October 18, 2004
So what I did this morning was interview Jonathan Caouette, the director of Tarnation. It was so much fun talking to him...he's a wonderful guy. Here's the whole thing, all typed up for your convenience.
Prior to that, Jonathan was on an indie filmmaking panel held by the Deep Ellum Film Festival. As many problems as I have with that festival (and I have quite a few), I have to hand it to them for drawing an incredible array of filmmaking talent into one room this morning. In addition to Jonathan Caoutte, one could rub elbows with David Gordon Green, Shane Carruth, Allison Anders, Yen Tan (not actually on the panel, unfairly, but he was in the room), and Jeremy Coon, the producer of Napoleon Dynamite (whose presence I'm sure was very exciting for some people). The discussion was pretty engaging; lots of talk about getting self indulgent films produced and seen outside of the mainstream. There seemed to be a serious and refreshing disdain for Hollywood shared by all the filmmakers present, and they all also made me feel a lot better about being a penniless director prone to frequent bouts of despair. If it worked out for them, it can work out for me and my friends too.
Later in the day, I went to the screening of Undertow (which is a masterpiece). While I was wiling away the time in the lobby before it started, I listened in on two middle age women conversing. One of them was talking about her husband passing away, and at one point, she said "I just want to be left alone, and not hurt anymore." She was smiling while she said it. It seemed like something worth writing down.
Posted by David Lowery at October 18, 2004 12:46 AM
Comments
Excellent interview, David. And it seems as though he was a very willing interviewee as well!
Posted by: Matt at October 18, 2004 9:11 AM
Indeed he was. Basically as soon as we started talking about Lynch he got out of 'interview autopilot mode.' I wish we'd been able to hang out for a while and talk about movies.
And he told me he loved my Evil Dead buttons, which really made my day!
Posted by: Ghostboy at October 18, 2004 8:23 PM