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Your new movie Funeral
Day - in a few words, what is it about?
Funeral
Day
is about feeling stuck and trying to get unstuck. It’s about dealing
with one’s
mortality
and the mortality of those you love. It’s also about checking your balls
(or the balls of a loved
one)
if you feel a lump. Funeral
Day
is
about a guy, Scott, who gets himself into some ridiculous
situations
while trying to live his life to the fullest.
How did
the project fall together in the first place? And were you supposed to
both direct and play the lead from the get-go?
Kris
Elgstrand had written the script for himself to potentially make several
years prior to me
directing
it, but he had put the project on hold while he set out to work on another
film. I had
read
it back then and liked it, so when I was looking for a script to produce I
asked if I could read
it
again. We talked about me making the film, I optioned the script from
Kris, he did some
rewrites
and that was that. Not quite as simple as that, but not too far off.
While
the thought of me directing came up early on, my initial intention was
just to produce and
play
the lead. Eventually there was talk of co-directing and then as we moved
forward it made more
and more sense for me to direct. I had done some directing before, but
this was my first feature.
I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting myself into, but once the
decision was made
there
was no turning back. I’m very glad about that decision.
What can
you tell us about Funeral
Day's writer Kris Elgstrand, and what was your collaboration like?
I’ve
known Kris for quite some time now. Kris has a wonderful sense of humor, a
twisted one,
that
can be both riciulous and thoughtful, in your face and dry, all at the
same time - and I love
that.
While his writing and comedy can seem heightened at times it is very much
based in reality
and
often stems from real life situations he has either experienced or heard
about first hand.
I’ve
worked with him in various capacities over the years - actor, director,
producer, I even
produced
an album of his - so I feel very comfortable working with him. And yeah,
since I
brought
it up, you should check the album out - Songs of the Sad Sack,
Volume 1: I'm so
Disappointed
Do
talk about Funeral Day's
brand of comedy for a bit, and to what extent does it align with your own
sense of humour?
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As I
mentioned, Kris’s comedy can be quite twisted and while at times the
humor in Funeral
Day
may
seem “out there,” I feel it is very much grounded. Just because
(spoiler alert) a prostate
milking
may seem ridiculous to you, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening in
your neighbor’s
house
right now. You might want to call them before you pop over next time.
I
love both highbrow and lowbrow comedy. I love a good fart joke and I love
humor that may
require
a bit more sophistication to get or a couple of viewings to even notice
that it was a joke
in
the first place. I really appreciate when you get both in the same film or
show. I think the
British
version of The Office does that wonderfully as do many of the Coen
Brothers’ films. I’d
like
to think that we achieved that in Funeral
Day.
I
love dark comedies and I appreciate comedy that is played as real as
possible. I don’t know that
I
love the Ben Stiller movie, Along Came Polly, but I love Phillip Seymour
Hoffman’s performance
in
that. He plays it so real and he is by far the funniest guy in that film.
PT Anderson’s Punch
Drunk
Love is another great example of a film that I find darkly funny, Strange
and funny in
moments
but also beautiful and emotional - heightened while at the same time
grounded. But
again,
bring on the fart jokes.
As
mentioned, you also play the lead in Funeral
Day - so what did you draw upon to bring him to life, and how much
Jon Weinberg can we find in Scott?
I can
certainly be neurotic, but I’d like to think that I’m not quite as
neurotic as Scott is (those
that
know me may tell you otherwise). I’d also like to think that I would
deal with some of the
situations
Scott finds himself in quite differently. That being said, I very much
understand Scott’s
behavior
and understand his fear of death and losing those close to him. My own
neuroces and
fears
certainly helped me understand why he does what he does. I think that was
a key part to
bringing
Scott to life - trying to understand him as opposed to simply judging him.
What can you tell us
about the rest of your cast, and why exactly these people?
I
feel so damn fortunate that we got the actors we did. It really was so
great to have worked
with
all of them - both as an actor and as a director. The really simple answer
to “why those
people,”
is that they were so right for their parts.
Everyone
brought so many wonderful and specific things to their characters. I could
easily gush
about
about each actor for quite some time.
The
very least I should do is mention the main cast. Tygh Runyan, Rahnuma
Panthaky, Dominic
Rains,
Suzy Nakamura, Tyler Labine, Sarah Adina, Kristin Carey & Jed Rees. My
advice is to look
them
up and see what they are up to and watch their stuff.
Do
talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
We
had a really great team - both behind and in front of the camera. It was
really great working
with cinematographer Jeffrey Cunningham. He’s very poised on set and quick
on his feet. That
certainly
helped keep me somewhat calm. Somewhat. And as I mentioned before, the
actors
were
all so great and they were game to get a lot done in a short amount of
time. It certainly
wasn’t
smooth sailing, though. It was a fairly difficult shoot. We had pretty
good size crew that
worked
really hard to make sure we got what we needed, but even so we had some
very long
days
and we were chasing the light on most days. While it was mostly a pretty
comfortable set,
it
did get tense at times. We had various issues come up, like losing a
location mid way through
the
shoot, finding out that we couldn’t be in part of another location that
we had paid for and
gotten
a permit for, and we had a couple of crew members that didn’t see eye to
eye. Of course
those
types of issues aren’t unique to Funeral
Day, but
it was still certainly a challenge at times.
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The
$64-question of course, where can your movie be seen?
Let’s
call it the $3-10 question because Funeral
Day can
be yours to own or rent at this low low
price.
But you must act now!!! Funeral
Day
had a theatrical release in LA earlier this month.
I’m a fan of seeing films in the
theatre
so I was very happy about that. Funeral
Day
is
now available on VOD/Digital and yes,
even
DVD, at all the usual places like iTunes, Amazon, VUDU, YouTube, Shaw (if
you’re in Canada) and more. And I’m told it’s now available
in quite a few markets around the world.
Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Funeral
Day yet?
I was
quite pleased with the film’s festival run and the response it got. Funeral
Day
played
some really
great fests, including the Twin Cities Film Fest, Key West Film Festival,
Twister Alley Film
Festival,
Gig Harbor Film Festival, Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival, Vienna
Independent
Film
Festival and more. The film was nominated for quite a few awards and took
home a
number
of them including a few for Best Comedy and some for Best
Director.
Towards
the end of post production the film also got the attention of Mike
Craycraft, the
founder
of the Testicular Cancer Society, and we ended up partnering with the
organization to
help
educate and get the word out about men checking themselves more frequently
for
testicular
cancer. During the recent LA run of the film a number of survivors came
out to see the
film.
They came up to me after and told me how much they enjoyed it and laughed and
all that
good
stuff. That was really awesome to hear.
Any future projects you'd like to
share?
I
recently put together a few testicular cancer PSAs that I’m quite proud
of. They came about as
a
result of my relationship with the Testicular Cancer Society. They will be
released in the
coming
weeks. I got to work with a lot of great people on them and I’m excited
for people to see
them.
I’m
also working on a series with Ethan and Dominic Rains (Dom plays TJ in Funeral
Day). We are
still
in the early stages, but hopefully we’ll be able to share more soon.
What got you into acting to begin with, and did
you receive any formal training on the subject?
I
didn’t act at all prior to university, but I appreciated theatre and I
loved going to the movies
when
I was younger. My parents exposed my sister and I to the theatre and to
films from a
pretty
early age. I’m very fortunate for that. When I went to university
(University of British
Columbia)
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to focus on. I had wanted to take an acting
class for some
time
so decided to try my hand at it. I auditioned and didn’t get in at
first. I tried again, got in
and
loved it. I ended up getting a degree in theatre and continued my training
at the Atlantic
Theatre
Company in NY for a bit and then got my post grad from the London Academy
of Music
and
Dramatic Art in London. You probably got that from the name.
What got you into
directing eventually?
When
I was at university I took a theatre directing class and really enjoyed
it. It was a lot of work
but
it was really fascinating having to look at the whole picture in both a
broad sense and also in
an
extremely detailed way. Certainly different than as an actor when mostly
looking at a script
through
your character. I also appreciated collaborating with the writer and
actors in a way that
was
different than what I had experienced as an actor.
After
that experience I directed a couple of one acts that Kris (writer of Funeral
Day) wrote and
we
took the show on tour. I directed a few more smaller theatre things, but
then didn’t direct
anything
for a number of years. I then decided to produce and direct a short film
that I acted in
as
well. I wasn’t really convinced that I should be acting and directing at
the same time, but I had
a
really great crew and felt comfortable taking on both roles because I knew
I had good people
around
to help guide me when needed. That’s the longer answer.
The
short answer is that I got into directing so I could have more control. Actors, filmmakers, whoever else who
inspire you?
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There
are a lot of people - actors, filmmakers, artists, musicians - who inspire
me so I’ll just list a
bunch
and be upset with myself later for leaving out so many.
Philip
Seymour Hoffman, Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Woody Harrelson,
Carey
Mulligan,
Michelle Williams, Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Shannon, Chiwetel Ejiofor,
Sam
Rockwell,
Adrian Lester, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Naomie Harris,
Zach Galifianakis,
Matthias
Schoenaerts, Michel Gondry,
Barry Jenkins, Paul Thomas Anderson, Julie Taymor, Dee
Rees,
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Derek Cianfrance, Rachel Morrison,
Emmanuel Lubezki, Basquiat,
Brendan
Monroe, Sigur Ros, Shara Nova (My Brightest Diamond), Sufjan Stevens,
Radiohead,
Enigk, Prince, Jonathan Safran Foer. I’m also inspired by the actors in Funeral
Day and
I’m
not just saying that. Getting to work with such talented people kept me on
my toes. I had to
keep
up. And that goes for people on the other side of the camera as well.
Your favourite movies?
Festen (The Celebration), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,
Moonlight, Fargo, Punch Drunk Love
and many of PT Anderson’s films - to name but a few.
Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
FuneralDayMovie.com,
Facebook.com/FuneralDayMovie,
Twitter.com/FuneralDayMovie,
Twitter.com/weinbergjon,
Instagram = @FuneralDayMovie & @TheJonWeinberg
Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I’ve
probably
already said too much. Thanks so much for having me do this! Thanks
for the interview!
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