Film Courage: What do you love about being a director?
Tom Oesch, Writer/Director of DANGER ONE Movie: Good question.
I mean this might sound cheesy and I’ve said this before but it kind
of goes back to the experience of me being 13 and seeing something so awe-inspiring as
JURASSIC PARK.
And again if that film hadn’t been made, my life would have been completely different.
Like if I hadn’t seen that movie…that Saturday afternoon put me on a very specific
path in life.
If that hadn’t happened I would not have moved half-way across the world, I wouldn’t
have gone to USC, I wouldn’t have met hundreds of interesting people here in in LA, I wouldn’t
be speaking English 24/7 (I would be speaking German), and I would have never made this
movie.
As a matter of fact none of these people that I met on this movie would have ever met each
other.
It’s just insane how it snowballs just because someone made a movie, It’s insane how this
just snowballs because someone made a movie.
And I’m not saying I’m going to make JURASSIC PARK (because that’s absurd) because it’s
so good.
But the idea…and maybe that’s just me being sentimental…the idea that a movie,
that some day, some where in this world, some kid might see the thing you’ve made, and
respond to it in a certain way for whatever reason and then decide to pursue a certain
path in life, that’s pretty wild you know?
To affect someone’s life like that with something like a movie, we’re not doing
brain surgery.
And again maybe this will never happen, I’m just me being sentimental, but I like that
this could happen.
And I think I said this before, just because my life is very structured and organized on
normal days, there’s a routine to direct and to be on set.
It yanks you out of that routine and you kind of just get thrown in the deep end of the
pool and it’s exciting, it’s thrilling.
And also because so many things could go wrong.
It just kind of feels that you’re parachuting out of plane (it’s a little adventure) and
even on this film (like on any production) there were moments where there was a lot of
tension and people bumped heads but I would always tell them like “Guys, we could be
sitting in an office right now doing nine-to-five and then go home.
We’re in Vernon crawling around in this creepy neighborhood telling story.
How amazing is that?”
Oftentimes it will click with people and they’ll be like “Yeah, you’re right.”
And every day is so different.
There is no day that is just like the other one because you’re at a new location, there
are new actors, and that’s just an amazing job.
And I don’t even look at it as a job, you just feel very alive.
You feel like “Oh, my God!”
Now you’re living life because it’s so the opposite of routine.
Film Courage: And is it too the sense of possibility that everything could totally fail?
And there is that challenge of trying to keep it from not failing…it’s almost like a
game?
Tom: Yes, and when I say you almost feel alive maybe that’s just the anxiety of “Oh my
God everything could go wrong.”
But you just feel very awake.
I mean you obviously don’t want it to go wrong but I look at it as a little adventure.
Film Courage: So then on the flipside, what do you dislike about being a director?: I
mean I guess it’s…and we’ve addressed it before…it’s the waiting game.
It’s the stuff between the directing where it’s just like you’re getting your stuff
out there, you’re hoping it’s going to click with someone and it’s a lot of waiting
before people take weeks to get back to you so once the ball gets rolling it’s the most
awesome thing.
It’s just the in between, you know.
Because especially as freelancers you’re always (and I know a lot of actors and editors,
they all feel the same way), you think you’re never going to work again every time you’re
not working.
You’re like “This is the last time.
I’m never going to get another job.”
So the downtime is no fun.
But you try to fill that time with creating new stuff, getting things ready so when you
meet that next person that wants to make something, you have things to show.
Film Courage: I’ve heard some people saying they like that not knowing in-between because
you know because if someone has had a 9-to-5 job, it’s like an endless just calendar
full of…you know exactly what’s going to happen, pointless meetings and meetings
about meetings.
Tom: Oh, you mean when you have a 9-to-5 job, the downtime then?
Film Courage: No, when you don’t have that.
Some people enjoy that not knowing, there is something very thrilling about…even though
it’s scary there is something…so you’re saying like a high…
Tom: It’s similar guess then.
Film Courage: Yes, it’s similar because there’s a sense of possibility, there’s
a sense of the unknown, I don’t know?
Tom: That’s true but when you’re actually making it and you’re on set there is forward
movement and when there’s downtime (even when you’re making stuff) there’s not
necessarily any of that (you know what I mean) because when there’s downtime and you’re
making stuff there is not necessarily any of that because you might be down for two
months.
And at the end of those two months you’re at the same place that you were before.
Once you get on a set and you’re actually making a movie, two months later, you have
something, something got made so it just feels like there is some forward momentum, things
are happening, things are being made.
I like being productive.
Film Courage: At the end of the 23 day shoot when you wrapped when you were driving home
(from the whole 10 minutes from set or from wherever you were) how did that feel?
Tom: It’s funny because I talk about this…it’s really weird?
Just because like…it was actually an emotional drive home because it’s the first time in
two months that things slowed down for me to be “Oh my God, did this just happen?”
You know how life is like a series of milestones?
For me, moving to LA was one of them.
For other people getting married, having children, there are a handful of these milestones.
For me since I was 15 or 13 this had been my goal and oftentimes I was obsessing over
it.
I probably sacrificed a lot just to focus on this.
And then for it to…what was it?
Probably 20 years later for that to actually happen, it was like this weird feeling of
calm.
Because all of the sudden everything kind of…while you have 20 years of your eye on
the prize..
Every day you’re working on that goal of getting a film made.
Then all of the sudden that film has been made and you’re like “Oh my God?
Now what?”
On an emotional level it felt like life could now go into a million different ways.
Now that I’ve done this do I actually want to make another movie?
What am I going to do next?
Before that it was “Make a movie, make a movie, you’ve got to make a movie.”
Now you’ve made one and it’s like…it was almost liberating in a really weird way.
But then you realize “Oh my God?
I actually have to finish this movie.”
Then you’ve obviously learned a lot of things and you want to apply all the lessons I learned
on this movie by making another movie and do better next time.
But then BOOM!
You’re back on that straight arrow trying to make something else.
But you’re like (what do they call it) the eye of the storm for a little while and everything
just came to a standstill and that was me in the car driving home from Griffith Park
in LA (because that was the last night we shot was in Griffith Park) was driving back
from Griffith Park to Downtown where I kind of realized “Oh my God?
The thing I set out to do when I was 13 just happened.
Because when you’re making a movie, you’re not thinking of nothing like that, you’re
just trying to keep up.
Film Courage: That’s pretty cool.
Were you by yourself?
Tom: Yes.
Film Courage: Was it late at night?
Tom: No, actually the sun was coming up.
It was perfect.
Because I was actually driving through Griffith Park with the sun coming up behind the hills.