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Your new movie Alien
Guy Tim - in a few words, what is it about?
Alien
Guy Tim is a
comedy/sci-fi mockumentary revolving
around an outcast, named Tim, who wants to prove that he has been abducted
by aliens, but encounters many obstacles along the way. As the camera crew
follows Alien Guy Tim around, we can’t help but wonder “are we
alone?”
How
did the project fall together in the first place? Scott:
We had been looking for a new project to work on that might require a
budget and full-on crew. Pat had already created the Alien Guy Tim
character on Instagram and people were reaching out to him asking if he
was real. One day, when Pat and I met for coffee I brought up "What
about this Alien Guy Tim character?" Within that same meeting we had
developed an outline that was the foundation for our film's story. We then
were fortunate enough to reach our goal through crowdfunding and shot
within about 6 months of originally coming up with the idea. Patrick,
what were your sources of inspiration when writing Alien
Guy Tim? Patrick:
The movie Brigsby Bear with Kyle Mooney was probably the biggest
inspiration for the humor and mood of Alien
Guy Tim. We both really
connected with Brigsby Bear and knew that was the type of movie we
wanted to make. A comedy with some darkness behind it suited us well. We
wanted our film to be in a similar vein. Mockumentaries like This is
Spinal Tap and Best in Show served as inspiration while writing the
script too. I love those films and kept them in mind when trying to
capture the style of Alien
Guy Tim. A mockumentary is a unique style of
filmmaking so I definitely rewatched those films while writing the script. What are your personal thoughts on
UFO-logy, alien abductions and the like - and based also on that, to what
extent could you actually identify with Tim and the choices he has made?
Patrick:
I certainly believe that aliens exist, and there must be intelligent life
elsewhere in the galaxy or other galaxies. The US Navy recently confirmed
that the video evidence they have is of actual UFOs is compelling and
leads me to believe UFOs have been spotted on Earth. They don't go as far
as saying they are alien spacecraft but I believe they probably are. I'm
not sure about alien abductions. There are ways to explain it away, but
also having watched a lot of X-Files I don't know why Mulder and Scully
would lead me astray.
I
do identify with Tim quite a bit. I'm an empathetic person and getting
into the mindset of the character drove all the choices he made. Tim has
a small group of friends, who he trusts and understand him, but when his
closest friends, his brother and sister, don't believe him it's crushing
for Tim. I think we've all felt that in one way or another and can
relate.
What made
you choose the mockumentary approach for Alien
Guy Tim, and what are the main challenges and maybe also
advantages shooting that way? Scott: Being big fans of
the genre, whether that be through This Is Spinal Tap, Best In
Show, The Office or What We Do In The
Shadows, we were interested in trying
out that approach. On Instagram, the character Alien
Guy Tim was already
looking directly at his followers telling them about aliens and his alien
girlfriend Sindervus 9, so we thought why not have Tim tell his own
story in a longer form? I think people tend to sympathize more with Tim by
having him front and center explaining his life and his struggles to you. There's something powerful about having your main character staring
straight at the viewer from the very opening frame of the film. Scott, what can you tell
us about your directorial approach to your story at hand? Scott:
I really like to fully immerse myself in a project. As an editor I'll
watch a lot of films in the vein of the piece I'm cutting so I try to
carry that over in to my directing. While I have directed Pat many times
in the past this was my first time on a set with a budget and with other
cast/crew. I'm a big believer in over-preparing and getting in the right
mindset so I made sure I was ready for the big day by storyboarding and
creating visual ideas for our DP. I also thoroughly enjoy gaining
inspiration from other films. Pat mentioned the film Brigsby Bear. I
rewatched that close to 10 times along with Her, Swiss Army Man,
Moonlight, Little Miss Sunshine, and some others, as well as
interviews with those directors. I wanted to try to fully understand how
these directors created the tones that they so successfully pulled off. We
have been told by others how much they enjoy our subtle, melancholic tone
of the film so I'm happy to hear the preparation paid off.
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What
was the collaboration between the two of you like during all stages of
making Alien Guy Tim?
And how did you two first meet even? Patrick:
We are very close friends in real life and we collaborated throughout the
whole process. We came up with the concept together and worked through it
during the entire process. From conception of the idea until the final
edit of the film, we were constantly meeting and discussing every move we
made. We are lucky to have a great working relationship too, and nothing
went ahead without approval from both of us. We first met freshman year of
college at North Carolina State University. Scottie was the guy with the
camera who liked to shoot and edit, and Patrick was the one who liked to
write and act. We were a natural pair and had a similar sense of humor and
the same passion for NC State Wolfpack sports. Patrick,
you also play the lead in Alien
Guy Tim - so what did you draw upon to bring him to life, and did
you write Tim with yourself in mind from the get-go? Patrick:
My biggest inspiration for the character was watching Ancient Aliens. I
found the people on the show to be fascinating, specifically David
Childress. He had a unique way of speaking, which I started to imitate.
That then grew into a character I developed with my brother named Tim,
who was this quirky outcast with an alien significant other called
Sindervus 9. I started doing the character on Instagram with short videos
of Tim for about 6 months. I had a handful of people ask me if this
character was for real, or if it was a joke. That helped inspire Scottie
and myself to do this short film and really explore this concept further.
And because I had done the character for months at this point I did write
Tim knowing that I would be playing the part too.
What
can you tell us about the rest of Alien
Guy Tim's cast, and why exactly these people?
Patrick:
They are actually all friends of ours, and were our first choices to play
the characters. Huntington Daly, who plays Tim's brother, Steve, is a good
friend and talented actor who agreed right away to do the part. We wrote
the part for him. Huntington actually recommended Lauren Bair to play his
sister as well. We had met her a handful of times before and in a funny
coincidence saw her at the same coffee shop myself and Scottie met at to
discuss Alien
Guy Tim. We hadn't asked her to be in the film before this
but had privately decided we would ask her in the coming week. When we saw
Lauren there we knew it was meant to be. She has an impressive acting reel
and we knew she could bring life to the role of Caroline. Jesse Kruger who
plays Matthew is a friend who I worked with on film sets. He's a very
funny improviser and actor. I sent his acting reel to Scottie and he
immediately agreed we should go after him to play this role. His
scene makes me laugh every time. We were lucky to get our top choices, and
being good friends too they all went above and beyond in their roles.
A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? Scottie:
We shot Alien
Guy Tim in three long days over a weekend. Besides our sound
mixer getting his car stuck in the sand during our desert scene,
everything else was relatively smooth. The atmosphere on set was amazing.
Little moments where our sound mixer would suggest keeping the boom in
frame or our camera operator suggesting to show the opening slate in one
of the scenes made me so excited to realize our crew really wanted to make
this film special.
The
$64-question of course, where can Alien
Guy Tim be seen? You can watch Alien
Guy Tim for free on Vimeo: vimeo.com/332719465 Anything you can tell us about
audience and critical reception of Alien
Guy Tim?
Scottie: We have been very
fortunate in our festival run this past year. Alien
Guy Tim has won
awards such as Best Comedy, Audience Choice, Best Mockumentary, Best
Screenplay, and more. You can view all of our awards here:
https://alienguytim.com/awards-2/
Having
other filmmakers we've never met before walk up to us at festivals and
tell us how much they genuinely enjoyed Alien
Guy Tim has been so
rewarding. Our critical reception has been very positive as well. You can
view our reviews here:
https://alienguytim.com/press/
Any future projects you'd like to
share? We
are hoping to one day shoot a feature version of Alien
Guy Tim. Patrick
has written a solid script that we're excited about so hopefully with the
proper funding and plan we can shoot that in the near future. Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever
else?
Follow
us on Instagram:
@alienguytim
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And
learn more about our film at our website:
https://alienguytim.com/
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? We
had an absolutely amazing cast and crew on this project. Everyone was
either a good friend or came recommended highly by a friend. We are so
lucky to have a bunch of incredibly talented people in our lives who went
above and beyond to make Alien
Guy Tim the film that it is. It wouldn't
have been nearly as rewarding without all of them. So a special
thanks to everyone on the cast and crew of Alien
Guy Tim! Thanks for the interview!
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