by Sn0wflak3 » Thu Jul 21, 2005 1:08 pm
SPOILERS: This transcript does contain some spoilage to a degree via the questions asked and answers given. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please pass on this interview until you have seen the film.
Race You to the Bottom
North American Premiere
Q & A Session
Cinema Paradiso, Miami, FL
April 30th, 2005
Transcribed by Eris © 2005 - All rights reserved.
This event marks the first time both Amber and Cole had seen their film on
the big screen together, so they stayed through the showing taking in their
performances and audience reaction.
CC: Carol Coombes - Program Director of the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film
Festival
RB: Russell Brown - Film Director
AB: Amber Benson - Lead Actress/Maggie
CW: Cole Williams - Lead Actor/Nathan
Russell greets Carol at the front of the theater to begin the question and
answer session. The spot light is excessively bright and blinds them.
RB: Cole Williams and Amber Benson, they´re the two main characters in the
film.
:: applause::
Amber and Cole join Russell at the front of the theater whereupon they too
are blinded.
RB: So, I guess we´ll answer questions.
AB: I didn´t do it.
CW: I really can´t see anything.
RB: Okay, first question.
Q: The protagonists live in LA?
RB: Yes.
Q: What about you guys in real life? I mean everybody involved in this film.
RB: We all come from LA.
::awkward silence. Audience giggles::
AB: But we actually shot it- ::mike feedback:: -Whoa! That´s a BIG mike.
Whoa. We actually shot it in Napa, so we were all-
RB: We shot some in LA too.
AB: Yeah, a little bit of LA too, but we actually shot it in Napa. So, we
were all transported up there from Los Angeles and it was sort of like culture
shock because everything´s much more laid back. So, I think it kind of
influenced just a little bit, all the drinking we did- no. Ha-ha.
::audience laughs::
CC: A question here? I have to plant questions. I have to warm you up it´s
my job.
RB: Okay.
CC: I´d like to ask Cole a question. Because you´ve now played two movies
being gay. I´m not trying to out you or anything, but I´m just kind of
intrigued as to why you keep taking gay roles. Because you did "Harry and Max",
and now you´re in "Race You to the Bottom". So that´s my question to you.
CW: It´s funny how everyone sort of asks that question. Oh, you did two gay
characters back to back. It´s like SO WHAT. Heh heh. It doesn´t matter to
me what the character is. But rather, if it´s intriguing enough, and if it´s
enough of a challenge and interesting enough, I´ll do it. I did "Harry and
Max" and actually, that´s where Russell and I met. And I did this film right
after that. But no, I think it´s sort of silly to make generalizations about
somebody´s life because of what sort of characters they play. But this film
is amazing. When I read the script, I was like OH MY GOD! And the same with
this other film, "Harry and Max", that we keep mentioning. ::shakes head:: They
´re just characters.
The thing that´s so interesting about this film, and this character, is that
he´s not the sort of a typical GAY character. I mean he´s GAY but he´s not.
And I kept describing him like I do in this movie. I´m playing this gay guy
who has sex with a woman the whole movie. It´s funny actually, in "Harry and
Max", I have sex with a woman too. I´m probably the only person who´s
played two gay characters back to back who have sex with women throughout the
whole movies. So, I choose some very interesting gay characters.
CC: It seemed very naughty to play devil´s advocate but people keep asking
me that question.
Okay, it´s really hard for us to see hands, but we really encourage you to
ask questions of the filmmakers because they really do come in quite useful.
Thank you.
Q: Hi. Very very well done film.
RB: Thank you.
Q: What inspired you to do that? You´re the director, right? Not the
screenwriter?
RB: No, I wrote it also.
Q: You wrote it also? Okay. So, what inspired you?
RB: Well, the script started off... First, I had this weird thought where I
was like what if Warren Beatty in Shampoo was sort of bisexual or gay. I
started thinking about that. Then I started writing this dialogue between these
two characters. It really started off with these two characters. And I had
just never seen a film, I guess, or a television show, or anything, that dealt
with what I thought was the complexity about the relationships between gay
men and women and how complicated and wonderful and tough and sexual and erotic
and fun and supportive and intimate that it could be. I´ve never seen a
film, to me, that really captured it all, so... ::awkward silence:: Is that a
good answer?
CC: Yes.
RB: Okay.
::Amber laughs::
Q: I too thought it was very well done. Will there be a sequel?
::cast and audience laugh::
RB: ::cheekily:: Ask the distributors.
Q: The second part of my question is, was it autobiographical at all?
RB: It wasn´t autobiographical at all in that there was never any trip to
Napa. I didn´t go there with some girl. I wasn´t having an affair. I didn´t
have a boyfriend. It was autobiographical I guess in that some of these issues
did come up in my relationships with women. I´m guessing in that way it was,
yes, but the actual story wasn´t, no.
Q: I was interested by the way the characters started calling each other
fag hags in the middle of the movie. Do you think that that word should be
taken as an insult? And do you have any thoughts on why it´s used as a standard
word of expression?
RB: I don´t know, I mean that word to me always seems horrible. So, I´ve
never really thought it was funny, really, but maybe it is funny. I don´t
know. To me, I would never want to be called that. I mean, who would want to be
called that?
::audience laughs::
AB: No, yeah, yeah. No, I´ve been called a fag hag actually, and I would
take it as a positive thing. I´ve never felt that it was like a negative at
all. Usually, it´s sort of like a term of endearment toward me, and other women,
who likes the company of gay men, because most of the time they´re more
interesting than the straight ones, sadly.
::audience goes wild with laughter and applause::
AB: Sorry, straight men. I love you but... There´s just something... I
think what was so... what drew me to decide, like Russell, to experience things,
where you know. You have friends that really aren´t sexually interested in
you but you bond, and you have a connection, and you love them, and all of a
sudden sometimes people confuse sex and love. And I think with this film there´
s this idea of they really do love each other and care about each other and
sex becomes this sort of, you know, uh...
CW: Vehicle.
AB: Yeah, this vehicle, to show how they care about each other, but really
it´s not about the sex, it´s about the intimacy and the connection that they
have together. And it´s also interesting that Cole, in this film, plays this
very ambivalent gay man. And I find that a lot of men that are my friends,
they´re like; if I could be straight I would, because who wants to be, you
know, name called. Be afraid to walk down the street with their boyfriend. I
mean it´s cruddy. We live in a world who will not accept me. Who wants to deal
with all the crap that goes with that, but, like I was saying earlier, if you
love somebody you´re lucky; to find anybody in this world is really tough,
so... Enough, enough! Take it.
CW: Yes, I guess.
AB: I like fag hag. I´ll take it.
RB: Maybe it just depends on who´s saying it and what context.
AB: Yes.
CW: Yeah.
RB: Okay, I think it´s about time we wrap this subject up and move onto
other questions.
Q: In the past, did you just get hired or did you go through an audition
process?
RB: Ha ha ha. Well, this actually is my favorite subject, because Amber
came in and we were auditioning and she was the first person who read for the
part. And she came in and she sat there and said, I love your script but I hate
the ending. This is actually not the ending that´s in the movie. And I was
like, I was like; I LOVE this girl.
::Amber laughs::
RB: She was just FANTASTIC. And she gave it a really great reading, and then
-
AB: And we bonded.
RB: And we bonded. And I was like; that´s exactly what that character would
have done if she would have auditioned for a part, so, Amber was the first
person cast. And then Cole was the last person cast. We actually met on this
other film and Cole was staying at my house, because he needed a place to stay.
He always like totally got the part, but in "Harry and Max", he played this
fifteen year old with long blonde hair. I just never saw him as someone who
could be able to play someone who was in his twenties, and we were going to
shut down the film because we couldn´t cast the main part. And Cole always
said you should cast me. I get it. I get it. And he showed up with his hair cut
and dyed and with facial hair and said; NOW I am reading for the part.
::Amber laughs::
RB: It was perfect and I was totally, you know... in love with Cole, so...
AB: Who wouldn´t be? Isn´t he adorable? We ALL love Cole.
::audience aws as Cole goes beet red::
RB: So, he just needed to change the look. So, all you actors out there,
the look does matter I guess. Is that good? Did I sum it up?
CW: Yes, definitely.
Q: Russell, I loved the film, but how was this film funded?
RB: It was all private equity. Asking people for money. Borrowing money. It
was a very very low budget film.
Q: How low?
::audience giggles::
RB: Looooow.
AB: We were paid like seventy-five bucks a day. We had like no money.
CW: That doesn´t mean Amber will work for that.
AB: ::eyes go wide with surprise and she gestures:: No! No, no.
::audience laughs::
AB: We basically did this because we loved the project and we love Russell.
It was really a labor of love. ::beat:: And the wine.
CW: And the wine, ha ha.
::audience laughs::
AB: Can´t forget all the wine.
RB: Yes.
Q: So, what was the original ending to the film?
RB: You know, someone actually asked that in London also, and I can´t
remember.
AB: I´m trying to think, what was the ending that I hated? I hated it so
much I´ve blocked it from my memory...
CW: There was one ending that we had for a long time.
AB: I think-
RB: Not the ending right before this? The ending right before this?-
CW: No.
AB: I´m trying to think. Didn´t they get back together? Or something? Or
no?
CW: That was a different ending.
RB: There was one. The ending we had the longest time was the lash out with
Nathan at this party with the- He´s at the party. Uncomfortable, because
they´re sort of the but behind an unfortunately uncomfortable- And then, I don´
t know if this was in that draft, but then there was a scene of Maggie at a
party dealing with someone else´s baby and she´s got a- She´s dealing with
a but too. And there was like this weird but thing. And they both felt
disconnected from the but world some how.
::audience laughs::
RB: I don´t know if that helps. It was in there for a while.
CW: They changed my set.
RB: Yes, there were like fifty endings. I could never write the ending. It
just never worked.
AB: I just felt like they shouldn´t get back together. It just seems
contrived that they would. I liked the fact that they took time away from each
other and sort of were dealing with their own thing. And sort of creating new
lives. I mean, you can look at this as though, are they going to have an affair
again? But to me it looked like they were just. They were becoming friends
again. Neither were going to be happy in the other´s world. You can´t make a
relationship work when two people are coming from such different places. To
me, I felt like they needed to understand they were friends, and they loved
each other. It wasn´t a sexual thing. I don´t know. I don´t know. What do I
know?
Q: Tell us about the car.
RB: The car? The car was actually another last minute casting. We had
another car. We had a yellow Volkswagen Squareback. And we had it for like three
weeks. Originally, I always wanted a Volkswagen Squareback in the movie
because it had this kind of Berkley vibe. Whatever. But, the yellow Volkswagen
dropped out the day before we started shooting. Its agent didn´t want it to be in
the movie, I guess.
::audience laughs::
RB: Anyway, we searched the Internet for more Volkswagen squarebacks. And
when we found one, we actually had to buy it. Here we are with this really low
budget movie, and to buy a car it seems kind of crazy. That´s how we got the
car. But from the beginning, it was always that I wanted to drive a sixties,
Berkeley San Francisco-type of vehicle. That´s about all.
CC: One more question please.
Q: What´s been the response from bisexuals?
RB: I don´t know. People haven´t really identified themselves as anything
when they respond to the movie. I kind of never thought of Nathan as
bisexual. I always thought of him as gay, but having an affair with a woman. But to
me that´s just anal-izing.
::audience laughs::
RB: I guess to me, I think bisexual implies something else. Or at least
that word incurs some baggage that is different from what is going on with this
character. I think it does have baggage, that word. And also, I don´t know if
that´s what´s going on. That´s not what´s going on with this character. I
don´t think he´d identify himself really as bisexual.
AB: This is only the second screening that we´ve had. So, we haven´t
really gotten a lot of input from the viewers.
RB: The first one was in London.
AB: Yes.
CC: This is the first time they´ve seen the film. ::indicating Amber and
Cole::
CW: Projected.
AB: Yes projected. I mean, it looks beautiful. I´m like; I´M HOT. No.
::audience and rest of crew burst into laughter::
AB: Cole and I LOOK GOOOOD. I´m like; I´d do me.
::audience whoops::
AB: No. No way. :: she breaks up and blushes::
CW: You know, actually, this is my second time seeing the picture. I saw it
for the first time while we were in London just recently for another
festival. It was amazing. It was a really fun film to make. And Amber is
spectacular. And so is Russell. Every film is such a different sort of experience,
and
this one was awesome because the first time Amber and I met actually was the
first time that we hung out and I was still a long-haired, sixteen year old,
boy band, kid, and not IN the movie. So, we all kind of bonded from the
beginning. It´s been a really neat experience, and to just sort of sit and see it
together in the theater is cool.
AB: It´s really nice to see it all kind of come together. You know, to see
IT. It´s really interesting, the film, it has this build, where you´re not
sure what the hell is going on at first. It´s just building and building and
building and then you´re like, OH BOY! It´s gonna hit the fan. And then they´
re MEAN to each other. We´re just SO cruel. But, those are the people that you
´re closest to, the ones you can be cruel to in that way, and the apologies
will work later. But to hear you guys laugh at stuff is really cool. Like,
oh, they got that, YAY.
CC: That wraps us up and don´t forget to vote.
RB: Yes, don´t forget to vote. And, thanks for coming.
CW & AB: Yes, thanks.
What's your sign?
Out Of Order.
- kinda profound, but Amber rocks! 
