9DCU0406HD_Directors_Cut_Studio_Transcript

 
 Information is at: eCampus. Wisconsin. edu When you lose something, you find a way to replace it with something else.  I met her.  I met them.  That was pretty much the beginning of it all.  Welcome to Director's Cut.  I'm Charles Monroe-Kane.  That was a clip from "NoNames. " Inspired by true events, the film chronicles the lives of a group of friends in a small town in Wisconsin.  We're joined today by director and writer Kathy Lindboe, and producer Robin Van Ert.  Thank you for joining us today.  Thanks for having us.  Great film.  I really liked it.  Thank you.  Robin, first you.  Can you give me just a basic synopsis of the film? What is "NoNames" about? "NoNames" is loosely based on a true story about Kathy's brother and his group of friends, just growing up in a small town, in central Wisconsin.  Just their struggles and troubles with becoming adults in a small town where there's not a lot to do except go to a bar.  Job loss is, you know, at that time, is affecting all of them.  And they're just really trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. 

 It's really about a group of friends.  We see them in the opening clip, and they're young.  They must be eight or nine years old there.  They were like the best friends forever.  Can you tell me just a little bit about, like how many people are in their friendship group? A little bit about them, because that's the pivotal part of the film, I think.  Sure, yeah.  There were six of them who grew up together.  Some of them are based on real-life friends.  Some of them are characters that Kathy created.  So, you watch them as children and their behavior then, into adulthood.  So, they're a very tight group.  You know, some of them don't have good parental figures around and stuff like that.  It's an interesting group.  The film is based on true-life events.  How true is the film? When we see this film, are we really seeing your life? Certain parts of it, but not exactly.  A lot of it is definitely fictional.  The lead character, played by James Badge Dale, is based on my brother Kevin.  And the character Rich, his best friend is loosely based on her brother, Rich.  And you know, just some of the circumstances that happened throughout the film, you know, give a through line of it.  And we created a lot of the little things in between just to keep it flowing.  It's interesting. 

 You have a bar in the film.  Two bars, but there's one bar in particular which is called? Jack's.  And I see that bar, which is basically a house bar.  It's a house that's converted.  They're everywhere here, which I love them.  And it reminds me of growing up.  I grew up in a small town in Ohio.  We had The Gables, it was the local bar.  And like, that's exactly how it is.  That's what people do.  That's it.  I'm glad that you knew it was actually the house attached to it, because some people don't get that right away, sometimes.  I love a house bar.  It has to be.  Exactly, it is.  I wish I had grown up in one.  Do you feel, when you go back to that town, this is filmed in Babcock, Wisconsin, right? Primarily.  When you go back to that town, and you go in that bar, do you see the film, or do you see the bar? What do you see first? Do you see what you've fictionalized in your head, or do you see what it actually is? No, I guess I don't see what it is in the film at all.  Though, the bar we used for primarily Jack's is actually in Milladore.  And it was a bare stage.  It was a canvas. 

 They were selling it.  There was nothing in it.  So we came in, it was white walls and a linoleum floor.  So, everything you see was created by our production design.  And we went back there now, I forget what it's called, Plow Boys, I think.  And we thought they'd keep what we had, because it looked like a pretty cool bar.  But they took it all down and re-did it.  Aw! No, it looks great.  But I mean, there is a character study that happens in any small town bar.  I think that we both grew up in these bars with parents, and friends, and all that.  We were the little kids in one of the bar scenes, the bad bar, that's really based on us.  We were the two young girls, at seven or eight years old, hanging out playing pool in the corner.  How important is it to be realistic for you? As a filmmaker, not for the people viewing it, but for you, as the director, how important was it for you to be like, no, guys, we've got to do that shot again.  This is how it was.  This is how it was when I grew up.  Or, did you not care, just as long as it looked good artistically.  No, I guess I didn't.  The script, you know, there was so much work in the script, so that's when that all happened.  Once we got there, it was really just getting true moments from the actors.  Not as much as like, this is not how it happened in real life, or what I thought.  It was definitely the actors', you know, journey and what was working for them at the time. 

 But it felt real.  It really felt like small town.  Good.  I liked that.  I want to show a clip, and I wonder if you could set it up for us.  This is Ed and Kevin talking at a Fourth of July picnic.  Can you give me a little context on who Ed is, so we can understand the clip? Sure.  Ed is a marsh owner, and he owns a marsh where Kevin once worked.  He's kind of the father figure in Kevin's life.  He gives him a little bit of direction after Kevin's brother and sister leave.  So, he just really wants him to make something of himself.  He sees something in him.  And so, there's some dialog about, you know, getting it right.  Kevin feels like he's kind of finally starting to get it right, but Ed kind of just needs to push him along a little bit.  It's a great clip.  The Ed character is a really important character in the film.  Let's see another clip here from "NoNames. " I'll ask around and see if there's anything.  I could use something right now.  Why aren't you using your welding degree? You got something that needs welding? Somebody else got something that needs welding? Maybe there's a new company in town I don't know about.  Exactly. 

 You could go look somewhere else.  Shouldn't have to.  That's the way it is, Kevin, whether you like it or not.  I'm lucky.  I still get to make a living on my land.  All those other poor bastards, they got rained out, hailed out, dried out, and they moved on.  They didn't have any choice.  They didn't wait around for something to happen for.  When it's time to go, (###) go! Well, that's just it.  I don't feel it's time to go.  I'm just starting to enjoy myself, just starting to feel like I'm doing something right.  Should Kevin stay or should he go? Kathy, tell me, what's compelling him to stay and what's compelling him to go? His friends are definitely the main force, you know, keeping him there, as well as his relationship with his girlfriend.  You know, he loved the land.  So the real story about my brother, he loved the area so much, and loved hunting so much, and just found his own peace and freedom there.  But in "NoNames," I mean, we really gravitated toward the theme of just the friends, his family, that's all he really had.  That's all he thought he had.  But should he go? Yes, probably, because I mean, he doesn't have a job.  There's little work for anyone around there.  And it seems to be a struggle to survive all the time.  And it seems so powerful to me, when I think about it for a moment.  Because it's easy for us to say, well he should go. 

 Just get a job.  The guy, he's got a welding degree, and he should go, and just go get a job in the Twin Cities, or Chicago.  It'll be fine.  But you're like, wait a minute, that's not cool.  I mean, his whole life is here.  Yeah.  It seems almost unfair.  And I think that film really helped me understand that, that there is a lot keeping someone to what we might think is a dead end.  But that's not a dead end, that's his family.  Mm-hmm.  It's interesting.  Where is this film set? It's set in central Wisconsin, in a fictitious town called Dexter.  We shot in some small towns, Babcock, Dexterville, Warrens, Milladore, Port Edwards.  And you both are from central Wisconsin, right? Yeah.  Do you feel like, when you watch this film, does it depict central Wisconsin life, like bam, central Wisconsin? We talked about this a lot.  We think it depicts our brothers' lives, and their group of friends at the time, and certainly different kinds of groups of friends.  But it was mostly about this group.  I don't think it depicts everyone's life there.  No.  But it's just a little picture of how they lived at a certain time.  You didn't romanticize it. 

 I watch a lot of Wisconsin films.  And some of the films, I think, have a tendency to romanticize, which I think I do, too, romanticize small town life.  You did not romanticize it at all.  We do in general, all the time, just talking about it.  We're two of those girls who always talk about, like, we love the house in the country with dogs, and horses running around and that kind of thing, too, and the beautiful landscape of Wisconsin.  We have those stories.  We've talked about them.  This one, though, it isn't about that.  It's not about romanticizing what just wasn't romantic at the time.  It was just hard, you know, hard lives, and struggling to get by.  We forget that rural life-- We all know about urban poverty, but I think we forget about rural life.  It's hard with almost 10% unemployment.  It's higher in a small town.  Like he said, was there a new welding firm somehow opened up in town? If there's a job, you know it.  When we started filming this, I think that's when the mill shut down, right? Yep.  It was right when we started filming this, or right before.  I think we were going in pre-production.  You know more than I do, but one of the biggest mills of like 500 people they let go.  Right there, in that town.  So, I mean, all these small towns I think are having just real difficulties right now, so what do you do? Right, what do you do? That's the thing.  What do you do? We're going to show another clip from the film. 

 This one is interesting in talking about the fictional story of the film.  Maybe you could set this one up for me.  This is Kevin and his father talking in the truck, talking about money.  It's a scene with James Badge Dale and Jim McCaffrey, and you know, again, the dad wanting Kevin to do more for himself, and watching him continually fall on his face.  Kevin receives a sum of money.  And his dad, you know, doesn't want him to waste it away, like he's done with so many other things in his life.  He's lecturing him about that.  A lecture from dad to son.  This is another great clip from "NoNames. " I don't want to give it to you yet, but it's yours.  Fifty grand? From mom's settlement.  Katie got hers when she turned 18.  So I should've had mine when I turned 18? You weren't ready yet, Kev.  I've been living like this, and you've been holding out? It's not yours.  My name's on the check.  It looks like my (###) money.  Yeah, I put it away for you.  Why are you playing games with me? Why are you asking me how I'm living, or how I'm gonna pay my bills when you had every intention of handing this over? 'Cause I wanted to know how you're gonna get by.  This isn't the goddamn Lotto.  You didn't just hit the jackpot.  You need a car. 

 You need a place to live.  Right there, that money's gone.  Then what? That's for me to figure out, right? ( sharp sigh ) You can do whatever you want, Kev.  You always have.  Just remember where it came from.  ( starts engine ) That is an intense clip from "NoNames. " Kevin gets handed $50,000.  He buys a car and a house with it for him and his girlfriend.  There's this great moment in the film.  It was actually one of my favorite ones in the film, where he says, "I'm not going to blow it this time, dad. " It's one of my favorites, too.  I'm not going to blow it again, dad.  But you're watching the film, and you're like, he's going to blow it again.  Yeah.  Why? Why--? $50,000 is a lot of money.  Well, the movie would be over in like, 30 minutes.  ( all laugh ) You know, it's such a happy moment of, you know, he recognizes the fact that, I'm going to have a great life now.  It just can't end like that.  Right, because the external circumstances obviously don't affect how you live your life.  Yeah.  It's almost like, even if he moved, his troubles were going to follow him until he gets his own self worked out. 

 $50,000 is not going to solve his problem.  No.  It's not that much money.  It's interesting.  You know, I was thinking, that dialogue there really makes me think about it, and some of the lines.  There's some really good acting in this film.  And a lot of times, with independent films, the acting really gives it away.  You can have a great script and you can have the right cameras, but often the acting is a little below.  Where did you guys find such great actors? You were able to pay them, right? Yeah.  And that's good, but where did you find them? A little bit.  Starving artists.  No, we were fortunate enough that we got the script in the hands of a casting agency in New York.  So, they helped us get actors like, Badge and Gillian, so we were fortunate there.  And then, friends of ours that Kathy went to school with, are some fantastic actors, as well, you know, from Minneapolis, some from New York.  So we called them in.  And then, our locals did a wonderful job, too.  We were really fortunate.  But it started off with the casting agency.  That's right off of the script.  Yeah, you've got to have a good script.  But still, with a good script, an actor can still kind of run into the ground. 

 What's cool about Badge, too, is that we went into our casting agency, and she gave us like the top 50 names of all the people we should approach, like big names, that would do a film like this.  And so, we looked at them, and we're like who's the up and coming, interesting one that we might not know yet.  She circled him right away.  And he just got done shooting the "Pacific," and was back in town a week when we met him.  We met him, and he was the role right when we saw him.  To go back to the film, there's a fire.  There's a fire in the film where the house that he buys gets burned down.  It's a heartbreaking moment, just because you know his dreams are in that film.  But what it also brings up, is that he fixed up that house and bought that house with a girl named CJ, one of the circle of friends.  Could you tell me about CJ, and who CJ means to Kevin.  In real life, there were different people that really influenced him and his relationships.  This character wasn't based on one person.  It was one of the few that was kind of made up of just different people and ideas in his life.  In the film, she's his girlfriend since he was, you know, 13 years old.  Met her, fell in love, and they were together ever since then.  And I think it's one of those, you know, love stories that stands the test of time.  It's just those two, kind of against the world together.  Yeah, they're definitely together against the world.  I think that was very clear in the movie.  I'm going to show another clip from the film.  This one features CJ. 

 We need to meet her.  This is a great moment where basically having an argument in a cafe.  Let's roll that clip.  Would you give me two years? Hmm? If you give me two years, I'll build you that house.  We'll get you that house, and it'll be better than before.  How was work? It was fine.  Did he get you back on full-time? No, no.  I know I need something else.  So, what are you going to do tonight? I don't know.  I thought maybe you and I could go to Jack's for a while.  Oh, no, I do not want to go there.  I don't want to sit in that bar all night.  I'm getting off late.  I'm probably gonna have dinner with my parents, and stay there.  They want to help.  They're helping.  Don't take their money.  I'm gonna take everything they give me.  My dad thinks he can get me a job at the mill.  You're not gonna work at the goddamn mill.  It's a union job. 

 I don't care, CJ.  It's not a place for you.  It's good enough for my dad.  It's good enough for everybody else in this town.  Listen, I can take care of us, okay? No, you can't.  Not right now, you can't.  Did you call your dad? You want your mom and dad and everybody else to save you? Why don't you start asking people here? Excuse me, can you spare some change? Stop it, Kevin.  Spare some change? Stop it.  You want some handouts, that's fine.  I'll get us money.  I'll buy you that house.  Anything you want, honey.  ( line rings ) Hi, you've reached the Williams.  Sorry we missed your call.  Please leave a message after the beep and we'll call you back as soon as possible.  Thanks.  ( beep ) Yeah, hey dad, it's me.  Um, house burned down.  CJ and I are completely (###).  She wanted you to know.  Complicated relationships in life. 

 This film is so close to life.  What has the reaction been from your father, for example, who is the actor he just calls up.  What was it like for your dad, for you to make this film? I don't know.  First, he's been super supportive the whole way.  I think some things are too close to home.  Some things are tough.  Some things he doesn't see the same way I do at all.  But he's been there from beginning to end, from script to onset with us, to production, to film festivals.  And he loves it.  But what about the moments? Did you have to pause? Moments like at a grave, how do you handle that? You're a director, but you're also a daughter and a sister.  Really hard, yeah.  It seems almost too difficult.  There must have been moments that were too difficult.  There are certain moments in the film that I can imagine re-creating, not being very pleasant.  I think the struggle was like, Robin and I had to put this face on, once you're in production, with cast and crew coming in from all over.  And we told them, you know, you don't have to tiptoe around us.  It's not just re-creating my brother's life story, because that would be too difficult for all of us.  So, we'd almost forget, not about my brother, ever, but those moments of how real it is to us and our family.  And then we're at the cemetery.  And that's actually where he is buried, along with my mother.  And you see my dad in the background, and Robin and I just lost it a couple times, and had to take a step away and just think about what we're doing, and why we're telling the story, and what it means, and get back on track of why I wrote it in the first place. 

 Yeah, and it's fair you didn't romanticize your father.  You let him be real and you let him make mistakes.  I think, as a grownup, I'm sure he would appreciate that, instead of either making him all bad or all good.  I think he liked the actor that played him.  ( all laugh ) I think he thought I was accurate in the looks department.  That's important.  What about the actress that plays you? Not a redhead.  The little girls that played me, I don't know.  I mean, we wanted to make that more of the story, but it just wasn't, you know.  I literally did disappear once my dad and I moved away.  So, we moved away, and we all stayed in touch, but Kevin and I didn't have a real brother and sister relationship for many years.  We talked, but it was the same as it would be with anyone else.  In the film, Kevin of course, things don't go well.  His house burns down.  It's like a country music song.  House burns down.  Things go really bad for him.  He doesn't have a job, or the job he does have is pulling weeds.  It sounds horrible.  And Kevin ends up where you think he'll end up.  He ends up in jail. 

 And we have a clip here I want to show everyone.  If you could set it up for us.  This is Kevin and Kevin's father talking in the jail.  If you could kind of give us a little context around that clip.  Yeah, he just ran into some trouble in the scene before in a bar crowd, then he went to his girlfriend's and caused some trouble at her house.  So basically, the cops have had enough.  They've had enough for years.  They've had enough now.  Now he's causing disturbances at people's homes and stealing money.  So, dad came back to visit and say straighten out.  Well, here is dad telling Kevin to straighten up in "NoNames. " You could've gotten a year or more.  But the Ryan's aren't pressing charges.  Did you know that? They're talking about you doing 30 days in county jail.  Maybe you'll come stay with me when you get out.  CJ can come stay with us, too.  That's fine.  But you have got to get your life together, Kevin.  My life was together.  I'm going to find him, Kevin, okay? I will see to it that he rots in hell for what he did to you, do you understand? I'll make goddamn sure of it.  But you absolutely need to make some changes. 

 You hear me? Every time I pick up the phone, I get sick.  I don't ever want to answer the phone and hear. . .  Listen, CJ is scared to death right now.  She wants things to change.  You drive six (###) hours to tell me what she wants? No. . .  I. . .  I drove six hours to see my son! Wow, that's a great moment.  I really love that clip.  What did it cost to make this film? It cost, our budget was around $850,000.  And you made it on film, right? We shot it on 35mm.  That's why it cost money, right? Yep, absolutely.  And you know, bringing people, a huge cast and crew to central Wisconsin where, you know, the nearest airport is an hour or two hours away.  This is your first film, right, for both of you? It's your first film.  Right.  It's your debut film. 

 You raise $850,000.  How in the world did you raise $850,000 to make your first film? It started off to be a much smaller project.  Kathy, you know, she wrote the script.  Kathy and I have known each other for quite a few years.  We go way back, since we were like seven.  And so, she started developing it, and had some other people involved, and then asked me to get involved, just because the story was close to my heart.  I knew Kevin very well, and my brother was a big part of his life.  They were best friends.  So, initially, it was going to be small budget, weekends, friends, pulling a lot of favors.  And then, you know, just getting the word out there to people, interest grew.  So, just by opening up your mouth, we were able to get some initial funding and shoot some B-roll footage, which we actually did use in the film.  That generated some more interest from investors.  We were kind of able to showcase what we were going to do, give them an idea.  And it just went from there.  Everyone always told us, like, we had talked to a lot of people who had got budgets for films before.  And the key thing was that everyone said it's around you.  So, wherever you are, it is around you, and you just have to keep talking.  And that was exactly what happened.  Finally, after years, you talk to enough people.  And I think when we stopped talking, someone finally asked, like, what are you doing? We're making a film.  Well, I want to make a film. 

 Everyone wants to make a film.  My favorite moment in the film is, they're in the bar, in Jack's.  They're all sitting around talking.  There's this old guy who's got a bag and everybody yells at one moment, "Bus!" And the guy grabs his bag, finishes his beer and walks out and gets on the Lamer's Bus, which is the bus we all see going through these small towns, and leaves.  That moment was so powerful.  I said to myself, it's so easy to leave.  Just get on the bus.  You live in Brooklyn, right? Yeah.  You live in Madison.  You don't live in central Wisconsin anymore.  We got on the bus.  You got on the bus.  Why did you leave? Why don't you go back to Babcock, Wisconsin? I didn't have much of a choice.  I was 11.  I mean, I left with my dad.  And I went back all the time, visiting my grandma.  She lived in Babcock until a couple years ago, she passed away, but her whole life.  So, I love it.  Why leave? Because, you know, it's the opportunity thing.  It comes back to that.  I don't know. 

 As a writer, you probably can make it anywhere.  But then, I wanted to do the directing, too.  And there's other aspects that are only certain places for me, right now.  Why did you leave small town Wisconsin? I left because I wanted to take a different path, and I wasn't able to do that there.  But you know, on the flip side of it, people stayed, because in Madison, Wisconsin, you can't have a Marsh.  In Brooklyn, you can't have a farm, things like that.  Farming out behind the barn.  Right.  That's why people stay.  So they choose that path, and we chose a different path.  It doesn't mean it's bad that you stayed, or it's bad that you left.  Well, thank you very much.  Good luck on your next film.  Thank you.  You're both welcome back when you have another film, or maybe "NoNames 2," I don't know.  You never know.  Thank you very much.  And thank you all very much for watching Director's Cut.  For more information on "NoNames," please go to: wpt. org and click on Director's Cut.  And while you're there, send us an email, because we love hearing from you. 

 I'm your host, Charles Monroe-Kane.  For everyone here at Director's Cut, thank you very much for joining us.  Check the gate.  I like your shirt.  Thanks.  Wanna buy a ticket? What do we win? A case of beer, crafts, like this toilet paper holder, or something, a bag of chips.  That sucks.  What kind of beer? I don't know.  It's all wrapped up.  What's the big prize? I don't know.  Last year, the grand prize was a quilt.  Funding for Director's Cut is provided by the University of Wisconsin System eCampus, providing access to online degree programs and certificates offered throughout the 26 campuses of the UW System.  Information is at: eCampus. Wisconsin. edu