After seeing
a couple stills in the festival guide, sci-fi comedy THE HISTORY OF FUTURE FOLK
immediately became one of my most anticipated films at the 2012 Los Angeles
Film Festival. Flight of the Conchords is a natural reference point if you've
got two attractive outsiders acting and singing in a more magical Brooklyn than
we're all used to, but the similarities pretty much end there. THE HISTORY OF
FUTURE FOLK is sweet and charming, a colorful little story about a couple of bluegrass-playing
space aliens from the planet Hondo who learn to live and love on Earth.
After THE HISTORY OF FUTURE FOLK's LAFF premiere, we spoke with
co-director/screenwriter J. Anderson
Mitchell, co-director/producer Jeremy Kipp Walker and actor Jay Klaitz (The
Mighty Kevin) in the snack bar of the L.A. Athletic Club. Unfortunately co-star
Nils d'Aulaire (General Trius) couldn't make it. For good reason, though--his
wife was having their baby!
ScreenAnarchy:
Why did you decide to make a movie about bluegrass playing space aliens?
J. Anderson
Mitchell: The inception of the film was kind of funny--Jeremy and I were
working on another project that was very close to going. It was much bigger
budget and we were relying on much bigger actors but things fell through, as
they sometimes do, and it had just been years since we had rolled up our
sleeves and made a movie together. So we said, 'Fuck it, let's just get
something done, whatever it takes.' It was actually Jeremy's recommendation
that we do something with Future Folk. Future Folk are our friends--we weren't like
random fans; we went to college with Jay--and then we met Nils later down the
road. We've been friends for years now so it was a lot of taking stock and
figuring out what we could go out and shoot right now, tomorrow.
Jeremy Kipp
Walker: I come from a line-producing background. I asked John, 'What do we
have?' We had a house--we share a two family house, the house in the movie--and
that became our studio. We shot three interior scenes in there and got a couple
of 5Ds that we had in my office and we basically just rallied the troops. The
band had a bunch of music that we were able to use and they wrote some new
songs for the movie too. It was twelve years of favors cashed in.
Mitchell: I
went into the screenwriting process and it just kept getting bigger and bigger.
It's a big indie--a big low-budget movie, which is a testament of Jeremy's
producing skills and ability to bring in favors like that.
Walker: Jay was
in ROCK OF AGES, the musical with Dee Snider, and Dee came on to play Larry,
which was a lot of fun.
What was the biggest favor and the
hardest to rein in?
Walker: The hardest was this guy! [Points to Klaitz]
Klaitz: That was a daily thing! I got a bad rap.
Walker: No, Jay's a professional, we're just joking. The hardest
thing was actually the nuclear missile silo. We were really terrified that the
whole conceit of the movie wasn't going to play, or it'd feel very thin. We had
the house, we had the bar, we had the streets, but we couldn't find the place
where we were going to launch this nuclear missile from. We actually found this
great museum in Arizona--a former nuclear silo--and it was pristine. But they
wouldn't let us shoot there! It's part of a national park and the park was fine
with it but it was administered by the military because all of their stuff is
still in it. We got very high up the bureaucracy and it seemed like it was
going to happen but then they didn't let us. Then that led to the discovery of
this great aerospace museum in Long Island. It was the complete opposite--it was
45 minutes away, had everything we needed, and they gave us the run of the
place for four days. The only thing they didn't have was the real
under-workings of the missile base. We did finally find a place in South
Dakota, another one of these museums. They did let us shoot there. That was a
down-to-the-wire thing, the last piece we needed to make the movie.
Mitchell: At the end of the day I think that aerospace museum is
three different locations. But it works, I think. I don't think you question
it. Just the plot and the characters! We wanted to do this sci-fi movie, but we
wanted to do it on the cheap. Obviously the story is dictated by where they're
from--which is outer space--and obviously we can't shoot in space, we don't have
spaceships, we can't afford any of that, but our theory in attacking the
project was that it was like a radio play. So you're always hearing about outer
space and you see little tidbits here and there but they're never actually
flying through space. There will never be a camera in space. You'll never see a
comet.
Walker: Epic story but all told through a very subjective point of
view. That's why you have the little girl drawing outer space. Obviously it's a
silly movie and you need to suspend your disbelief for a little bit but I think
as filmmakers we felt the burden to never give completely over to camp--to try
to ride the tone enough so you're invested in the film and not puncture the
production value. You can still be comic and somewhat silly but at a certain
bar hopefully.
When
did you start working together?
Walker: The three of us went to college together at Becknell. We
all studied theater and English together. John and I came to New York after and
got jobs at Woody Allen's production company. We felt like we made it but it
ended up being more hanging out at the copy machine and answering phones. It
was totally great and fun though--we got to go to the screening rooms. Then I
got recruited by a production company and worked my way up in the production
ranks while John went to grad school at NYU on the screenwriting track and that
ended up being the balance of how we work together. I'd produce, he'd write,
and then we'd co-direct projects together. So we don't have conflicting voices
with the cast, John would be the acting confidante and I'd talk with the
cinematographers between takes. We did two shorts together like that and it
worked really well, but that was a while ago and we were jonesing to get behind
the camera together again. So we took a leap of faith with this feature.
How
different is the your film from Future Folk's original back story?
Mitchell: This'll be interesting. What do you remember of the
original story? That's the bigger question.
Klaitz: That's actually a very difficult question to answer. We've
been doing Future Folk for many years now--7, I think?--so we've been doing this
for a long time. I think the main difference was he [General Trius] and I were
here to save Earth and our home planet Hondo in our original inception of the
band. So that was changed in the film--we were initially assassins.
Walker: Your original story was that your home planet had died--it
was destroyed by Earth--so you travelled back in time.
Mitchell: So you came back in time to spread the international
language of music.
Walker: It was a mission of peace.
Klaitz: Is that really what it was?
Walker: Yeah. The idea was that if they could play their music and
come back in time to change Earth--
Klaitz: Oh yeah, there was time travel.
Walker: That's the Future
Folk part. The fun thing about seeing these guys on stage is that it's a true
folk duo. There's a lot of banter, great chemistry, they're spinning these
stories and it dovetails into music and it's a really great evening. The
hardest thing is--this film is really an adaptation, a companion piece to their
music. And there are certain rules you need to follow when writing a
screenplay. John did a great job figuring out what should stay and what should
go from their story because they're two different mediums but the chemistry is
still the same.
How
much has Future Folk's live performance changed over the years?
Klaitz: It hasn't changed that much. We've changed the story a
little to go along with the movie, cuz why the hell not? But it's really about
me and Nils. I feel like I'm doing what I'm meant to be doing when I'm
performing with that kid.
Walker: He's unbelievably funny without even trying. He sends
hilarious emails all the time and it's just depressing--if someone is that smart
and that funny and witty all the time without trying, we're screwed!
Mitchell: The amazing thing about him is that he by no means
considers himself a professional actor. He's never even done a high school play
before. He has no background. But he just has that quality about him, like
Jeremy said. It's like a Conan O'Brien kind of thing where everything out of
his mouth is so fast and clever. So we knew that if we could get that charm and
get that wit on screen that it would make the movie.
Walker: So a lot of the directing was putting him in situations
where he could feel comfortable. He went from zero to a hundred really quickly
on this project. The first couple takes were pretty rough but then he was on--he
got it, it was just like being in front of the microphone, and from then on it
was a breeze.
The
costumes in the film look professionally made--what did Future Folk wear before
you made the movie?
Walker: They wore sweat suits and buckets--you know the fans in the
film? The original costumes were more like that. That was great, but--the
hardest thing for us is really approached it like an adaptation and wanted to
get the right tone. If we had the guys come on stage in the film in sweatpants
and buckets on their heads then it would just look like we weren't trying very
hard. At the same time, if they came in wearing super high-end space suits--one,
we couldn't afford it, and two, it would tip the balance too far in the other
direction. We wanted that playful, lo-fi feel. So we transposed that wardrobe
to the fans and gave it an upgrade.
But there's this wonderful thing that they do in their act.
Hondonians aren't that dissimilar from Earthlings. You'll learn from their
music and their song "Chromosome Z" that that's the biggest difference--they've
got chromosome Z.
Klaitz: And they've got many livers, which allows them to drink a
lot and often.
One of the funniest parts was when the Mighty Kevin thought
General Trius was going to kill him when Trius put the picks on his fingers and
slowly lifted up his banjo. Which instrument do you think would best double as
a murder weapon?
Walker: I love that shot of the finger picks that he uses to play
the banjo. They look like claws. Something percussive probably. Maybe a mallet?
Klaitz: There was a harp down there that looked pretty scary if
you stick your arms through it.
Mitchell: The cymbals are a little terrifying.
Walker: Cymbals can be projectiles.
THE HISTORY OF FUTURE FOLK's screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival.