NEWS + COMMUNITY

Alumni Interview: Russo Brothers

Question Time with Peter Baxter

In 1997 Joe and Anthony Russo premiered their first feature Pieces at Slamdance. The dadaesque Cleveland story Pieces won no award and no distribution, but after seeing the film in Park City Steven Soderbergh was about to change Brothers’ Russo career. Slamdance President Peter Baxter asks what happened and how they reached a Hollywood summit on their own terms.

Photo Credit premiere.fr

How did Steven Soderbergh get involved with your filmmaking?

Anthony: Steven was at Slamdance with his feature Schizopolis and saw our film. About three weeks after Slamdance he called us and said he wanted to make our next film. It was a total shoestring save and after three years of developing different stories with us he did it… we made our next film (Welcome To Collinwood). I remember when he won his Oscar we realized we could now make our movie.

How has independent film changed in the last 10 years?

Joe: At the start there was a kind of in-the-moment thing where you got filmmakers coming out of nowhere; it started with Ed Burns and Robert Rodriguez. You could still make a film that no one had ever heard of for $30K and get some recognition. It was like a fad, a soup de jour where you can pluck people (pre-reality TV) from obscurity and turn them into film director stars. In this 10-year span, corporations got involved with indie film and took the sort of juice and magic of indie movies and polished them up a bit, and now we have more premeditated art house fare. The mission now is not to be discovered. It’s Juno. It’s making $100 million, Little Miss Sunshine - films that will cross over in a commercial way, and are cast with actors who can help that crossover. Currently, there’s little room for a kid from Ohio and a camera and his buddies to make it.

Anthony: Often times when indie films are made, they are not made for the market place. The purpose of these films is more personal, driven by motives that go beyond economics. Those movies are still available, but we’re at a point in time right now they can’t reach mainstream audiences like they did back in the 90’s, 80's, 70’s and 60’s when foreign film was popular... when the obscure was valued.

Can there be another coming for these personal, obscure indie films?

Joe: Yes, but not on a national scale. Now there are different avenues. Because there are so many outlets for these films its difficult for people to find that outlet. And now specialized audiences are further segregated with new technologies. The Four Eyed Monsters filmmakers are a good example of how this segregation works. They expended a tremendous amount of effort to find online audiences, but outside of it they are not well known. It’s not the same as the attention that came out of the theaters in the 90’s. An auteur discovered in the 90’s was put on a platform, that’s not possible now.

Anthony: Amateur works on YouTube also satisfies indies, but they do not translate to feature narratives. I think the landscape will be very different in 5-10 years as technology extends the ability to play feature films online by those in the end who control it.

What are the opportunities for indie filmmakers today?

Joe: The hard truth is you can remain independent of the system, making your own works, buy your camera and do all the heavy lifting yourself or otherwise you can matriculate into the system. Eight major companies control that system. Back in the day, you had millionaires controlling studio filmmaking making personal decisions that created auteurs. Now conglomerates control and have the power to brand the director and make them a commodity. For example, look at Chris Nolan. Chris is known for Batman, it makes him live and exist in the market place as a powerful commodity and enables him to make more personal projects. Steven (Soderbergh) is an example of this type of filmmaker. Every three years he goes back and fills up the gas tank, functioning between indie and commercial fare.

Anthony: But you still have examples of filmmaker who carry on in the indie way. Darren Aronofsky is one example.

Joe: But he’s still a commodity.

Anthony: Every road is different. If you want to exist as a filmmaker you have to work out your commercial viability. You may have to fluctuate between commercial and indie film. But you may hit a sweet spot like the Cohen Brothers where their work crosses over in both worlds. That’s what it boils down to: how much do you care in reaching a larger audience?

How much did you after Pieces?

Joe: It had a lot to do with the debt phase of our life and not wanting to fall further into debt. After Pieces, it wasn’t easy waking up each morning next to your wife and saying life will change and then going to work at Hamburger Hamlet.

Anthony: There were many times we talked each other off the ledge. We carried each other. A defining moment came for us when Soderbergh told us “I can’t get money to make my movies anymore so I have to make a commercial film.” This made a lot of sense to us and was influential in how we have structured ourselves.

Joe: We came in at the tail end of indie filmmaker making it out of nowhere phase and we realized it’s a media game not just a feature game. And we could use our success to feed either format. We managed to break open the TV door with "Arrested Development" after Welcome to Collinwood. You have to make a living. I have four kids and you have to put food on the table each day. We’re trying to build up a financial foundation and also make more interesting fare with experimental projects and producing young filmmakers work.

Joe: We see ourselves at the beginning of the road now, where we want to be. It's unexpected how we got here. Now we are in the position of financing more interesting fare.

What is the most important filmmaking lesson you have learned?

Anthony: Follow your gut – it helps get you out of bed in the morning.

Joe: Set goals for yourself. Look forward and walk toward the light on top of the mountain.

Onward and upward Joe and Anthony!

Joe and Anthony Russo are currently directing the TV show Carpoolers on ABC.