TRAILER
REVIEW
MY THOUGHTS MAKING STEELE WOOL
As a writer/director, I’m attracted to projects that aren’t just one thing. Be it a thriller, action flick, horror, drama, comedy or character study. I feel that films can be a mixture – even shifting tone in some places – and still work for an audience. With documentaries starting to shift the balance of what’s presented – even more so at festivals – it’s imperative to me that narrative storytelling not fall into the trap of being predictable. That doesn’t happen much in documentaries because they’re based on real lives – real events – real struggles and the filmmakers behind them are not worrying about filling a multiplex. They can simply pick up a camera and shoot an entire documentary on whatever subject they desire. Total freedom.
I’ve envied my doc friends because without a crew & actors to schedule, they have the luxury of taking their time – gathering their moments when they’ve decided what moments they actually need. Then during editing, they can shape the story much the way a screenwriter creates a first draft, then hones it. Problem is, I don’t want to make documentaries.
Steele Wool started as a camera test. Tiny Sony that could shoot under moonlight, could autofocus without an assistant. What should I test it on? I had met a deaf girl on Facebook, Cami Varela – budding producer, working on a doc about Human Trafficking. Met with her in person and became enthralled by the stories of her childhood in Alaska, how she lost her hearing, how she lost her father. You’d think someone who had endured a lot of pain and suffering might be a dark soul but Cami was nothing like that. Her exuberance of life was firmly intact and infectious. I discovered that Cami had fallen into acting as a way of dealing with her father’s death and she received raves for her wordless performances in several theater productions in Los Angeles. That’s it! I’d test my new camera with my new friend.
I wrote a simple scene and Cami agreed to be in it. As timing would have it, I had no actor to play against her so I stood in. I showed the test to a few friends and they loved Cami, loved how it looked and added: “You were pretty good yourself.” What? I’ve never wanted to act. “What happens next?” I decided to shoot another scene and I needed a third actor. Cami talked co-worker Nicholas Ontiveros into coming out on New Year’s Eve, in a gang infested trainyard to be a Hitman. He was perfect for the role.
That scene got an even better response – “What happens next?” And that’s how I started making a feature narrative film like I was a documentary filmmaker. That meant going solo. zero camera crew – no sound crew – no wardrobe, hair, grips, gaffers, PA’s – continuity, props, art department – editor – colorist – sound mixer – nothing. Like a documentary filmmaker I would gather the moments, edit those and ask myself “What happens next?” A year later I had a feature film starring 22 actors, 12 wild cats, two dogs, a bullfrog and one giant sea turtle named Shelly.
In the story, Cami’s character Daphne has an unquenchable thirst to taste the Highlife and the desire is so strong she doesn’t care what she’ll sacrifice to get it – even her soul. While making the film we tried to define what the Highlife was but only figured it out after a long and very grueling journey. It wasn’t about the final product or getting awards and accolades for showing it to the world – it came down to what life is truly about – The Adventure.
