A romantic hipster – Interview with Chioke Nassor, director of How To Follow Strangers
Chioke Nassor’s first feature film had its world premiere at the Titanic Film Festival in Budapest, Hungary. His debut went well: some of the audience did not even mind having to sit on the stairs in the packed cinema. How To Follow Strangers is a heartfelt and sincere love story. With its light humour it was a refreshing experience, among the festival films, criticised by (head of jury) Jiří Menzel for mostly being tragic and dark.
The film had its first screening at the Titanic. How did you like the audience’s response?
Seeing the film in Budapest with a packed audience of people who really got the movie was a dream come true. Better than I ever could have hoped for.
How to Follow Strangers is your first feature film. How is it different from shooting short films?
When you shoot a feature, you really get to play with the characters. You are not trying to jam everything in within a few minutes so that people understand stuff. The pacing, how to articulate the whole story, that’s much different. If you are lucky and the audience likes the film, you get one and a half to two hours to really get into a rhythm. The rhythm does not have to be cut, like in a music video “fast, fast, fast” (he clicks his fingers three times while he says this). That’s the hardest and also maybe the most interesting part. For me when I do short films, I have maybe a weekend or a few days with a project, but when you spend almost a month on something, you get into a rhythm with the characters, the actors, with your crew. You collectively see things and the film will lead to a direction that you wouldn’t have the time for in a short film project.
Did you have any unexpected situations during the shooting or any funny stories?
Our set caught on fire.
Really? What happened?
We were shooting a really intense scene and we had a gaffer, who was a young guy. We were waiting on the set and all of a sudden all the lights go out. I look back and say “Hey, Taylor what’s wrong?” and he is saying “There is a fire.” – mumbling very silently. “What?” “There is a fire.” – a bit louder. “What?” Then he starts shouting: “THERE IS A FIRE!” So I race over there and there is a generator which is next to a sound blanket which caught on fire, so I threw it on the ground and stamped it out. And because I had so much adrenalin from shooting the film, after I stamped it out I just said “All right back to one.” and we kept shooting.
How did you write the dialogue? It seems to be very natural with non-dramatic pauses, half sentences.
The pauses are intentionally written. If you look at the script, there are overlaps written to the dialogue, but then when we rehearsed it, we built a lot on the two actors (Ilana Glazer and Chris Roberti), who play the leads in the movie and who are both really strong improv performers. The come from Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, which is a very famous theatre in New York and L.A. for comedians to study to do improv acting.
So they are theatre actors?
Yeah, the girl who is the lead in the movie, is the star of a TV show in America. There is another famous actress from this TV show Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation called Amy Poehler, who is a very famous comedic actress in New York and she started a comedy theatre that is based all about improv. Both Ilana and Chris started in that same program. So they have a very natural rapport from that.
Did you decide to build the film so heavily on the characters before or after finding your actors? How did you find your actors?
I had the idea of the movie and I knew Ilana from her webshow before, so I started writing it towards her and when I had her do a read-through, I said “Oh yes, it’s perfect, it’s easy” and then I had a casting director help me find Chris. On the audition there were lots of people and everybody was like “pretty good, pretty good” and as soon as they were on screen together, (he clicks his fingers) it was like “This is great”.
Did you change the story after finding them?
The original script and the original story stayed the same. The things that I changed were to make it more comfortable for them. I allowed them to change the dialogue, as long as the intentions of the sentences were the same. But for the most part, maybe 80 or 90 % of the script is identical to what we wrote.
So it wasn’t improvisation?
It wasn’t crazy improvisation, everything they added were small touches, but not a shift from the overall material. Also, we had a very limited shooting schedule so it’s not really realistic that we could make a whole different movie from the dialogue in the time allotted.
How was it to direct your actors?
The worst. Terrible. (He answers jokingly.) No, they were great. If I could make an infinite number of movies with them, I would. They are thoughtful, it’s not like “Do this!” and they just do it, but we have a conversation, they are adding things to the material and they make it feel more real. I can watch my own movie – which is hard for me normally – but I can watch this movie and I can just forget at times that I made it and I’m just watching the performances. That’s a nice feeling.
It based very much on dialogues. Why did you choose to tell everything in dialogue instead of showing?
I wanted to make something that was physically able to be produced in a very limited amount of time and a very limited amount of money. There is a movement in American film, called Mumblecore that I am very fascinated about.
What kind of movement is it?
They are young, twenty something year old people, who are trying to figure out their lives and oftentimes they are very dialogue heavy. They have a lot of dialogue, but they are not really focused on plot. I wanted to make a Mumblecore style of movie that also had a dramatic plot to it. I wanted the plot to be naturalistic, so it’s not like “She finds this guy and he is a serial killer”. I tried to put them in a situation where it’s the most dramatic version of something that can actually happen. Where you could see that this could still potentially happen to anyone that you know.
The characters often wore similar clothing, they have similar hair and facial features, was it intended to show similarity or a unity between the characters?
Yes it was the main thing. In the script the first thing that happens when they see each other is that they do look alike. In the city there are so many people and there are so many things happening and an instant connection to someone is hard to find. But if you have a visual cue that plays off how they actually feel and how they interact, that was important to me.
I thought you were trying to make a point about the unchanging nature of intimacy by having a substory about relationships in the past. What were you trying to say with this? That relationships were basically the same as they are now?
Yes, one of my producers pointed out that if you actually look at the film, you could see that Eleanor, the main character’s relationship is very similar to his relationship and is also very similar to the old woman’s. There are stages and they are incrementally getting closer and closer to be more trusting and more open. So yes, on a very base level that’s exactly accurate.
On the other hand, there seems to be a contrast between the quick and uncomplicated start of a relationship in the past and the long, drawn out and difficult courtship, and romantic histories, of the couple today?
Yes, that’s kind of how I feel that the most people in my generation are. They have relationships with people and their meeting stories are muddy. It’s never like “Oh, I had a great friend and we went on a date and it was perfect.” It’s always a bit confusing, but when I talk to people who are older, their stories are like “He was just there and I loved him forever.” So yes, that’s definitely intentional.
All of the characters in the film are deeply affected by death. Did you need this so that the tone remains serious?
It’s hard to tell which came first. The idea of doing a movie that has death as a major element was not the goal, but definitely very important to me. I feel like a lot of romances gloss over the complicated parts of the story. I think there are enough movies where everyone is great: “we are all happy and everything is good”, so it’s not necessary. I wanted to see something where you can have a movie and you can still feel emotionally uplifted and you could still feel connected to somebody but it doesn’t paint a picture that is unrealistic. There can be a tragedy in your life that can be hopeful and you can find a partner who understands you, I think that’s really important. Not everyone is perfect for everyone else, but you can find someone who gets you, even if you have a history of things that make you feel like you are complicated.
Are you optimistic about relationships?
Yeah, I think overall I’m a romantic. I would definitely call myself a romantic. But being a romantic also means that you can be jaded, because you want the best version of everything. They say that oftentimes romantics are quitters, because no one has so high expectations. So I think it’s two-sided, I’m optimistic, but I’m pragmatic.
But the story did have a happy ending.
Oh, you think so? That’s good.
You do not think so?
I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion of what the scenario is. I like to think that it leans towards something that feels good. You can walk away from the theatre not feeling drained. Overall I would not like to make movies that make you feel that something has been taken from you. It would be nice to have an experience where in the middle of the film you feel emotionally connected, but by the end of the film you feel like you have been given something.
The story was inspired by a real event. Why was this event interesting for you?
When I heard that story that there is a woman who passed away and it took people a year and a half to find her body - she was wealthy, she was decomposing in a chic Channel suit - that visual energy just stuck in my head. How can you go on for a whole year in a major city, where people are constantly surrounding you and no one notices? It’s like an urban horror story. Whenever I would mention it on a party or passing, people had the same shocked reaction. I could not get it out of my head; when I was writing short stories I dealt with it but no matter how much I wrote about it in smaller pieces, I could not get rid of it.
So are you like Casey in the story?
A little bit, yeah.
Where did you hear this story?
I read it in the newspaper, but that story happens often. The sad part is that it did not happen just one time. When you start paying attention, you can hear that there was also a famous movie actress, from the 40’s and when she died it took people a year to find her body in a Hollywood estate; someone who was well-known too. You assume a worst case scenario is that it happens to a homeless person, or someone who has no family and lives in a place very remote. But to be in a place, where you should at least smell them and have a connection...it seems not only just sad but also very telling.
How much is the movie autobiographical? Are you one of the main characters? Or both?
I am all of the characters. I’m the old lady, I’m the hippie guy with dreadlocks... When I write, there will be a part, where I can see myself and there will be a moment when I think “I wouldn’t do that.”, but I understand the logic behind it. Maybe I wouldn’t say that I’m all of the characters, but I would say that I’m very strongly and emotionally connect and sympathetic to all of them.
Did you intend it to be a romantic comedy?
I definitely intended it to be romantic and I cast comedic actors. I think it could be easily labelled a romantic comedy, because it is in that vein of movies, but it’s not like “ha ha” funny. My favourite movies are like Annie Hall or When Harry Met Sally... They are funny, but they are also bittersweet. Annie Hall is one of the best movies ever made, so if you can even get close to hanging out with that guy cinematically, you are doing pretty good.
You have another film screened on the Titanic Film Festival, a tour documentary about the band, TV on the Radio. How was it to shoot a rock band?
It was actually hard. How to Follow Strangers was difficult, but in a totally different way. Making a documentary is difficult for two reasons. One, the band - which is sort of obvious from the film – is not interested in being on camera. They want to do a good job, they want to make music and they are sympathetic and they are trying to do things that are helpful for their press, but they are not fame-mongers. They are not like “I wanna be on camera all the time.” So to be in a situation where the camera is there all the time and you understand that your subject is somewhat uncomfortable, but you have to do it anyway, that’s hard. And the schedule was also very demanding, you wake up every day in a different city. By the middle of the tour I remember being like “Where are we?” “Here?” “Ok, great, I guess that’s where we are.” There is a physically taxing and a mentally taxing part as well.
Why this band? Did you know them?
I knew them, but they asked me. They have seen music videos that I’ve done and we became friendly and eventually over time it was like, “Ok, eventually we will work together on a music video or some sort of project.” At the beginning of this tour they asked me: “Hey, you wanna come on tour with us? “To go on a tour with a rock band? And to be cool like a rock band? Sure!”
And was it like that? Did you feel cool like a rock band?
Sometimes yes. There were parts of it, when I thought “This is amazing!” The behind of the scenes part of it feels very surreal, but there is also a part of it when you realize: this is their day job. They wake up and it’s like as much as you are in a different city and you are in a different country and you are all over the place, there is a moment that you do this every day. The part that I was the most surprised by is how, even though everyday can feel like there is a weird rhythm that sometimes can be monotonous, as soon as they got on stage, it’s like magic. As if they had not been a bus for like 24 hours, they are just on.
So do you like their music?
Oh yeah, I love it. I wouldn’t have made a documentary about a band I didn’t like, because you have to listen to their music over and over and over again.
Are you working on any projects now?
Yes, I am in the middle of my next feature, which is a detective story. And I have been doing a lot of short form comedy projects, which you could see on my website: http://chiokenassor.com/ or http://realhumanfilms.com/. I have been doing a tour documentary project with a comedian called Hannibal Buress and a lot of short form comedy projects with Saturday Night Live, a big variety comedy TV show. I don’t know if it means anything to you here, but in the US it’s like WOW.
And what is this detective story about?
Oh, I can’t tell you that one. You have to wait till you see it!
I can’t wait to see it!
originally published in Hungarian at: http://filmtekercs.hu/interju/egy-romantikus-hipszter-interju-chioke-nassorral
How to Follow Strangers (2013)
86 min - Drama | Mystery | Romance
World premier at the Titanic Film Festival, Budapest - 08 April 2013 (Hungary)
28 October 2013 (USA)
Director: Chioke Nassor
Writer: Chioke Nassor
Music: Tim Bright, Jesse Novak
Cinematography: Tyler Ribble
Producer: Chioke Nassor, Sunanda Sachatrakul, Annie Munro Sloan
Editing: Amy McGrath
Stars: Ilana Glazer (Ellie), Chris Roberti (Casey), Eunice Anderson (Anne)
Minor/Major: The TV on the Radio Tour Documentary (2011)
Video 30 min - Documentary | Short | Music
Director: Chioke Nassor