The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 322 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2015.
“It’s gratifying to acknowledge the extraordinary range of talent in our industry,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “This year, our branches have recognized a more diverse and inclusive list of filmmakers and artists than ever before, and we look forward to adding their creativity, ideas and experience to our organization.”
Update: Finnish film director Pirjo Honkasalo (pictured above) has reportedly dismissed an invitation to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reports
thenewage.
Honkasalo told the biggest Finnish language daily that she would rather belong to organizations where she can influence decisions.
She criticized the position of foreign films in the Oscar nominations. Honkasalo said that lobbyists and personal relations have too great a role in the Oscar process.
The 2015 invitees are:
Actors
Elizabeth Banks – “Love & Mercy,” “The Hunger Games”
Choi Min-sik– “Lucy,” “Oldboy”
Benedict Cumberbatch – “The Imitation Game,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”
Martin Freeman – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “Hot Fuzz”
Heather Graham – “The Hangover,” “Boogie Nights”
Tom Hardy – “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Inception”
Kevin Hart – “The Wedding Ringer,” “Ride Along”
Felicity Jones – “The Theory of Everything,” “Like Crazy”
Stephen Lang – “Avatar,” “The Men Who Stare at Goats”
Jodi Long – “A Picture of You,” “Beginners”
John Carroll Lynch – “Shutter Island,” “Zodiac”
Gugu Mbatha-Raw – “Beyond the Lights,” “Belle”
Denis O’Hare – “Milk,” “Michael Clayton”
Michael O’Neill – “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Transformers”
David Oyelowo – “Selma,” “A Most Violent Year”
Dev Patel – “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Slumdog Millionaire”
Rosamund Pike – “Gone Girl,” “Pride & Prejudice”
Chris Pine – “Into the Woods,” “Star Trek”
Daniel Radcliffe – “Kill Your Darlings,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
Eddie Redmayne – “The Theory of Everything,” “Les Misérables”
Jason Segel – “The Five-Year Engagement,” “The Muppets”
J.K. Simmons – “Whiplash,” “Juno”
Sonny Skyhawk – “Geronimo: An American Legend,” “Young Guns II”
Song Kang-ho – “Snowpiercer,” “The Host”
Emma Stone – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “The Help”
Casting Directors
Lucy Bevan – “Cinderella,” “The Hundred-Foot Journey”
Victoria Burrows – “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “King Kong”
Aisha Coley – “Selma,” “Beyond the Lights”
Patricia DiCerto – “Blue Jasmine,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Mary Hidalgo – “The Lego Movie,” “The Incredibles”
Roger Mussenden – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Get Smart”
Lucie Robitaille – “Incendies,” “The Barbarian Invasions”
Luis San Narciso – “The Skin I Live In,” “The Sea Inside”
April Webster – “Tomorrowland,” “Star Trek”
Tricia Wood – “Woman in Gold,” “The Lincoln Lawyer”
Cinematographers
Christopher Blauvelt – “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “The Bling Ring”
Adriano Goldman – “August: Osage County,” “Jane Eyre”
Ben Kasulke – “Laggies,” “Safety Not Guaranteed”
Ryszard Lenczewski – “Ida,” “Margaret”
Jody Lee Lipes – “Ballet 422,” “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Sharone Meir – “Whiplash,” “Mean Creek”
Rachel Morrison – “Cake,” “Fruitvale Station”
Tristan Oliver – “ParaNorman,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
Hoyte Van Hoytema – “Interstellar,” “Her”
Roman Vasyanov – “Fury,” “End of Watch”
Łukasz Żal – “Ida,” “Joanna”
Costume Designers
Kasia Walicka Maimone – “Foxcatcher,” “Moonrise Kingdom”
Francesca Livia Sartori – “Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy,” “When the Night”
Jany Temime – “Gravity,” “Skyfall”
Designers
Ramsey Avery – “Tomorrowland,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”
Gae Buckley – “The Book of Eli,” “He’s Just Not That into You”
Keith Brian Burns – “The Best Man Holiday,” “2 Fast 2 Furious”
Lester W. Cohen – “Fading Gigolo,” “Cop Land”
Suzie Davies – “Mr. Turner,” “The Children”
John F. Fenner – “The Phantom of the Opera,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley”
Darren Gilford – “Oblivion,” “Tron: Legacy”
Derek R. Hill – “Southpaw,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”
Bryn Imagire – “Cars 2,” “Up”
Dina Lipton – “Baggage Claim,” “Love Hurts”
Tatiana Macdonald – “The Imitation Game,” “The Invisible Woman”
Dominic Masters – “Woman in Gold,” “Casino Royale”
Doug Meerdink – “Jurassic World,” “Ocean’s Thirteen”
Chris Spellman – “Paper Towns,” “This Is the End”
Patrick Tatopoulos – “300: Rise of an Empire,” “Total Recall”
Charlotte Watts – “Mr. Holmes,” “Mr. Turner”
Directors
Michael Binder – “Black or White,” “Reign over Me”
Bong Joon-ho – “Snowpiercer,” “Mother”
Niki Caro – “North Country,” “Whale Rider”
Damien Chazelle* – “Whiplash,” “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”
Simon Curtis – “Woman in Gold,” “My Week with Marilyn”
François Girard – “Silk,” “The Red Violin”
F. Gary Gray – “The Italian Job,” “Friday”
James Gunn – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Super”
Im Kwon-taek – “Chi-Hwa-Seon (Painted Fire),” “Chunhyang”
Stan Lathan – “Beat Street,” “Amazing Grace”
Malcolm D. Lee* – “The Best Man Holiday,” “The Best Man”
Justin Lin – “Fast & Furious 6,” “Better Luck Tomorrow”
François Ozon – “Young & Beautiful,” “Swimming Pool”
Paweł Pawlikowski* – “Ida,” “My Summer of Love”
Kelly Reichardt – “Meek’s Cutoff,” “Wendy and Lucy”
Ira Sachs – “Love Is Strange,” “Keep the Lights On”
Lynn Shelton – “Laggies,” “Your Sister’s Sister”
Abderrahmane Sissako* – “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
Damián Szifron* – “Wild Tales,” “On Probation”
Fernando Trueba – “Chico & Rita,” “Belle Epoque”
Morten Tyldum – “The Imitation Game,” “Headhunters”
Zaza Urushadze – “Tangerines,” “The Guardian”
Wayne Wang – “Anywhere but Here,” “The Joy Luck Club”
Edgar Wright – “The World’s End,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”
Joe Wright – “Anna Karenina,” “Atonement”
Andrey Zvyagintsev* – “Leviathan,” “Elena”
Documentary
Richard Berge – “The Island President,” “The Rape of Europa”
Mathilde Bonnefoy* – “CitizenFour,” “The Invisibles”
Emad Burnat – “5 Broken Cameras”
Guy Davidi – “5 Broken Cameras,” “Interrupted Streams”
Geralyn Dreyfous – “The Square,” “The Invisible War”
Lewis Erskine – “Free Angela: And All Political Prisoners,” “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple”
Shana Hagan – “Misconception,” “This Film Is Not Yet Rated”
Tony Hardmon – “Detropia,” “Semper Fi: Always Faithful”
Leonard Retel Helmrich – “Position among the Stars,” “Shape of the Moon”
Pirjo Honkasalo – “The 3 Rooms of Melancholia,” “Atman”
Judy Irving – “Pelican Dreams,” “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”
Robert Kenner – “Merchants of Doubt,” “Food, Inc.”
Marc Levin – “Mr. Untouchable,” “The Last Party”
Jesse Moss – “The Overnighters,” “Full Battle Rattle”
Pratibha Parmar – “Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth,” “A Place of Rage”
Paula DuPre’ Pesmen – “Keep On Keepin’ On,” “The Cove”
Gordon Quinn – “Life Itself,” “Hoop Dreams”
Kim Roberts – “Waiting for ‘Superman’,” “Lost Boys of Sudan”
Richard Rowley – “Dirty Wars,” “The Fourth World War”
João Moreira Salles – “Santiago,” “Entreatos (Intermissions)”
Ondi Timoner – “We Live in Public,” “Dig!”
Executives
Carolyn Blackwood
Robbie Brenner
Lia Buman
Steve Burke
David Fenkel
Mellody Hobson
Brian Keane
Steven Paul O’Dell
Jim Orr
Mark Rachesky
Ted Sarandos
Jeff Shell
Film Editors
Craig Alpert – “Pitch Perfect 2,” “Pineapple Express”
Mick Audsley – “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” “Dirty Pretty Things”
Pablo Barbieri – “Wild Tales,” “La Antena (The Aerial)”
Nadia Ben Rachid – “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
Kristina Boden – “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “Cake”
Mathilde Bonnefoy* – “CitizenFour,” “Run Lola Run”
Julian Clarke – “Chappie,” “District 9”
Douglas Crise – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Babel”
Tom Cross – “Whiplash,” “Any Day Now”
Jinx Godfrey – “The Theory of Everything,” “Man on Wire”
Robert Grahamjones – “Brave,” “Ratatouille”
Masahiro Hirakubo – “Virunga,” “The Duchess”
Jarosław Kamiński – “Ida,” “Aftermath (Pokłosie)”
William Kerr – “Bridesmaids,” “I Love You, Man”
Nico Leunen – “Lost River,” “The Broken Circle Breakdown”
Mike McCusker – “Get On Up,” “
3:10 to Yuma”
Tim Mertens – “Big Hero 6,” “Wreck-It Ralph”
Barney Pilling – “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “An Education”
David Rennie – “22 Jump Street,” “Office Space”
Gary D. Roach – “American Sniper,” “Prisoners”
Michael L. Sale – “We’re the Millers,” “Bridesmaids”
Stephen Schaffer – “Cars 2,” “WALL-E”
Job ter Burg – “Borgman,” “Winter in Wartime”
Peter Teschner – “St. Vincent,” “Horrible Bosses”
Tara Timpone – “Friends with Kids,” “Bad Teacher”
Makeup Artists and Hairstylists
Frida S. Aradottir – “August: Osage County,” “A Serious Man”
Victoria Down – “Big Eyes,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
Frances Hannon – “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The King’s Speech”
Todd Kleitsch – “Run All Night,” “Black Swan”
Dennis Liddiard – “Foxcatcher,” “Jobs”
Jerry Popolis – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Noah”
Janine Rath-Thompson – “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Bridesmaids”
Johnny Villanueva – “The Gambler,” “The Fighter”
David White – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “La Vie en Rose”
Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “An Education”
Members-at-Large
Andy Armstrong
Wayne Billheimer
Kevin Brownlow
Simon Crane
Debbie Denise
Jeff Habberstad
Andy Hendrickson
Elissa M. Rashkin Loparco
Guido Quaroni
Nicole Scalise
Steven J. Scott
Leon D. Silverman
Gregg Smrz
Lynda Ellenshaw Thompson
Steve Venezia
Music
Tyler Bates – “John Wick,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Alex Gibson – “Interstellar,” “The Dark Knight”
Jonny Greenwood – “Inherent Vice,” “The Master”
Dave Grusin – “Skating to New York,” “The Firm”
Alex Heffes – “Love and Honor,” “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
Lisa Jaime – “Annie,” “Rock of Ages”
Jóhann Jóhannsson – “The Theory of Everything,” “Prisoners”
Laura Karpman – “States of Grace,” “Black Nativity”
Christopher Lennertz – “The Wedding Ringer,” “Horrible Bosses”
Lonnie Lynn – “Selma,” “Freedom Writers”
Chris McGeary – “Jersey Boys,” “RoboCop”
Sergio Mendes – “Rio 2,” “Rio”
Daniel Pinder – “Big Hero 6,” “Captain Phillips”
Trent Reznor – “Gone Girl,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Atticus Ross – “Love & Mercy,” “The Social Network”
John Stephens – “Selma,” “Django Unchained”
Marc Streitenfeld – “Poltergeist,” “Prometheus”
Erica Weis – “Spy,” “The Heat”
Gary Yershon – “Mr. Turner,” “Another Year”
Producers
Caroline Baron – “Capote,” “Monsoon Wedding”
Effie T. Brown – “Dear White People,” “Real Women Have Curves”
Terence Chang – “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale,” “Face/Off”
Wyck Godfrey – “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Twilight”
Jeremy Kleiner – “Selma,” “12 Years a Slave”
Pamela Koffler – “Still Alice,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”
Gina Kwon – “Camp X-Ray,” “Me and You and Everyone We Know”
Dan Lin – “The Lego Movie,” “Sherlock Holmes”
Eric Newman – “RoboCop,” “Children of Men”
Bruna Papandrea – “Wild,” “All Good Things”
Lydia Dean Pilcher – “Cutie and the Boxer,” “The Darjeeling Limited”
Rebecca Yeldham – “On the Road,” “The Kite Runner”
Public Relations
Jennifer Allen
Asad Ayaz
Dawn Baillie
Andrew Bernstein
Liz Biber
Mara Buxbaum
Lee Ginsberg
R. Jeff Hill
Michelle Hooper
Chris Libby
Susan Norget
Lewis Oberlander
Gordon Paddison
Elias Plishner
David Pollick
Weiman Seid
LeeAnne Stables
Ryan Stankevich
Bonnie Voland
Short Films and Feature Animation
Alan Barillaro – “Brave,” “WALL-E”
Kristine Belson – “The Croods,” “How to Train Your Dragon”
Darlie Brewster – “Curious George,” “The Prince of Egypt”
Roy Conli – “Big Hero 6,” “Tangled”
Ronnie Del Carmen – “Up,” “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron”
Paul A. Felix – “Big Hero 6,” “Lilo & Stitch”
Michael Fukushima – “Me and My Moulton,” “Dimanche/
Sunday”
Don Hall – “Big Hero 6,” “Winnie the Pooh”
Talkhon Hamzavi – “Parvaneh,” “Taub”
Hu Wei – “Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak),” “Le Propriétaire”
Jin Kim – “Big Hero 6,” “Bolt”
Mat Kirkby – “The Phone Call,” “Hard to Swallow”
David Kneupper – “Alex and Sylvia,” “The Civil War in 4 Minutes”
Michael Lennox – “Boogaloo and Graham,” “The Back of Beyond”
Fabio Lignini – “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” “Puss in Boots”
James Lucas – “The Phone Call”
Patrick Osborne – “Feast,” “Paperman”
Jerome Ranft – “Toy Story 3,” “Ratatouille”
Jim Reardon – “Wreck-It Ralph,” “WALL-E”
Kristina Reed – “Feast,” “Paperman”
Jason Reisig – “Home,” “Shrek Forever After”
Nicolas Schmerkin – “Habana,” “Logorama”
Anthony Stacchi – “The Boxtrolls,” “Open Season”
Isao Takahata – “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya,” “Grave of the Fireflies”
Michael Thurmeier – “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” “No Time for Nuts”
Marlon West – “Frozen,” “The Princess and the Frog”
Sound
Ray Beckett – “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Hurt Locker”
Odin Benitez – “Frozen,” “Silver Linings Playbook”
Ron Bochar – “Mortdecai,” “Moneyball”
Jason Canovas – “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” “World War Z”
Thomas Curley – “Whiplash,” “The Spectacular Now”
Michael Dressel – “American Sniper,” “Interstellar”
Mary H. Ellis – “Vacation,” “Prisoners”
Stephanie Flack – “Jupiter Ascending,” “Ender’s Game”
Martín Hernández – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Dean Humphreys – “Taken 3,” “The Pianist”
William Johnston – Vice President of Engineering, Formosa Group
Shawn Jones – “Iron Man 3,” “Drive”
Daniel Laurie – “Inside Out,” “Big Hero 6”
David Lee – “Unbroken,” “The Matrix”
Craig Mann – “Dope,” “Whiplash”
Kyrsten Mate – “Tomorrowland,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Shannon J. Mills – “Inside Out,” “Big Hero 6”
Bryan K. Pennington – “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” “Promised Land”
Juan P. Peralta – “Tomorrowland,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
John Ross – “Danny Collins,” “American Hustle”
Peter Staubli – “San Andreas,” “Skyfall”
Mark Taylor – “Edge of Tomorrow,” “Captain Phillips”
Addison Teague – “Big Hero 6,” “The Amazing Spider-Man”
Jon Title – “San Andreas,” “The Divergent Series: Insurgent”
Thomas Varga – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “The Immigrant”
Ben Wilkins – “Whiplash,” “Star Trek”
Visual Effects
Nicolas Aithadi – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “X-Men: First Class”
Daniel Barrett – “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
Stephane Ceretti – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Cloud Atlas”
Paul Corbould – “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Tim Crosbie – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “The Wolverine”
Dan DeLeeuw – “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Iron Man 3”
Sean Faden – “Fast & Furious 6,” “Let Me In”
Joe Farrell – “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Hereafter”
Scott R. Fisher – “Interstellar,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Chris Harvey – “Chappie,” “Fast & Furious 6”
Alex Jaeger – “Tomorrowland,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”
Matt Kutcher – “Focus,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
Andrew Lockley – “Interstellar,” “Inception”
Gray Marshall – “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Carl Miller – “Jurassic World,” “Elysium”
David Nakabayashi – “Tomorrowland,” “Avatar”
Rocco Passionino – “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Spider-Man 2”
Lou Pecora – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
Cary Phillips – “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Ellen Poon – “Frozen,” “Inception”
Edwin Rivera – “22 Jump Street,” “Moneyball”
Cameron Waldbauer – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Elysium”
Erik Winquist – “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “Avatar”
Writers
Armando Bo – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Damien Chazelle* – “Whiplash,” “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”
Álex de la Iglesia – “El Crimen Perfecto,” “The Day of the Beast”
Rick Famuyiwa – “Dope,” “The Wood”
Maya Forbes – “Infinitely Polar Bear,” “Monsters vs Aliens”
E. Max Frye – “Foxcatcher,” “Something Wild”
Nicolás Giacobone – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Dan Gilroy – “Nightcrawler,” “The Bourne Legacy”
Jorge Guerricaechevarría – “Cell 211,” “The Day of the Beast”
Rita Hsiao – “Toy Story 2,” “Mulan”
Simon Kinberg – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Sherlock Holmes”
Malcolm D. Lee* – “The Best Man Holiday,” “The Best Man”
Christopher Markus – “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Stephen McFeely – “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Graham Moore – “The Imitation Game”
Paweł Pawlikowski* – “Ida,” “My Summer of Love”
Abderrahmane Sissako* – “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
Damián Szifron* – “Wild Tales,” “On Probation”
Kessen Tall – “Timbuktu”
Tyger Williams – “The Perfect Guy,” “Menace II Society”
Andrey Zvyagintsev* – “Leviathan,” “Elena”
Associates
Victoria Belfrage
Josh Braun
Wayne Fitterman
Sharon Jackson
Patricia Keighley
Cliff Roberts
Elyse Scherz
James Toth
Bart Walker
Seven individuals (noted above by an asterisk) have been invited to join the Academy by multiple branches. These individuals must select one branch upon accepting membership.
Each year, each Academy member may sponsor one candidate for membership within their branch. New member application reviews take place in the spring. Applications for the coming year must be received by
March 24, 2016.
New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception in September.
Read more
Joel Potrykus[/caption]
Whether his characters are doing stand-up comedy, eating spaghetti in fancy hotels, or devoting their lives to conjuring the Devil himself, Grand Rapids native and filmmaker Joel Potrykus has no trouble making sure it gets really, really weird. Through three features, including last year’s critically acclaimed Buzzard, Potrykus has given audiences a peek at a certain kind of American that is rarely encountered on the average day. Like one of Austin’s wanderers in Slacker who’s read one too many Bret Easton Ellis novel, Potrykus captures a certain shocking, toxic masculinity that’s as subversively hilarious as it is alarmingly relevant. I had a chance to talk to Joel about his latest film, The Alchemist Cookbook, about a forest-dweller named Sean who really wants to get possessed by Satan.
Josef: Your previous films, Buzzard and Ape, have flirted with elements of horror, but your most recent work, The Alchemist Cookbook, is the closest thing you’ve ever made to a genre film. At what point did you realize you were capable of tackling something that may have required a lot more precision in execution than some of your previous work? On the other hand, do you think your previous work has always had a pacing and tone that feels unrehearsed but is, in fact, extremely precise?
Joel: Buzzard was very precise. Every tiny exchange between characters and prop was thought over for months and months. Sometimes, the more you prep, the more it looks improvised. With Cookbook I certainly wasn’t setting out to make a horror movie. It was black magic and a demon, but I still would never call it horror. I’m just trying to make movies that I would want to see. I’d want to see Cookbook even if I hadn’t directed it.
I’m definitely not here to impose a political agenda on you or your films, but with more noticeable diversity campaigns online (#OscarsSoWhite for instance), did you make a conscious decision to cast people of color in the two lead roles, or was that something that came to you naturally during writing and pre-production?
It was a choice from the start. I didn’t want to get pegged as the guy making movies about angry white guys in the suburbs. So I intentionally brought this one out into the woods with black guys. There were so many great movies I loved growing up that focused on black characters and rarely did they get the chance to mess around with the Devil and chemistry, even. I never want to tell a story that is predictable or cliched in any way at all. Ty Hickson, who plays Sean, said he’s never been offered a role like this. He was just as excited as I was to shake things up.
Another really striking aspect of this film is its subtle comments on the nature of mental illness and how sometimes it can feel like you’re being possessed by some kind of invading force. The way it’s portrayed in the film seems like it came from a very personal place. Exploring mental illness through horror has surfaced to the mainstream in a big but ultimately disappointing way this year, with films like Lights Out seeming more exploitative than empathetic. How did you maintain that balance between entertainment, empathy, and realism in your portrayal of Sean’s mental state as it fluctuates throughout the film?
My goodness, was Lights Out a disappointment. Love the short, but it’s a simple concept stretched way too far. To be honest, the movie is about a mental illness that overcame my grandfather when I was a kid. That type of paranoia is a lot scarier to the person suffering than it is to us. Most people could never imagine the waking nightmare of schizophrenia. I’ll never make a film about just one thing, or a film that lives in one mood or tone. Our everyday lives are full of drama, humor, and even horror. This type of mental illness is a straight up horror most of the time. It was important to try to get inside Sean’s head. The camera never strays from his perspective for a reason. I want the audience to question everything.
[caption id="attachment_16518" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]
The Alchemist Cookbook[/caption]
Moving away from the thematics of the film and more into technical aspects, what was it like shooting on an Alexa? If I’m not mistaken Buzzard was shot on a Mark III so this is a huge step up in terms of the range of images you’re able to capture. I noticed a lot more night scenes in this film that were confidently lit using dim candles, campfires, and other sources of natural or visible lighting.
For the first week I hated the Alexa. It was heavy, bulky, and slowed my process down. But DP Adam J. Minnick is about the only guy I’d trust to see the scene the same as I do. So I was totally confident. The only artificial light used were blasting into the trailer in order to maintain consistent daylight effect throughout the long shooting day. Otherwise, all exteriors are natural light, which is important to Adam and me. I never want my movies to look like a movie. At night, in the woods, it’s dark. Really dark. I wanted no fake blasting full moon. I wanted the audience to strain to see things. We actually darkened night scenes to make them even blacker.
I can imagine that you and the actor who played Sean, Ty Hickman, got very close over the course of this production. Tell me a bit about the casting process, and what it was like to spend all that time focusing mostly on one actor. Specifically, did it ever cross your mind to cast someone who was right for the role as well as being someone you wouldn’t mind spending a month alone in the woods with?
Personality is important to me. Ty first got my attention after a scene in Gimme the Loot when he leaves a basement and hits a punching bag on the way out. One of the first things I asked him about is whether or not that was scripted. It wasn’t. He said, “who wouldn’t punch that?” Exactly. That’s the kind of actor I want to work with. Someone with instincts. On Cookbook I’d let the scene play out as scripted, then just let the camera linger and see what Ty would do. It threw him off for the first day or two, but once he understood that I was messing with him a little, he got into it. Those are my favorite moments – the unscripted ones, where I’m surprised. Even better if the actor can surprise himself. I hate sticking to the page and feeling like it’s a construction site. I want mistakes and surprises.
Touching again on the intimacy of it all, how big was your crew on a day-to-day basis, and what was the lodging situation like while on-set? I remember you going dark on Facebook pretty much the entire time you were shooting, and I was scared you guys had run into a Blair Witch Project scenario.
I wish we’d run into a real life witch or demon. Total bummer that those woods weren’t actually haunted. This was our biggest crew – around 20, I’d say. Not my usual style. Most of us crashed in a huge 10 room house that acted as our production headquarters, and a few stayed with friendly residents in Allegan, Michigan, where we filmed. I’m stoked to someday go back to the old set and look for the “pay up” tree and some props we hid around the woods.
What was your relationship like with horror films growing up and into your adulthood? One of my favorite things about Sean is that he so desperately wants to be possessed by the Devil, while most characters in scary movies do everything they can to avoid such a fate. Was there any part of you that wrote that character with the meta elements in mind?
Yeah, it’s rare to see a character actively pursuing evil. The original Evil Dead inspired me to make films at an early age. I’ve always been obsessed with horror and it’ll always be present in my work one way or another. An American Werewolf in London may be my favorite movie ever. Its tonal shifts are perfect. Just last night I watched Halloween III and the shitty new Ouija movie.
[caption id="attachment_18176" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]
The Alchemist Cookbook[/caption]
During our last interview I remember you talking briefly about the spaghetti scene in Buzzard, which has since become something of a legend amongst indie film buffs. But it seems like you just love to film people eating. Is there something that you feel is captured when the audience watches a character eat that can’t be conveyed any other way, or am I reading far too much into what’s ultimately just a nifty coincidence?
Eating is one of the most private things we do. It’s something we need to do and something we love to do. I’m fascinated by watching people eating when they think no one is watching. I’m a sloppy eater, with no manners. I never really consciously thought that I need an eating scene in my movies, they just appear on the page. But some of my favorite scenes are when a character eats – I want to join Zack and Jack at the table during that Italian feast in Down by Law.
I read somewhere that you’re currently not going to divulge whether or not the possum in the film is real. That’s fine! My only question is, whether or not it was real, that scene could not have been easy to shoot. Was it a scene that you had already planned out in your head or was it something you knew you’d have to figure out down the line?
Well, magic happened and we got the shot in the first take. The evil spirits of cinema were on my side that night. I watched in fascination as the camera rolled.
I’d like to know a little bit about your life as a teacher, and how your own experiences inform your lessons, or if any students have come to you as fans of your work and if that can actually help establish a connection with them without necessarily having to “prove yourself.”
I try not to talk about myself or own work much, but generally students know who I am and sometimes ask direct questions about my movies. I think it lends some credibility to watch me talk about it in class. I like to cut through the textbooks and get to the reality of the industry, especially the indie world which is in constant motion. It’s great to expose film students to work that I consider important, like Aguirre, 8 1/2, Gummo, or even Wendy and Lucy. I also think it’s just as important to learn from others’ mistakes, so occasionally we dive into Birdemic or bad commercials.
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The Alchemist Cookbook[/caption]
You’re obviously responsible for launching Joshua Burge’s career, and he went from Buzzard to The Revenant in just a year’s time. Have you guys stayed in regular contact since making the film? I know if there’s anyone who’s going to keep his head from getting too big it’s going to be you.
Well, I wouldn’t say I’m responsible for launching his career. And if I am, then he’s responsible for launching my career. It’s a total blast to see him get the recognition he deserves. The dude’s just got it. Hoping we work together on the next one. He still lives only a few minutes away from me, so I see him whenever he’s not in a far off land acting with the big shots. He’s still just Josh to me.
Lastly, I feel almost obligated to ask what you’re working on next since that’s the question that ends most interviews, but I’d really like to know what your day-to-day is like when you aren’t actively working on a movie. A lot of aspiring directors forget to account for the downtime in between projects, and I’m curious how you keep your mind active when you aren’t talking to producers or actors or reading over budgets and rewriting drafts.
I’m always working on at least one feature script. I’ve got three finished right now, but focusing on one to shoot next summer. Just looking for the money, as usual. Normally, I start my day looking at emails and Facebook in bed, oatmeal breakfast, then get to writing for a few hours, lunch, grade papers, read a chapter or two from whatever stuffy film theory book I’m into at the moment on my bus ride to the university, teach for a couple hours, watch some Howard Stern clips on YouTube, write for a little longer, dinner, watch an episode of Shark Tank, write, end the night with a movie in my office. I get set in my routines.
**The Alchemist Cookbook is available for purchase on any website where movies are sold, including a pay-what-you-want option on BitTorrent**
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IFqOBquZjU
Ten narratives have been selected for the 2016 IFP Filmmaker Labs, 
BEST IN SHOW[/caption]
With its Downtown Brooklyn theater set to open later this summer, the 
Fran Burst, Mikki Taylor, Naturi Naughton, Sheryl Gripper, Tisha Campbell-Martin at The Black Women Film Network[/caption]
Last week, the Black Women Film Network (
The 
Vergara was honored to accept the award, saying, “[It’s] so lovely to be part of an organization that gives back as much as the SAG Foundation does. Currently, 80% of children in the United States that attend at-risk schools read below grade level. Many of these children are bilingual, but it’s not [just] important to be able to speak the two languages, it’s also important to be able to read and write in them.”
