Writer/Director Stuart Gatt & Actress Erin Moriarty talk to The Inside Reel about the concept, approach and finding the truth of the story in regards to their new thriller from Vertical Entertainment: "Catching Dust".
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Short filmTranscript
00:00I told you something was wrong.
00:13You mother...
00:14This has gone too far.
00:18Say something!
00:21You don't need to do this.
00:22You know, this is a very existential story.
00:37It's about the idea of who we are, who we want to be, but how we get there.
00:42Could you both talk about that?
00:43Actually, Stuart, if you could talk in terms of the concept of it, and what you wanted
00:48to do, not necessarily what it means.
00:50And then Aaron sort of encapsulating and, you know, just encompassing that as a character.
00:58You know, it's interesting you phrased it like that, and I appreciate the compliment,
01:01because sometimes you sit down to write, and you don't necessarily have that as the final
01:05idea.
01:06You're kind of writing, letting the characters speak.
01:08I think it only hit me maybe after the film was cut together, how clear it became to me
01:13that you've got four characters who are trying to outgrow their childhood traumas, that they're
01:17still so afflicted.
01:18Aren't we all?
01:19Aren't we all?
01:20Aren't we all?
01:21We are.
01:22And like, it's really that idea that we can outgrow our innate capacity and outgrow these
01:26things that have potentially formed us and will curse us forever.
01:31And then, as you say, it's totally what the film is about.
01:35It's about understanding who we are and how we get there.
01:37And I think for the Gina character, who the story really revolves around, it was about
01:41creating this character and then putting other characters around to force her to go through
01:45that transformation.
01:47And I think we got very lucky in the way that we cast the film and the way everyone was
01:52so committed to the project, because they gave so much, and they really couldn't have...
01:56It's incredible as a writer, director, when you write a story and you have it in your
02:00head, and then you see the people in front of you, and it's like they're lifted from
02:03the page onto the screen, and they're acting in front of you, and then they bring so much
02:08more that you never could have thought.
02:09Yeah, but it was very much like a dynamic that was mutually fuelled, because I feel
02:14like you were just so present, and the way you spoke to us was like an actor's director,
02:19and that's rare.
02:20That's rare.
02:21Usually it takes a lot of films to get a director to be able to communicate with an actor the
02:25way that you do.
02:26So it was just one of those moments that's so rare, and I think we felt it.
02:30It was very powerful.
02:31When I was 12 and a half years old, my mama put $10 in my hand and told me to look after
02:45myself.
02:46I did as I was told.
02:47I looked after myself the only way I knew how.
02:54Was there a preciseness, Aaron, in specifically what he was telling you, or were you fairly
02:59prepared before?
03:00Because it's in the details.
03:01Everything, even down to the shirt that says Hawaii, you know, or NIDA.
03:07I think everyone has a different process.
03:09I'm not dogmatic about it, and I think it's weird when actors are, because when you think
03:14about it, our job is to step inside them.
03:16Like, we need to embody another human, and that is such a difficult thing to do.
03:21So there are different techniques, and there are different schools of thought.
03:24I like to prep.
03:25I'm a prep fiend.
03:27I need to.
03:28And it is ultimately driven by anxiety, but in a good way.
03:31I remember hearing this interview once between Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, and one of
03:37them said to each other after they'd shot a scene in a film, and I think they were working
03:42together for the first time, and last, maybe, but anyway, the point is they asked each other.
03:49One of them asked the other one, do you still get nervous?
03:52And he said, yeah, every job.
03:55And I thought, well, that means you care, right?
03:58So the magnitude of my anxiety leading up to playing Gina was equivalent to how much
04:05she meant to me, and how much I needed to do that character justice.
04:09So I really, and I like to take a granular approach.
04:13For me, I do a ton of prep, and that ironically allows me to let go in the moment and feel
04:20more free, because I feel like I know all the details of her life thus far, and they
04:25feel second nature, and it feels easier to step into her.
04:31And the accent helps a lot.
04:32I'd never worked with an accent before, and I worked with an amazing coach, probably like
04:3630 hours by the time, over 30 hours by the time the film was done, of acting and coaching
04:43around that Western Texan specific socioeconomic niche.
04:49So I like to prep, and it's a neurotic process for me, but it's also part of the fun.
04:56And that's what you really liked as well.
04:57We love to just talk about where she came from, and what would cause her in these little
05:01moments to behave in ways that the audience will never know about, but that turn her into
05:06a human, and take her away from the caricature, and just breathe life into her.
05:11So it was great.
05:12It was fun.
05:13I was going to say, me and Erin were pretty similar in that sense.
05:14We do, we do, yeah.
05:15We're both very similar in that sense.
05:16We talk a lot before the scenes.
05:17Yes, yes.
05:18We sense check all the emotional beats, the logic, and that kind of thing.
05:23It was really refreshing to have that kind of experience, because you can understand
05:30how someone works, and they understand how you work, and it allowed us to have the kind
05:33of performance that she gave, which is incredible.
05:36Well, and also, I feel like you wrote a character that mandated it, because all I ever want
05:40to do is do these characters justice.
05:43And if I do anything that takes away from that, and I am lazy for a moment, I can't
05:49sleep at night.
05:50That's all I want to do.
05:51And Gina, especially.
05:52I have to.
05:53What business do you got here?
05:54We wanted to get out of the city for a while.
05:55My gut tells me no good can come from those two.
05:56They about as much of a threat as a toothless dog.
05:57This ain't no game, Gina.
05:58I don't want you messing with them.
05:59Well, because it's also about behavior, and you mentioned Hoffman, and Hoffman, you
06:00know, Hoffman, even in real life, or even in his characters, he'll deconstruct it with
06:17humor, and then throw something like a detail that you'll just sit and look at him.
06:22And there's a lot of that here, and that's from both of your perspectives, because there's
06:26a shot, I think, of you, Aaron, where it's a dolly shot, and you're sitting, and you
06:31can see the heat coming from outside, and it's just your thinking.
06:34Or there's moments outside, or even with the other couple, where you can see she's just
06:39about to do something.
06:41She pulls herself back at times, but you can see she's about to do it.
06:45Can you talk about finding those behavior patterns and capturing them on camera, Stuart?
06:51I think I'm a big, big fan of those kind of observational moments, because even an audience
06:59without realizing it will connect to those moments, because they're with something we
07:02all understand, right?
07:03We're very perceptive as an audience.
07:05I think I realized, making this my first feature film, I realized making this film, because
07:11these guys brought so much.
07:12They're all authors in this film, as well.
07:13They brought so much to every scene, the stuff they improvised, stuff they proposed, which
07:17was better ideas than I had.
07:19And it was about me.
07:21The challenge was, how do I still find...
07:23I go into every scene knowing exactly how I want to cover it, but they might have an
07:26idea that pulls me away from that idea.
07:28And the key is, how can I still find beauty in their new ideas, and be true to the story,
07:33and true to the beauty of that moment that they're presenting?
07:41And that also is a compliment to my cinematographer, who was, like me, very aesthetically focused.
07:46We always challenge ourselves to find the most interesting ideas and stuff.
07:50It was a real collaboration from everyone to create what we have.
07:53It was.
07:53There was a lack of fear involved, because so many American films, I need to say, I feel
07:58like just are so fast-paced.
08:00They don't allow for those moments.
08:01And those moments exist in films that are foreign, at least now, to me more often.
08:07And that's what I look for.
08:08And those moments, it feels like we're a little bit too afraid to let what we think is going
08:14to drop, drop, but it actually just maintains and enhances the momentum.
08:21And so I appreciate that you even allotted time for those moments, because we could find
08:25what we were going to do in those moments, but you specifically designated the time,
08:30which is really rare these days.
08:32And I wish it was more common.
08:34My mama was right.
08:36I always stretch for things I can't reach.
08:40I was alone.
08:42I was really scared.
08:45If you hurt somebody and you don't stop him, then that's on you forever.
08:53All we got to do is play cool.
08:58They think I'm blind, don't you?
09:14Yeah.