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Writer/Director Adam Jumba & Actor Jack Alcott talk to Fest Track about expectation vs. reality, crafting the world inside the film and subtle choices making big impacts in regards to their new film "Lone Rider" playing the Feature section of Dances With Films LA 2026 in Los Angeles, California.

#LoneRiderFilm #FilmMaking #SirkTV
Transcript
00:24The
00:26aspect of Lone Rider, it's, you know, expectation and identity is obviously a key part of
00:31that, you know, and how Tyler sees his life, what it could be, or that aspect of it. What was
00:38the
00:39basis for his story? Was it, what was the story you wanted to tell? This wasn't my initial thought
00:46when I first started it. I think this is something I discovered like a year or two into writing it,
00:51but I feel like at some point I realized I was writing a story a bit about how I thought
00:58my
00:58life would have turned out if I hadn't discovered like filmmaking and kind of just felt like very
01:04stuck in life, like didn't really know what I was looking out for. And everybody around me was saying
01:10like, keep going, go forward, keep pushing. But like, if you don't know what exactly you're pushing
01:15toward, it's sort of like, you know, you're blindfolded in a maze. So again, that wasn't like
01:21the crux of the story. I feel like it sort of evolved into that over time. But, you know,
01:27that's where it came from. And it was inspired a lot by some friends I had as well, too. So
01:32I
01:33wouldn't say it's like a total reflection of my life. But kind of mixed people around me.
01:39Oh, y'all, before I forget, do you remember Alice? Did you see your thing on Facebook?
01:44Alice? No. Uh, what? Just look. I'll send you a link now.
01:53For anyone who might be listening out there that find themselves stuck between yesterday and tomorrow
02:00will be our final broadcast of the summer season. So start saying goodbye to those seemingly endless
02:08nights filled with ice cream and bonfires, of fireworks and sunsets, of swimming pools and
02:16strawberries, of crickets and sandals, of boardwalks and fireflies, memories and magic, wonder and
02:24youth, of adventure, end of life. And just like every summer and every season, really enjoy
02:36while it lasts. Because if you blink for even a second, you might just miss out.
02:46Well, I mean, you got to create a world. And that's why, before I go over to you, Jack,
02:49about how is the, you know, from the very beginning, you know, listening to that radio,
02:54you know, that program, you get a sense of sort of being in the ether. He's sort of stuck
02:59between two worlds, a world he could be in and a world he chooses not to be in, if you
03:04will.
03:04Yeah, well, it's interesting, because I would say, in a lot of ways, Jack is different from
03:10Tyler. And I think he's, you know, wanted to be an actor for, for sure, as long as I've known
03:15him,
03:15which was, I guess, since about 2015.
03:18Oh, yeah, way before that. Yeah.
03:19Yeah. So I've always seen Jack as like a very kind of laser focused on what he wanted to do
03:24in
03:24life, kind of guy. So at the same time, I was approaching him like, hey, I'm, you know,
03:29this is a character who's like, you know, there's maybe things he's gone through that are similar
03:34to some stuff that you're have gone through or are going through. But, you know, we kind of had
03:39to find the balance of like, what parts to draw from your own life and what parts to draw from,
03:45you know, your friends or your family or, you know, other movies, sometimes, you know,
03:50kind of got to find the influence from wherever it comes. But I think we did a good job of
03:54finding
03:55the balance. So. So, what's up?
04:05Um, the reason that I came back that day, that day that you left, besides the coffee,
04:14I mean, um, I wanted to, uh, tell you, because, you know, because you, you, you knew me better
04:25than, you know, pretty much anybody else. Um, and, uh, you know, you know, I, I have a hard time
04:36with, you know, when you left, um, I, I had this thought, like,
04:45maybe things would have been different if I just said something.
04:51Jack, can you talk about the, your approach to Tyler, but your expectation for you as the actor
04:56playing him of Tyler? Because the thing is, he has so many choices he can make,
05:01choices he doesn't make, but choices he does make.
05:04Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, I think it's, it's easy from sort of a third person perspective
05:09to look at this character, um, and go, man, you know, what a schlub. It's like, oh man,
05:15there's sort of not a lot wrong really with his life. There's certainly some problems, but like
05:19he's, this could be so much worse. And, um, while I think, you know, I get someone seeing that,
05:26I think that that's a version of the character you could see if you're, if you're looking from
05:30a distance. I think it's a very distilled version of something that's incredibly relatable.
05:35And it's just being stuck kind of in your life, being kind of, you know, in the muck and mire.
05:39And, you know, it could happen for a million reasons. Like it's, oh, you go through a breakup
05:43or you lose somebody that's close to you. You move and you, you know, you, you, your home is gone
05:48and you live somewhere else. There's all sorts of things that could facilitate that feeling, but
05:52it can become sort of a spiral of being dissatisfied with how you feel and where you are, but there
06:00isn't
06:01sort of a door to just walk through you, or at least you don't feel like there is, uh, which
06:05is what's so, I think ironic about that, about Tyler's sort of conundrum is that there's so
06:10many things that he could do to sort of change his circumstance. And the, the journey that
06:15we see him take is such a small, subtle series of events. So I think for me, it was just
06:21about
06:22finding that, you know, what's it feel like to feel stuck and dissatisfied? Uh, you know,
06:29there's, there's a ton of comparison. That's, you know, that's, that's never good for a person,
06:34you know, comparing yourself to other people. He compares himself to his friends, to his family,
06:38to what he sees on the internet. Um, and it just leads to more and more kind of introspective
06:45dissatisfaction, which I think eventually can sort of turn to self-flagellation and just, ah,
06:50you just sort of sink lower and lower and lower. And I think with Adam's script, the moments that we
06:57find throughout his journey and his drive, um, you know, they're small and they're subtle,
07:04but you, we get these little blinking road signs of like, turn here, you know, pick these people up,
07:08say hi, you know, put yourself out there a little bit. And it's such a small series of steps, but
07:13we
07:13see, you know, we see him find some, you know, you told me you were coming. Kind of a last
07:32minute
07:33thing. You're not here for the car, are you? You know, when you left, um, I, I had this thought,
07:49like, maybe things would have been different if I just said something. And to be honest,
07:57I've, I've thought about it for years. Like, like looking back on it, did you ever regret how things
08:11turned out? Jack, could you add to that? But also he was talking about pain, those flecks of pain,
08:24like, that's what you do with any characters. You find those little bits of, you know, paint to sort
08:28of color in the edges, you know, what stood out for you? Were there scenes, were there certain things
08:34that stood out to you about Tyler in that journey? Because obviously you're probably shooting,
08:39you're obviously shooting out of order, but where you found that sort of crux of him, that truth of
08:44him. Very out of order. Very, yeah. Um, absolutely. Yeah. I, I, one that sticks, I think probably my
08:51favorite scene, uh, in the movie is the scene on the porch, Tyler and his dad, where he brings him
08:58those beers and he sort of has a moment where he almost steps out on the ledge. Like he asks
09:04kind
09:04of a vulnerable question. He kind of dances around a little bit and quickly excuses his father when he
09:10doesn't answer. But, um, that was a, that's a scene where that silence just informs so much of the,
09:19of the character and both of the characters. And so much of, I think Tyler's story as like, Ooh,
09:25okay. He, I think he's got a fair amount of, you know, sources of discomfort or pain. And obviously,
09:30you know, the inciting incident is like the girl that he had feelings for. She's leaving again.
09:35And that's sort of what kicks us off. But I felt like that scene with, uh, with Michael Gaston,
09:42um, that delivers the weight that, you know, I think the lion's share of the weight that Tyler
09:47carries, like the really, really strained, um, disconnected relationship that he has with his
09:53father. Um, and in those scenes, cause there are a few, there's a, there's a lot of moments that play
10:00out in silence. And I think Adam, we, we'd have, we had conversations before and a couple during,
10:06but I, Adam was never the director that was like, this is what you're thinking. Like,
10:09I want to see these beats, you know, sort of cycle through your brain. This is the moment where this
10:13lands. It sort of was, there was a lot of collaboration and trust both ways, um, of sort
10:19of knowing who this kid is, uh, and where he's at and just letting it sit. Um, and I think
10:27a lot of
10:27those moments with, uh, Nadezhda on the beach, um, with the guys at the, at the fire, the,
10:33the bachelor, you know, the, the groomsmen campfire and on the porch with, um, Tyler's dad. Like
10:41I think all of those moments were, were discoveries, which as an actor is, you know, what you want. If
10:47you can execute something that you planned, like hell yeah. But if you just sit into a moment and
10:52you see what happens and something happens, that's, that's gold. So.
11:03So.
11:04So.
11:05So.
11:20So.
11:23So.
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