The Hero Pose - Director's Story
“The young girl’s character, was really inspired by my niece, Eliza. She is far wiser than many adults I know. Whenever I have a conversation with her I am struck by her candor and insights. And I’m reminded not to underestimate her perceptions nor be condescending.”
“So I tried to infuse Mia, the daughter’s with aspects of her voice. I just love it, when the character of a child is not demeaned or overly simplified. I love it when they have their own place within a film with their own valid perspective. So my female lead character here, was really based upon someone I know very, very well. And I just built a scenario and set of circumstances around her.”
“I wanted the father to be flawed of course, but also sympathetic. Above all else, I wanted him to have hope. I wanted him to be doing the very best he can with limitations. In the end, he is caught trying to explain something very complex and nuanced to his twelve year old daughter. He’s trying to explain a failed marriage and his own failings which he, himself, may not be perfectly clear about.”
“I had seen the father, Chaske in a film I helped co-produce a few years ago called ‘Desert Cathedral’. When I saw the rough cut for this film, I was so impressed by how natural and subtle his performance was.”
“At this point, I didn’t even know that he had been one of the stars from the ‘Twilight’ films. I had followed his work for a time while he was doing a couple of films in Montana, so I had a good understanding of the quality of his work.”
“I found Nikki, who plays the daughter Mia, while I was working on the post sound for ‘The Immortal Augustus Gladstone’. My friends recommended Nikki to me, as being a young actress who was very talented and easy to work with. It all seemed to come together easily and they luckily seemed believable as father and daughter.”
“She had the entire script memorized in her head and knew it backwards and forward. She would often help prompt Chaske and I with the lines. She was incredibly focused on her character and remained patient with the process, which can sometimes be slow.”
“The way Nikki and Chaske interacted was exactly the dynamic that I was looking for in their relationship as father and daughter. They were such a nice compliment to each other.”
“As we went through the editing process, her performance was constant through out. It was almost like clockwork. She just came to the role, knowing the emotional subtext that was going on; which was incredibly sophisticated for someone of that age. And Chaske had a very unique and subtle presence that made his character realistic, I think.”
“We shot the film in Spokane, Washington and did one day of B-roll for Missoula exteriors. The film really benefits from Sean Kirby’s beautiful photography and it was a pleasure collaborating with him and his team.”
“We’ve been fortunate to find a several different non-exclusive distribution avenues and it traveled to 35 or so film festivals and garnered some awards. Its had a good life and definitely surprised me that it still continues to come to people’s attention years later.”
“When I made ‘The Hero Pose’ I never thought to characterize it as a children’s film because, thematically it’s sort of adult. I wrote the dialogue with some rough language that I felt suited the father’s character. However, it ended up being programmed at a number of children’s film festivals where got a really great response. It was also programmed at a number of other film festivals, because of the reputation Chaske has as an actor. One of the best screenings, was at Minneapolis Film Festival, where it was programmed in front of another of Chaske’s films called ‘The Jingle Dress’. The entire theatre was so warm and generous with their laughter.”
“As a filmmaker, you would think that I’d know exactly what categories to place my film in and how to package it for a world audience. But in the end, I was surprised that people laughed as much as they did and it has had affect on audiences that I hadn’t anticipated.”
“As a writer and director, people seldom come to your door and tell you that you are qualified to make a film. It takes great audacity, in a way to assume that people should take time out of their lives to watch and listen to what we, as filmmakers, have to say to the world. I’ve always loved stories and writing. After working as a producer for the past ten years, its been encouraging to have so much interest from film festivals. ‘The Hero Pose’ has been invited to festivals around the world and has been translated with subtitles into Spanish, Italian, and Korean. Its given me a real sense of confidence as a director. Its my goal to continue to champion worthy voices in cinema as a producer, while also developing and continuing to tell my own stories as a writer/director. I truly believe there is no better art form around than filmmaking.”
