Improvisation and Casting in Independent Filmmaking with Phil Volken

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Everything comes from one simple idea.
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It's the concept.
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When something clicks, I feel that everything, the story writes itself.
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Once you just something just sparks and you know the characters and you know I have to have heart in the story.
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There's heart and you root for the character.
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Then you just evolve it and it's almost writes itself because you, because you, can foresee the journey.
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This is the Cinematography for Actors podcast.
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Now on to the episode.
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Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of the Cinematography for Actors podcast here at the Mammoth Film Festival.
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We are joined Deanna Underhill and I am joined by my co-host, jack Gibson.
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Haley is on the switcher now, which is fun.
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We get to switch our roles out.
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Rotation.
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Yeah, and we have Phil Volkin here, a flycatcher, one of the features here at the festival.
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And now Phil, welcome, first of all.
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Well, thank you for having me.
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And you are the writer and director of this film.
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Correct.
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Yes, now Flycatcher, the director of our film Doomscroll and also my partner, mikey.
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He was saying that he was really looking forward to Flycatcher and he told me about it before the trip even started because the log line was so enticing.
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He told me about it before the trip even started because the log line was so enticing and it's about a group of women at sea who are stranded, get picked up by fishermen and realize that that might not have been the biggest threat being stuck at sea.
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And this is a thriller, right.
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Correct.
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Correct and without giving too much away.
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The film is about human trafficking, okay, and to me it's one of the themes, that, one of the issues that I feel strongly about.
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So if anyone takes anything other than entertainment away from the film, then I've done my job.
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If it's like icing on the cake, it's the messaging.
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The messaging and just it's a dark movie.
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Got it, it's a dark film at the core of it, because it's real.
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Wow, and so what was your writing process like for this?
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How did what we see on the screen, what we're about to see at this festival, on the screen, how does that reflect kind of the journey that you've been through with this project?
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Everything comes from one simple idea.
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It's the concept.
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When something clicks, I feel that everything the story writes itself.
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Right.
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Once you just something just sparks and you know the characters and you know I have to have heart in the story.
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If there's heart and you root for the character, then you just evolve it and it almost writes itself because you can foresee the journey.
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It's cliche as it sounds, hero's journey.
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Right.
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But you'd love to reinvent the wheel, but ultimately all comes down to the same formula that you just have to overcome the obstacle that's thrown in the character's way.
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And in terms of development of that kind of heart.
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I know I think every film has its nuances and that's important, but I think a lot of people can reduce certain genre films like thriller or horror to oh, it's scary, it's thriller, but that ultimately leads you not really to care for a lot of the characters or the concept.
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What was important to you in developing that heart as you were writing and directing this?
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For me it's the utmost importance to have a story that's rooted in reality.
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Yeah, that's the connection.
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If it's something real, if it's something that you can connect to, that's where it becomes suspenseful and scary.
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I'm not big on most horror movies because there's no suspense to it.
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Most of it is just thrown in your face and you're supposed to be scared.
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But to me it's a lot more scary when you intertwine the suspense and the character's journey Right.
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Yeah, now let's talk about production casting.
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Actually, what was your casting process like for this project?
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I was fortunate enough to have a great casting director on this film.
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His name is Rick Montgomery.
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He's been around the business for a while.
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He did movies like the Green Book and he's been doing studio films for 30 years, so he has a great eye for talent.
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So we were lucky to cast Isabel Gravitt.
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She played in the Watcher, netflix the Watcher.
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She was opposite Naomi Watts, she played her daughter and she also did the Pretty Little Liars.
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She's a really dramatic young actress that, quite frankly, she's one of the most talented people I've ever worked with.
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She's very young.
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When we shot this a year and a half ago she was I think it was 18 or 19.
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Yeah this a year and a half ago.
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She was I think it was 18 or 19, yeah, and she's just so engaging and so captivating that we were very lucky with her.
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And we also had janae walton.
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She's doing big things too.
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She just appeared in candy cane lane.
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She played the eddie murphy's daughter on netflix.
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So they're all young and up-and-coming actors that are doing solid, quality work.
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And, of course, our main villain I hate the word villain our main antagonist is played by Alex Wraith, who is just such an enigmatic persona and I feel like he nailed the character that you can't quite read him, and that's what makes him very unpredictable.
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So I feel that we were lucky to have our cast in that regard and are you doing the majority of the things in the film in camera, or did you work a lot in post, or what kind of like directing method did you have for your on set workflow?
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I like to have actors improvise a lot.
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Okay, that's one thing is just make the script your own.
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Whatever you see on the page, know it.
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If you want to go by the book, go ahead, but just rewrite it completely.
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Throw these lines out the window, just go with the flow, go with the character, and that makes it very organic.
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Yes.
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And very dynamic.
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Some actors it drives them crazy yeah, no, no, no, way, way.
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But most of them embrace it and so to me, that's one of the things is is that you just throw it out there and becomes a collaborative environment.
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To me, it's one of the key.
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One of the key elements of directing is just letting people explore the world, right and letting everyone just do what they're, what they're passionate about.
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Fantastic.
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What kind of tools are you using to help guide those actors in in improv, in terms of maintaining a tone that that you're looking for, or is it true?
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Improv of like?
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whatever, however you're feeling, put it on for the union for the improv or just in general improv, like when you're saying make the script your own.
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Are you?
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Are you going up and kind of having conversations about the, the heart of the character, or the toned, overall tone that you're looking for to help them guide through that, or do you truly want them to just from from scratch?
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improv no, absolutely.
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It starts with the character and the conversations before the shooting.
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Once we understand the character and once we understand the background and where the character comes from, what moves them and how they can hit that spot where, if they need to go in somewhere dark, what they're going to evoke in themselves to get there.
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So once you build that platform before you set foot on set, then at that point it's like a self-driving car.
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So once you build that platform before you set foot on set, then at that point it's like a self-driving car.
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Right, you can just get there.
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Great.
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Now is this the world premiere of Flycatcher at this festival.
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It is, yes, fantastic.
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Congratulations.
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Thank you.
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Yeah, and so I know it's very limited who's seen it thus far?
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But from the reactions you've had, have they surprised you?
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Have you felt like, yeah, this is in line to what I wanted to do, or is it surpassed expectations?
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It's always a process.
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It always surprises you.
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Always, when you watch a movie with strangers or even colleagues, it always surprised you that certain people have different reactions where you didn't think they would.
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So in that regard, it's great.
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Yes, it's great, because when you write, direct and edit and then it's all in your head and you really just don't know, until you separate yourself from the project, walk away and then let it breathe a little bit, and then see your friends, family or even strangers, and then let it breathe a little bit and then see your friend's family or even strangers, and then to see the reaction, then you're like, okay, it just starts taking a different form.
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That's something just not yours, but it exists on its own.
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And then it becomes more real, not just a figment of my imagination anymore.
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I know right?
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Yeah, well, I'm so excited you were able to sit down with us, phil.
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Thank you so much.
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This has been an interview with Phil Vulcan, writer and director of Flycatcher that is having its world premiere.
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Congratulations, so exciting.
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This week at Mammoth Film Festival.
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So thank you so much.
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Thank you so much.
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Can't wait to see it it.
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