Film Courage: What would you tell a 20-year-old director who is just getting started?
Or they don’t have to be 20, they can be younger.
Julian Shaw, Writer/Director/Actor: I got it.
Start making stuff.
You have an iPhone in your pocket, it’s perfectly good.
Start practicing your craft.
But figure out what really turns you on and just be yourself.
Maybe you do things in an unconventional way and some people might think that’s a weakness
but actually that can become a strength.
I realized at film school certain kinds of movies that I love to watch I wasn’t very
good at making.
Just because I love Paul Thomas Anderson doesn’t mean I could make a film like him.
You can get really enamored with these giants of Hollywood and think well I’ve got to
make something like my hero.
And I think actually the weirder things about my sensibility, that I used to think were
a weakness, are my strengths.
That’s what makes me original.
That’s my voice.
The stronger and more unique your voice is actually the more commercial your work will
be right?
Because it’s pure and it touches people.
So just try and find your voice.
And you can do that for no money.
You can do that with your iPhone.
Just keep making things, keep pushing and you will get there, you will get there.
Film Courage: I find that interesting…so yes…just because you love a certain style,
don’t try to emulate it because it may not be your skill?
Julian: Kind of, we all go through a thing where we fall in love with Hitchcock or whoever
Scorsese…these incredible people and then you look at what you’re making and you can
be so dispirited because of course it’s not as good as Hitchcock or Scorsese and realistically
it probably never will be.
But that’s okay.
Don’t try to be them, try to be you.
And I probably intellectually knew that but as time has gone on I really feel that.
I feel that in my stomach.
I’ve just got to be me and my unique, weird (whatever) take on things is good enough and
actually it’s a lot better than if I’m trying to copy filmmakers that I admire but
that just comes with experience.
Film Courage: Looking back on everything now, why are you still working in the film industry?
Julian: I just…I mean…I just love it.
I don’t know what else to tell you.
It’s a cliche but it just lights me up.
There is nothing that satisfies me more.
I just showed the film in Brooklyn (USE ME movie) like a couple of days ago and hearing
the audience gasp in shock or laugh or have whatever emotional reaction they had it really
does all make it worthwhile.
You do this because you’re trying to connect with others, I mean that’s the word that
underscores the soul.
Weirdly you go into a very isolated space and you’re working on it for a few years
and you’re in an edit room or you’re writing and a lot of moments of being alone and isolated.
But it’s that communal atmosphere that you are always thinking about and how is this
going to play for an audience.
When you get the joy of that happening it really makes all of the ups and downs worthwhile
and that’s why I do it because that’s what inspired me when filmmakers gave me that
good feeling of joy in my heart and I hope to keep doing that for the rest of my life.
It’s the only thing that I want to do.
Film Courage: Whenever I go into a movie theater and there is no one there I think “I hope
at least one person arrives.”
I don’t want to be the only one watching this movie alone.
Julian: Even if it’s just one person and it doesn’t even have to be a movie theater.
It could be someone watching it on a streaming platform but if you can get across that thing
that was in your head to that person, that’s cool.
It’s super hard but the challenge is what makes it worthwhile.
So I don’t know what to tell you I just irrationally, totally love it with all my
heart despite how hard it is.
Maybe because of how hard it is and I think I’ll keep doing it until the end.
Film Courage: What are the stories you want to tell and be involved in?
Julian: Honestly I just want to entertain people.
I just want people to walk out of the films that I am acting in or directing feeling like
they are walking on air.
Maybe I’ve taken them to a really dark place but they feel more alive by the end of it.
So actually I just want to give people joy.
I think that’s really what it’s all about for me.
And if you can inspire discussion about tough or controversial issues or maybe issues that
are quite unresolved in society, that’s great.
But number one, entertain people and even if that is all you do, that’s enough.
That’s really enough.
Giving people joy is a pretty amazing thing.
So I want to be part of productions that do that.
Film Courage: Did you see THE ROOM?
Julian: I did see THE ROOM.
I saw THE ROOM in Portland [Oregon] with Tommy Wiseau…and you know what?
It’s kind of a masterpiece.
I mean…okay is it a zero star movie or a five-star movie.
You could argue that it’s a five-star movie because of the audience engagement and the
joy.
If that’s your pure metric it’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen and people
throwing [stuff] at the screen.
Film Courage: Imitating lines.
Julian: Right and again I said professional wrestling.
People think that is very uncool but it brings tears to my eyes, it gives me joy.
That’s awesome and you feel alive when you’ve got that smile on your face.
Film Courage: That’s really cool.
He [Tommy Wiseau] was in the audience?
Julian: He came and did a Q&A.
It was so cool.
It was really great.
Why do you ask about that?
Film Courage: I was just thinking of the one scene in the version with James Franco [THE
DISASTER ARTIST] where you see Tommy pull up in the limo and just the night of the first
screening for filmmakers and there are so many emotions but it’s this stamp of approval
of “Okay, I did it.
And now people are coming to see it.”
And sometimes it’s a bigger deal than it really is and sometimes it’s the opposite
but you don’t know that going into it.
And so that scene [in the limo the night of the screening] and he drives around [the theater]
again it’s funny.
And especially if you’ve ever had a first movie screening you kind of know it’s such
a huge deal.
Julian: I was anxious as heck.
Film Courage: Right.
I don’t know why I brought this up, it just popped into my head as we were speaking.
And I pictured Tommy Wiseau (the real Tommy Wiseau) in a limo…or the James Franco [THE
DISASTER ARTIST] version going around and around the theater the night of the screening.
Julian: The other thing I could add is you never really quite know what is going to connect
with people.
I’m not sure if I even have an answer to say about this but you just kind of keep making
stuff and it surprises you what does hit and it might not be the thing that you expect
but if you just keep making stuff.
I didn’t really have a formal answer, it’s just what I’ve noticed.
I don’t know what to say about that.
You never know how an audience is going to respond but you have to be connect to keeping
on telling stories and then eventually there will be something that seems to land.
Film Courage: Right.
Maybe there is no answer because you never know…I mean to have this viral video [Julian
was in a viral video in 2011 with “It’s Time” which is currently at 16 million views].
Julian: Oh that totally fell into my lap and then it was like “Okay?
Wow!”
And it opened all of these doors.
Film Courage: Sure, you just don’t know.
Julian: But if you keep making the effort an putting yourself out there it’s more
likely you are going to find something that will connect.
That’s really all you can control.
Film Courage: Did Tommy [Wiseau] do a Q&A?
Julian: He did.
Film Courage: Anything interesting?
Julian: Oh my gosh.
Well he was loving the whole thing and I just realized it’s a pretty good business model.
I mean he’s selling t-shirts and selling posters and I was like “This guy is really…this
is a profitable movie now.
This is a super-profitable movie.
So he kind of owns it and he was playing a character, right?
I mean he is playing “Tommy.”
But he’s very smart for doing that.
He does it well.
It was cool.
I really enjoyed it.
And THE DISASTER ARTIST was very funny too.
Film Courage: It’s very funny but then there are parts that are very true for anybody who
is trying to make a film.
Julian: Frighteningly true.