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Your new movie Alta
Valley - in a few words, what is it about?
Alta
Valley
is about a girl trying to save her dying mother. Thematically, the
movie is about creating racial reconciliation by risking the things that
matter the most to us for the sake of others.
With Alta
Valley being a western at heart, is that a genre at all dear to
you, and some of your genre favourites?
Not
particularly. I have honestly seen very few westerns. Making this film has
given me a great appreciation and brought me closer to the genre though.
Some
modern westerns I greatly enjoy are Hell or High Water and
No Country for Old Men.
(Other) sources
of inspiration when writing Alta
Valley? The storytelling done at
Pixar/Disney
always amazes me. I looked a lot at
films like Coco, Moana, and Frozen 2. And also Training Day…
Training
Day was incredible. Of Alta
Valley's two protagonists Lupe and Maddy, who could you actually
identify with more, and why? Maddy.
Both Lupe and Maddy have a lot of myself written into their characters,
but Maddy’s arc hits closer to home for me. She eventually is much more
vulnerable than Lupe, and while Lupe’s passion and desperation drive the
story, Maddy’s hurt and loneliness make me connect more emotionally.
Alta
Valley is a movie that's rather action packed - so do talk about
your film's action scenes for a bit, and how were they achieved?
For
the resource we had, I’m incredibly proud of the action scenes we were
able to pull off for this film. We were short on budget and even shorter
on time for filming, so all of the action pieces were shot very quickly
and very instinctually. Getting everyone to hit their marks at the same
time in an action scene is already a challenge with limited rehearsal
time. When you add prop guns to the mix, everything gets harder and more
complicated… then when you add pyro, blood, body doubles, 10+
characters, a dirt bike and a horse, it just gets kinda crazy. One morning
Lupe literally had to jump out of a window.
Besides
all of the bullet hits and a couple of fire shots, all scenes were
achieved practically, and I’m amazed at what Juliene Joyner and her stunt
team were able to do in a very tight time frame. Many of the scenes,
including Maddy riding the bronco, we only were able to shoot one take. We
almost always had multiple cameras running at once which helped. For the
gun shoot out scenes, we only had blanks on set for Maddy with the
shotgun, and for everything else we added the muzzle flashes, empty
cartridges and hits/debris in VFX.
What
can you tell us about your overall directorial approach to your story at
hand?
My
intended approach was first to serve the cast and crew, and give them the
tools that they need to succeed in their individual roles, and then to
serve the story. Some may aim to serve the story first and above all
else… but if cast/crew are mistreated or taken advantage of in favor of
the “film” or the film’s investors, then I think it’s being done
wrong. I think the approach as to how a director works with people is very
important.
Creatively
there was a lot in my head and a lot I wanted to achieve in the style and
tone of the film… but honestly, this entire production was so
challenging that a lot of the approach ended up being: frame up a shot and
shoot the script.
Note:
This is not ideal… but I’m so grateful we were able to finish the film
and in this case finishing was more important than any specific creative
execution. I learned a lot about what to prioritize along the way.
Do talk about Alta
Valley's key cast, and why exactly these people?
Everyone
that was selected for this project not only brought incredible
performances to their roles, but they brought a deep personal connection
to the characters and the story and that is amazing. We
brought on as many Indigenous actors as possible. It was important to
feature authentic people wherever possible with the roles of the Navajo
characters. Briza Covarrubias (Lupe) and Allee Sutton Hethcoat (Maddy) especially were both such a pleasure to work with.
You
of course also have to talk about Alta
Valley's breathtaking locations for a bit, and what was it like
filming there?
We
filmed in Kanab, UT, which is a beautifully remote desert town. It’s
about 2 hours north of the Grand Canyon and very close to Bryce and Zion. Everything
is such a blur while you are filming, but every time we stopped for a
moment you would look up and be amazed again by the view. The sun paints
different colors every day across the sky and the landscape, and it was
truly a beautiful experience filming there, especially the sunrises and
sunsets. It
wasn’t without its challenges though, as we had to shoot in three
different seasons, and featuring these beautiful locations means working
in them. In January, it was -8 degrees and the equipment was freezing. In
August, it was 104 degrees and we certainly reached physical limits for
the cast and crew.
A few words about the shoot as such, and
the on-set atmosphere?
For
many reasons, this film was so difficult to make. The amount of things
that went wrong or fell through is truly amazing. However,
even more amazing than that was the resilience of the crew that made this
film with me. The on-set atmosphere was very much one of “what will we
endure today?” - keyword being “we” … the challenges were always
faced together, and the entire crew was for each other. This was a
beautiful experience.
The
fact that we were filming so close to Navajo Nation made the importance of
the story sink in even more, and that definitely affected the purpose
behind every day on set. The film from day one felt special, important,
and bigger than all of us. The cast and crew gave so much to make this
film happen and the camaraderie on set was amazing.
Anything you can tell us about audience and
critical reception of Alta
Valley?
We
had the film premiere to a sold out crowd at the Nashville Film
Festival
and that was a really special night. There has been some great and some
negative feedback toward the film, but what I appreciate the most is the
Navajo and Native American community that has seen this film and has
reached out to me and been so thankful for it and so excited about the
message. To
honor this community is really the whole point of the film, and this
affirmation means a lot to me and the cast and crew.
Any future projects you'd like to share? None
I can share at this time, but I am excited to continue to make movies that
matter.
What
got you into filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal
training on the subject?
No
formal training. After saving money for years I bought a camcorder when I
was 11, and once my dad bought me vegas Video editing software, I was
hooked. I knew I wanted to make a film one day.
After
completing an associate’s degree in music, I moved on to work in film,
co-founding a production company and doing about 12 years of various roles
in commercial and documentary filmmaking.
What can you tell us about your
filmwork prior to Alta
Valley? On
the narrative side I have written, directed, and produced two short films.
Distance, a 16 min short about finding hope during the on-set of the 2020
pandemic, and Life After, a 25 min proof of concept for a thriller/crime
drama feature. How would you describe yourself as a
director?
I
aim to tell stories of redemption. Taking things that are broken, and
finding what can be made new through them. I
feel a great responsibility as a filmmaker and I am very intentional about
the stories and entertainment that I put into the world. I
ask, why does this need to be made? Why does the world need to hear this
story?
Filmmakers who inspire you?
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Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
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The links below
will take you
just there!!!
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Brad
Bird, Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Andrew Stanton, Jennifer Lee. Your
favourite movies? The
Fountain, Arrival, The Prestige, Ratatouille,
The Social Network. Your/your movie's website, social media,
whatever else?
Film
website: www.altavalley.film
Jesse’s IMDb: www.imdb.com/name/nm10257139/
Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask? Thank
you for watching the film and spreading the word about it through this
interview! Thanks for the
interview!
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