October 7, 2025 • 30 mins
Crispin Hellion Glover discusses his long-awaited directorial effort, No! YOU’RE WRONG. or: Spooky Action at a Distance. Nearly a decade in the making, the surreal 35mm odyssey stars both Crispin and his father, Bruce Glover, in multiple roles that span generations, myth, and madness.
Shot primarily on sets built in Glover’s Czech stables, the film weaves together science, symbolism, and the uncanny in only the way he can—part family drama, part metaphysical riddle, all unmistakably Glover.
Mike digs deep with the actor-filmmaker about the project’s long evolution, his singular touring approach that blends live performance and cinema.
Find out more at: https://crispinglover.com/slideshow.html
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth
Shot primarily on sets built in Glover’s Czech stables, the film weaves together science, symbolism, and the uncanny in only the way he can—part family drama, part metaphysical riddle, all unmistakably Glover.
Mike digs deep with the actor-filmmaker about the project’s long evolution, his singular touring approach that blends live performance and cinema.
Find out more at: https://crispinglover.com/slideshow.html
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Projection Booth podcast is sponsored by Scarecrow Video. Try
out scarecrows rent by mail service. Choose from over one
hundred and fifty thousand films and get blu rays, four
ks and DVD's delivered directly to your door. Visit scarecrow
dot com today.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Oh gez, folks, it's showtime.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
People say good mighty to see this movie. When they
go out to a theater, they want clod sodas, hot popcorn,
and no monsters in the Projection Booth.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring, cut.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
It off us anything anything.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Say Hey, folks, welcome to a special episode of The
(04:13):
Projection Booth.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I'm your host, Mike White. On this episode, I am
talking with Crispin Heley and Glover all about his new
film and I better make sure that I get this
title right No You're wrong or Spooky Action at a Distance.
It is his latest directorial effort which stars him as
well as his late father, Bruce Glover, and it is
(04:37):
going to be touring around the country starting October two
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Be
sure to check out his website Crispinheleyanglover dot com for
more details and where you can see the film. Hopefully
it will play around you, as he does not release
his movies on DVD, Blu ray vhs, So if you're
(04:59):
still waiting for what is it? And everything is fine,
keep waiting. It's not coming out anytime soon. So maybe
one of these days for a Moodie May we'll talk
about one of his two other directorial films. But in
the meantime, hopefully you'll be able to catch no, You're
(05:19):
wrong or spooky action from a distance. Thank you so
much for listening, and I hope you enjoyed the interview.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
Mister Glovery. Thank you so much for your time today.
I really appreciate this.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
Yes, well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it
as well. Yeah, we did an email interview, gosh, probably
back in twenty eleven, so oh good, Okay, nice to
actually be able to speak with you and via this medium. Yeah, well,
zoom has really become a fascinating thing. What was the
interview for, obviously I assumed for one of my films
(05:50):
when I was touring by email.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
Well, it was for a magazine that I used to
do called Cashrew's Decinemark had about ten questions for you,
and yeah, you zipped those answers off over to me
via email, So I really appreciated that.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
I remember, Yeah, it was for my film for both
of what Is It? And Everything? That's Fine. In twenty eleven,
you say, yeah, some both films. Yeah, oh great? Were
you Did you get to see the films? Did you
get to see the show?
Speaker 5 (06:17):
No, I still haven't. I don't know if you've done Detroit.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
Yeah. I did Detroit. But it was an interesting thing.
It was a group that were real cinephile types and
they had set up projectors in is I believe it
was an old high school auditorium that somehow had been
repurposed and they had their projector. It was really interesting
(06:42):
and there was an interesting art scene, you know, because Detroit,
of course had great structures and then had an economic collapse.
But I could see that there are artistic types that
were coming in and doing things. And it was actually
a very interesting screening. Was in high tech, but I
liked that it was passionate about film. I think that
(07:06):
was the only time I showed in Detroit, and it
was a good show. I liked it.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
I know we used to have screenings in an old
high school auditorium, and it was through a group called that.
Eventually they were called Cinema Detroit, but it might have
been something else.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
At the time.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Well, I'm excited that you have a new film coming out.
Can you tell me a little bit more about the
making of that and how that came to be. Well,
I've been making it. I've been working on it for
many years, a long time. I bought my property in
the Czech Republic in two thousand and three. My first
two films were shot on well, particularly the second one
(07:42):
was entirely.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
Shot on sets. But I shot my first film one
is that on both locations and sets that were built,
and the second film was entirely shot on sets, and
I prefer I like working on sets for a lot
of different reasons post a location work. The sets that
we had built for the second film unfortunately had to
(08:09):
be destroyed fairly shortly after we shot. I was hoping
that they could be re utilized for something. But I
realized if I planned to continue shooting on sets because
I paid for the sets, that really I needed to
own the property where the sets would be built. And
(08:29):
so I started looking for something and sort of an
involved story but it ended up being that the Czech
Republic was good place to buy a large property that
had structures that I actually bought it in a couple
of different stages, but I knew that the structures could
(08:50):
be attained, which were former corner stables slash farm buildings
for a chateau that had built it's been reconstructed in
the sixteen hundreds, and so when we shot it, we
shot the calfs and crew stayed in the chateau, which
has multiple many bedrooms and bathrooms, and then we would
(09:15):
walk next door and shoot in the sets that I
had built in. It's about eighteen thousand square feet of
what were these buildings not made for that purpose recently
and now they are still filled with these various sets
which I always knew I could reutilize later for subsequent productions,
(09:39):
which is what I'm planning to do. So there's been
multiple stages as to what how things are constructed and
for what purposes, and even while I was structuring the
script as to what kind of sets or scenes would
be set in what kind of sets. So it was
mult construc diructed at the same time, and it was
(10:03):
developed for myself for my father to act in together.
He and I had never acted in the film together.
My father, Bruce Clover, who died earlier this year, was
in films like China Town and Diamonds Are Forever and
worked a lot, but we'd never acted together ever. So
(10:27):
it was structured that way, or it was constructed that way,
but then a lot of other things came into being.
I changed things around this screenplay. The initial screenplay was
shot over a period of three years. I believe in
different production segments. There's different time periods in the film
(10:50):
eighteen sixty eight, eighteen eighty eight, nineteen eighteen, nineteen forty
eight in contemporary, which also ended up being a very
large post production element in terms of color correction, I
spent two years on color correction. I don't know if
you're able to see the trailer that was said, yeah,
(11:12):
you might be able to detect that there's certain scenes
that have certain kinds of looks to it which are
different from others. We spent literally two years or even
more dealing with the film was shot on thirty five
millimeter negatives, and then we did certain things with certain
(11:32):
scenes with reshooting with a different film camera the original footage,
but it was. There's a thirty five millimeter camera that
was owned by one of the great Czech filmmakers named
Carl Zemmon. Came from animation. If you've seen some of
his films, you know how amazing he is. There's a
(11:55):
not for profit organization that I began with a number
of check fellows that has to do with the thirty
five millimeter film processing laboratory that we have the equipment
at my property. Most of the equipment is just there,
it hasn't actually become working, but the I had a
(12:15):
thirty five millimeter four K digital scanner that I shipped
over from my body in Los Angeles and had it
shipped over to check where that was reconstructed and function.
We used that for scanning the film, but then we had.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
To shoot certain scenes. So the eighteen sixty eight and
eighteen eighty eight stuff we shot with Carl Zemmon's hand
crank camera that he had, which hand crank has a
different quality.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
It's the older cameras that they used for silent filmmaking,
and we wanted to get some of that quality. It
wasn't what I initially had planned to do. Everything was
shot thirty five millimeter color. Most of it was FUJIFILM.
This will be the last film ever released that a
majority of it was shot with Fuji. Some of it
(13:09):
later on was shot with a Kodak, but that was
more in the contemporary scenes that I added later, which
I call the spooky action at a distance part of
the film. The film became a film within a film.
I don't want to stay too much. I'm very curious
to see how people interpret things. The way the film
(13:30):
is constructed will ideally, I believe, let people have interpretations
about things. It's very specific to me, but I don't
I don't want to dictate too much as to what
people may may hopefully be able to interpret on their own.
I'll be very interested to hear because October second, just
(13:51):
a few days from now, when you assume of modern art,
that's where the genuine premiere will be. This is the
first time I'm sharing it to an audience. I've shown the
to not too many people, some filmmaker types, and it
is different when you show it to an audience than
when you show it to individuals. So I've had positive
(14:12):
reaction from filmmakers, but it's you know, filmmakers are looking
at films differently than a general audience as well, So
it will be a real premiere for me. I'm very
interested to see what will happen.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
You always have such interesting casts in your films, and
I was curious if you could tell me how the
casts come about.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
It's such a long and involved story, even the way
the film came about in conception. But the initial concept
I had was that it was I had started doing
a different screenplay that it was for an actress that
I had dated, and she and I she was very
(14:55):
good at playing characters. And I didn't up making that
film a lot of for a lot of different reasons,
but I still would have liked to make the film.
It's it was actually an interesting concept. That concept, but
I realized I wanted to I wanted to make a
two person film that just because it would be a
(15:16):
simpler production wise. So I started thinking, well, I can
make I'll make a two person film with myself and
my father. So the I had in the initial outline
for the film, there were other characters that were written
as shadow characters that that you would just see somebody
in sililuette or on the telephone, and that would mainly
(15:39):
be myself. But then I started writing. I was interested
in a certain kind of classical heroes journey story structure
that had romantic interest characters. And as soon as I
started writing the female romantic interest characters, I realized, these
can't be shadow characters. Those have to be fleshed and
blood cast fleshill with people. So that took some doing it.
(16:05):
It basically was with people that I knew in one
way or another, or people that I knew that knew
people that I knew. There's things on the IMDb right
now that are incorrect. I hope you've got the because
they even have incorrect casts. There's people that are listed
on IMDb that aren't in the movie, and there's character
(16:28):
names that are even the title they don't have correct
on the IMDb. I didn't put input any of what's
on the IMDb and the and there's other people that
maybe worked on the crew cast that got bits and
pieces of information and they type stuff in, but IMDb
will not let me fix it. It's really and and
the part of the clues of what the film is
(16:49):
about have to do with the titles which are in
the film. It was very carefully structured and the IMDb
will not let me. I don't understand why it's like that,
but I hope. I'm trying to get a resolved, but
there's no way to even contact the IMDb.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
It's very very strange.
Speaker 6 (17:10):
But so that's why I hope you have it. There's
a credit the end credit role should be forwarded, so
if you list anything about who's in it or what
the titles are, take it from that and not not
from the IMDb, because that's hopefully it will be fixed.
But I don't know. I've tried to fix certain things
on my IMDb before, and it's it's it's not very forgiven.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
After all these years. How was it working with your
father and acting against him?
Speaker 6 (17:38):
It was very interesting because when you act with somebody,
When I act with somebody, I think this is true
of most of the time when people are acting with
each other, it's sort of well, you look into people's
eyes more probably than you do in real life. I
think we were very used to averting. I am looking
(18:01):
away as we as we talk, but on camera, if
you do that too much, you'll be fairly quickly cold
by the DP that that's distracting. And I can understand
it doesn't come off the same way as it comes
off in reality on camera, and of course in a
(18:23):
certain way. We're taught to function in the way we
do in acting class on some level, but there really
is something about looking in the person's eyes that is
that you do that more or I do that more
than I do in real life when I'm I'm working
on camera, and so there's an energeetic element that transfers
(18:49):
when you're acting with somebody, and you can feel certain
energetic qualities. So I probably did have more a certain
kind of energetic connection with my father than I would
have by not having acted with him, which was interesting
because my father was an actor, you know, my whole
(19:11):
life I grew up around, so I had certain thoughts
or critiques that I wouldn't say out loud just to
myself about my father, how his acting start, or what
have you. My father also taught acting, but I never
formally studied with my father. I studied at other places.
For me that would have been too much, but I'm
(19:33):
sure I picked things up along the way. But it
definitely made me appreciate qualities he has or had as
an actor. And of course I had to direct him.
I directed him in my second film, so I directed
him before, which was very easy to do. He was
(19:56):
easy for me to direct. I mean, in certain days
I was able to have more positive facts some things
which I ended up cutting out of the film. I
didn't feel like I affected as positively, but I understood
how to work and direct him, and he did respond
to direction well. But he also was involved in the writing,
(20:18):
which again IMDb doesn't have the correct writing credits on
it either. But that was difficult. That was very very
very very difficult. Had I had started working with a
friend of mine who also has a writing credit on it,
in Mike Cologi, and I want. I knew my father
(20:38):
was going to want to get involved in the writing,
and I wanted somebody that I liked, that I could
work with, that was a good writer, and because I
knew my father would get involved, and I would want
to have somebody that I could talk to and not
have a kind of issues with or about about the writing.
(20:59):
And what I predicted was true that my father did
yet envolved in the writing, and it was very very difficult,
but he also did come up with things that are
in the film that were different from what I initially had,
that were good. So there was a and it affected
the film changed in many different ways. There's two titles
in the film. I don't want to say too much,
(21:22):
but the second title came in later. The first title
was there from early on and it's referenced within the film.
Both of the titles are referenced within the film. But
at the same time, I don't like things to become
dictatorial as to how an audience should feel about things,
so hopefully there's enough room that people can interpret things
(21:48):
on their own. Now.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
It is the best place for people to keep up
with where these screens are happening. Is that through your website.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Yeah, and I've had that website for years. And there's
a thing where you can sign up for a newsletter,
which is actually the best thing. Because I toured straight
from the year two thousand and five through twenty twenty,
at least once a year, all over the world. I
traveled all over the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe, New Zealand, Australia,
(22:20):
and not all over the world, but those places, and
for fifteen years straight until twenty twenty when the pandemic
happened and then I couldn't tour, and I decided all right,
well this natural pause. I was already in post production
at that point. Little did I know the post production
was going to take five years. More than five years.
(22:45):
I'm still dealing with post production things right now, just
days before of the actual premiere. So people when they
sign up, I just sent out a big email of
all the people that have signed up over the years,
and it had a huge amount of engagement, which I'm
happy of and happy for, and sold a huge amount
(23:09):
of tickets for the premiere. And there are the other
shows are listed at the the i f C. There's
also a movie that I acted in that's playing. I'm
doing a Q and a I think on the eighth
and the ninth of the i f C and n
i C. The premiere is at the Museum of Modern Art,
which I'm very happy to be premiering the film. That's
such a great that's my favorite place to those they're programming.
(23:34):
Their film programming is my favorite programming in the world.
I regularly go to see their program film programming. But
that's where the location of the world premiere October second
is than the i f C. There's a I think
two as I think it's two nights eighth and ninth.
There's where I'm doing a Q and A after the
(23:56):
film i acted in called Mister K, which is in
interesting movie that can have people could have multiple interpretations,
and then my film. I'll be performing all of my shows,
I perform what I call a slot. It's called Chrispin
Hilling Clover's Big Slide Show. But there's different variations of
(24:19):
it for the different films. This one, this variation have
to make a bit shorter because the new film is
a bit longer than my other films. I just and
I just cut it. It was ninety minutes and then
I cut it about three months ago to eighty five minutes,
which doesn't sound like a lot, but five minutes is
a lot. And I changed things around and I'm happy
(24:40):
with the the edit and the and I physically edited
the film. I edit my own films for the most
but I've had people work on the second film, I
had somebody that did a fair amount of the editing,
but I was involved in the editing on that one.
But this one, my first film, I physically added the
(25:02):
whole film. There were little things here, and there were
people did some assistant editing work, but in a certain way,
it's my favorite part of the filmmaking process, and so anyhow,
so I'm at the IFC for week with my live
slide show, which is from books that I made a
long time ago. We took old books from the eighteen hundreds,
(25:23):
reworked them, turned them into different books from what they
originally were. They're profusely illustrated, and the images are projected
as I dramatically narrate these different books. Then I introduced
the film, then the film plays. I come out as
the credits are ending. I asked if anybody has any questions,
(25:44):
conduct the Q and A. And then at the different
different venues I have books signings. Sometimes I have to
have the books signing at a different venue, but IFC
the that's what will happen for a solid week. Then
I'll be in La I think it's the eighteenth and
(26:04):
nineteenth at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, and then
I can't remember the exact date, but a few days
after that I'm they're also mister k is going to
be at the Los Feelies three. Both of these theaters
are programmed by the American Cinematech and that's who I've
been with in Los Angeles since two thousand and five.
(26:26):
I usually I had played at the Egyptian, but the
Egyptian was recently purchased by Netflix. Well, I may still
have to show at the Egyptian later, but first my
shows are at the Era, which is in Santa Monica.
Also very an excellent screen and you're in a nice
older I believe it was built in the forties and
(26:46):
then the lows feelies three. It was also a nice
deco theater. That's where there'll be a Mister K screening.
I'm forgetting the exact date, but a few day days
after the Aero shows, and then I'll be in Chicago,
and I'm forgetting the exact dates to that. But one night,
the first night, I'm doing Q and A after Mister K.
(27:07):
And then the next night I'm performing my show and
showing no You're wrong or spooky action of distance, and
then the Q and A and book signing and that
The music boxes are great. That's a huge vent hered
seven hundred seats. And I've been playing the Bear as
well since two thousand and five, and the music box
is great. Bright andre Atti, who runs it, It's always
(27:30):
been very helpful and I appreciate it, and yeah, so
I'm looking forward to all of this.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
Mister lover. Thank you so much for your time. This
is such a pleasure talking with you.
Speaker 6 (27:40):
Well you too, I appreciate it. Thank you for getting
to interview again. And I appreciate the help.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I was walking on the ground.
Speaker 8 (27:58):
I didn't make a s and then I turned around
and I saw a clown had.
Speaker 9 (28:04):
A brown and stood on a mound.
Speaker 8 (28:07):
And started barking like a hound. When I came to it,
I found he showed me something that was brown.
Speaker 9 (28:19):
So he became great friends.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
And late in life got sick. I gave him some soup,
but he.
Speaker 9 (28:34):
Got worse and asked for its purse. It got it,
but it was empty, so it cried a plenty. I
wondered what to do.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I didn't know what to think, so I got a
drink and then I showed it something that was round.
Then it died, smiled, fell on the ground. Looking back
about those days with the clown, I get.
Speaker 6 (29:08):
Teary eyed and really snip.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
A deep down.
Speaker 6 (29:16):
I hated that clown, but not as much as mister Farr.
Speaker 9 (29:24):
I'm gonna go smoke a cigar.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
I was walking on the ground.
Speaker 8 (29:39):
I didn't make a sound, and then I turned around.
I saw a clown. Clown clowny, clown clown. I hate you, clown,
your ugly frown, smiley lips.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I think I clip your brass the nose.
Speaker 10 (30:00):
Clown with the cigar will get you a real far
like mister Farr. Get it, mister Parr.
Speaker 8 (30:14):
Clown clown, see what his cigar will do, clown clown
The Projection Booth podcast is sponsored by Scarecrow Video. Try
out scarecrows rent by mail service. Choose from over one
hundred and fifty thousand films and get blu rays, four
ks and DVD's delivered directly to your door. Visit scarecrow
dot com today.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Oh gez, folks, it's showtime.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
People say good mighty to see this movie. When they
go out to a theater, they want clod sodas, hot popcorn,
and no monsters in the Projection Booth.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring, cut.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
It off us anything anything.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Say Hey, folks, welcome to a special episode of The
(04:13):
Projection Booth.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I'm your host, Mike White. On this episode, I am
talking with Crispin Heley and Glover all about his new
film and I better make sure that I get this
title right No You're wrong or Spooky Action at a Distance.
It is his latest directorial effort which stars him as
well as his late father, Bruce Glover, and it is
(04:37):
going to be touring around the country starting October two
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Be
sure to check out his website Crispinheleyanglover dot com for
more details and where you can see the film. Hopefully
it will play around you, as he does not release
his movies on DVD, Blu ray vhs, So if you're
(04:59):
still waiting for what is it? And everything is fine,
keep waiting. It's not coming out anytime soon. So maybe
one of these days for a Moodie May we'll talk
about one of his two other directorial films. But in
the meantime, hopefully you'll be able to catch no, You're
(05:19):
wrong or spooky action from a distance. Thank you so
much for listening, and I hope you enjoyed the interview.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
Mister Glovery. Thank you so much for your time today.
I really appreciate this.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
Yes, well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it
as well. Yeah, we did an email interview, gosh, probably
back in twenty eleven, so oh good, Okay, nice to
actually be able to speak with you and via this medium. Yeah, well,
zoom has really become a fascinating thing. What was the
interview for, obviously I assumed for one of my films
(05:50):
when I was touring by email.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
Well, it was for a magazine that I used to
do called Cashrew's Decinemark had about ten questions for you,
and yeah, you zipped those answers off over to me
via email, So I really appreciated that.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
I remember, Yeah, it was for my film for both
of what Is It? And Everything? That's Fine. In twenty eleven,
you say, yeah, some both films. Yeah, oh great? Were
you Did you get to see the films? Did you
get to see the show?
Speaker 5 (06:17):
No, I still haven't. I don't know if you've done Detroit.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
Yeah. I did Detroit. But it was an interesting thing.
It was a group that were real cinephile types and
they had set up projectors in is I believe it
was an old high school auditorium that somehow had been
repurposed and they had their projector. It was really interesting
(06:42):
and there was an interesting art scene, you know, because Detroit,
of course had great structures and then had an economic collapse.
But I could see that there are artistic types that
were coming in and doing things. And it was actually
a very interesting screening. Was in high tech, but I
liked that it was passionate about film. I think that
(07:06):
was the only time I showed in Detroit, and it
was a good show. I liked it.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
I know we used to have screenings in an old
high school auditorium, and it was through a group called that.
Eventually they were called Cinema Detroit, but it might have
been something else.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
At the time.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Well, I'm excited that you have a new film coming out.
Can you tell me a little bit more about the
making of that and how that came to be. Well,
I've been making it. I've been working on it for
many years, a long time. I bought my property in
the Czech Republic in two thousand and three. My first
two films were shot on well, particularly the second one
(07:42):
was entirely.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
Shot on sets. But I shot my first film one
is that on both locations and sets that were built,
and the second film was entirely shot on sets, and
I prefer I like working on sets for a lot
of different reasons post a location work. The sets that
we had built for the second film unfortunately had to
(08:09):
be destroyed fairly shortly after we shot. I was hoping
that they could be re utilized for something. But I
realized if I planned to continue shooting on sets because
I paid for the sets, that really I needed to
own the property where the sets would be built. And
(08:29):
so I started looking for something and sort of an
involved story but it ended up being that the Czech
Republic was good place to buy a large property that
had structures that I actually bought it in a couple
of different stages, but I knew that the structures could
(08:50):
be attained, which were former corner stables slash farm buildings
for a chateau that had built it's been reconstructed in
the sixteen hundreds, and so when we shot it, we
shot the calfs and crew stayed in the chateau, which
has multiple many bedrooms and bathrooms, and then we would
(09:15):
walk next door and shoot in the sets that I
had built in. It's about eighteen thousand square feet of
what were these buildings not made for that purpose recently
and now they are still filled with these various sets
which I always knew I could reutilize later for subsequent productions,
(09:39):
which is what I'm planning to do. So there's been
multiple stages as to what how things are constructed and
for what purposes, and even while I was structuring the
script as to what kind of sets or scenes would
be set in what kind of sets. So it was
mult construc diructed at the same time, and it was
(10:03):
developed for myself for my father to act in together.
He and I had never acted in the film together.
My father, Bruce Clover, who died earlier this year, was
in films like China Town and Diamonds Are Forever and
worked a lot, but we'd never acted together ever. So
(10:27):
it was structured that way, or it was constructed that way,
but then a lot of other things came into being.
I changed things around this screenplay. The initial screenplay was
shot over a period of three years. I believe in
different production segments. There's different time periods in the film
(10:50):
eighteen sixty eight, eighteen eighty eight, nineteen eighteen, nineteen forty
eight in contemporary, which also ended up being a very
large post production element in terms of color correction, I
spent two years on color correction. I don't know if
you're able to see the trailer that was said, yeah,
(11:12):
you might be able to detect that there's certain scenes
that have certain kinds of looks to it which are
different from others. We spent literally two years or even
more dealing with the film was shot on thirty five
millimeter negatives, and then we did certain things with certain
(11:32):
scenes with reshooting with a different film camera the original footage,
but it was. There's a thirty five millimeter camera that
was owned by one of the great Czech filmmakers named
Carl Zemmon. Came from animation. If you've seen some of
his films, you know how amazing he is. There's a
(11:55):
not for profit organization that I began with a number
of check fellows that has to do with the thirty
five millimeter film processing laboratory that we have the equipment
at my property. Most of the equipment is just there,
it hasn't actually become working, but the I had a
(12:15):
thirty five millimeter four K digital scanner that I shipped
over from my body in Los Angeles and had it
shipped over to check where that was reconstructed and function.
We used that for scanning the film, but then we had.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
To shoot certain scenes. So the eighteen sixty eight and
eighteen eighty eight stuff we shot with Carl Zemmon's hand
crank camera that he had, which hand crank has a
different quality.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
It's the older cameras that they used for silent filmmaking,
and we wanted to get some of that quality. It
wasn't what I initially had planned to do. Everything was
shot thirty five millimeter color. Most of it was FUJIFILM.
This will be the last film ever released that a
majority of it was shot with Fuji. Some of it
(13:09):
later on was shot with a Kodak, but that was
more in the contemporary scenes that I added later, which
I call the spooky action at a distance part of
the film. The film became a film within a film.
I don't want to stay too much. I'm very curious
to see how people interpret things. The way the film
(13:30):
is constructed will ideally, I believe, let people have interpretations
about things. It's very specific to me, but I don't
I don't want to dictate too much as to what
people may may hopefully be able to interpret on their own.
I'll be very interested to hear because October second, just
(13:51):
a few days from now, when you assume of modern art,
that's where the genuine premiere will be. This is the
first time I'm sharing it to an audience. I've shown the
to not too many people, some filmmaker types, and it
is different when you show it to an audience than
when you show it to individuals. So I've had positive
(14:12):
reaction from filmmakers, but it's you know, filmmakers are looking
at films differently than a general audience as well, So
it will be a real premiere for me. I'm very
interested to see what will happen.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
You always have such interesting casts in your films, and
I was curious if you could tell me how the
casts come about.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
It's such a long and involved story, even the way
the film came about in conception. But the initial concept
I had was that it was I had started doing
a different screenplay that it was for an actress that
I had dated, and she and I she was very
(14:55):
good at playing characters. And I didn't up making that
film a lot of for a lot of different reasons,
but I still would have liked to make the film.
It's it was actually an interesting concept. That concept, but
I realized I wanted to I wanted to make a
two person film that just because it would be a
(15:16):
simpler production wise. So I started thinking, well, I can
make I'll make a two person film with myself and
my father. So the I had in the initial outline
for the film, there were other characters that were written
as shadow characters that that you would just see somebody
in sililuette or on the telephone, and that would mainly
(15:39):
be myself. But then I started writing. I was interested
in a certain kind of classical heroes journey story structure
that had romantic interest characters. And as soon as I
started writing the female romantic interest characters, I realized, these
can't be shadow characters. Those have to be fleshed and
blood cast fleshill with people. So that took some doing it.
(16:05):
It basically was with people that I knew in one
way or another, or people that I knew that knew
people that I knew. There's things on the IMDb right
now that are incorrect. I hope you've got the because
they even have incorrect casts. There's people that are listed
on IMDb that aren't in the movie, and there's character
(16:28):
names that are even the title they don't have correct
on the IMDb. I didn't put input any of what's
on the IMDb and the and there's other people that
maybe worked on the crew cast that got bits and
pieces of information and they type stuff in, but IMDb
will not let me fix it. It's really and and
the part of the clues of what the film is
(16:49):
about have to do with the titles which are in
the film. It was very carefully structured and the IMDb
will not let me. I don't understand why it's like that,
but I hope. I'm trying to get a resolved, but
there's no way to even contact the IMDb.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
It's very very strange.
Speaker 6 (17:10):
But so that's why I hope you have it. There's
a credit the end credit role should be forwarded, so
if you list anything about who's in it or what
the titles are, take it from that and not not
from the IMDb, because that's hopefully it will be fixed.
But I don't know. I've tried to fix certain things
on my IMDb before, and it's it's it's not very forgiven.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
After all these years. How was it working with your
father and acting against him?
Speaker 6 (17:38):
It was very interesting because when you act with somebody,
When I act with somebody, I think this is true
of most of the time when people are acting with
each other, it's sort of well, you look into people's
eyes more probably than you do in real life. I
think we were very used to averting. I am looking
(18:01):
away as we as we talk, but on camera, if
you do that too much, you'll be fairly quickly cold
by the DP that that's distracting. And I can understand
it doesn't come off the same way as it comes
off in reality on camera, and of course in a
(18:23):
certain way. We're taught to function in the way we
do in acting class on some level, but there really
is something about looking in the person's eyes that is
that you do that more or I do that more
than I do in real life when I'm I'm working
on camera, and so there's an energeetic element that transfers
(18:49):
when you're acting with somebody, and you can feel certain
energetic qualities. So I probably did have more a certain
kind of energetic connection with my father than I would
have by not having acted with him, which was interesting
because my father was an actor, you know, my whole
(19:11):
life I grew up around, so I had certain thoughts
or critiques that I wouldn't say out loud just to
myself about my father, how his acting start, or what
have you. My father also taught acting, but I never
formally studied with my father. I studied at other places.
For me that would have been too much, but I'm
(19:33):
sure I picked things up along the way. But it
definitely made me appreciate qualities he has or had as
an actor. And of course I had to direct him.
I directed him in my second film, so I directed
him before, which was very easy to do. He was
(19:56):
easy for me to direct. I mean, in certain days
I was able to have more positive facts some things
which I ended up cutting out of the film. I
didn't feel like I affected as positively, but I understood
how to work and direct him, and he did respond
to direction well. But he also was involved in the writing,
(20:18):
which again IMDb doesn't have the correct writing credits on
it either. But that was difficult. That was very very
very very difficult. Had I had started working with a
friend of mine who also has a writing credit on it,
in Mike Cologi, and I want. I knew my father
(20:38):
was going to want to get involved in the writing,
and I wanted somebody that I liked, that I could
work with, that was a good writer, and because I
knew my father would get involved, and I would want
to have somebody that I could talk to and not
have a kind of issues with or about about the writing.
(20:59):
And what I predicted was true that my father did
yet envolved in the writing, and it was very very difficult,
but he also did come up with things that are
in the film that were different from what I initially had,
that were good. So there was a and it affected
the film changed in many different ways. There's two titles
in the film. I don't want to say too much,
(21:22):
but the second title came in later. The first title
was there from early on and it's referenced within the film.
Both of the titles are referenced within the film. But
at the same time, I don't like things to become
dictatorial as to how an audience should feel about things,
so hopefully there's enough room that people can interpret things
(21:48):
on their own. Now.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
It is the best place for people to keep up
with where these screens are happening. Is that through your website.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Yeah, and I've had that website for years. And there's
a thing where you can sign up for a newsletter,
which is actually the best thing. Because I toured straight
from the year two thousand and five through twenty twenty,
at least once a year, all over the world. I
traveled all over the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe, New Zealand, Australia,
(22:20):
and not all over the world, but those places, and
for fifteen years straight until twenty twenty when the pandemic
happened and then I couldn't tour, and I decided all right,
well this natural pause. I was already in post production
at that point. Little did I know the post production
was going to take five years. More than five years.
(22:45):
I'm still dealing with post production things right now, just
days before of the actual premiere. So people when they
sign up, I just sent out a big email of
all the people that have signed up over the years,
and it had a huge amount of engagement, which I'm
happy of and happy for, and sold a huge amount
(23:09):
of tickets for the premiere. And there are the other
shows are listed at the the i f C. There's
also a movie that I acted in that's playing. I'm
doing a Q and a I think on the eighth
and the ninth of the i f C and n
i C. The premiere is at the Museum of Modern Art,
which I'm very happy to be premiering the film. That's
such a great that's my favorite place to those they're programming.
(23:34):
Their film programming is my favorite programming in the world.
I regularly go to see their program film programming. But
that's where the location of the world premiere October second
is than the i f C. There's a I think
two as I think it's two nights eighth and ninth.
There's where I'm doing a Q and A after the
(23:56):
film i acted in called Mister K, which is in
interesting movie that can have people could have multiple interpretations,
and then my film. I'll be performing all of my shows,
I perform what I call a slot. It's called Chrispin
Hilling Clover's Big Slide Show. But there's different variations of
(24:19):
it for the different films. This one, this variation have
to make a bit shorter because the new film is
a bit longer than my other films. I just and
I just cut it. It was ninety minutes and then
I cut it about three months ago to eighty five minutes,
which doesn't sound like a lot, but five minutes is
a lot. And I changed things around and I'm happy
(24:40):
with the the edit and the and I physically edited
the film. I edit my own films for the most
but I've had people work on the second film, I
had somebody that did a fair amount of the editing,
but I was involved in the editing on that one.
But this one, my first film, I physically added the
(25:02):
whole film. There were little things here, and there were
people did some assistant editing work, but in a certain way,
it's my favorite part of the filmmaking process, and so anyhow,
so I'm at the IFC for week with my live
slide show, which is from books that I made a
long time ago. We took old books from the eighteen hundreds,
(25:23):
reworked them, turned them into different books from what they
originally were. They're profusely illustrated, and the images are projected
as I dramatically narrate these different books. Then I introduced
the film, then the film plays. I come out as
the credits are ending. I asked if anybody has any questions,
(25:44):
conduct the Q and A. And then at the different
different venues I have books signings. Sometimes I have to
have the books signing at a different venue, but IFC
the that's what will happen for a solid week. Then
I'll be in La I think it's the eighteenth and
(26:04):
nineteenth at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, and then
I can't remember the exact date, but a few days
after that I'm they're also mister k is going to
be at the Los Feelies three. Both of these theaters
are programmed by the American Cinematech and that's who I've
been with in Los Angeles since two thousand and five.
(26:26):
I usually I had played at the Egyptian, but the
Egyptian was recently purchased by Netflix. Well, I may still
have to show at the Egyptian later, but first my
shows are at the Era, which is in Santa Monica.
Also very an excellent screen and you're in a nice
older I believe it was built in the forties and
(26:46):
then the lows feelies three. It was also a nice
deco theater. That's where there'll be a Mister K screening.
I'm forgetting the exact date, but a few day days
after the Aero shows, and then I'll be in Chicago,
and I'm forgetting the exact dates to that. But one night,
the first night, I'm doing Q and A after Mister K.
(27:07):
And then the next night I'm performing my show and
showing no You're wrong or spooky action of distance, and
then the Q and A and book signing and that
The music boxes are great. That's a huge vent hered
seven hundred seats. And I've been playing the Bear as
well since two thousand and five, and the music box
is great. Bright andre Atti, who runs it, It's always
(27:30):
been very helpful and I appreciate it, and yeah, so
I'm looking forward to all of this.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
Mister lover. Thank you so much for your time. This
is such a pleasure talking with you.
Speaker 6 (27:40):
Well you too, I appreciate it. Thank you for getting
to interview again. And I appreciate the help.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I was walking on the ground.
Speaker 8 (27:58):
I didn't make a s and then I turned around
and I saw a clown had.
Speaker 9 (28:04):
A brown and stood on a mound.
Speaker 8 (28:07):
And started barking like a hound. When I came to it,
I found he showed me something that was brown.
Speaker 9 (28:19):
So he became great friends.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
And late in life got sick. I gave him some soup,
but he.
Speaker 9 (28:34):
Got worse and asked for its purse. It got it,
but it was empty, so it cried a plenty. I
wondered what to do.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I didn't know what to think, so I got a
drink and then I showed it something that was round.
Then it died, smiled, fell on the ground. Looking back
about those days with the clown, I get.
Speaker 6 (29:08):
Teary eyed and really snip.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
A deep down.
Speaker 6 (29:16):
I hated that clown, but not as much as mister Farr.
Speaker 9 (29:24):
I'm gonna go smoke a cigar.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
I was walking on the ground.
Speaker 8 (29:39):
I didn't make a sound, and then I turned around.
I saw a clown. Clown clowny, clown clown. I hate you, clown,
your ugly frown, smiley lips.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I think I clip your brass the nose.
Speaker 10 (30:00):
Clown with the cigar will get you a real far
like mister Farr. Get it, mister Parr.
Speaker 8 (30:14):
Clown clown, see what his cigar will do, clown clown
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