Emotionally disenfranchised man-child, Jackson, drunkenly reflects on modern existence while being dragged to a bottomless mimosa brunch by his successful vlogger girlfriend, Peyton.
Starring JON GORMLEY, AMANDA MASTON & featuring the voice of NICCI BRIGHTEN
Produced by JON GORMLEY & DUSTIN CURTIS MURPHY
Written & Directed by DUSTIN CURTIS MURPHY
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH THE FILMMAKER
TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR FILMMAKING BACKGROUND:
I’m no stranger to Kino London. In fact, I organise the events and I’m the director of the People’s Film Festival. We had an open week so I thought I’d share one of my films as Short of the Week - sorry for the favouritism.
I started out as a child stage actor, then got interested in making movies in the backyard with friends. My first film was a western called The Wanted in which I sported a moustache made from paper. In my mid teens I started taking film seriously and created a few Twilight Zone style short films that I competed with at film festivals, eventually winning Best Under 18 Film at Shriekfest in Hollywood. After that I worked as a production assistant on some sets and as a personal assistant for two Academy members where I got some good exposure to big Hollywood.
I’ve always been more interested in running my own sets vs being on other people’s, so I crowdfunded and shot four seasons of a web-series called Happy Hour Sketch Comedy. Doing that really helped me work out the kinks in my filmmaking style - only took about 50 episodes - and recently I’ve been focusing on more dramatic short films with aspects of social/political commentary, including my latest film Samaritan which was a Semi-Finalist at the Oscar qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival and has also screened at BAFTA & BIFA qualifying festivals. Currently I’m working on my first feature.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE INSPIRATION BEHIND YOUR FILM?:
After doing four seasons of sketch comedy, I decided to take a turn creating short films that were more serious. I tend to gravitate toward opposing ends of the spectrum, either total absurd comedy or really heavy tragedy. Bottomless was my first film back to the world of comedy after a few years of taking myself too seriously.
Living in LA, I definitely attended my fair share of bottomless brunches, and I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed them. I remember writing most of the script on notes on my phone instead of mingling with my girlfriend’s friends. At the time I felt very much like a supporting character. I was noticing how aimless masculinity could be. Sometimes when you have too many options you just choose nothing, and so that’s where my lead character was born - a guy who really has no purpose in life. He’s just along for the ride and he doesn’t really like it, but he doesn’t hate it enough to do anything about it. I think men often suppress a lot of their emotions. When those emotions get pent up they manifest in odd ways.
The notes sat on my phone for awhile, and maybe six months later I found myself at the modern art museum in Paris where an entire floor was dedicated to this one artist who’s work looked like a blank white canvas that a kid with a pencil had scribbled on while riding in the back of the car on a bumpy road. I tend to have a pretty high tolerance for experimental art, but I found this display particularly gratuitous and offensive. This is where I got the inspiration to include pretentious elements in the film that lead you to believe it will have a profound climax, but then I completely destroy it with a relieving obscenity. He pisses on the table and no one notices. The statement I’m making at the end of the film is “what do I have to do to get your attention?!” I feel this especially in the art I create. So much has been done that nothing is really that shocking anymore, so you just go about making work that you’re proud of and you hope it resonates with other people too, but if not at least you got to express something personal. I think that’s better than chasing approval.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BRING THIS FILM TO LIFE AND WHAT OBSTACLES DID YOU OVERCOME ALONG THE WAY?:
The production was pretty straight forward. I didn’t overthink the script too much, just hopped straight into filming with a cast that I had already worked with quite a bit from my sketch comedy days. This was the last film that I shot while living in LA before moving to London and we shot up until a day or two before my flight left.
Moving that close to filming, I didn’t download my SD card right away, so when I settled in in London I discovered that it had corrupted and I lost my last day’s footage. I tried to piece the film together with what I had, but it stayed unfinished on my hard drive for over a year. Luckily I got a gig as a DOP on another film that was shooting in LA - they flew me back out and I used the opportunity to get the cast back together and reshoot what had been lost. Additionally, while editing I thought up a few new scenes that I wanted to include, so in a way it was an unfortunate blessing.
DID YOU HAVE ANY CREATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR CREATING QUALITY CONTENT ON A MINIMAL BUDGET:
Personally, I think it’s all about the performance. If you cast great actors and get out of their way to deliver you something great then you can get away with a lower production value if you don’t have access to best camera or whatever. I think too many filmmakers focus on the technical side of filmmaking too much. I’m much more interested in story and performance.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE FILMMAKING PROCESS:
To quote one of my favourite films, Almost Famous: To begin with… everything. Although I will add that I really don’t like the part of filmmaking that happens once the film is edited and completed. The battle to get your short film seen is ridiculously disillusioning and the festival circuit can be so expensive. So yeah, everything but that.
ANY ADVICE FOR GETTING SHORT FILMS SEEN?
With this project I wasn’t really trying to make a competitive film for the film festival circuit, although my lead actor and co-producer Jon Gormley wanted to finance a festival run, and surprisingly this film became my biggest festival success in terms of most Official Selections. Go figure. Albeit, we aimed for laurels vs. the top tier festivals. I think what really helped this particular film find audiences was that it was different from what else was out there being submitted to festivals. I knew from the get go that my film wasn’t for everyone. I see it very much like a cult film, and if you hate it I wouldn’t be surprised or offended. I tend to have a perverse sense of humour that delights in making people uncomfortable. Sometimes discomfort makes people laugh, sometimes it doesn’t, but watching them squirm always makes me laugh for some reason so I guess that’s why it’s comedy to me.
I think a lot of short filmmakers take themselves too serious and oversaturate the festival circuit with hard hitting dramas. Programers often want to mix it up, so I think choosing to make a comedy was an advantage.
ANY FILM RECOMMENDATIONS THAT WE CAN WATCH TO KEEP US BUSY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING:
Best films I’ve seen this year (and not necessarily made this year) are First Reformed with Ethan Hawke, The Current War, Dark Waters, Unsane, The Trail of the Chicago 7 (always love me some Aaron Sorkin), Honey Boy, Da 5 Bloods, and The End of the Affair… of course none of those films are very funny so... I did watch Juliet, Naked and loved that. My favourite awkward comedy of all time would probably be I Heart Huckabees though. Gotta check that out.
Interested in getting your work selected as Short of the Week?