, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's
12:48this getting to this couch talking to you has taken 25 years.
12:54Um, it doesn't have to take that long.
12:56You can, you know, you can, you can, uh, you can shoot on your phone these days.
13:01You can shoot on your phone. You can put your stuff up on Vimeo. You can put your stuff up
13:06on YouTube.
13:06You can get recognition because what I, what I like to say to, you know, to anybody who's trying to
13:12break into the business is not to wait.
13:14Cause there's nobody who's going to come and dump money on your lap and say, here you go.
13:20You have to prove yourself and you can prove yourself these days when you're still in high school, still in
13:26junior high school.
13:26Perhaps, you know, Brooklyn will, will, will go ahead and shoot a little short film tomorrow and be the first,
13:31the youngest filmmaker out there.
13:33I, I don't know, but, but all I do know is that, you know, it's, uh, I would love to
13:37see cinema continue and, you know, there has been, uh, cinema is breaking off into so many different, you can,
13:44there, you know, there's television, there's VR.
13:46There's a, I'm, I, I still love, you know, the, I love feature films and I love the fact that
13:52there is a, you know, uh, you watch your film on a big screen in a movie theater.
13:58It's made for, you know, uh, uh, you're telling a story in a designated amount of time, which is usually
14:0490 minutes to two and a half hours at the most.
14:07You know, that's how you're presenting this story.
14:09And I, and I like to stay in this medium.
14:11This is the medium that I hope continues.
14:13And I, and I see a real love for cinema out there.
14:15When I go to the film festivals, when I, I see that it still exists.
14:19And, um, and that's really encouraging.
14:21If we can keep record pressing alive, we can keep movies alive.
14:24Yeah.
14:25Why not?
14:26Sean Baker, thank you so much for being here.
14:28Thank you very much.
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