Your new movie Beguiled
Company - in a few words, what is it about?
It’s
about a group of young friends who come together and embrace chaos by
going on a downward spiral of anarchic mayhem. A logline for the movie
goes “do drugs. do crime. repeat.”
A Clockwork Orange is referenced time and again in Beguiled
Company - so what do both book and film mean to you, both
personally and also in relation to your movie?
I
remember the first time I saw A
Clockwork Orange.
My prior experiences of the movie were as a teenager with a slow motion
scene from a South Park Coon & Friends episode where Cartman beats the
shit out of his “friend”, and the anniversary edition trailer that I
remember seeing on my Sucker
Punch Extended Cut Blu-ray; you know, the ALMOST complete masterpiece by Zack Snyder that
still needs his Director’s Cut treatment. It was pretty funny watching A
Clockwork Orange and realizing I had seen references to its scenes a bunch of times.
I was pretty high while watching with my buddy, and the movie got me in a
sort of psychosis trance where I felt like the movie has something to do
with… me. I got into lots of trouble as a kid and it was as if the movie
had some sort of spell about it that connected to me. I think it’s a
great film but it’s not one of my top favorites. Kubrick films are among
the best but they aren’t ones I rewatch as frequently.
People
are influenced by culture and art. Often when people see things they like
very much, it attaches to them personally. Early on in Beguiled
Company, Brenden claims
to have seen the film adaptation and is presented with the book by someone
he looks up to. A
Clockwork Orange
is moreso an inspiration for him within the context of the story than it
is for me outside of the story. Brenden is shown throughout the movie to
still be reading, keeping the book around, and you can see how he
incorporates it into his darker persona. His choice of costume/weapons and
repeating lines and phrases from A
Clockwork Orange reflects his appreciation and fascination with it.
During
a sequence where he trips on acid he finds the last chapter and rips it
out. The last chapter was not included in the first releases of the book
in the United States nor were its scenes included in the film. The
reasoning was that it seemed to flip things and contradicted the rest of
the story. Brenden sort of idolizes the main character Alex and is
disappointed that the chapter shows he loses his appetite for immoral
activities and decides to live as a law abiding citizen. Naturally Brenden
lights the pages on fire. When we filmed it Chance was supposed to rip out
just the pages and not the backing but there was a miscommunication. So we
had to get clever about not showing the back in the two scenes needing the
book that hadn’t been shot yet.
(Other)
sources of inspiration when writing Beguiled
Company, and is any of the movie based on personal experience? It’s
difficult to identify inspiration for my movies. I see things in movies
that I like or don’t like, things that I would do differently or even
techniques I would like to use. I watch/interact with a lot of people both
closely and in passing and I often see behavior that interests me. There
are some of my personal experiences of life in the story mostly with a
spin, switch-ups, or additions. One thing that was copied word-for-word is
a conversation between the manager at Perkins named Sarah and Brenden, when
she is angry at him for still being at work. After a manager at a
restaurant I worked at did the same thing to me I wrote down our brief
conversation. It worked really well for the movie to be unfair and put
Brenden down a bit. To
what extent can you actually identify with Brenden - and/or any of the
other lead characters for that matter? Me?
Well I’m in the same generation/age group as the lead characters. I
also work in the service industry and I do feel like there’s many
problems in the world that aren’t handled correctly. I think there’s
so many people out there that will identify with the various characters.
It goes to show that even people who are not so bad can end up doing
terrible things. I think the movie isn’t some kind of social essay but
it shows how a loose ideology and misdirected anger can quickly get out of
hand, among other things. I don’t try to write my movies with some kind
of Roland Emerich message at the end. This being said, when I watch Roland Emerich movies they do hit me pretty well. Reality is complicated
and fully understanding it is an insurmountable task. It’s important to
try and do as little bad as possible because actions can have dire
consequences. A few words about
your directorial approach to your story at hand?
I’m
not just approaching it as a director but also as a writer, producer,
cinematographer, editor, and more. I’m a full package filmmaking force!
The little money I had for the production was what I had saved from
working in a restaurant and as a swim teacher. I don’t think describing
how I do a movie can be done in a few words. I’m not sure how exactly to
put it in many words either.
Do talk
about Beguiled Company's
key cast, and why exactly these people?
I
sent out casting calls on social media for the central character which was
then retransmitted by others. I briefly described the six main characters
and asked for video auditions. I think there were somewhere over a hundred
videos sent to me. I narrowed down the options and sometimes gave
direction for another video audition.
The
actors in the movie are very good and really nail the characters - I went
with choices that would have slipped through the cracks of other
productions. For example Chance Gilliam and Jess Tomasko's auditions
weren't considered "good" by other people involved in the
casting process. In the audition they didn’t deliver the scenes very
well but I could see past the way the acting was being presented and knew
that they had the characters I was looking for inside of them. Megan
Thompson was going for Ilisha because her script example seemed more
badass - which assured me that she was great for Sydney who is going for
the badass vibe. Devyn Williams' auditions gave off a more cool vibe but I knew on
the other end of that he could bring out a more quiet character who has
confidence to build over the story. Sometimes there were significant
connections between the characters and the actors.
You
can see in the film they do an incredible job and are capable of even more
than the project gave them. The main cast was given a low amount of money,
and yet turned in fantastic performances. Most of the people involved in
the movie donated their time to the production and I couldn’t have made
it without this help.
What can you
tell us about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
Most
of the first act takes place in Minneapolis and we filmed at my buddy's
apartment, Perkins, and Swede Hollow Park in July 2017. There was a hiatus
as I desperately looked for the right locations and suffered from a deep
depression due mostly to a hard breakup. It seemed like the movie wouldn't
be finished. Eventually the movie was saved by Majestic Oaks Golf Club
allowing us to shoot there for a se piece in the third act. Soon after a
friend who plays a character in my stories, Joe Pasutti, offered us his
Cottage Grove home for the majority of the second span of filming. We
tested special effects for a battle and got approval to use them but while
filming it turns out they caused damage to the kitchen floor and stained
areas red. That house was essential to the second half and the movie
couldn’t have happened if they didn’t let us film there. I
don’t know how I would have lived without the movie to complete.
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Shooting
was chaotic. When I started filming the script was only written to about
the hour and fifteen mark in the finished movie. About half of the final
scenes were in the last script drafts. I was lucky to get a lot of help
from some people who joined the crew, a huge shout out to Eliza Mc-Gowen
Stinski, Robbie Burant, Nick Crossman, and Jourdan Kile for being there
the most.
Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Beguiled
Company?
You
and Eddie Pasa of DC Filmdom are most of my critical responses so far, and
both of you responded positively to the movie. In Eddie’s he details
many elements and I agree with much of his understanding of the film.
Since the time I started writing this the trailer has come out and is damn
good. It took me a long time to know what to do and get myself locked in
making it and I’m satisfied with the result. I want to do a short,
comedic, and really flashy trailer later for social media and ads. There
is a large audience out there that is looking for a movie like this and it
is difficult to connect with them. I think of places I might find some of
them - a psychedelic rock concert, Taco Bell at midnight, raves, protest
events…
The audience reception has been overwhelmingly positive. It premiered at
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Woodbury, Minnesota on one of the few "The
Big Show" theaters in the entire nation. Alamo
is the best damn cinema that is or ever will be
so it was an honor to show my movie there. I want to show my next films in
the same place and I aspire to one day make a theatrical screening deal
with them. Whilst writing this I actually took a break to contact
Drafthouse Films and ask if they would release my film on Blu-ray. Anyways
back to the screening, it was on November 3rd aka Godzilla day, and the
remaster of that classic was in a smaller theater - Beguiled
Company ended
up having it beat in attendance and in sales of delicious
food/drinks/beer. I am proud that my small movie managed to outperform it
in a one-night showdown.
One of the big praises Beguiled
Company gets is the trip sequence for its realism to
actual psychedelic experiences paired with the amazing Horology
trilogy music
by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. It is a bit “long”, but that's
what a crazy acid trip is often like, I was worried it would be boring for
too many but my concerns evaporated after hearing the feedback. The acid
sequence is the one that gets the most praise and I think it’s well
deserved. All in all it delivers a realistic, powerful, and entertaining
trip. I shot it with certain conditions and techniques to ground it
but also have the movie presentation sort of break apart at the seams. The
visuals were generated with Google’s Deep Dream AI and python coding
that I set up even though I didn’t understand it very well. Big thanks
to Jonas Massa for providing his work on GitHub, I was lost until I found
his article.
Any future projects you'd like to
share? Floating
around in my head are MANY different movie ideas. I’ve always wanted to
tell a large interconnected story between different films since I was a
little kid, so I'm often considering where characters are headed and what
different situations they might find themselves in. Who will they meet and
what will the consequences of their actions lead to? My top movie ideas
right now are another action anarchy one with new people, a direct sequel
following a lead character's rise to power called Beguiled
Company, a
totally unrelated dramedy story staring someone who was in a few scenes of
Beguiled
Company, a sequel about a main character from Beguiled
Company who has an epic and terrifying
underground adventure to go on, an action-horror movie about an
Isreali-American team up of people fighting theological horror, and more. Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever
else? I
don’t really have a website! My Instagram is @TristanYoshi and one could
follow the Beguiled Company page at facebook.com/BeguiledCompany Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask?
I
mentioned Zack Snyder earlier - his movies have some of the best
soundtracks. Music is one of the areas of film I consider the most. I’d
love a chance to talk more about the music in Beguiled
Company as the
soundtrack is filled with incredible artists that helped me by providing
their excellent work.
There’s
a great score by Joe Voth that I am happy to have tie the movie together.
I was very adamant about themes and theme placement, obsessively and
meticulously organizing details and connections in the story. It was very
hard work finishing the score and I’m satisfied with his impressive
results. I hope for him to quickly get more scoring gigs that he finds are
both valuable and enjoyable.
Bass
artist Levitation Jones provided two soundtrack songs and custom score
pieces. I met him while shooting a robbery at a Shell gas station in
Wyoming Minnesota, he took one look at the ketamine shot in a teaser I
showed him and we knew right there it was happening. He’s a really cool
guy and we’ve become trusted friends over the years.
My
composing duo is Tomandandy, and I have been a fan since I was a tween due
to my obsession with Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich’s Resident
Evil
series. Before I even knew who they were, there were things in the music
standing out to me in The
Hills Have Eyes
remake that influenced early thoughts about music in movies. Thinking
about implementing music came to be one of my greatest inspirations when
coming up with ideas. Fast forward several years later: one night I was
going hard while editing Beguiled
Company and just sent them an email. They ended up
donating unreleased tracks to the production!
Lucid
Planet is an incredible psychedelic metal band from Australia, and their
new album is a tour de force. Forever I was having major issues finding
the right music for the climax battle. Nothing composed or that I listened
to seemed right, not even any of the temporary music just dropped in from
my iTunes library. One day Spotify recommended “Listen” from their
debut album and it all started falling into place. I remember the day they
contacted me to allow me to use their music, completely free, and I
freaked out jumping around and exclaiming my excitement to my friends.
The
Spiritual Machines is an epic rock band lead by Evan Frankfort, an
established film and TV score composer. We ended up linking up while I was
editing The Unearthing and his work has been an inspiration for my own.
His song Bubble
was in my last short Freedom and Isolation. I came up with the
ending of Beguiled
Companyy listening to The Man is Me, which ended up
being the final opening and ending music of the movie! ProletR is an
artist whose work many people have heard. He blends old jazzy style music
with hip hop vibes and the results are tops, it’s pretty funny I was at
work checking the paper towels in the mens bathroom when I realized the
radio was playing April
Showers
- the same song near the beginning of Beguiled
Company while Brenden is changing paper
towels in the men’s bathroom. That was a cool trip right there.
This
fire track by Dr Goon and the Daily Tribune speaks for itself in a
coming-together montage music video sequence - I only know a couple of the
members of that group personally but they are clearly cool and hella
talented guys. dj_Jo released an Attack
on EDM
EP with a song called Attack on Titan that was based on the
anime/manga of the same name. I listened to the track over and over and
imagined a set piece to it. That is the action part a little past the
middle of the movi,e and the song dropped right into the editor to fit the
flow of everything. In the context of the movie it is a parody of
recurring background music from the anime and provides a comedic angle
with also thematic ties to the story. We never talked personally but he
was kind enough to allow his manager to let me use the song for a small
fee.
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I
mentioned how King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is in the acid trip scene
- this was from their phenomenal album Polygondwanaland,
which they decided to release completely free for anyone to redistribute
or sell. It’s a real class A move on their part! The acid trip was a big
black hole until I got the music in there and knew where I was going - I
found lots of little meanings in the lyrics that tie into the context of
the movie. There are also more artists whose music plays in the party
scenes including totally chill stuff by my friends Kyle George (Diverse)
and Tristan Hendrickson. Indian
Fire
by Promise Music and a track called Welcome
to Our World
/ Dreaming
in Digital
/ Digital
Insanity
from production software pirating keygens are also featured and smack
hard!
I
could talk about things that interest me forever. Best just leave it at
this and hey there’s always next time! ;)
Thanks for the interview!
Hey
thank you man. It’s hard to share my film and you’re doing me a solid
by providing this opportunity!
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