We wrap up “summer” with this episode of BEHIND THE LENS with writer/director MICHAEL MANDELL talking about THE MOVIE, plus my exclusive prerecorded interview with writer/director ABI DAMARIS CORBIN talking about the powerful John Boyega-led film, BREAKING.
Writer/Director ABI DAMARIS CORBIN has taken one true story involving a veteran and the failures of the VA system and society and delivers the emotionally charged drama, BREAKING. Led by John Boyega and Michael K. Williams in his final film role, BREAKING is the story of former Marine Lance Corporal Brian Brown-Easley and the challenges he faced mentally and emotionally as he tried to reintegrate into civilian life on leaving the military only to have his efforts end in tragedy.
As part of the fallacies with veterans’ benefits, there is a law on the books that the VA is entitled to recover money directly from a veteran who stops attending classes or drops too many courses. Despite dealing with extreme PTSD and mental issues, in an effort to retrain himself and help provide for his beloved daughter Jayla, Brian had enrolled in computer classes. But he stopped attending and the government garnished his entire veteran’s monthly benefit of $892 while claiming he still owed repayment of $271. As a result, Brian decided to showed up at a Wells Fargo bank branch outside of Marietta, Georgia and slipped a note to a teller that he had a bomb in his backpack. Brian allowed all employees except two to leave and called 911 and a local TV news outlet himself, apprising them of the situation.
Working with the Brown-Easley family, Corbin delivers a film that is undeniably riveting and heartbreaking as we are with Boyega as Brown-Easley inside the bank during the hostage situation, getting into his head and his heart. Balancing that with what is happening on the outside with law enforcement and bureaucrats and it’s a heart-wrenching nail-biter. Production values are extremely high as is Corbin’s visual grammar and visual design to tell this story. Boyega as Easley and Michael K. Williams as the compassionate hostage negotiator who connects with Easley as he is also a former Marine, are award-worthy at every turn. This is a fascinating and heartfelt interview that digs into the “making of” the film and the tragedy of the story itself.
And then we welcome the fun-filled writer/director MICHAEL MANDELL to the show to talk about his narrative feature debut, THE MOVIE, a film that truly does stand by the mantra “It’s Only Compelling If It’s Real!”. A dark and twisted tale rooted in reality, it’s irresistible and irresistibly funny. Dark and twisted, THE MOVIE draws us in ever deeper with every passing frame as we meet former child actor Janet Gillespie and obsessed fan and wannabe filmmaker Walter. It’s no holds barred as Michael discusses the idea for the story, film’s location (his own house!), production design, cinematography and the challenges of shooting within the confines of the house and its furnishings, and above all, the performances of Jarrod Pistilli and Bonnie Root, the latter who shot the entire film with hands tied and body strapped upright to a dolly!
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