Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Video interview: North Texas filmmaker Frank Mosley
I first met Frank Mosley back in January of 2007, when we interviewed the crew at Striped Socks Productions. At that time, he and the rest of the Striped Socks outfit (Justin Hilliard, Arianne Martin, and Ryan Hartsell) were celebrating the completion of Hilliard's first directorial effort, Wednesday.
Watch Frank Mosley in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
A lot of good stuff has happened to those four interviewees since then, not the least of which has been the ongoing success of Hilliard's second film, The Other Side of Paradise, which was a feature selection of the AFI Dallas International Film Festival earlier this year. A highlight of that film was Mosley's performance as a laconic, tough-as-nails ex-con named Jamie Hewitt.
Frank met up with me at the Starbucks at Mockingbird Station to talk about the completion of his first feature-length film, Hold. He's just finished the final edit, and it'll be presented at an invitation-only screening this Thursday at the Angelika. From there, it's tough to say -- though as you'll hear, Mosley plans on submitting the film to as many film festival selection panels as he can -- including overseas ones.
As we begin out discussion, I've just told Frank what a great acting job he did in The Other Side of Paradise.
Here are highlights of my 16-minute conversation with Frank:
* Mosley describes Hold.
* We get the impression that Frank's new film will be highly impressionistic. (What with the term "Bergmanesque" being bandied about and all.)
* The "Robby" we refer to is Robby Storey, co-writer of the narrative treatment for Hold and one of its two lead actors.
* We talk about shaved heads and the things that actors sacrifice for their roles.
* Uh oh: The Theater of Cruelty is referenced, in relation to Hold.
* Hold employs no musical scoring and no emotional cues -- viewers will be forced to react purely to what they see onscreen.
* "If the programmer had a bad day and his wife left him, he's not gonna enjoy the film." -- re. the submitting of Hold to as many film festivals as feasible.
* Director's advisory: "Hold is not a hip movie. We try to make it as dry and real-life as possible."
* "I cast you as a loving father one time? If I love you as an actor, I cast you as a pedophile next time." (Gee, thanks, Frank!)
* "If I like your face ... I'll cast you in a (bit) part." -- interviewer arches eyebrow, nods dramatically, strokes chin ...
* Future projects with other local filmmakers are referenced, including a collaboration with Thomas Mosley, Frank's (ahem) "black brother."
* Mosley's Hot/Cold (an "in the works" project) is described as a different kind of film, which will have a different kind of venue. (And you'll hear it here first.)
