Lynn Shelton Speaks To Prost Amerika

Lynn Shelton is the director of a new film about friends falling in and out with each other. “My Effortless Brilliance” premiered at the SXSW Festival in Austin but more emotionally for Lynn made the selection at her home town Seattle International Film Festival. Prost Amerika spoke to Lynn about movies, boys and making film in our town.

May 21, 2008

Prost Amerika: "My Effortless Brilliance" could be described as a buddy movie, what were the challenges for a woman director in making a film based on how men talk amongst themselves?

Lynn Shelton: Well, I'm not sure what it would have been like to be a man directing it so I can't compare the two experiences. But I suppose the challenge was to be a perceptive and close observer in the midst of a realm I'm not usually privy to as a woman--that being of a group of men hanging out in the woods together. It didn't feel hard though. I always felt like I could totally relate to what was going on emotionally...to the emotional subtext of each scene.

Prost Amerika: What was the thought process behind interjecting the third character (Jim) into the mix?

Lynn Shelton: Jim served a really important purpose. He's everything that Eric is not: a non-neurotic, physically capable, anti-intellectual and Dylan has chosen him as a friend after having dumped Eric. So sticking the three of them together creates this lovely platonic love triangle, fraught with tension and jealousy and resentment. And then eventually, when he goes off the deep end, Jim becomes a foil for Eric, allowing Dylan to understand just how well-matched he was with his original buddy.

Prost Amerika: There's a monologue in "My Effortless Brilliance" about Live Tyler's ass, do men really talk like that?

Lynn Shelton: Hmm. I really have no idea. You tell me.

Prost Amerika: Sean Nelson plays an aloof and selfish character, desperately trying to bond with people he considers intellectually feebler than him. He's not really like that is he?

Lynn Shelton: Nope. In portraying the character of Eric, Sean drew on a particular period in his own life which he is well out of now. He looked back on how he felt at the time and chose to emphasize the worst qualities that he thinks he must have exuded back then. So it was autobiographically based, but with a healthy dose of hyperbole.

Prost Amerika: You've won prizes at Slamdance and are beginning to look like an old hand at this. What do you make of the up and coming Seattle film makers following in your wake?

Lynn Shelton: Seattle has a really exciting and vibrant filmmaking community that seems to be growing all the time and I couldn't be happier about that. I feel continually inspired and challenged by the work happening around me.

Prost Amerika: Any advice to aspiring young film makers?

Lynn Shelton: Plenty. 1) Make a study of the films and filmmakers they admire. Pay attention to every element of cinematic storytelling...camera work, editing, sound design, production design, lighting, etc. Watch all the dvd extras and listen to the commentary tracks. 2) Make work. Just do it. They shouldn't wait too long or put too much pressure on themselves to make something awesome and perfect right out of the gate; they should just experiment and make mistakes and try stuff out. 3) Take workshops and classes at places like the Northwest Film Forum and 911 Media Arts. Those are great places to start networking as well, which is super important. 4) And last but absolutely most important of all: GET ON TO SOMEONE ELSE'S SET. I can't stress how essential this is and how much they'll learn if they do this. Do craft services, be a PA, whatever it takes. There's no better education than being on a working film set.

Prost Amerika: What's it feel like having a film at your own film festival?

Lynn Shelton: It's really nerve-wracking and wonderfully satisfying at the same time. Premiering BRILLIANCE at SXSW was a huge deal for me and very exciting. But I didn't know anyone in the audience so my world premiere was actually less stressful than my Seattle premiere. I probably knew half the folks in each of the audiences at the two SIFF screenings. And every one of those folks are people that I respect and admire or at least love so sharing the film with them was simultaneously really exciting and really terrifying. There's also just an unbelievable thrill getting to screen my film at the Egyptian theater, where I used to attend SIFF films back in high school, long before I ever imagined I'd be a filmmaker myself.

Prost Amerika: Can Seattle become a place where people can make a living from film?

Lynn Shelton: Well, I know several who are doing just that. They're not exactly living high on the hog, but they're doing it. I feel like I am doing it too because my regular paying gig is teaching film and so I'm always thinking and working within that realm. (I teach in the Digital Filmmaking and Video Production department of the Art Institute of Seattle.)

Prost Amerika: Do you see your self as a banner carrier for either woman directors or the increasing strength of the Seattle film industry?

Lynn Shelton: I'm not sure what a banner carrier is but I definitely see myself as one.

Prost Amerika: Do you study the work of other directors? If so which ones?

Lynn Shelton: Well I admire the work of innumerable directors. But I generally make a study of a select number of them right before I go into production on a new project. The ones that I study shift depending on the project I'm about to embark on. For my first film, "We Go Way Back" , I made a study of Lynne Ramsay and Ozu. For "My Effortless Brilliance" I made a study of Robert Altman and Mike Leigh and for my new film, "Humpday", which we'll begin shooting in a couple of weeks, I'm making a study of "Half-Nelson" and "Code 46" and probably the work of Claire Denis among other films.

Prost Amerika: What are you doing next?

Lynn Shelton: I'm glad that you asked! I'm directing a third narrative feature film that I couldn't be more excited about. It's entitled "Humpday" and stars Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair), Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project) and a wonderful Seattle actress, Alycia Delmore. We'll be shooting on location in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle from June 22nd-July 3rd. It's another film about male friendship but the characters and the scenario are quite different from "My Effortless Brilliance". These are two guys who really want to bond but who inspire a dark kind of competitive edge in each other which makes it hard for them to emotionally connect. The film will be about male posturing and the way that it can get in the way of guys experiencing straightforward intimacy with each other. I think it will be both hysterically funny and nicely poignant.