There’s kind of like this, not exactly false, but sometimes false positivity from people that I’ve noticed in LA where people seem super-enthusiastic, but when it comes time to do something, they’re not there. Do you know what I mean?
Yeah. Right. Right. Exactly. It’s like, “How can you kind of get… Like getting committal?” I don’t know. I think the bottom line is the big takeaway for me is there really is, and it’s getting increasingly more difficult for real independent film. I think that we say, filmmakers, on the whole, will really say, “Oh, it’s so great. We’ve got these streaming services. There are so many more opportunities for you to get your stuff out there.” And that is true in some regard, but you’re going to have to… It’s like the Bob Dylan song. You’re going to have to serve somebody, right? You’re going to have to serve somebody, and that’s not a bad thing, right? Things can happen through collaboration, but if you’re sitting around waiting for those kinds of opportunities… I don’t know. It just seems tough. And it’s also making it harder for things that are outside of the system to find a place at the table because you look at all the popular film festivals out there right now, how many of those movies are truly outside of the system, the way it was when Clerks and such and such. That was like their platform.
Now Slamdance is kind of like the last of the Mohicans. You’ve either got like the Boise, Idaho Film Festival, or Sundance, which if you look at the roster of those movies over the past 10 years, how many of those are outside of the “system”? You know nepotism, whatever you want to call it.
I’m not hating on the model. Like, I get it. I’m all for the free market. I’m all for people doing what they’re doing. But the advice I’d give filmmakers is like the same advice I’d give doctors for advocating more for their salaries. You can raise your own money to make your own movie. There’s no reason why you can’t do that. I’m not saying this movie is going to get out there. It’s going to get seen, but like the really important work to be done is the movie, is the art, is the work. And yes, you want it to be entertaining.
“At the end of the day, I really just hope to give them a break from their consciousness.”
I mean, for me, I’m trying to make commercial movies. I want to make entertaining movies, like Zemeckis and things of the heart and what have you. But just get out there and just do it… Not do it all from a narcissistic point of view, but from like you don’t need permission, really. Guillermo del Toro talks about this. So I don’t know if that answers your question or if I just went in the big circle.
What do you want viewers to get from this film emotionally?
Sure. Yeah. Well, I think honestly, at the heart and soul of it, I really just wanted to entertain people. At the end of the day, I really just hope to give them a break from their consciousness. I think that’s when movies are working, when you’re just able to tune out whatever is on your mind and just engage in something. Beyond that, I think it’s really a question of connections with people, love, friendships, working relationships. If we honestly look at ourselves, we can all say this, that they usually come from some of the most unexpected places, for some people, that happens more than others. And I think that the more we can keep ourselves open, especially in this current environment where social media is doing so much to divide us and put us into little categories and little groups with little labels and little hashtags, I think our human need and our real human experience is about opening ourselves up to the light in everybody.
I mean, nobody’s perfect, right? And you never know where you’re going to find that kind of connection. And if you’re the kind of person who’s living with a certain paradigm about who you should be into, or who you should be dating, who you should be falling in love with, who you should be getting along with, who you should even be having a conversation with, I don’t think you’re going to have the same fullness in your life that all people can have. I’m not trying to be preachy. I really did make this movie, to say… I didn’t make this, and that’s one of the things I actually kind of like buck against with so many movies, like people say the purpose of the movie is to teach a lesson. I really don’t believe that. I subscribe to the David Mamet school, which was like I’m just trying to entertain you, and my heart and soul are one of inclusion. And so somewhere in between, maybe. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t have a clear answer, I guess. It’s just somewhere between entertaining you and keeping an open heart.
Congratulations on everything.
Nick Sasso: Oh, thanks so much. I really appreciate it.
