Plans were made to get together at a Chinese restaurant in North Hollywood. We showed up early and waited, each minute going by convincing us more and more that he’d suddenly realized the ridiculousness of the situation he’d gotten himself into and decided that this little project wasn’t really worth his time. The waitress refilled our waters as we glanced around at the other patrons, looking for somebody else in the restaurant that seemed to be doing the same. We studied people as they pulled up in their various cars, imagining what type of ride a DP as accomplished as this one might be driving. When he arrived, he arrived in a Volvo. Built like a basketball player and mysteriously intimidating behind dark Oakley sunglasses, he walked toward us as if he had already, after a single phone conversation, pictured our faces perfectly. Introductions were made, lunch was kindly refused, and we quickly launched into a fast and detailed discussion about the project.
Damian Acevedo (DP) and Clint Kasparian (AC) survey the scene.
Here’s one thing we are good at—dissecting our own work and articulating to others the reasons we see the project important and worthwhile. Damian sat in silence for most of that first meeting. My brother and I took turns spewing our own theories and analyses regarding the film, while Damian just nodded and genuinely seemed to listen. We backed up our claims referencing various other filmmakers, authors, and photographers that had done work we felt helped to illustrate the movie we wanted to make, and related these works to actual scenes and shots in the movie. We, once again, discussed rates and pulling favors in order to keep costs down and Damian even suggested a few names of other crewmembers that he could talk to about helping us out. He emphasized that his AC and grips would not work for free, but would probably be open to accepting a fraction of what they typically make—a very good deal. It was also during this conversation that we were first posed the idea of shooting 35mm. Damian brought it up. Coming from a background of relatively big budget music videos, 35mm was of course his medium of choice. We knew that money was tight and, though having never actually shot 35mm before, were immediately doubtful. He tried to level with us, assuring that there were ways of working around much of these costs, that shooting 16mm wouldn’t save us as much as we thought, and was adamant that the vision we’d been discussing would only benefit from the freedom that 35mm allows during the telecine session. As the waitress bussed our empty water glasses, we told him that we would seriously consider it, that we’d do some research and decide if it was in fact even possible. Walking back to our cars, we made plans to meet up a few more times to watch some movies and look at a few photography books, and, once again having not quite committed to the project, Damian gave us one more suggestion. It was not in regards to a camera issue, or anything even remotely dealing with the cinematography of the film for that matter. It was about the film’s lead character, William. He wondered if we had started casting yet, and when we told him that we had not, he gave us the website for an actor he’d just recently worked with, someone he thought might be perfect for the role. His name was Lucas Fleischer, and we called him immediately.
I met with Lucas at a coffee shop and when he arrived he was all smiles and contagious excitability. After having watched a few of his films some nights earlier, Justin and I had already more or less agreed to offer him the role. Our meeting, then, became an opportunity to start dissecting the character and building an early solid base from which he could then build upon. His instincts were right on, and we were soon able to get into some extremely specific motivations that were not necessarily in the script. He legitimately loved the role, and, approached it with the enthusiasm and professionalism of a paid actor—though for this film he was nothing of the sort. By the meeting’s end, we had not only agreed to move forward with Lucas, but had also been persuaded to cast his friend (and frequent co-star) Riel Paley in the role of Champ.
It wasn’t easy to convince Riel to play a character with barely any lines. He initially pushed for the more substantial role of Hank, going as far as to (without any direction from us whatsoever) interpret the character as a smug, villainous personality with sleek and angular mutton chops (which he diligently grew and groomed for several days before surprising us with the new look). All we could do was assure him that the role of Champ, though understated, was no less substantial, and, anyway, that we had written Hank specifically with someone else in mind. In the end we compromised—he accepted the role, and we let him keep his mustache.
Lucas Fleischer ("William) takes a break from a day of running.
The role of Hank went to Siaka Massaquoi. Siaka and I had gone to the same university and he had a small role in my film school thesis project. But while I moved to the coast following graduation he had opted to stay in the Midwest. Justin and I had been thinking of him for that role even during the scripting process, and figured that if he would be willing to split the cost of a plane ticket, we could afford to fly him out for the production. After a thorough Google search, and several wrong numbers, I finally dug up his correct contact information. As it turned out, he was working as a personal trainer at a gym and moonlighting on some small theater productions in Chicago, but seemed a bit frustrated with his life as an actor. He agreed immediately, and plane tickets were purchased that day.
