April 20, 2025 • 50 mins
Welcome to Season 2 of The Film Dept. Podcast! We've got a new crew reviewing the latest films screening at The Beverly in downtown Las Vegas... and beyond.
This episode of The Film Dept. Podcast, we interview film producer Douglas Haines about his new feature SATURN, premiering at the upcoming Indie Vegas Film Festival, Sunday, April 27, 7:30p at The Cannery Hotel and Casino's Galaxy Theatres. Douglas will be in attendance at the screening. For tickets and more information: Indie Vegas Film Festival.
Credits:
Email us: thefilmdeptpod@gmail.com
HOSTS - Nic Patrick, Ani Rogy, L Villareal Production
Sound Mixer - Sydney Maier
Co-Producer/Editor - Lilly Richie
Assistant Editor - Byron Schnell Davis
Production Coordinator - Kay Walgate
PRODUCERS - Tom Bjelic, Sam Decker
EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY - Adam Paul, Roudi Boroumand
For The Beverly:
Kip Kelly, Founding Creative Director | Chief Experience Officer
Alexi Harber, General Manager
Ivy Ergunes, Marketing Manager
To read the hosts' reviews, head over to: substack.com/thefilmdeptpodcast
This semester, The Film Department has teamed up with the mad geniuses of The Beverly Theater. Imagined by The Rogers Foundation, The Beverly Theater brings cinematic connectivity, novel collaborations, live happenings, cultural portals, and a zest for independent spirits to DTLV. With a mission to stage uncommon cinematic, literary, and live experiences, The Beverly Theater is Las Vegas’ first and only independent film house, storytelling arena, and live music venue.
For the latest screenings and events at The Beverly, visit thebeverlytheater.com The Film Department Podcast is supported by UNLV Film.
At the film department of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, every story has a beginning.With degree programs for undergraduates and graduates, state of the art equipment and facilities, incredible professional internships around the world, and expert guest speakers, students discover the power and potential of cinema as they prepare for the film and television industry… and beyond.
Learn more at UNLV.EDU/FILM UNLV Film. Find your voice. Tell your story.
This episode of The Film Dept. Podcast, we interview film producer Douglas Haines about his new feature SATURN, premiering at the upcoming Indie Vegas Film Festival, Sunday, April 27, 7:30p at The Cannery Hotel and Casino's Galaxy Theatres. Douglas will be in attendance at the screening. For tickets and more information: Indie Vegas Film Festival.
Credits:
Email us: thefilmdeptpod@gmail.com
HOSTS - Nic Patrick, Ani Rogy, L Villareal Production
Sound Mixer - Sydney Maier
Co-Producer/Editor - Lilly Richie
Assistant Editor - Byron Schnell Davis
Production Coordinator - Kay Walgate
PRODUCERS - Tom Bjelic, Sam Decker
EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY - Adam Paul, Roudi Boroumand
For The Beverly:
Kip Kelly, Founding Creative Director | Chief Experience Officer
Alexi Harber, General Manager
Ivy Ergunes, Marketing Manager
To read the hosts' reviews, head over to: substack.com/thefilmdeptpodcast
This semester, The Film Department has teamed up with the mad geniuses of The Beverly Theater. Imagined by The Rogers Foundation, The Beverly Theater brings cinematic connectivity, novel collaborations, live happenings, cultural portals, and a zest for independent spirits to DTLV. With a mission to stage uncommon cinematic, literary, and live experiences, The Beverly Theater is Las Vegas’ first and only independent film house, storytelling arena, and live music venue.
For the latest screenings and events at The Beverly, visit thebeverlytheater.com The Film Department Podcast is supported by UNLV Film.
At the film department of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, every story has a beginning.With degree programs for undergraduates and graduates, state of the art equipment and facilities, incredible professional internships around the world, and expert guest speakers, students discover the power and potential of cinema as they prepare for the film and television industry… and beyond.
Learn more at UNLV.EDU/FILM UNLV Film. Find your voice. Tell your story.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The Film Department is supported by UNLV Film.
(00:04):
At the Film Department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, every story has a beginning.
With degree programs for undergraduates and graduates, state-of-the-art equipment, facilities,
incredible professional internships around the world, and expert guest speakers,
students discover the power and potential of cinema as they prepare for the film and television industry,
(00:25):
and beyond. Learn more at unlv.edu/film.
UNLV Film. Find your voice.
Tell your story.
Welcome to the Film Department, the movie review podcast of UNLV Film.
(00:49):
This semester we'll be discussing the film screening in our partner movie house,
the Beverly Theatre, Las Vegas' only independent film house and performance venue.
I'm Nick Patrick and I'm joined by...
Annie, third year film major and production designer.
Hi, it's me, it's Elle, screenwriter and a final year fifth year here at UNLV Film.
Also I said third but I'm technically a fourth.
(01:12):
Oh, you like to lie to the entire film department.
On occasion.
Okay, no problem.
It's fine, okay, okay.
We're getting to this week's interview with Douglas Haines, which was absolutely wonderful.
We'd like to talk about the news a little bit, and the biggest headline that I've seen this week is the James Bond Creative Rights.
(01:34):
Yeah, I remember it to MGM Amazon, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson,
who were the producers that held creative rights of the IP for...
Who knows how long, forever, through Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, further back.
They finally, you know, quietly settled the deal where they're giving creative rights over to Amazon MGM,
(01:57):
which has owned the IP as well but hasn't been able to do much with them kind of holding it as well.
So this opens a lot of doors, but maybe also closes some doors.
What do you guys think about this?
Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but Barbara, in particular, was very...
She was holding it back for a really long time, correct?
(02:19):
She holds it very precious.
So that kind of concerns me now, like, is her vision and is her love for it, going to be respected in the hands of something like Amazon.
There's...
Wasn't there talks about a series?
There were talks of a lot of different things that Amazon MGM wanted to do.
There were talks of doing a series, spin-off movies, spin-off series.
(02:44):
At one point, a female bond got brought up and Barbara Broccoli came out and was like, "Bond is not a woman, Bond is a man."
And I think there were even talks of doing an American type series, like, there was a lot.
There was a lot that I believe Amazon MGM wants to milk out of the franchise.
Yeah, that's theification of Bond.
(03:05):
Exactly.
And that's the part that really does scare me the most, I'd say, because so much IPs and so many great films and movies that were made and have these iconic, very amazing, interesting characters, they get turned to a product and verses of story.
(03:28):
And I feel like when there is no story to be told if there is a story to continue, it should be through the lens of it.
It has something to say and has something to do rather than it being for the sake of money.
And I mean, we see this with Star Wars and Lucas Films and how it got owned by Disney.
And while there have been some diamonds in the rough that have gone through, so much of what people felt about the original Star Wars, about how everything went with the merger.
(03:57):
It just doesn't feel right, it just feels like a product and I can't really get behind it.
At least it's been pressfully.
Yeah, I think the franchise is just going to get diluted at this point.
Absolutely.
I mean, what was great about Star Wars films was that you had to wait so long.
It was an event that you had to go to the theater for, but now it's, you've got this series, you've got this series, you've got this spin off, you've got all these spin off movies.
(04:24):
You know, it doesn't feel as special anymore and that's exactly what they're going to do with Bond.
Yeah, and it's a dawn shame.
It's a real shame because it's, you know, bonds iconic.
And I feel like if it is simply just diluted down to just series after series, then it loses its heart.
(04:46):
And I'd hate to see another sort of very iconic movie get stripped of that.
Or we change subject.
What's everyone's favorite Bond movie?
Ooh.
Kissing a rail.
Kissing a rail?
Kissing a rail?
Yeah.
Kissing a rail is a good one.
Should I pick one of the problematic ones?
Yeah, you should.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do it.
Which one?
(05:07):
The one where you...
No, I think, I haven't actually seen a lot of them.
The one where he hates women.
Yeah, the one where he's the one where he hates women.
No, I'm a huge skyfall fan.
Starfall's awesome.
You're not the best song, too.
You took it from me.
I was going to say skyfall.
Which by the way, I think that...
The thing is, it would be the first skyfall or for another one.
(05:31):
But radio-headed something for them.
But they didn't use it.
Oh, yeah.
No, radio-headed did something for them.
I know this because I have it on my playlist.
I'm gonna do that.
Oh, yes, it's out.
Absolutely it is.
I'm checking it out.
But they decided to not do that over another one.
And it's good.
Anything else in the news?
I mean, it is someone who's...
(05:55):
People are talking about it.
The Shrek remake.
We were talking about Shrek before.
It's time to record it.
Yeah, there is a Shrek 5 teaser that is out.
And they've completely refreshed the animation.
And it's very controversial right now with how it looks.
But is it a thing of...
(06:17):
It's ruining our nostalgia?
Or is it a...
Or does it really just look that bad?
I think...
I'm gonna say the former...
Just because relatively people who didn't grow up with Shrek...
They're not gonna know the difference between it.
I mean, it's not in the same case of like...
When the Sonic films start coming out.
Right.
It's nowhere close to it.
(06:38):
It's nowhere close to that at all.
It's just a little watered down if anything.
I would think a little cut back.
But I mean...
I feel like after an upheaval of fans like that...
They might end up adjusting things.
Then adjust it a little bit.
Yeah, absolutely.
But I mean, the animation evolves.
Yeah.
It gets better.
And I mean, if you look back at the first Shrek...
(06:59):
I mean, it looks like a PlayStation 2 video game looks...
Yeah.
Now come here now.
Whoa!
I don't know.
It's charming.
It's charming.
I think it's got great character.
One of my favorite movies is Monster House.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I'm all for terrifying charming animation.
But yeah, I guess in terms of the new Shrek...
(07:21):
I'm just more concerned on...
Is it a stylistic choice or is it something in order to make it easier to continuously animate
over time for the sake of pushing new media out?
I don't know.
We'll see.
Makes me sad.
Makes me sad.
The government of his eyelashes.
Yeah.
Can I burn up one more thing for the news?
Absolutely.
(07:42):
Oscars on Sunday.
The Oscars on Sunday.
What's everybody's picks?
Best picture picks?
You know mine already.
Brutalists?
Of course I'm going to say Brutalist.
But if the nor I get something, I'm also going to be really excited about that.
Yeah.
This is where I become a really bad film major when I say, "I'll just say, "Go team."
Go team!
Go team!
Just a reminder that this is being recorded before the Oscars come out, so please brutally
(08:06):
shame us if we get our predictions wrong.
Go team!
Go team!
Well, I know a Nora's winning best picture and I know I'm right.
No.
Because I just bet $3,000.
You bet $3,000 on it?
I did.
Who did you bet it to?
I can't talk about it.
Because I can't talk about it.
When the Brutalist wins and then you owe me $3,000.
That's okay.
We'll talk about it later.
We should get into our interview.
(08:27):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Can we not go back to the way it was?
(08:51):
Our beautiful life together.
I won't abandon us.
I can fix this.
The planet's certain appearance has baffled scientists and ignited a purioconfew.
It's almost contingent.
(09:16):
People are saying this is the end of the worry.
James.
We can't start panicking.
Take it easy.
What are you going to do?
You'd be all not relented.
That is drawing your earth.
She believes you're saving the shepherds.
But the only one who can stop it.
I won't do that to my family.
This is what you are made for.
Not anymore.
(09:37):
You have to trust me.
Stop it.
God.
What did you want me to do?
I feel like everything is fine.
All the shepherds say have different powers.
None of us are exactly the same.
Do you think when I go up all becomes the hero?
Dude?
That door is an entrance to a warmal.
(10:00):
You have your way out.
Do you like it here?
Be with your family.
Save them while you have a chance.
It's gonna be your new home.
We're running out of time.
What's happening tonight?
I'm scared.
We too.
I'm not let earth fall.
It's hurt!
(10:24):
It's hurt!
It must have something.
Saturn needs to make this choice on his own.
It has to be another way.
Call for Osasal, which meant one thing.
Why not deserve to live?
[music]
(10:49):
Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Douglas Haines, who is a producer, writer and filmmaker in multiple mediums.
We're here to talk about his latest film with Erica Sal, Saturn, which is currently going through the festival circuit.
(11:11):
[music]
Well, Douglas, welcome to the film department.
We're so happy to have you here.
How are you doing?
I'm doing great.
It's great to have you.
We all watched Saturn.
We loved it.
It was fantastic.
You wouldn't even if you didn't know.
You sitting here close to you, you wouldn't say.
(11:33):
I didn't like it.
What would you say?
If I didn't like it?
Because you'd have to say.
Right.
What would you say?
It was great.
I would say.
If you weren't here right now, I would say where were the rings?
Where were the rings?
It was all Saturn, but no rings.
[music]
I was on a podcast once and somebody said,
(11:54):
"You're going to do great at the festival.
You're going to run rings around the other..."
[laughter]
I didn't get it.
So I went, "Yeah, great.
Awesome.
My director had to change her mind."
Yeah.
[laughter]
Well, I would love to kind of jump right into it.
You're the writer and producer of Saturn, which is wonderful in epic film.
(12:17):
You're also currently the COO and senior producer at New Studios.
Could you tell us a little bit of how you got your start in industry,
who you are, and how you got here today?
Yeah, sure.
I work for a company called MuFilms.
We have three different projects.
We have the films that does narrative and documentary feature.
This are Saturn's, our first narrative.
We've got three documentaries, one, two, three documentaries.
(12:41):
I'm also the COO and senior producer at Mu Studios,
which does corporate commercials, animated content, graphic design,
basically whatever creative agency, a creative agency would do for big tech up in the Northwest.
Like Amazon, Microsoft, stuff like that.
And then we have MuKids as well, which is all kids content.
(13:02):
We do books and YouTube videos, apps, stuff like that.
So it's one, two, three.
And that company was started a few years ago by a founder and president,
CEO, the guy who runs the whole thing.
Also the director of Saturn, Eric Esau.
And Eric and I have been friends since seventh grade.
Wow.
(13:23):
We made our first movie together in seventh grade.
We made the movie together because that's what we did in seventh grade.
We had like a tiny little JVC candy can.
What was it about?
It was called the Lost Ball of Hank Woe.
And I couldn't tell you what it was about.
After we were done with it, we didn't really know what it was about,
but it's great and we watched it again with fond memories.
But Eric and I hung out on that Saturday.
(13:46):
We have a group of like eight guys that used to always hang out together in high school
and middle school and high school.
And nobody else could hang out except for me and Eric on that day.
So it was the first time that he and I hung out.
We were always friends with everybody in a group,
but not really just me and him, you know what I mean?
One of those.
So it was like, "Oh well, we can't say, "No, I don't want to hang out with just you
because there's never done that before."
(14:08):
So we hung out and we made the Lost Ball and the rest is history, as they say.
Wow, that's very amazing.
Somebody complicate, "Yeah, that's grabbing that sort of rich history
and being able to trust somebody with your ideas."
Yeah, it was a cool thing.
Saturn was a cool deal because we had a number of different people
that had been in the group for a while from different...
(14:29):
In any films, you got to call in all the favors you've got.
And so one of the guys who did additional editing on the film
and was also like a B-camera operator was one of those eight guys.
The key grip is actually a local de Vegas named Danny Salazar
with reveal motion pictures and he came up.
We shot in Seattle, he came up and shot with us.
And then the gaffer was his buddy from when he lived in LA
(14:52):
and the DP is actually one of my best friends up in Seattle.
It just had to be that kind of a thing.
Yeah.
Because that's what any films all about.
Yeah, you have to.
I mean, that's how it feels here, you know, at UNOV.
Yeah.
We're calling people in from California.
We're calling people in from CSN.
You know, you just, you have to do what it takes to make the film.
(15:14):
Everybody's first lead actor is like their brother.
Yeah.
Everybody's first editors like their nephew or, you know what I mean?
It's just like how it has to be that authentic history kind of a deal.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
For sure.
So that's who I am.
I'm not the writer on Saturn.
Eric is the principal writer and then Anna as well as the co-writer.
(15:35):
And they were gracious enough to give me a writing credit.
But yeah, just it was a producer.
The first day to eat the location manager, the line producer.
I'm crazy.
I, again, I noticed that in the credits, how did you not lose your mind?
Yeah, no, for sure, kid.
I realized that I had some sort of anxiety about three weeks into it.
(15:57):
When we knew we weren't going to make it and we had to come back a little bit later.
But yeah, it's, it's the whole thing.
We're in a whole bunch of hats.
How did you navigate balancing all of those roles out?
Yeah, that's a tough deal because as the producer, you're supposed to be the guy that doesn't want to spend money, right?
We got to know, no, you can't have an extra half day.
No, we're not going to pay the actor an extra little bit.
(16:19):
We're not going to, but then I'm also the first AD, who's the guy who's supposed to advocate for the crew of, hey, we need an extra half day.
Hey, we need to pay for this.
Hey, we need, and so the first AD would typically come to a line producer like that and go, hey, need more money.
And the guy would say, no, you know what I mean?
And so I'm in a conflict.
Exactly because I'm going to the mirror.
(16:40):
Exactly, I'm going to the mirror and going, hey, I don't, I don't have any time to do this.
Well, but we need the time and just trying to figure out that whole part is really good.
What do you think the strengths are in that, in balancing being a producer and like, first AD on a project?
If there are any.
No, for sure.
I think being intimately aware of the whole project was one of our great strengths on the whole thing.
(17:03):
I mean, you get the writer, director, Eric was the producer as well.
Anna was the writer, producer, production designer.
I was writer, producer, first AD.
You know what I mean?
Eric edited the film, having your hands in every portion of it and being like super intimately aware of the whole thing.
I think that's a really big deal.
Yeah.
(17:24):
I heard that I was in yearbook class in high school and my yearbook, each year Missie Azale said that running a yearbook, and this is like a film too.
If you're carrying a baby and you fall down, it's never the baby gets hurt, it's you that gets hurt, and she equated that to your book.
So that was kind of, but that's how it felt with the film.
We just knew that stuff was going to happen.
If we fall down, it's not the project that gets hurt, it's us.
(17:46):
And like, being involved in every aspect of that means that we're able to kind of do that for the schedule and then also do that for the budget.
You know what I mean?
And like, do that for the character and all that.
And you mentioned you had to take a step back too and come back to it.
Yeah, correct.
We had to take a step back, that's a schedule.
Boom, look at that.
We're dovetailing into the next minute.
(18:08):
We shot Saturn over the course of four weeks, ish, four weeks in a prep, up on the coast of Washington State.
I don't know where, beautiful spot up there.
But we shot it at the beginning of 2020. And right at the end of January 2020, we thought, hey, we're not going to get everything.
(18:29):
We got pelted by weather, rain, sleep, hurricane grade winds.
There was a tornado that touched down the next one over it was sub-zero temperatures.
It was like a whole thing, right?
Everything that could go wrong with the weather went wrong.
And so we're like, hey, we'll come back a couple weeks.
No big deal.
We'll just get a couple pickups.
Well, that was February 2020, right before.
And so it ended up being a big deal.
(18:51):
I don't know if you remember.
But it ended up being a really big deal.
And so we had to come back, this is what I was saying, had to come step away from it.
We had to come back three months later in July of 2020.
Yeah.
And come back and shoot, like, right in the middle of COVID.
Wow.
Yeah, the whole deal.
We were the first SAG union show to go back in Washington State.
(19:14):
And we created, they had a whole bunch of rules and nobody knew what was going on.
I won't go on the record saying that SAG doesn't know what's going on.
And they probably chopped that all together real quick too.
They chopped it all together and they chopped it together in at least in Washington State
with some of the stuff that we created, with some of the workflows and frameworks and checklists and stuff that we created.
Because we were like, hey, we've got to do this.
(19:36):
Yeah.
And once you're done, like, hey, do you mind sending over that word doc that we can use in our stuff?
Or the way, so it ended up being a whole thing.
But again, it's indie film and you've got to make it happen if you fall, maybe it doesn't get hurt.
And so we went out there and a hundred degree plus temperatures.
We're all out in the middle of nowhere.
When they come through the door, the other world, that's an actual place.
(20:00):
It wasn't green screen, no green screen on that.
But we all, you look at the BTS photos and we all have mass.
I had so much fun looking at the BTS photos on the website.
And that was one of my favorite things about the little and no where we have a mask on.
I know.
I love BTS too and it's a bummer that we have all the masks on.
I know.
Which is, yeah, whatever.
So there was no rap party.
(20:21):
So there was no rap party.
Yeah, so there was no rap party.
We did a friends and family showing in Seattle at the Egyptian theater in Seattle.
That was super cool.
And then we did a friend's and family showing up north up at Red Rock.
Wow.
Just a little bit ago.
But that was, that was it.
That was it.
We all went out to dinner afterwards, but yeah, stayed still intimate with everyone.
(20:42):
Yeah, yeah, try to.
Yeah, you know, when it speaks about like, you know, you go in the middle of nowhere and such.
And I feel like the transitions from the beach over to that felt so seamless.
And the SFX within the movie of our Fantastic, how do you sort of go about that sort of budget?
When you have blockbuster films out there that are having like multiple millions of dollars going into,
(21:08):
where with big budgets, how do you deal with like high concept sci-fi films and balance, like, keeping it on good books for you?
Yeah, yeah.
That's a, that's a great, that's a fantastic question.
Two things for it.
We all just talked about being involved in every part of it.
So Eric knew when he was coming up with the whole thing that this he wanted to do, kind of in the vein of like an interstellar,
(21:30):
and Nolan, kind of really cerebral kind of emotional sci-fi.
And so, but he, this would all be self-funded, the whole thing would be self-funded.
The production budget was like quarter million dollars, like, it wasn't a whole bunch of money,
it was all our money that we made from making videos for Amazon and Microsoft.
And so from the very beginning, Eric gets to go, "Okay, I'm going to build this world, but I'm going to build it in such a way that I know,
(21:51):
because he's the CEO of the company, he knows how much money we have to spend on this whole thing,
I know that when we get to the end, I want it to look great, but I'm going to write it slightly smaller,
because he knows the limitations of production while he's in production, while he's in development on the whole thing.
So his family, his parents had a vacation house out in this city that we shot in, and he goes, "Hey, why don't we set it there,
(22:15):
because my dad will let me stay there for free?"
Boom.
Why don't we make it a really small cast, because we don't have a casting director right now,
we ended up getting a really great casting director in Jamie Gallagher.
We don't have that now, but I don't want to pay a whole bunch of money for people, so let's make it really small.
Let's make what we can at the very beginning, because I know what I'm going to do at the end.
So that's like-
Start of like writing within the parameters, so I'm right back for yourself.
(22:38):
I feel like that's such a strength in being the writers, producers, directors, the full collaboration,
you're like creating it based on what you already have available to you.
Yeah, I had a teacher once to say that necessity is the mother of invention.
Like, if you put yourself in a box, then you have to like figure it all out.
God, I'm telling so many random stories, but Jack White, at least hearing of the White Stripes,
(23:01):
he used to say-
Hey, Jack White.
He used to say that if he knew that he had a guitar solo coming up,
and he had four beats to get to his guitar on the other side of the stage,
he was put his guitar so far away that it took him five beats to get there,
so that he would have to go really, really hard.
Wow.
He couldn't just like, phone it in.
So you make yourself those parameters, and then you just have to, again, like we said, rise to the occasion.
(23:25):
Yeah, you put yourself a little bit of pressure, but then you rise to the occasion?
A pressure makes diamonds.
Yeah, exactly.
It makes it like cool and interesting the way I said it like that.
But really, it's just like, I don't know, we don't have a whole bunch of money, so we'll make it kind of small.
But then the other deal is, a lot of people I worked with don't care about other people
when they're creating projects like this.
And since Eric and I have known each other forever, and Eric and Anna are married, and the DP is one of my best friends.
(23:52):
And like all of this, we wanted to treat people really, really well,
and they ended up being people worked really, really hard for us because we tried to treat them well, and we were honest.
You know what I mean?
I didn't try to pull a whole bunch of crap over on them, and not pam, and what they were worth, and whatever.
But so we ended up working with a really great VFX supervisor, and Chris Wells, and he had just been out of the studio system.
(24:17):
Like he worked on like Captain America Avengers, did a whole bunch of like really, really cool stuff, really legit, I'm DB.
He just connected with us, and he liked us, and we liked him, and so he goes, "Hey, I want to get out of this whole rat race.
I want to help people out."
So he just ended up doing the majority of the VFX from like his wood shop in the back of his house.
You know what I mean? Because it took longer than he would have liked, and we would have liked, but we tried to connect with him, and treat him well, and pay him on time, and those basic, stupid, basic things.
(24:51):
I think a lot of productions could take some notes.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, it's tough, but then, again, it's tough with any film, you don't have all that much money, it's all our money.
We didn't pay people a whole bunch, we like it, but we paid them.
And at the end, when we were done, I had checks to give them, and as much as we could, we tried to take a full hour for lunch, and we messed it up a thousand times, and anybody listening, my gaffer is going to listen, and go, "Hey, they didn't do it professionally, and blah, blah."
(25:19):
I'm, you know, not the gaffer.
Didn't start lunch right when everybody got--
Yeah, somebody got--
Not everybody got, but somebody's going to say that, but like, we really, really tried, and we were honest about it.
The first day, the first day, the first day, right when we were starting, everybody was like, rolling in five minutes, like, we were supposed to start at nine, everybody was kind of just rolling in right around at nine.
(25:43):
And instead of getting up and going, "Hey, we're trying to, how come you, Eric and I got up and were like, "Hey guys, no big deal, but this is like our dream."
Like, to make a feature film on location with our buddies is our dream, so like, if you could help us out and show up on time--
You'll tell me a little bit.
It'd be a really big deal.
(26:04):
Like, but we meant to, like, super honestly, like, you could have totally, like, you know, we meant to really earnestly because it was, and then somebody came up to me afterwards and like, "Hey, thanks for saying that."
You know, because, I mean, we really, really, really felt--
You know what I mean? It was, so--
You got to preserve and protect your guys' dream. That is what I think is very important in all of that, because, you know, you guys are out doing something that you guys really much connect with.
(26:31):
And you find artistry in, and, you know, it's not like big polywoods and such. It's just you guys together.
And, you know, I think when I watched it, I was very enamored by a lot of the, like, stylistic choices that you guys have made from the film, yeah.
And one in particular that really got me was the first beginning shot being on the beach. And it has that blue look to it, and he's running.
(26:57):
And for me, it looked like he was running on the alien planet.
And it felt like that. And given the premise that, you know, this planet comes into earth, sure of it, was that ever done with intention?
Like, I've noticed a lot about the beach motif as well as the water motif from the film.
Was there, like, this intention going into with, like, bringing that as a part of an element to showcase?
Yeah, for sure. I think there was a real big deal on I, the guy who wrote the check into the schedule. And so other people talked about it way better than I would.
(27:25):
But I know there's definitely at least colorizers, different looks between our world and kind of the other world. There's a lot, it's a lot warmer, a lot more kind of perfect.
It feels like a balmy 73 degrees at all times on that world.
But then, yeah, the, the, the hope for the opening kind of shot sequence is, yeah, it's cold and it kind of sets up, kind of sets a stylistic mood really, really specifically.
(27:53):
But it was supposed to feel, this was Eric's intention from the very beginning, I think you did a really good job, is that it should feel kind of like a perfect town.
And so I'm not really answering your question, but going into this town is kind of like this borderline rock, Norman Rockwell kind of perfect.
Everything is great. So every shot in the morning is just like beautiful golden hour. He walks in and there's a beautiful spread of pancakes and coffee and like he's opening the picket fence into like this beautiful craftsman home and his wife is happy. And she's got, you know what I mean?
(28:28):
Like his kid is perfect. And so there's this perfect, beautiful family.
This is a beautiful family. This got this slowly kinds of fall kind of falls apart. And it's so cool seeing like when you start to see like the pills kind of start to come play.
You see, you see like the dirtiness behind the fence.
Yeah, it's very blue velvet to me. I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know.
(28:49):
Just like the contrast between like this perfect, beautiful like suburban.
Yeah.
And then seeing all of the sorry, I mean, I don't know what it's like, blue velvet.
But yeah, like just similar in concept, I guess. But anyway, sorry.
I think bringing it to that sort of location where it's this idealistic town, basic concept of like, you know, just American town and having to see these characters go through that struggle and seeing their own more outies be test and pushed.
(29:20):
And really does bring this show of like finding blue grime underneath the perfection.
When things may look clean, but it won't see the black light over the surface. You see all the germs.
Yeah.
So I always, I think that's rather clever.
Yeah, thanks. Yeah, I was supposed to like pretty quickly or pretty steadily fall apart.
Yeah.
Not just like, oh no, there's a planet in the sky and the world potentially could come to the end, but just like this perfect family that I have is falling apart and my wife is relapsing and the house gets a little dirtier.
(29:52):
And her clothes and the boys clothes get a little bit less matchy and you know, like her makeup gets her makeup got a little bit less done up a little bit more.
And then, like, Haggard is in the right word looking, but like, shevelled, disheveled is the perfect word for him.
That part is falling apart. This perfect life that he has is kind of falling apart.
(30:13):
Not just the world could potentially blow up, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
One thing I noticed in your on the website for Saturn in Eric's little description.
He had said that like, you, the point was to identify with the everyday and the characters through this like otherworldly experience.
(30:34):
And I think it's just a really interesting concept in like finding the otherworldly in the mundane throughout it.
And I'm really curious as to like how that narrative plays into Washington and like the landscapes and the locations that you had chosen as a team.
Because I feel like within writing within your parameters, you have all of this beautiful landscape that you can work with to create something that is like a very otherworldly thing.
(31:00):
But finding that mundane and that I'm curious how you, how you found the narrative within the locations of the sense.
Yeah, I think we talked a little bit before about how necessities mother of invention.
I mean, the, we have, we brand an unbelievably crazy schedule.
You have a certain number of daylight hours you can shoot outside, right? And in summer your days are really, really long, right?
(31:23):
In winter, especially the farther north you get, the fewer daylight hours you have.
So we shot in like the northwest corner of the US in December, in January.
So when I was putting together the schedule, I'm like, hey, what's this be great?
We'll start at whatever and we'll be done at six o'clock.
Well, the sun goes down at four. Golden hours at like three, three thirty.
(31:45):
So you don't have any time on it. So the answer, I suppose, is we needed Eric wanted a really natural kind of look to it.
And the DP mat loaded a fantastic job of creating a really natural look on it.
We got, we kind of all got lucky because in Washington at that time, it's basically just one big diffusion filter over the entire sky.
(32:09):
The whole time, even in that big, the big, the big tower silo. Yeah, it was, it started snowing halfway through, but it is a big, huge cone up to the sky.
And it's all just a cloud all over it. So the majority of the light on almost all the exterior is literally all natural light.
(32:32):
And there's a couple scenes where Matt would go, I wish we had a little bit more, which we had a little bit, you know, but the, for the most part, any of it that looks really, really good, which is in my estimation, a lot of the film outside is all just natural light up there.
Yeah. I got off an attention. I don't remember the exact thing that you.
(32:54):
Oh, I was just wondering if in the writing process, you had those locations in mind in Washington.
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think Eric for sure did because number one, we had it was cheap. Yeah.
But then there, that town up there where they live is an actual city up on the coast of Washington.
And it's here to see Truman show.
(33:16):
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
That's an actual town in Florida, like an actual like perfect kind of steppered lives, kind of beautiful town.
Well, they took inspiration from that and did the similar thing up in Washington state.
And so it's like, there's like a little, there's like one little church.
There's even a post office. There's like one little coffee shop, a little neapolitan pizza place, a little tiny little school.
(33:39):
Like it's this tiny little town, filipraftsma homes that looks like a, a back like it looks like a set.
Yeah.
And so I think Eric, when he's writing is going, hey, we need it to be kind of a perfect, beautiful town.
Well, here's what all already exists.
And I have, and I can stay there for a few weeks for free.
Like, bam, let's write a, let's write a story, kind of centered around that.
(34:01):
That's perfect.
Yeah.
But then the, the every man mundane is such a, and I'm glad you brought up what Eric said about it because he often says that the story of Saturn is a story of like it's just a normal kind of person.
Yeah.
Yeah, he's a quote unquote Superman, Superman, DD kind of a figure.
But really by the end you learn that it's not just the people who have all these amazing powers that are supposed to do great things.
(34:27):
It's normal people.
It's a regular habit who destroys the ring.
It's a computer programmer who ends up tearing down the matrix.
Like it's just regular guys that do stuff.
And so it's an encouragement for like us.
I mean, I'm not, I'm not super amazing and fantastical.
And you guys seem great, but you're not, you know, like we're not super super rich and whatever.
(34:48):
Well, speaking of that actually, since you did bring up Superman and you know, those sort of guys I for one I really resonated with George, the little kid because that was me and all the child.
Wow.
When I was a child, I used to do, I was obsessed with superheroes.
Yeah.
I was obsessed with having comics.
I'd bring them around everywhere and just talk, not, just not stop about them to the point it didn't all my teachers.
(35:12):
But did comics play a role for you guys when it came to like, did they inspire this sort of story within you that has always find like the stories of like these people with fantastic powers, but see humanity and say, I love you.
I don't want to help you.
Did you guys take inspiration from those because I saw like the super man motif and of course the first thing the mom says to George is a get up master Wayne.
(35:41):
I'm like, hey, that's I know about my reference.
I'm an easy.
Okay, there's two things.
There's the Marvel stuff and then there's a lame is to make sure to talk about both of them.
There's a whole bunch of stuff actually in this script that didn't make it in when he goes into a coffee shop and has an interaction with the breeze with a breeze.
And on the hat, I don't even know if it's in made it in the film, but there's a picture of a big hammer.
(36:07):
Oh, it was a worse me only. So he goes in and she says, Oh, I like your hat and he goes, yeah, my kids obsessed with comic books and so that's.
Thor is a way had to use Thor's hammer because you can say Thor because Thor is the normal property anyway.
And then there's the scene when he goes to the grocery store and the girl behind the grocery store is like, whatever you don't need.
I'm not going to.
(36:28):
Originally in the script she has this monologue about how we're all nothing and everybody's.
She had those vibes. We're nothing but ants. We're nothing but ants and then boom and then they run out and she looks up and her lines is ants man.
Oh, my gosh.
Like stuff like that.
So yeah, that's a that's a really big deal.
(36:49):
But then we also took inspiration from lame is and I'm going to mess the story up because Eric tells it really, really well.
But there's two versions of the lame is there's the movie in the play but then there's the book and at the end of the movie in the play it's beautiful and on the play he gets.
Jean Valjean gets lifted up in this it brought up to heaven is an amazing of course he's an amazing character.
(37:12):
You did so many great things for his humanity.
But in the book it ends really, really different. It ends kind of in this back cemetery out behind Paris somewhere in the last chapter is called.
Where the where the grass covers and the rain blots out and we the entirety of the chapters it's really short but we all we do is go back to the cemetery back behind Paris somewhere to zoom in on this one great I say zoom in it's a book.
(37:39):
Zoom in as one great stone that's been.
And it's been overgrown with grass and the rain is bullotted out anybody's name but underneath the bones of Jean Valjean and it's this beautiful picture of what you were talking about about normal people that don't get any sort of recognition don't get any sort of accolades or anything but their story is still just as important and you can do amazing things make peanut butter sandwiches for your kids show up to your classes like do normal things.
(38:11):
And you can be great beautiful important figures so marvel and lay miss.
Yeah absolutely.
I think I tell it all right Eric tells the story really well.
I think you told it great.
Because even that itself is the center of what makes indie film people that may not really get the recognition they deserve but ultimately play an ultimate piece around everything in the world.
(38:40):
And it's just around everything that art does and changes and the scope and escape of the landscape and it just I think especially with that because we see like the titans of of Hollywood we see like you know you know to caprias we see the Martin Scorsese is and we sometimes I know these two people talk to me about film they say I could I can't be that I'm nothing I can't I don't can't make art but I always think we have every capacity to make art.
(39:09):
And you show that from respect of anyone can make a difference anyone can make the world a better place.
Yeah it's a very beautiful message.
Well thanks yeah and then even if it's not like Saturn's good Saturn is not an interstellar like it but I think you know I guess I'm biased but I think it's a valid piece of art.
Of course it exists forever you know as a piece of art even though it's not you know hundreds of millions of dollars in the budget even though it's but we can still do great things you see the director of an aura I just see his his acceptance speech.
(39:47):
Yes.
I was just talking about the beauty of indie film and how indie filmmakers need to be supported because what they do is important and I don't want to have to put the Bradley Cooper in my movie just to get it made.
You know what I mean just because I want to kind of tell that art and that was important for us to make the film just get it done whatever we got to do we fall don't hit don't hurt the baby because now it's done.
(40:15):
And I get to sit here with you guys and talk about like a movie that I made with my friend from high school.
Exactly I don't ever know we can take that away from you.
If we all disappear today you still have that movie.
Yeah exactly and there's two things that live after you your art and your children.
I think at least I'm a dad so there's the only two things that really truly live on after you is the art you make and the impact you have on other people.
(40:45):
Just like that the metaphor is the art is the baby.
Yeah.
Oh no.
It's like a clue situation where it all comes back together.
That's it that's it.
I'd love to keep talking about like the kind of indie process that you guys are kind of going through.
(41:08):
I assume you guys still have goals for distribution and you know how is that process been so far.
Yeah the when we were making Saturn and you know X number of years ago when I was first getting into the first getting into the business it's you do this you create an indie film and you take it to a film festival.
Yeah and somebody's there and they go buy draw or draw a lot for all my hair.
(41:32):
I'm going to dollars you know what I mean.
Yeah and it's not really how it not anymore.
Yeah.
That is to say I we're still doing the film festival circuit because I again it's indie film I think it's where you go to connect.
It's art people and it's art and there's at least for us we've made some really cool connections.
(41:53):
There's a couple people that are excited about the film that like say they know somebody at somewhere a couple people have come and said they wanted to distribute it and so now we're just kind of getting the word out as much as we can and hoping that somebody sees it and likes it.
That's very exciting.
Yeah the convenient thing for us is that we don't owe anybody any money.
(42:16):
Now if my father laws listen to this that's not true.
You know you let him have money and make but basically everybody who put money into the film either shares one of our last names or is us.
So we made a goal for the film that we want to and it's a bummer that this is what some indie film is relegated to but we wanted this to be a yeah we can do this.
(42:40):
Look at what those kids can do with $250,000.
Yeah.
Why don't we give them a whole bunch of extra money and they can do the next thing.
You know that kind of a deal so if we don't sell it for all for $20 million in a cell for a million dollars we're fine but it will hopefully open doors for us and just kind of give us that experience and connections and stuff to go on and do the next thing.
(43:03):
A domino effect.
Yeah it's a domino effect and it's like a long long road.
I want to make one more film after this and after that I want to make one more.
So yeah so I don't know if you know anybody at Netflix it's buy in movies for all call them.
Yeah we got it.
Yeah I got it.
I got it.
Yeah.
It's called the Canterals.
(43:24):
Yeah I got it.
Is it home up right now?
Jamie Pullella.
We'll give you a credit on that.
I'll take it.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
For sure.
Special thanks.
We're both CSN alums and I'm really happy.
I'm just curious as to how I saw that you had a sociology and journalism background and I'm just really curious as to how you got into doing films
(43:52):
besides like making stuff with your friends is there anything in that pipeline for you?
Yeah I worked for nonprofits in the Valley for a long time.
Again not making really any sort of money but making as good a art as it could.
Like I mentioned the key grip who I know is the Las Vegas local key grip on Saturn Danny.
I met him in an old job and so when I needed a key grip that I knew could hang and daniel more than just a key grip but I brought him up.
(44:22):
We originally worked with Matt the DP on a short commercial that we did for Amazon.
He said Eric and I have known forever all of those connections ended up working really well for Saturn.
The answer I guess to the question is that you don't really know when you have when you're getting leverage you don't know when you're going to use that leverage.
(44:45):
Danny and I had a really good relationship and I needed to keep grip and he said yeah you're a great guy and I'll work with you and we'll come and do it.
I worked with Eric and needed somebody to come on at MU a number of years ago and knew that I was a hard worker and knew that we enjoyed being around each other and so he said hey I got an opportunity.
So there's I got a degree in sociology which does not.
(45:07):
What is that?
What is that supposed to do but you never really know when you're getting.
Yeah you never know when you're getting leverage and connections when you're getting them.
I think 20 years from now, five years from now, you know six months from now I'll need somebody that does XYZ and I'll know that Sydney is a really really good audio producer.
(45:33):
Yeah.
Call and say hey what needs to happen.
So that's so I think the encouragement I guess and this is a not going to even have a podcast is the people that you're around forever.
The people that you're around every single day now can be the people and the equipment and the end up springboarding in 10-15 years.
(45:59):
That's not crazy to think.
Absolutely.
You're not going to like these people forever you're not going to hang out with your friends from high school forever.
Well you actually could especially if you're a good person you treat them.
And I think that there's something about being in the arts and being an artist I think creating and nurturing each other as collaborators and creatives really creates a community especially like here in Vegas where everything is very strongly independent at the moment.
(46:27):
Yeah Vegas is tough because I'm not a local local but I've been here for over a decade.
Vegas is tough at least for me because everybody seems to be trying to get to Friday and Saturday.
Friday and Saturday is the thing that's when everybody on the strip is going to make their money that's when a lot of the hospitality is going to do their thing.
That's when all our friends who are working valet and making six figures are just going to make you know do their deal.
(46:52):
And so to think long term isn't a thing that a lot of people that I run into in this town don't want to do.
If I can get to Friday then I can get those tips and you know what I mean if I can get to the end of the semester then screw all these people I'm going to go down to LA because you know I'm going to get out of this tiny little town.
(47:14):
Like people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in a lifetime.
You know so like to think till the weekend is great awesome but if you can think long term on it.
You can picture and you know people are all that there is.
Yeah, yeah. Douglass is there anywhere we can watch Saturn right now?
(47:35):
Yeah well you're going to give a call to the guy in Netflix.
I'll get in the call. Yeah.
And then it'll be in Netflix.
And then it'll be in Netflix.
We'll give you a percent.
But there's an indie film festival in Vegas called Indie Vegas.
Oh great.
Happening in April and we are on the set on the Sunday night of that.
So we're excited to show it to be up at Redark Riegel which is a great theater.
(47:59):
So we'll be up there check out IndieVegsFromFestival.com.
The schedule should be up pretty soon you can check that out.
Peter Green is a great guy over there.
He's going to help us out.
And then yeah if you head to Saturn movie.com put in your email that's the classic stick.
But if you do we'll give you a really cool behind the scenes like feature at.
That's really cool.
And then keep you updated Instagram all those things.
(48:22):
Yeah.
All those things.
Yeah.
So that's where we're watching.
Amazing.
Thank you so much for your time Douglas.
Absolutely.
Absolutely great having you here.
And I think we all learned a lot.
Yeah.
We did.
We are students.
Yeah right on.
You know so it helps.
And even if you didn't you wouldn't again you wouldn't say you'd be nice.
I would ask about the rings.
(48:43):
That's the last thing I've ever done.
We don't have time for that today so we'll have to go.
Yeah follow up podcast.
Thank you very much.
Thank you guys.
Thank you so much.
And that's it for this week's film department.
We hope you enjoyed today's episode and we'll like subscribe share wherever you're listening
(49:05):
to find podcasts.
If you'd like to read your hosts in depth analysis of this week's film head over to our
sub stack at the film department.
Thank you to the Beverly.
Be sure to check out their latest programming at the Beverly calm including dates and times
for their latest films.
Also just a reminder there is also an Instagram and a letter box now for the film department.
(49:26):
I think you know the apartment letter box check it out.
Check it out.
Absolutely.
Awesome thank you guys.
Thank you.
Yeah thank you.
I'm El and it's great happy guys today.
I'm Annie and I'm Nick Patrick.
Thank you.
Bye guys.
Bye.
Imagine by the Rogers Foundation the Beverly Theatre brings cinematic connectivity, novel
(49:47):
collaborations, live happenings, cultural portals and assessed for independent spirits to
downtown Las Vegas.
With a mission to stage uncommon cinematic, literary and live experiences the Beverly Theatre
is Las Vegas's first and only independent film house storytelling arena and live music venue.
Check out our event calendar at the Beverly Theatre dot com.
(50:10):
(upbeat music)
The Film Department is supported by UNLV Film.
(00:04):
At the Film Department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, every story has a beginning.
With degree programs for undergraduates and graduates, state-of-the-art equipment, facilities,
incredible professional internships around the world, and expert guest speakers,
students discover the power and potential of cinema as they prepare for the film and television industry,
(00:25):
and beyond. Learn more at unlv.edu/film.
UNLV Film. Find your voice.
Tell your story.
Welcome to the Film Department, the movie review podcast of UNLV Film.
(00:49):
This semester we'll be discussing the film screening in our partner movie house,
the Beverly Theatre, Las Vegas' only independent film house and performance venue.
I'm Nick Patrick and I'm joined by...
Annie, third year film major and production designer.
Hi, it's me, it's Elle, screenwriter and a final year fifth year here at UNLV Film.
Also I said third but I'm technically a fourth.
(01:12):
Oh, you like to lie to the entire film department.
On occasion.
Okay, no problem.
It's fine, okay, okay.
We're getting to this week's interview with Douglas Haines, which was absolutely wonderful.
We'd like to talk about the news a little bit, and the biggest headline that I've seen this week is the James Bond Creative Rights.
(01:34):
Yeah, I remember it to MGM Amazon, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson,
who were the producers that held creative rights of the IP for...
Who knows how long, forever, through Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, further back.
They finally, you know, quietly settled the deal where they're giving creative rights over to Amazon MGM,
(01:57):
which has owned the IP as well but hasn't been able to do much with them kind of holding it as well.
So this opens a lot of doors, but maybe also closes some doors.
What do you guys think about this?
Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but Barbara, in particular, was very...
She was holding it back for a really long time, correct?
(02:19):
She holds it very precious.
So that kind of concerns me now, like, is her vision and is her love for it, going to be respected in the hands of something like Amazon.
There's...
Wasn't there talks about a series?
There were talks of a lot of different things that Amazon MGM wanted to do.
There were talks of doing a series, spin-off movies, spin-off series.
(02:44):
At one point, a female bond got brought up and Barbara Broccoli came out and was like, "Bond is not a woman, Bond is a man."
And I think there were even talks of doing an American type series, like, there was a lot.
There was a lot that I believe Amazon MGM wants to milk out of the franchise.
Yeah, that's theification of Bond.
(03:05):
Exactly.
And that's the part that really does scare me the most, I'd say, because so much IPs and so many great films and movies that were made and have these iconic, very amazing, interesting characters, they get turned to a product and verses of story.
(03:28):
And I feel like when there is no story to be told if there is a story to continue, it should be through the lens of it.
It has something to say and has something to do rather than it being for the sake of money.
And I mean, we see this with Star Wars and Lucas Films and how it got owned by Disney.
And while there have been some diamonds in the rough that have gone through, so much of what people felt about the original Star Wars, about how everything went with the merger.
(03:57):
It just doesn't feel right, it just feels like a product and I can't really get behind it.
At least it's been pressfully.
Yeah, I think the franchise is just going to get diluted at this point.
Absolutely.
I mean, what was great about Star Wars films was that you had to wait so long.
It was an event that you had to go to the theater for, but now it's, you've got this series, you've got this series, you've got this spin off, you've got all these spin off movies.
(04:24):
You know, it doesn't feel as special anymore and that's exactly what they're going to do with Bond.
Yeah, and it's a dawn shame.
It's a real shame because it's, you know, bonds iconic.
And I feel like if it is simply just diluted down to just series after series, then it loses its heart.
(04:46):
And I'd hate to see another sort of very iconic movie get stripped of that.
Or we change subject.
What's everyone's favorite Bond movie?
Ooh.
Kissing a rail.
Kissing a rail?
Kissing a rail?
Yeah.
Kissing a rail is a good one.
Should I pick one of the problematic ones?
Yeah, you should.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do it.
Which one?
(05:07):
The one where you...
No, I think, I haven't actually seen a lot of them.
The one where he hates women.
Yeah, the one where he's the one where he hates women.
No, I'm a huge skyfall fan.
Starfall's awesome.
You're not the best song, too.
You took it from me.
I was going to say skyfall.
Which by the way, I think that...
The thing is, it would be the first skyfall or for another one.
(05:31):
But radio-headed something for them.
But they didn't use it.
Oh, yeah.
No, radio-headed did something for them.
I know this because I have it on my playlist.
I'm gonna do that.
Oh, yes, it's out.
Absolutely it is.
I'm checking it out.
But they decided to not do that over another one.
And it's good.
Anything else in the news?
I mean, it is someone who's...
(05:55):
People are talking about it.
The Shrek remake.
We were talking about Shrek before.
It's time to record it.
Yeah, there is a Shrek 5 teaser that is out.
And they've completely refreshed the animation.
And it's very controversial right now with how it looks.
But is it a thing of...
(06:17):
It's ruining our nostalgia?
Or is it a...
Or does it really just look that bad?
I think...
I'm gonna say the former...
Just because relatively people who didn't grow up with Shrek...
They're not gonna know the difference between it.
I mean, it's not in the same case of like...
When the Sonic films start coming out.
Right.
It's nowhere close to it.
(06:38):
It's nowhere close to that at all.
It's just a little watered down if anything.
I would think a little cut back.
But I mean...
I feel like after an upheaval of fans like that...
They might end up adjusting things.
Then adjust it a little bit.
Yeah, absolutely.
But I mean, the animation evolves.
Yeah.
It gets better.
And I mean, if you look back at the first Shrek...
(06:59):
I mean, it looks like a PlayStation 2 video game looks...
Yeah.
Now come here now.
Whoa!
I don't know.
It's charming.
It's charming.
I think it's got great character.
One of my favorite movies is Monster House.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I'm all for terrifying charming animation.
But yeah, I guess in terms of the new Shrek...
(07:21):
I'm just more concerned on...
Is it a stylistic choice or is it something in order to make it easier to continuously animate
over time for the sake of pushing new media out?
I don't know.
We'll see.
Makes me sad.
Makes me sad.
The government of his eyelashes.
Yeah.
Can I burn up one more thing for the news?
Absolutely.
(07:42):
Oscars on Sunday.
The Oscars on Sunday.
What's everybody's picks?
Best picture picks?
You know mine already.
Brutalists?
Of course I'm going to say Brutalist.
But if the nor I get something, I'm also going to be really excited about that.
Yeah.
This is where I become a really bad film major when I say, "I'll just say, "Go team."
Go team!
Go team!
Just a reminder that this is being recorded before the Oscars come out, so please brutally
(08:06):
shame us if we get our predictions wrong.
Go team!
Go team!
Well, I know a Nora's winning best picture and I know I'm right.
No.
Because I just bet $3,000.
You bet $3,000 on it?
I did.
Who did you bet it to?
I can't talk about it.
Because I can't talk about it.
When the Brutalist wins and then you owe me $3,000.
That's okay.
We'll talk about it later.
We should get into our interview.
(08:27):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Can we not go back to the way it was?
(08:51):
Our beautiful life together.
I won't abandon us.
I can fix this.
The planet's certain appearance has baffled scientists and ignited a purioconfew.
It's almost contingent.
(09:16):
People are saying this is the end of the worry.
James.
We can't start panicking.
Take it easy.
What are you going to do?
You'd be all not relented.
That is drawing your earth.
She believes you're saving the shepherds.
But the only one who can stop it.
I won't do that to my family.
This is what you are made for.
Not anymore.
(09:37):
You have to trust me.
Stop it.
God.
What did you want me to do?
I feel like everything is fine.
All the shepherds say have different powers.
None of us are exactly the same.
Do you think when I go up all becomes the hero?
Dude?
That door is an entrance to a warmal.
(10:00):
You have your way out.
Do you like it here?
Be with your family.
Save them while you have a chance.
It's gonna be your new home.
We're running out of time.
What's happening tonight?
I'm scared.
We too.
I'm not let earth fall.
It's hurt!
(10:24):
It's hurt!
It must have something.
Saturn needs to make this choice on his own.
It has to be another way.
Call for Osasal, which meant one thing.
Why not deserve to live?
[music]
(10:49):
Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Douglas Haines, who is a producer, writer and filmmaker in multiple mediums.
We're here to talk about his latest film with Erica Sal, Saturn, which is currently going through the festival circuit.
(11:11):
[music]
Well, Douglas, welcome to the film department.
We're so happy to have you here.
How are you doing?
I'm doing great.
It's great to have you.
We all watched Saturn.
We loved it.
It was fantastic.
You wouldn't even if you didn't know.
You sitting here close to you, you wouldn't say.
(11:33):
I didn't like it.
What would you say?
If I didn't like it?
Because you'd have to say.
Right.
What would you say?
It was great.
I would say.
If you weren't here right now, I would say where were the rings?
Where were the rings?
It was all Saturn, but no rings.
[music]
I was on a podcast once and somebody said,
(11:54):
"You're going to do great at the festival.
You're going to run rings around the other..."
[laughter]
I didn't get it.
So I went, "Yeah, great.
Awesome.
My director had to change her mind."
Yeah.
[laughter]
Well, I would love to kind of jump right into it.
You're the writer and producer of Saturn, which is wonderful in epic film.
(12:17):
You're also currently the COO and senior producer at New Studios.
Could you tell us a little bit of how you got your start in industry,
who you are, and how you got here today?
Yeah, sure.
I work for a company called MuFilms.
We have three different projects.
We have the films that does narrative and documentary feature.
This are Saturn's, our first narrative.
We've got three documentaries, one, two, three documentaries.
(12:41):
I'm also the COO and senior producer at Mu Studios,
which does corporate commercials, animated content, graphic design,
basically whatever creative agency, a creative agency would do for big tech up in the Northwest.
Like Amazon, Microsoft, stuff like that.
And then we have MuKids as well, which is all kids content.
(13:02):
We do books and YouTube videos, apps, stuff like that.
So it's one, two, three.
And that company was started a few years ago by a founder and president,
CEO, the guy who runs the whole thing.
Also the director of Saturn, Eric Esau.
And Eric and I have been friends since seventh grade.
Wow.
(13:23):
We made our first movie together in seventh grade.
We made the movie together because that's what we did in seventh grade.
We had like a tiny little JVC candy can.
What was it about?
It was called the Lost Ball of Hank Woe.
And I couldn't tell you what it was about.
After we were done with it, we didn't really know what it was about,
but it's great and we watched it again with fond memories.
But Eric and I hung out on that Saturday.
(13:46):
We have a group of like eight guys that used to always hang out together in high school
and middle school and high school.
And nobody else could hang out except for me and Eric on that day.
So it was the first time that he and I hung out.
We were always friends with everybody in a group,
but not really just me and him, you know what I mean?
One of those.
So it was like, "Oh well, we can't say, "No, I don't want to hang out with just you
because there's never done that before."
(14:08):
So we hung out and we made the Lost Ball and the rest is history, as they say.
Wow, that's very amazing.
Somebody complicate, "Yeah, that's grabbing that sort of rich history
and being able to trust somebody with your ideas."
Yeah, it was a cool thing.
Saturn was a cool deal because we had a number of different people
that had been in the group for a while from different...
(14:29):
In any films, you got to call in all the favors you've got.
And so one of the guys who did additional editing on the film
and was also like a B-camera operator was one of those eight guys.
The key grip is actually a local de Vegas named Danny Salazar
with reveal motion pictures and he came up.
We shot in Seattle, he came up and shot with us.
And then the gaffer was his buddy from when he lived in LA
(14:52):
and the DP is actually one of my best friends up in Seattle.
It just had to be that kind of a thing.
Yeah.
Because that's what any films all about.
Yeah, you have to.
I mean, that's how it feels here, you know, at UNOV.
Yeah.
We're calling people in from California.
We're calling people in from CSN.
You know, you just, you have to do what it takes to make the film.
(15:14):
Everybody's first lead actor is like their brother.
Yeah.
Everybody's first editors like their nephew or, you know what I mean?
It's just like how it has to be that authentic history kind of a deal.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
For sure.
So that's who I am.
I'm not the writer on Saturn.
Eric is the principal writer and then Anna as well as the co-writer.
(15:35):
And they were gracious enough to give me a writing credit.
But yeah, just it was a producer.
The first day to eat the location manager, the line producer.
I'm crazy.
I, again, I noticed that in the credits, how did you not lose your mind?
Yeah, no, for sure, kid.
I realized that I had some sort of anxiety about three weeks into it.
(15:57):
When we knew we weren't going to make it and we had to come back a little bit later.
But yeah, it's, it's the whole thing.
We're in a whole bunch of hats.
How did you navigate balancing all of those roles out?
Yeah, that's a tough deal because as the producer, you're supposed to be the guy that doesn't want to spend money, right?
We got to know, no, you can't have an extra half day.
No, we're not going to pay the actor an extra little bit.
(16:19):
We're not going to, but then I'm also the first AD, who's the guy who's supposed to advocate for the crew of, hey, we need an extra half day.
Hey, we need to pay for this.
Hey, we need, and so the first AD would typically come to a line producer like that and go, hey, need more money.
And the guy would say, no, you know what I mean?
And so I'm in a conflict.
Exactly because I'm going to the mirror.
(16:40):
Exactly, I'm going to the mirror and going, hey, I don't, I don't have any time to do this.
Well, but we need the time and just trying to figure out that whole part is really good.
What do you think the strengths are in that, in balancing being a producer and like, first AD on a project?
If there are any.
No, for sure.
I think being intimately aware of the whole project was one of our great strengths on the whole thing.
(17:03):
I mean, you get the writer, director, Eric was the producer as well.
Anna was the writer, producer, production designer.
I was writer, producer, first AD.
You know what I mean?
Eric edited the film, having your hands in every portion of it and being like super intimately aware of the whole thing.
I think that's a really big deal.
Yeah.
(17:24):
I heard that I was in yearbook class in high school and my yearbook, each year Missie Azale said that running a yearbook, and this is like a film too.
If you're carrying a baby and you fall down, it's never the baby gets hurt, it's you that gets hurt, and she equated that to your book.
So that was kind of, but that's how it felt with the film.
We just knew that stuff was going to happen.
If we fall down, it's not the project that gets hurt, it's us.
(17:46):
And like, being involved in every aspect of that means that we're able to kind of do that for the schedule and then also do that for the budget.
You know what I mean?
And like, do that for the character and all that.
And you mentioned you had to take a step back too and come back to it.
Yeah, correct.
We had to take a step back, that's a schedule.
Boom, look at that.
We're dovetailing into the next minute.
(18:08):
We shot Saturn over the course of four weeks, ish, four weeks in a prep, up on the coast of Washington State.
I don't know where, beautiful spot up there.
But we shot it at the beginning of 2020. And right at the end of January 2020, we thought, hey, we're not going to get everything.
(18:29):
We got pelted by weather, rain, sleep, hurricane grade winds.
There was a tornado that touched down the next one over it was sub-zero temperatures.
It was like a whole thing, right?
Everything that could go wrong with the weather went wrong.
And so we're like, hey, we'll come back a couple weeks.
No big deal.
We'll just get a couple pickups.
Well, that was February 2020, right before.
And so it ended up being a big deal.
(18:51):
I don't know if you remember.
But it ended up being a really big deal.
And so we had to come back, this is what I was saying, had to come step away from it.
We had to come back three months later in July of 2020.
Yeah.
And come back and shoot, like, right in the middle of COVID.
Wow.
Yeah, the whole deal.
We were the first SAG union show to go back in Washington State.
(19:14):
And we created, they had a whole bunch of rules and nobody knew what was going on.
I won't go on the record saying that SAG doesn't know what's going on.
And they probably chopped that all together real quick too.
They chopped it all together and they chopped it together in at least in Washington State
with some of the stuff that we created, with some of the workflows and frameworks and checklists and stuff that we created.
Because we were like, hey, we've got to do this.
(19:36):
Yeah.
And once you're done, like, hey, do you mind sending over that word doc that we can use in our stuff?
Or the way, so it ended up being a whole thing.
But again, it's indie film and you've got to make it happen if you fall, maybe it doesn't get hurt.
And so we went out there and a hundred degree plus temperatures.
We're all out in the middle of nowhere.
When they come through the door, the other world, that's an actual place.
(20:00):
It wasn't green screen, no green screen on that.
But we all, you look at the BTS photos and we all have mass.
I had so much fun looking at the BTS photos on the website.
And that was one of my favorite things about the little and no where we have a mask on.
I know.
I love BTS too and it's a bummer that we have all the masks on.
I know.
Which is, yeah, whatever.
So there was no rap party.
(20:21):
So there was no rap party.
Yeah, so there was no rap party.
We did a friends and family showing in Seattle at the Egyptian theater in Seattle.
That was super cool.
And then we did a friend's and family showing up north up at Red Rock.
Wow.
Just a little bit ago.
But that was, that was it.
That was it.
We all went out to dinner afterwards, but yeah, stayed still intimate with everyone.
(20:42):
Yeah, yeah, try to.
Yeah, you know, when it speaks about like, you know, you go in the middle of nowhere and such.
And I feel like the transitions from the beach over to that felt so seamless.
And the SFX within the movie of our Fantastic, how do you sort of go about that sort of budget?
When you have blockbuster films out there that are having like multiple millions of dollars going into,
(21:08):
where with big budgets, how do you deal with like high concept sci-fi films and balance, like, keeping it on good books for you?
Yeah, yeah.
That's a, that's a great, that's a fantastic question.
Two things for it.
We all just talked about being involved in every part of it.
So Eric knew when he was coming up with the whole thing that this he wanted to do, kind of in the vein of like an interstellar,
(21:30):
and Nolan, kind of really cerebral kind of emotional sci-fi.
And so, but he, this would all be self-funded, the whole thing would be self-funded.
The production budget was like quarter million dollars, like, it wasn't a whole bunch of money,
it was all our money that we made from making videos for Amazon and Microsoft.
And so from the very beginning, Eric gets to go, "Okay, I'm going to build this world, but I'm going to build it in such a way that I know,
(21:51):
because he's the CEO of the company, he knows how much money we have to spend on this whole thing,
I know that when we get to the end, I want it to look great, but I'm going to write it slightly smaller,
because he knows the limitations of production while he's in production, while he's in development on the whole thing.
So his family, his parents had a vacation house out in this city that we shot in, and he goes, "Hey, why don't we set it there,
(22:15):
because my dad will let me stay there for free?"
Boom.
Why don't we make it a really small cast, because we don't have a casting director right now,
we ended up getting a really great casting director in Jamie Gallagher.
We don't have that now, but I don't want to pay a whole bunch of money for people, so let's make it really small.
Let's make what we can at the very beginning, because I know what I'm going to do at the end.
So that's like-
Start of like writing within the parameters, so I'm right back for yourself.
(22:38):
I feel like that's such a strength in being the writers, producers, directors, the full collaboration,
you're like creating it based on what you already have available to you.
Yeah, I had a teacher once to say that necessity is the mother of invention.
Like, if you put yourself in a box, then you have to like figure it all out.
God, I'm telling so many random stories, but Jack White, at least hearing of the White Stripes,
(23:01):
he used to say-
Hey, Jack White.
He used to say that if he knew that he had a guitar solo coming up,
and he had four beats to get to his guitar on the other side of the stage,
he was put his guitar so far away that it took him five beats to get there,
so that he would have to go really, really hard.
Wow.
He couldn't just like, phone it in.
So you make yourself those parameters, and then you just have to, again, like we said, rise to the occasion.
(23:25):
Yeah, you put yourself a little bit of pressure, but then you rise to the occasion?
A pressure makes diamonds.
Yeah, exactly.
It makes it like cool and interesting the way I said it like that.
But really, it's just like, I don't know, we don't have a whole bunch of money, so we'll make it kind of small.
But then the other deal is, a lot of people I worked with don't care about other people
when they're creating projects like this.
And since Eric and I have known each other forever, and Eric and Anna are married, and the DP is one of my best friends.
(23:52):
And like all of this, we wanted to treat people really, really well,
and they ended up being people worked really, really hard for us because we tried to treat them well, and we were honest.
You know what I mean?
I didn't try to pull a whole bunch of crap over on them, and not pam, and what they were worth, and whatever.
But so we ended up working with a really great VFX supervisor, and Chris Wells, and he had just been out of the studio system.
(24:17):
Like he worked on like Captain America Avengers, did a whole bunch of like really, really cool stuff, really legit, I'm DB.
He just connected with us, and he liked us, and we liked him, and so he goes, "Hey, I want to get out of this whole rat race.
I want to help people out."
So he just ended up doing the majority of the VFX from like his wood shop in the back of his house.
You know what I mean? Because it took longer than he would have liked, and we would have liked, but we tried to connect with him, and treat him well, and pay him on time, and those basic, stupid, basic things.
(24:51):
I think a lot of productions could take some notes.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, it's tough, but then, again, it's tough with any film, you don't have all that much money, it's all our money.
We didn't pay people a whole bunch, we like it, but we paid them.
And at the end, when we were done, I had checks to give them, and as much as we could, we tried to take a full hour for lunch, and we messed it up a thousand times, and anybody listening, my gaffer is going to listen, and go, "Hey, they didn't do it professionally, and blah, blah."
(25:19):
I'm, you know, not the gaffer.
Didn't start lunch right when everybody got--
Yeah, somebody got--
Not everybody got, but somebody's going to say that, but like, we really, really tried, and we were honest about it.
The first day, the first day, the first day, right when we were starting, everybody was like, rolling in five minutes, like, we were supposed to start at nine, everybody was kind of just rolling in right around at nine.
(25:43):
And instead of getting up and going, "Hey, we're trying to, how come you, Eric and I got up and were like, "Hey guys, no big deal, but this is like our dream."
Like, to make a feature film on location with our buddies is our dream, so like, if you could help us out and show up on time--
You'll tell me a little bit.
It'd be a really big deal.
(26:04):
Like, but we meant to, like, super honestly, like, you could have totally, like, you know, we meant to really earnestly because it was, and then somebody came up to me afterwards and like, "Hey, thanks for saying that."
You know, because, I mean, we really, really, really felt--
You know what I mean? It was, so--
You got to preserve and protect your guys' dream. That is what I think is very important in all of that, because, you know, you guys are out doing something that you guys really much connect with.
(26:31):
And you find artistry in, and, you know, it's not like big polywoods and such. It's just you guys together.
And, you know, I think when I watched it, I was very enamored by a lot of the, like, stylistic choices that you guys have made from the film, yeah.
And one in particular that really got me was the first beginning shot being on the beach. And it has that blue look to it, and he's running.
(26:57):
And for me, it looked like he was running on the alien planet.
And it felt like that. And given the premise that, you know, this planet comes into earth, sure of it, was that ever done with intention?
Like, I've noticed a lot about the beach motif as well as the water motif from the film.
Was there, like, this intention going into with, like, bringing that as a part of an element to showcase?
Yeah, for sure. I think there was a real big deal on I, the guy who wrote the check into the schedule. And so other people talked about it way better than I would.
(27:25):
But I know there's definitely at least colorizers, different looks between our world and kind of the other world. There's a lot, it's a lot warmer, a lot more kind of perfect.
It feels like a balmy 73 degrees at all times on that world.
But then, yeah, the, the, the hope for the opening kind of shot sequence is, yeah, it's cold and it kind of sets up, kind of sets a stylistic mood really, really specifically.
(27:53):
But it was supposed to feel, this was Eric's intention from the very beginning, I think you did a really good job, is that it should feel kind of like a perfect town.
And so I'm not really answering your question, but going into this town is kind of like this borderline rock, Norman Rockwell kind of perfect.
Everything is great. So every shot in the morning is just like beautiful golden hour. He walks in and there's a beautiful spread of pancakes and coffee and like he's opening the picket fence into like this beautiful craftsman home and his wife is happy. And she's got, you know what I mean?
(28:28):
Like his kid is perfect. And so there's this perfect, beautiful family.
This is a beautiful family. This got this slowly kinds of fall kind of falls apart. And it's so cool seeing like when you start to see like the pills kind of start to come play.
You see, you see like the dirtiness behind the fence.
Yeah, it's very blue velvet to me. I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know.
(28:49):
Just like the contrast between like this perfect, beautiful like suburban.
Yeah.
And then seeing all of the sorry, I mean, I don't know what it's like, blue velvet.
But yeah, like just similar in concept, I guess. But anyway, sorry.
I think bringing it to that sort of location where it's this idealistic town, basic concept of like, you know, just American town and having to see these characters go through that struggle and seeing their own more outies be test and pushed.
(29:20):
And really does bring this show of like finding blue grime underneath the perfection.
When things may look clean, but it won't see the black light over the surface. You see all the germs.
Yeah.
So I always, I think that's rather clever.
Yeah, thanks. Yeah, I was supposed to like pretty quickly or pretty steadily fall apart.
Yeah.
Not just like, oh no, there's a planet in the sky and the world potentially could come to the end, but just like this perfect family that I have is falling apart and my wife is relapsing and the house gets a little dirtier.
(29:52):
And her clothes and the boys clothes get a little bit less matchy and you know, like her makeup gets her makeup got a little bit less done up a little bit more.
And then, like, Haggard is in the right word looking, but like, shevelled, disheveled is the perfect word for him.
That part is falling apart. This perfect life that he has is kind of falling apart.
(30:13):
Not just the world could potentially blow up, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
One thing I noticed in your on the website for Saturn in Eric's little description.
He had said that like, you, the point was to identify with the everyday and the characters through this like otherworldly experience.
(30:34):
And I think it's just a really interesting concept in like finding the otherworldly in the mundane throughout it.
And I'm really curious as to like how that narrative plays into Washington and like the landscapes and the locations that you had chosen as a team.
Because I feel like within writing within your parameters, you have all of this beautiful landscape that you can work with to create something that is like a very otherworldly thing.
(31:00):
But finding that mundane and that I'm curious how you, how you found the narrative within the locations of the sense.
Yeah, I think we talked a little bit before about how necessities mother of invention.
I mean, the, we have, we brand an unbelievably crazy schedule.
You have a certain number of daylight hours you can shoot outside, right? And in summer your days are really, really long, right?
(31:23):
In winter, especially the farther north you get, the fewer daylight hours you have.
So we shot in like the northwest corner of the US in December, in January.
So when I was putting together the schedule, I'm like, hey, what's this be great?
We'll start at whatever and we'll be done at six o'clock.
Well, the sun goes down at four. Golden hours at like three, three thirty.
(31:45):
So you don't have any time on it. So the answer, I suppose, is we needed Eric wanted a really natural kind of look to it.
And the DP mat loaded a fantastic job of creating a really natural look on it.
We got, we kind of all got lucky because in Washington at that time, it's basically just one big diffusion filter over the entire sky.
(32:09):
The whole time, even in that big, the big, the big tower silo. Yeah, it was, it started snowing halfway through, but it is a big, huge cone up to the sky.
And it's all just a cloud all over it. So the majority of the light on almost all the exterior is literally all natural light.
(32:32):
And there's a couple scenes where Matt would go, I wish we had a little bit more, which we had a little bit, you know, but the, for the most part, any of it that looks really, really good, which is in my estimation, a lot of the film outside is all just natural light up there.
Yeah. I got off an attention. I don't remember the exact thing that you.
(32:54):
Oh, I was just wondering if in the writing process, you had those locations in mind in Washington.
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think Eric for sure did because number one, we had it was cheap. Yeah.
But then there, that town up there where they live is an actual city up on the coast of Washington.
And it's here to see Truman show.
(33:16):
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
That's an actual town in Florida, like an actual like perfect kind of steppered lives, kind of beautiful town.
Well, they took inspiration from that and did the similar thing up in Washington state.
And so it's like, there's like a little, there's like one little church.
There's even a post office. There's like one little coffee shop, a little neapolitan pizza place, a little tiny little school.
(33:39):
Like it's this tiny little town, filipraftsma homes that looks like a, a back like it looks like a set.
Yeah.
And so I think Eric, when he's writing is going, hey, we need it to be kind of a perfect, beautiful town.
Well, here's what all already exists.
And I have, and I can stay there for a few weeks for free.
Like, bam, let's write a, let's write a story, kind of centered around that.
(34:01):
That's perfect.
Yeah.
But then the, the every man mundane is such a, and I'm glad you brought up what Eric said about it because he often says that the story of Saturn is a story of like it's just a normal kind of person.
Yeah.
Yeah, he's a quote unquote Superman, Superman, DD kind of a figure.
But really by the end you learn that it's not just the people who have all these amazing powers that are supposed to do great things.
(34:27):
It's normal people.
It's a regular habit who destroys the ring.
It's a computer programmer who ends up tearing down the matrix.
Like it's just regular guys that do stuff.
And so it's an encouragement for like us.
I mean, I'm not, I'm not super amazing and fantastical.
And you guys seem great, but you're not, you know, like we're not super super rich and whatever.
(34:48):
Well, speaking of that actually, since you did bring up Superman and you know, those sort of guys I for one I really resonated with George, the little kid because that was me and all the child.
Wow.
When I was a child, I used to do, I was obsessed with superheroes.
Yeah.
I was obsessed with having comics.
I'd bring them around everywhere and just talk, not, just not stop about them to the point it didn't all my teachers.
(35:12):
But did comics play a role for you guys when it came to like, did they inspire this sort of story within you that has always find like the stories of like these people with fantastic powers, but see humanity and say, I love you.
I don't want to help you.
Did you guys take inspiration from those because I saw like the super man motif and of course the first thing the mom says to George is a get up master Wayne.
(35:41):
I'm like, hey, that's I know about my reference.
I'm an easy.
Okay, there's two things.
There's the Marvel stuff and then there's a lame is to make sure to talk about both of them.
There's a whole bunch of stuff actually in this script that didn't make it in when he goes into a coffee shop and has an interaction with the breeze with a breeze.
And on the hat, I don't even know if it's in made it in the film, but there's a picture of a big hammer.
(36:07):
Oh, it was a worse me only. So he goes in and she says, Oh, I like your hat and he goes, yeah, my kids obsessed with comic books and so that's.
Thor is a way had to use Thor's hammer because you can say Thor because Thor is the normal property anyway.
And then there's the scene when he goes to the grocery store and the girl behind the grocery store is like, whatever you don't need.
I'm not going to.
(36:28):
Originally in the script she has this monologue about how we're all nothing and everybody's.
She had those vibes. We're nothing but ants. We're nothing but ants and then boom and then they run out and she looks up and her lines is ants man.
Oh, my gosh.
Like stuff like that.
So yeah, that's a that's a really big deal.
(36:49):
But then we also took inspiration from lame is and I'm going to mess the story up because Eric tells it really, really well.
But there's two versions of the lame is there's the movie in the play but then there's the book and at the end of the movie in the play it's beautiful and on the play he gets.
Jean Valjean gets lifted up in this it brought up to heaven is an amazing of course he's an amazing character.
(37:12):
You did so many great things for his humanity.
But in the book it ends really, really different. It ends kind of in this back cemetery out behind Paris somewhere in the last chapter is called.
Where the where the grass covers and the rain blots out and we the entirety of the chapters it's really short but we all we do is go back to the cemetery back behind Paris somewhere to zoom in on this one great I say zoom in it's a book.
(37:39):
Zoom in as one great stone that's been.
And it's been overgrown with grass and the rain is bullotted out anybody's name but underneath the bones of Jean Valjean and it's this beautiful picture of what you were talking about about normal people that don't get any sort of recognition don't get any sort of accolades or anything but their story is still just as important and you can do amazing things make peanut butter sandwiches for your kids show up to your classes like do normal things.
(38:11):
And you can be great beautiful important figures so marvel and lay miss.
Yeah absolutely.
I think I tell it all right Eric tells the story really well.
I think you told it great.
Because even that itself is the center of what makes indie film people that may not really get the recognition they deserve but ultimately play an ultimate piece around everything in the world.
(38:40):
And it's just around everything that art does and changes and the scope and escape of the landscape and it just I think especially with that because we see like the titans of of Hollywood we see like you know you know to caprias we see the Martin Scorsese is and we sometimes I know these two people talk to me about film they say I could I can't be that I'm nothing I can't I don't can't make art but I always think we have every capacity to make art.
(39:09):
And you show that from respect of anyone can make a difference anyone can make the world a better place.
Yeah it's a very beautiful message.
Well thanks yeah and then even if it's not like Saturn's good Saturn is not an interstellar like it but I think you know I guess I'm biased but I think it's a valid piece of art.
Of course it exists forever you know as a piece of art even though it's not you know hundreds of millions of dollars in the budget even though it's but we can still do great things you see the director of an aura I just see his his acceptance speech.
(39:47):
Yes.
I was just talking about the beauty of indie film and how indie filmmakers need to be supported because what they do is important and I don't want to have to put the Bradley Cooper in my movie just to get it made.
You know what I mean just because I want to kind of tell that art and that was important for us to make the film just get it done whatever we got to do we fall don't hit don't hurt the baby because now it's done.
(40:15):
And I get to sit here with you guys and talk about like a movie that I made with my friend from high school.
Exactly I don't ever know we can take that away from you.
If we all disappear today you still have that movie.
Yeah exactly and there's two things that live after you your art and your children.
I think at least I'm a dad so there's the only two things that really truly live on after you is the art you make and the impact you have on other people.
(40:45):
Just like that the metaphor is the art is the baby.
Yeah.
Oh no.
It's like a clue situation where it all comes back together.
That's it that's it.
I'd love to keep talking about like the kind of indie process that you guys are kind of going through.
(41:08):
I assume you guys still have goals for distribution and you know how is that process been so far.
Yeah the when we were making Saturn and you know X number of years ago when I was first getting into the first getting into the business it's you do this you create an indie film and you take it to a film festival.
Yeah and somebody's there and they go buy draw or draw a lot for all my hair.
(41:32):
I'm going to dollars you know what I mean.
Yeah and it's not really how it not anymore.
Yeah.
That is to say I we're still doing the film festival circuit because I again it's indie film I think it's where you go to connect.
It's art people and it's art and there's at least for us we've made some really cool connections.
(41:53):
There's a couple people that are excited about the film that like say they know somebody at somewhere a couple people have come and said they wanted to distribute it and so now we're just kind of getting the word out as much as we can and hoping that somebody sees it and likes it.
That's very exciting.
Yeah the convenient thing for us is that we don't owe anybody any money.
(42:16):
Now if my father laws listen to this that's not true.
You know you let him have money and make but basically everybody who put money into the film either shares one of our last names or is us.
So we made a goal for the film that we want to and it's a bummer that this is what some indie film is relegated to but we wanted this to be a yeah we can do this.
(42:40):
Look at what those kids can do with $250,000.
Yeah.
Why don't we give them a whole bunch of extra money and they can do the next thing.
You know that kind of a deal so if we don't sell it for all for $20 million in a cell for a million dollars we're fine but it will hopefully open doors for us and just kind of give us that experience and connections and stuff to go on and do the next thing.
(43:03):
A domino effect.
Yeah it's a domino effect and it's like a long long road.
I want to make one more film after this and after that I want to make one more.
So yeah so I don't know if you know anybody at Netflix it's buy in movies for all call them.
Yeah we got it.
Yeah I got it.
I got it.
Yeah.
It's called the Canterals.
(43:24):
Yeah I got it.
Is it home up right now?
Jamie Pullella.
We'll give you a credit on that.
I'll take it.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
For sure.
Special thanks.
We're both CSN alums and I'm really happy.
I'm just curious as to how I saw that you had a sociology and journalism background and I'm just really curious as to how you got into doing films
(43:52):
besides like making stuff with your friends is there anything in that pipeline for you?
Yeah I worked for nonprofits in the Valley for a long time.
Again not making really any sort of money but making as good a art as it could.
Like I mentioned the key grip who I know is the Las Vegas local key grip on Saturn Danny.
I met him in an old job and so when I needed a key grip that I knew could hang and daniel more than just a key grip but I brought him up.
(44:22):
We originally worked with Matt the DP on a short commercial that we did for Amazon.
He said Eric and I have known forever all of those connections ended up working really well for Saturn.
The answer I guess to the question is that you don't really know when you have when you're getting leverage you don't know when you're going to use that leverage.
(44:45):
Danny and I had a really good relationship and I needed to keep grip and he said yeah you're a great guy and I'll work with you and we'll come and do it.
I worked with Eric and needed somebody to come on at MU a number of years ago and knew that I was a hard worker and knew that we enjoyed being around each other and so he said hey I got an opportunity.
So there's I got a degree in sociology which does not.
(45:07):
What is that?
What is that supposed to do but you never really know when you're getting.
Yeah you never know when you're getting leverage and connections when you're getting them.
I think 20 years from now, five years from now, you know six months from now I'll need somebody that does XYZ and I'll know that Sydney is a really really good audio producer.
(45:33):
Yeah.
Call and say hey what needs to happen.
So that's so I think the encouragement I guess and this is a not going to even have a podcast is the people that you're around forever.
The people that you're around every single day now can be the people and the equipment and the end up springboarding in 10-15 years.
(45:59):
That's not crazy to think.
Absolutely.
You're not going to like these people forever you're not going to hang out with your friends from high school forever.
Well you actually could especially if you're a good person you treat them.
And I think that there's something about being in the arts and being an artist I think creating and nurturing each other as collaborators and creatives really creates a community especially like here in Vegas where everything is very strongly independent at the moment.
(46:27):
Yeah Vegas is tough because I'm not a local local but I've been here for over a decade.
Vegas is tough at least for me because everybody seems to be trying to get to Friday and Saturday.
Friday and Saturday is the thing that's when everybody on the strip is going to make their money that's when a lot of the hospitality is going to do their thing.
That's when all our friends who are working valet and making six figures are just going to make you know do their deal.
(46:52):
And so to think long term isn't a thing that a lot of people that I run into in this town don't want to do.
If I can get to Friday then I can get those tips and you know what I mean if I can get to the end of the semester then screw all these people I'm going to go down to LA because you know I'm going to get out of this tiny little town.
(47:14):
Like people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in a lifetime.
You know so like to think till the weekend is great awesome but if you can think long term on it.
You can picture and you know people are all that there is.
Yeah, yeah. Douglass is there anywhere we can watch Saturn right now?
(47:35):
Yeah well you're going to give a call to the guy in Netflix.
I'll get in the call. Yeah.
And then it'll be in Netflix.
And then it'll be in Netflix.
We'll give you a percent.
But there's an indie film festival in Vegas called Indie Vegas.
Oh great.
Happening in April and we are on the set on the Sunday night of that.
So we're excited to show it to be up at Redark Riegel which is a great theater.
(47:59):
So we'll be up there check out IndieVegsFromFestival.com.
The schedule should be up pretty soon you can check that out.
Peter Green is a great guy over there.
He's going to help us out.
And then yeah if you head to Saturn movie.com put in your email that's the classic stick.
But if you do we'll give you a really cool behind the scenes like feature at.
That's really cool.
And then keep you updated Instagram all those things.
(48:22):
Yeah.
All those things.
Yeah.
So that's where we're watching.
Amazing.
Thank you so much for your time Douglas.
Absolutely.
Absolutely great having you here.
And I think we all learned a lot.
Yeah.
We did.
We are students.
Yeah right on.
You know so it helps.
And even if you didn't you wouldn't again you wouldn't say you'd be nice.
I would ask about the rings.
(48:43):
That's the last thing I've ever done.
We don't have time for that today so we'll have to go.
Yeah follow up podcast.
Thank you very much.
Thank you guys.
Thank you so much.
And that's it for this week's film department.
We hope you enjoyed today's episode and we'll like subscribe share wherever you're listening
(49:05):
to find podcasts.
If you'd like to read your hosts in depth analysis of this week's film head over to our
sub stack at the film department.
Thank you to the Beverly.
Be sure to check out their latest programming at the Beverly calm including dates and times
for their latest films.
Also just a reminder there is also an Instagram and a letter box now for the film department.
(49:26):
I think you know the apartment letter box check it out.
Check it out.
Absolutely.
Awesome thank you guys.
Thank you.
Yeah thank you.
I'm El and it's great happy guys today.
I'm Annie and I'm Nick Patrick.
Thank you.
Bye guys.
Bye.
Imagine by the Rogers Foundation the Beverly Theatre brings cinematic connectivity, novel
(49:47):
collaborations, live happenings, cultural portals and assessed for independent spirits to
downtown Las Vegas.
With a mission to stage uncommon cinematic, literary and live experiences the Beverly Theatre
is Las Vegas's first and only independent film house storytelling arena and live music venue.
Check out our event calendar at the Beverly Theatre dot com.
(50:10):
(upbeat music)
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!