Staff Pick Premiere: "West by God" by Scott Lazer |
After locking eyes at the local water park The two of them meet to have a romantic date at the nearby Dairy Queen. Dane has a habit of being the boss, has to pay for their meal, decides the places they go to, what they do, and the music they listen to. Although Dane could have begun his career in charge, Nelly's presence and the brilliant use of a 2000's hip-hop anthem create a vulnerability in Dane that starts to break his machismo armor. Lazer makes this small-town tale to life through a keen attention to detail via settings, scenes and characters.
The uniqueness of the film is essential to create and break down the strong male and submissive female archetypes "West by God" investigates. The two actors Kyle Riggs and Aphrodite Armstrong are protagonists of the movie which even earned them an award from the jurors for their outstanding performance during this year's SXSW Film Festival.
Ahead of the release, we reached out to Director Scott Lazer about how the film was made, the challenges along the way, and what's to come next.
The film's inspiration
"I'd wanted to record something that took place in West Virginia - where I was born and lived for most of my youth - for a long time. My favorite thing to do there is bring people who have never been there and see it through their eyes for the first time, which I thought I could do through film. When writer Juli Blachowiak and me first began discussing collaborating in this project, she originally set it in Hawaii which is the place where she was born and raised, but I saw it fitting perfectly in West Virginia with specific locations in mind. I began to share photos taken there with her - some I'd collected, others I found on Google. The photos helped us create the characters, adjusting the tale to the world I knew intimately ."
When creating characters:
"Nelly and Dane kind of cross the two ends of young adulthood. Nelly is eager to become an adult and Dane regrets not getting there in the same way he did. I have many Nellys and Danes in my childhood who influenced these characters and a large part of the process of bringing the characters to life was their clothes, which Juli and I did ourselves ."
On the actors:
"My friend Cat was finishing her MFA at University of North Carolina School of the Arts in North Carolina, which is about three hours from where I would like to shoot at West Virginia. I asked her if she had been accepted into the acting program at the university that I'm aware of as an acclaimed conservatory. Cat was always a natural with a great ability to perform, and when I gave an audition script to her, she replied that she knew Nelly as one of our lead actors. "I'll request a tape from her,' she said.
A few weeks later, she sent Aphrodite's audition, that absolutely shook me. Michael (Fiona) was also from UNCSA as did Kyle (Dane) was an actor Cat was familiar with in within the North Carolina acting community. I was so blessed having the privilege of working with such talented actors and I was thrilled for Aphrodite and Kyle to receive an award from the Special Jury for Outstanding Performances at SXSW in the spring of this year. ."
On casting Aphrodite:
"I didn't know that she was trans at the time she auditioned. I just knew she was extremely talented and right for the role. But once I learned she was a proud transwoman, I had to think about the implications of me (cis white male) controlling her. Aphrodite and I spoke about the issue. I also asked other people to discuss it. I conducted some investigation and came across an article in which an trans-actress known as Harrison Knights who said "It is not until [trans actors] are being hired in prominent cis roles due to the fact that we're the ideal actors for the role, instead of because we have ticked an item, that we will have truly been accepted."
Cis actors have been playing trans-characters for ages Why is it that the reverse is seldom the case? The obvious reason was that I decided to make Aphrodite, which was not only the right creative decision, but helped give the film a purpose. She told me when we finished filming that just the appearance of her body created something distinctive for the character ."
On writing and performing the line that ends with "I have a clue."
"There's a power dynamic that exists between Nelly and Dane and Dane, which forms the main tension in the film. They go where he wants, he's paying, and he's the boss. When he opens up an aspect of him that is vulnerable to Nelly that she never expected, she realizes the power she has in having a sympathetic ear to him - something she could potentially even exploit. When she says that final line, she affirms that shift between the two. It's happened, and both are aware. .">
What's your top tip for aspiring film makers?
"Even if you don't intend to be an editor, learn how to edit, so you're able to interact with editors. Editing is the point where the movie comes together and falls apart, so editing is a crucial aspect to comprehend thoroughly ."
When you play a song to the person you cherish:
"Early in my romance with my girl friend, I played her an Melody Gardot song called 'Our Love is Simple' that I believed summed up the way I felt about the emergence of our relationship. We were so compatible I believed, that our relationship was effortless 'like water rushing over stone,' as Gardot sang. It didn't work out the way I had hoped. "Easy?' she asked me with astonishment. If things become difficult, are you gonna be bored?' No, I haven't lost my interest. But it's not that easy. ."
What's next? Are there any projects coming up?
"We're not finished exploring the 'West by God. I'm convinced we have more to uncover in that realm. In addition I'm working on a few additional shorts that I'm working on along with the job I receive on commissions for music and advertising ."