Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
Home DramaAlert

‘Chuck and Fern’ LA Shorts Film Festival: Interview

rmtsa by rmtsa
July 27, 2024
in DramaAlert
0
‘Chuck and Fern’ LA Shorts Film Festival: Interview
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

Looking back on the early days of LGBTQ2 rock – National

Drake Takes Another L After Gambling Away Millions

Clips Of Kamala Harris And Donald Trump Speaking On Iran And World War 3 Resurface After Trump Strikes Three Iranian Nuclear Sites Amid Israel-Iran Conflict

On the heels of well-received mainstream video game adaptations like HBO’s The Last of Us or Prime Video’s Fallout, the timing of fantasy dramedy short film Chuck and Fern couldn’t be more appropo. Making its world premiere at the Oscar and BAFTA qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival on Friday, the short follows the story of two video game characters, Chuck (Lorena Jorge), a D-List villain, and Fern (Mateo Mpinduzi-Mott), a happy-go-lucky Link inspired swordsman as they face an existential crisis when they learn that the child playing their game is facing some tough times at home. Here, playwright-filmmaker Henry Alexander Kelly spoke with Dead-line about the importance of creative escape, the power of crowdfunding and working with fellow Afro-Latino cast and crew.

DEADLINE: This video game-based film relies on video game inspirations and references. But more than that, it’s about something deeper. It’s about domestic abuse. Why use the world of gaming to help tell this story? 

HENRY ALEXANDER KELLY: Yeah. It’s a heavy story, but I like making entertaining stories that also have medicine in them. There’s this aspect of this little boy escaping into games. For me, seeing people playing video games… everybody has something going on in their lives. I come from a family that would get into arguments and yell and things like that, but video games really helped me escape those feelings and emotions and helped me find comfort. And a lot of the movies and things that inspired me, like Taika Waititi, who has this beautiful way of putting so much comedy, fun and heart into these very heavy subject matters from Boy to Thor: Ragnarok.

DEADLINE: Where did the writing process start for you? Were these two ideas of video games and domestic abuse bifurcated, or did they always mesh together? 

KELLY:  Originally, this started as a play. In the play version, Chuck and Fern were talking to the audience, but you can’t cut to something happening in the real world in a play. It has to be just what you see on stage. For me, I was thinking, this is going to be crazy, but I was thinking of Toy Story, and I was like, “Well, Andy plays with his toys, but what if some really real ish went down and these toys had to see this, and how would they react and what would that be?” And I was like, “Well, I think they would be in a place where, ‘Well, we have to help our kid. We have to help this person that’s connected with us and been here with us his entire life and our entire lives.’”  So, both ideas happened in the inception. 

DEADLINE: This film had its world premiere at the LA Shorts International Film Festival. What’s that feeling been like? 

KELLY: Yes. But this is my first world premiere, my first directorial debut and I’ve never been to the LA Shorts Fest. The journey of getting here has been insane. 

DEADLINE: What were some challenges in bringing your directorial debut to life, either in the writing or the directing process? 

KELLY: Where do I start? Do we have eight hours? I’m still in the mindset of doing black box theater all my life. I’ve always had to make do with my small budget and be creative. Like, how am I going to make this talking animal happen? “Oh, we have a sock puppet and googly eyes that’ll be entertaining and carry that message across.” The challenges for Chuck and Fern were like, OK, I want to set it in a video game forest. Let’s try to find something that can contain this greenery and this beauty without being so expensive because this is indie-budget filmmaking. We did crowdfunding for this movie and it was amazing to see the community of people who banded together to help and uplift this film. 

The most challenging thing was recognizing that every step of the way, I had to ask myself, “OK, how are we going to do this?” Every time I asked, something would open up and make itself known, which made the process easier. It blew my mind. The LGBTQ non-profit Q Youth Foundation became our fiscal sponsor, and helped us open so many doors. It was an honor to work with them and everyone to make this short film; it really takes a village. 

DEADLINE: This is twofold, but I think it’s so interesting that you have your titular characters who are video game enemies. However, in the meta-verse of it all, they are friendly towards each other. Why not make them pure enemies? And can you talk more about finding your cast? 

KELLY: Yeah, it’s very meta. Chuck is the villain and Fern is the hero, but really, they’re more like coworkers than enemies. Let me be real too, the two actors had incredible chemistry when they were on set. It was the most incredible thing I’ve seen. So, Mateo did play the theater version of Fern a few years ago, and I told him, “One day, we’re going to make this into a movie.” Fast forward to 2023 and I’m like, “It’s happening.” So, we started casting the other roles and found Lorena Jorge, who, from her self-tape, the moment she looked into the camera and clicked on the camera and tapped the screen [as if she was trapped in a video game], and I was like, “Oh, she knows what she’s doing. She knows this character in this world.” She also displayed a great range of frustration, sadness, anger and all these other emotions. 

By the end of the short, our villain is the hero. She’s inspiring Fern to just exist in his job and what he does. You know? You ever felt like when you’re doing your job and you’re like, “I’m so over this, I’m done.” And then something happens, and you’re like, “Oh, what I do really matters. What I do is literally changing somebody’s life.” Both Mateo and Lorena had to balance these deep emotional things and this high level of comedy, and they would just go bigger with the improv and playfulness of these characters. 

Then, the mom, Adargiza De Los Santos, and the boy, Grayson Fox, this is his first role. He was just so wonderful to direct and work with. And I remember when we were reading the script, I was checking in like, “Hey buddy, these are really big feelings.”

And he looks at me and goes, “I understand tough times. I’ve been through tough times. I completely understand.” And I was like, “You’re nine years old.” So that was impressive. So, Adargiza helped him hold that space for these big emotions. I would cry on set when I saw the dancing scene between them. Everybody was so lovely to work with. 

DEADLINE: As for your crew, you found some of them on Instagram or cold emailing? How did you pull those pieces together? 

KELLY: When I wrote this as a play a long time ago, I’d already known some people I wanted to work on the film version of the project with. I’ve been friends with my producer, Gabe [Figueroa], for a long time, and then I met another friend, Eduardo [Ayres Soares], who I asked to be my producers. So, we did crowdfunding, and then through that, I got connected with this company called By Association that Gabe had worked with before and was like, “Hey, you should work with this filmmaker, Henry.” And so, Katherine Croft and Harriet Cauthery introduced me to their production company. The rest of the crew was a mixture of my producers finding people they’ve worked with before who were like, “Hey, this person would be great for this project.” So, I searched for a DP that I really liked and found Adriel Gonzalez, who had worked with a lot of Black and brown creatives, so he knew how to light melanin. I messaged Adriel via Instagram, and I was like, “Hey, dude, I have this Zelda-type-inspired movie. Do you want to collab?” And he’s like, “Bro, this sounds dope.” And so, we met up, and I was like, “Oh, you’re Cuban, and I’m Central American.”  So, the vibes were very immaculate.  And it was just so easy to work with him, just so fun and wonderful.

My composer, Charlie [Rosen], I messaged him in 2021 or so. It was a cold email. Charlie did the orchestrations for Moulin Rouge on Broadway. And this musical called Be More Chill that I love so much. He also has this Grammy-winning video game orchestra called The 8-Bit Big Band, so I knew Charlie was the person to do the music for this film. He loves Zelda. His video game music is so layered and beautiful. For Chuck and Fern, he created our beautiful fantasy score with live recorded music in New York City with an 11-piece orchestra. And then my producer, Eduardo, he did post-production for a makeup company called Anastasia Beverly Hills, reached out to other post producers, they do makeup and stuff. He reached out to the post producers that focus on commercially big things and other things was like, “Hey, I’m attached to this movie and the script. Would you be interested to post produce?” And this company called Flawless Post was like, “We’re down. We will help, and we’ll make this.” And yeah, that’s all that happened.

DEADLINE:  What do you want audiences to get out of this short film you’ve made? 

KELLY: There’s one thing I want people to take and then another thing that has surprised me throughout the process. And the first thing is I want people to think about the thing that brings them the most comfort and joy and show them how much this art or this thing, whether it’s a hobby, books or crocheting, how this thing deeply affects your life in a positive way. I want people to look back either on their childhood or even in this moment of something that they love and be like, “Wow, this thing that I love has changed my life for the better. And it has helped me through tough times and has created a sense of joy and courage,” or however it speaks to you in a positive way.

Then, a surprise for me came when Grayson’s mom called me after she had read the script, crying, “Now I know how my son sees games. Thank you.” And I was like, “My God.” And by the way, this movie is a love letter to my mom. She’s the reason I play games. She and I played Zelda as I was growing up, so it was such a beautiful, connective thing. 

I also set out to make this Afro-Latino short film. This entire cast is Afro-Latino, and so much of the crew was Latino. The vibes were great. There’s such a huge difference when you’re making something with people that are your culture, and it’s this boundless imagination because you’re like, “We relate to all this. Not just in the cultural sense, but even in the nerdy video game sense.” It wasn’t just that these people were Latino, but they were Latino people who fucking loved video games.

[This interview has been edited for length and clarity]



Source link

Tags: ChuckFernFestivalFilmInterviewShorts
Share30Tweet19
rmtsa

rmtsa

Recommended For You

Looking back on the early days of LGBTQ2 rock – National

by rmtsa
June 23, 2025
0
Looking back on the early days of LGBTQ2 rock – National

Music can be a very powerful thing when it comes to changing the world. Rock has been used to spread political and social messages. It has been used...

Read more

Drake Takes Another L After Gambling Away Millions

by rmtsa
June 23, 2025
0
Drake Takes Another L After Gambling Away Millions

Drake loves to flaunt his wins, but it looks like the 6 God is also ready to keep it real about taking an L – a multi-million dollar...

Read more

Clips Of Kamala Harris And Donald Trump Speaking On Iran And World War 3 Resurface After Trump Strikes Three Iranian Nuclear Sites Amid Israel-Iran Conflict

by rmtsa
June 22, 2025
0
Clips Of Kamala Harris And Donald Trump Speaking On Iran And World War 3 Resurface After Trump Strikes Three Iranian Nuclear Sites Amid Israel-Iran Conflict

Clips are resurfacing of former Vice President Kamala Harris and current President Donald Trump individually speaking on Iran and wanting to prevent World War 3, while slamming the other...

Read more

LGBTQ-Friendly Places To Visit This Summer

by rmtsa
June 22, 2025
0
LGBTQ-Friendly Places To Visit This Summer

by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors June 22, 2025 It’s nearly summer, which means vacation time for many LGBTQ+ Americans. But where are LGBTQ+ vacationers heading? From beach towns to...

Read more

The View’s Sunny Hostin ‘Almost Died’ After Suffering Allergic Reaction On Air

by rmtsa
June 22, 2025
0
The View’s Sunny Hostin ‘Almost Died’ After Suffering Allergic Reaction On Air

Hostin recalls writing a "death note" to co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin after eating a dish that included walnuts, which she's allergic to, before detailing how nurses on set...

Read more
Next Post
Rob Liefeld Predicted Dogpool Would Be in Deadpool & Wolverine

Rob Liefeld Predicted Dogpool Would Be in Deadpool & Wolverine

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized

CATEGORIES

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
No Result
View All Result

Recent News

  • Rick Moranis’ Hollywood Comeback: Spaceballs 2 and His Quiet Life
  • Red Book & Synthetics Launch in Dark Horse October 2025 Full Solicits
  • How Much Money the Racer Makes – Hollywood Life

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In