|
|
| Tromadance Pre-Production: GREATER SOUTHBRIDGE creative team Rod Murphy & Scott Morgan |
"5 cents per can is not a joke!" |
by Chris Parry
THE 'GREATER SOUTHBRIDGE' PITCH: Middle america used to be a vibrant, booming economic love story between cities and their people, but invariably nowadays the cities of yore have bailed on their population, leaving only Dear John letters, unpaid phone bills and half a four-day-old pizza in their wake. Greater Southbridge is the very funny and heartfelt story of the many colorfully eccentric characters from one of these oases of Americana, the small and economically challenged central Massachusetts town where the director grew up. Watching these marginalized people go through their daily routines, challenges, and victories, we see a mirror of our own problems and triumphs.
"Coots gone wild" or "Small town, big freaks, bigger heart."
Q. Will this be your first time at Sundance? If not, what else have you been to Park City with?
Rod: First time at Sundance, but not Park City. Back in 1995 when our 1980 Toyota Coralla's clutch burnt out on a cross country trip, my wife and I lived in SLC for 5 long months doing temp jobs. We made it up to Park City a couple times and saw how the beautiful people lived.
Q. When you were 14 years old, if someone asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up, what would your answer have been?
Rod: I wanted to be Fonzie I think, either him or Ralph Macchio. I am not sure if either is a profession though.
Scott: President of IBM.
Q. How did you get started in filmmaking?
Rod: Location, location, location. My wife and I moved back East to Southbridge where I grew up. To distract myself from the crushing boredom we started going out and meeting all the folks on the street corners that I'd seen for years but never knew on a personal level. Then, after 5 years of shooting I think it turned into something pretty great.
Scott: I studied film at Hampshire College and after getting an internship, I moved to L.A. where I eventually became an editor.
Q. How have things changed for you since your film was accepted into Tromadance?
Rod: Since everybody in the whole world who has anything to do with entertainment will be in Park City that week, we actually have several scheduled meetings with potential distributors.
Q. When you were shooting the film, did you have Sundance in mind?
Rod: Of course.
Scott: I kind of wondered if this would be an inside joke for about six people that we'd pull out to watch at Christmas and barmitzvahs.
Q. How did you get your film started? How did you go from script to finished product?
Scott: There was never really a script, per se, but once Roddy started sending me footage, there were alot of emails and alot of conversations about what we wanted to accomplish. We wandered down lots of different paths before we found the through-line, and the real heart of the story.
Q. What’s the one glaring lesson you learned while making this film?
Rod: Persistance is key.
Scott: Appreciate your team! We've gathered an incredible group of friends and family for 6:14 Productions and the project really started to find it's wings when Kate (Murphy, Roddy's sister) came on board as Producer, Micah (Forbes) and Ursula (Kate's
twin) took over the publicity, and John (Hunt) charged in with the entire Austin inde-music scene for our soundtrack.
9. Did you find yourself watching other great movies in preparation?
Rod: Half way through the filming I saw 'American Movie' and 'Hands on the hardbody' and I realized that we weren't alone out there. We knew that Southbridge wan't gonna be your grandfather's PBS doc, but thanks to movies like those as well as
'R.Crumb,''Hows Your News' and 'Bowling for Columbine' we knew there was an audience for quirky docs.
Scott: I had seen a few, but I actually tried to avoid them while editing, so the material could present it's own style.
Q. Two parter – which actor would you cut off an arm to work with, and which relatively unknown actor on your own film do you want the world to start recognizing sooner rather than later?
Rod: My wife would cut my arm off to work with Christopher Walken. Peeps should rally round our star Jerry, and make him the next Larry Bud Melman.
Scott: Benicio D'el Toro. Best actor in years.
Q. The festival circuit: what could be improved, and what couldn’t be?
Rod: I think alot of fests could follow Tromadance's example. They really get it right. It seems they are in it for the right reasons. They really watch all the submissions. They don't charge a fee to submit or to attend. They are very filmmaker and fan friendly. Which are all rare qualities for a film festival.
Q. Have you ‘made it’ yet? If not, at what point will you be able to say ‘yes’?
Rod: I was cleaning out my desk last week and I found myself leafing through all the articles and festival stuff that we've amassed during the last year and I was amazed and proud of what a few knuckleheads accomplished. At one point I was pumping my fist in the air shouting 'YEAHHH.'
Scott: In my head I think we 'made it' on some level. 12 festival wins, lots of good press, a few meetings in Park City and a bunch of fervent fans. Pretty good for a bunch of 'nobodies' with a video camera.
Q. A film is made by many people, as well as the director, but often films will open with a credit that says “a film by…” – Did you use that credit in your film? If so, defend yourself! If not, what do you think of those who do?
Scott: We did use it. Documentaries are very different from naratives and our roles in creating Greater Southbridge were kind of hard to define. Admittedly, alot of people contributed to the quality of the finished product, namely Kate and John, Justin and
Gina among others but Roddy and I felt Directed by Roddy, Edited by me and a film by the two of us underscored the creative colaborition of our partnership.
Q. If a studio said ‘we love this, we love you, you can remake anything in our back catalogue for $40m’ – what film, if any, would you remake?
Rod: Gigli or Breaking away. Actually 'Breaking Away' could never be improved on so, just Gigli.
Greater Southbridge (which kicks much ass, both in terms of soundtrack and the film itself) will be playing at Tromadance in Park City while Sundance happens across the street. Thus far during their, eight-month festival run, Greater Southbridge has won 12 awards and has been compared favorably to 'Roger & Me,' 'American Movie' and 'Hows your news.' And around my place, it's become the pre-party beer-drinking movie of choice. Seriously. You can find more information on the film at http://www.greatersouthbridge.com
link directly to this feature at http://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/feature.php?feature=903
originally posted: 01/09/04 00:37:08
last updated: 01/30/04 22:03:47
![[printer]](/images/icon/printer.gif) printer-friendly format
|
 |
|
Articles 
subscribe to this feed
