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An Interview with Filmmaker Greg Morgan
by Tony Farinella
Greg Morgan was kind enough to grant me almost two hours of his time for
an exclusive interview over the phone for Matchflick. Greg is an
enthusiastic, friendly, and approachable director who is looking to
make films that get people talking. He is a part of a new movement of
indie film directors who prove you don't need million dollar budgets to get
films made. His upcoming film is his third film and a film with bigger name
actors such as Vanessa Lengies (STICK IT, WAITING, THE PERFECT MAN) and
Ray Wise (GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK AND Television's 24.) It is entitled THE
SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR. For more information about the film,
check out the film on MatchFlick, MySpace, or
filmpunk.com. Greg discussed his early directorial work, thoughts on
film making, and his upcoming film. This is part 1 of the interview: Getting to know Greg Morgan. Starting
out, his early love for film, and how he got started.
You can read Part II here.
You can read Part III here.
Greg Morgan on the set of THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR |
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TF: Greg, thanks for taking time out of your schedule to grant us
this interview.
GM: Thank you for inviting me.
TF: Tell those of us who are not familiar with your work, a little
about yourself?
GM: I'm a down and dirty independent filmmaker, who has been making
films since 1995. I was making films even earlier as a little kid with a
Super 8
camera and I just continued to make 'em. As I got older, I went to film
school at California State Northridge, and from there I just started working
on different film shoots, at different positions, like a gaffer or a
grip. I worked for free on all these film shoots just to get my feet
wet, to network, to get to know people and whatnot. All the while I was
writing different scripts, and, now as I look back on them, I can see
they are just awful.
I paid my dues writing and learned the craft of writing screenplays, until
I
finally wrote one entitled 17 & UNDER, which is a drama. I wrote
that with my wife, Jeanne, and we were able to raise the small amount of
financing for that film to actually make it. We shot that
film 35mm, which is pretty tough to do on such a tiny budget. But
everyone on the crew worked for nothing including the cast, which were
all no name actors. The film went to the film festival
route for a year or two and then we got picked up by a company called
Spectrum Films, who did the national release on video.
It was also picked up by another company which released it worldwide.
TF: How did your love for film start and grow?
GM: That's a pretty good question. I don't really have a great
explanation for it. I think just purely a love for films. I had a
strange love of films from a very young age. When I was just a tiny
kid, I think four years old, my mother took me to see Franco
Zeffirelli's ROMEO AND JULIET. She wanted to see the movie and she
didn't have a babysitter, so she brought me with. I ended up bawling
at the end of the movie when Juliet died and my mother was like "what's
going
on with this kid?" So even as a little kid, I think I understood the
film, even though it's spoken in Shakespearean English. I still
remember that after all these years. After I got older and saw more
and more films until I finally saw THE GRADUATE. Seeing the directing style
of
that film just really inspired me and I realized that films are not
just entertainment, they are art. That really intrigued me to want to
make my own films. From there, it's just really history. I got the
camera from my parents and started making films with my friends.
TF: Growing up did you know you wanted to be a director, or did you just
see it as a fun hobby?
GM: It started off for the first few months as a fun hobby and then I
realized, this is what I want to do, I want to be a director. I can
remember when I turned 11 years old that this is what I want to do.
I paid my own way through film school by making money in Real
Estate Appraisal. It was a pretty tough jump to go from making
decent money to making no money and becoming a starving artist.
TF: Were your parents supportive of your choice to become a director?
GM: Yes, they were actually. That kind of surprises me now. As I have
my own kids. My mother was extremely supportive and said, "Do
what you want to do." I think my father thought I would change my
mind and do something else, although, I never did. I think my father
said one comment though like, "Are you sure you want to do this?" But,
basically besides that, they were pretty supportive of it.
TF: Have your parents seen some of your films, and if so, what are their
thoughts on them?
GM: (laughs) Boy, that's really like a touchy subject.
TF: I'm sorry.
GM: No, no, I'm going to hit that question. It's hard for me to show
them the films. My parents are now divorced and I show each of them
the films separately. My films are usually very low budget and I think
my folks being older, are kind of expecting a Ron Howard movie and
then they see a low budget movie and are not sure what to think. My
mom usually says she loves them, but how can I really trust her
opinion? My father was TOO honest with my first film by saying "I just
didn't like it". That really hurt me, so from now on, I tell him he
can see my movies, but I don't want a comment from you. (laughs)
TF: So would you say your father is worse then some of the film critics
out there?
GM: With him, I would like to actually just avoid it. Avoid him seeing
it. It's a tough deal. It's a very touchy subject.
TF: Tell us about some of the schooling you had and what that was like?
GM: That's a great question for the future film makers who are reading
this. I went to a film school, a University film school. There are
other ones out there like Columbia College, which is an "all film" school,
and
you can get a degree from there. Really, film school did nothing for
me. I did learn a lot about all the famous film makers, which
did help me, I guess. But I would still say that most of my influences are
from
films I watched and enjoyed as opposed to films I watched in school.
Maybe school opened my eyes to some new directors I may not have seen by
myself. As far as everything else, it got me a degree. That's really
all I can say about it. Whereas the school of hard knocks, actually
working in the field with other film makers, taught me how to really
make a movie. At least a low budget movie, from the ground up. I hate
to be harsh on film school. And I'm a big proponent of a university
education. But as far as really helping
me, it probably just helped me in life. I can say I got a degree. As
far as really making films, you got to put in your dues.
TF: It's funny you mention that, as one of the most famous directors
who never went to film school was Quentin Tarantino.
GM: I used to know Quentin as my real estate office was right next to his
video store. Roger Avery, who co-wrote Pulp Fiction with Quentin, went to
high school with me.
It's funny because Quentin's type of films are not the types I like. Yet he
and Roger, at
the same time I was going to film school, were writing
screenplays. I give them props as they were able to raise the
funding for RESERVOIR DOGS. They did it without film school and you do have
to give them props for
that. He is one who would always recommend movies for me when I would be
at the video store. He would say, "You gotta see this, you gotta see
that." I was floored when I heard he directed
RESERVOIR DOGS. I was like Quentin? The video store clerk? I couldn't
believe it. And now look at him. Fascinating little tidbit.
TF: Can you tell us some of the films he recommended you?
GM: He would recommend something every time I came in there.
I'm a huge foreign film fan and he would tell me foreign films to see.
Many times I wouldn't like them, but sometimes he would recommend
some good ones. He just liked a different genre then I did.
TF: Who were some of your favorite actors as a kid?
GM: I've always loved Dustin Hoffman and George C. Scott. Back when I
was a kid, George was a pretty big name actor at the time. I just thought he
was an "actors" actor at that time. But over the years, it changes.
TF: Favorite film makers growing up?
GM: Terrence Malick definitely has the type of vibe I like. He just
did THE NEW WORLD, which is really controversial. Some people loved it
and some people hated it. Some people are claiming that he's the new
eccentric type director, like Stanley Kubrick. Terrence is kind of
taking Stanley's place. I dunno if that's true, since Terrance has his own
style. I guess if you watch my first two films, you'll think, "How did
Terrence influence Greg?" But if you see my third film, THE SUBSTANCE OF
THINGS HOPED FOR, you'll see why I love Malick and how my style is very much
like
his films. I was able to put in what I wanted. I was able to really
plan ahead. My second film was produced by someone else who wanted me
to direct in a certain style, and I did. With my first shoot, it was
such a hard shoot, like you wouldn't believe. It's the perfect story
of independent film. 18 days and 18 hours a day. It was really
incredibly tough and I can fall back on that excuse. But my new one, I
would
say, I'm extremely proud of. It's very Terrence Malick style. Although,
when you say you are going to go for a certain style, it ends up
something else. Like when you write a script, you think it's going to
be one way and it ends up another. It always is different than what you
thought it would be. But in SUBSTANCE, you will see that it is my
style.
TF: What were some of your favorite films growing up?
GM: THE GRADUATE is definitely number one. THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, ROMEO
AND JULIET, DAY OF THE DOLPHIN, APOCALYPSE NOW, those are all films
that influenced me as a kid. THE SHINING, MARATHON MAN, MIDNIGHT
COWBOY is wonderful. I love the THE PIANO, and that director. BLUE, RED,
and WHITE series. Those are a huge influence on me too.
TF: So you have the schooling, how do you go from the classroom to
making a film?
GM: That's a great question for those young kids who want to become
film makers. You have to write, you can't go around saying I'm going
to be a filmmaker, without a script. You can get a script from other
writers, but someone might steal that one from you unless you have
some kind of option on it. They can say, "Get rid of this kid, he
doesn't know what's he doing." But if you write it yourself, it's
yours, and you are attached to it. It's a done deal. If you write
something good enough, and get people interested, there's a couple of
ways you go about it. You can go to studios and try and get someone to
read your script, which is, let me tell you, hard. It's really hard. Or
you can go to everyone you know and try and raise money. If you know
some wealthy people or some companies, then you might be able to get
the funding. You can say I'll print your company name on the movie or
something. Or do product placement for your film. You really gotta work
hard to have that kind of enthusiasm to get people and companies to
back you. If you have that kind of enthusiasm, like this is going to
be the greatest thing you ever saw, then you might be able to convince
these people to do it. That's the low budget way, and if it's
successfully enough, and you can convince people to let you do another,
then you get an agent.. It didn't happen that easy for me, I just
finished my third low budget feature and I'm still hoping to get
there. I had a manager and it didn't help me much. I'm hoping I get to
the point where I don't have to beg and plead to make another film. I
hope I get to the point where people say "It's a Greg Morgan film,
let's fund it". That's what I want.
You can read Part II here.
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