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The poster for EVERY EVERYTHING: the music, life & times of Grant Hart
Category: gorman bechard
What Did You Expect? (And 3 other features!)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 2, 2011
Archers of Loaf Concert Film Announced.
What Were We Thinking Films Receives Funding For Three Features.
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA & NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT: Director Gorman Bechard, whose current feature, COLOR ME OBSESSED, A FILM ABOUT THE REPLACEMENTS, was named one of “The Seven Best New Music Documentaries of the Year,” by Rolling Stone, takes on another iconic indie rock band with WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?, a feature film capturing the excitement and raw energy of the Archers of Loaf reunion tour.
Filming in August at the legendary Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the film will bring to the small screen the explosive nature of an Archers’ show. “I believe the Archers of Loaf were the greatest rock band of the 90’s, and certainly one of the greatest live bands of all time,” Bechard explains. “The sheer power of their live shows needs to be preserved so future generations can know what a rock a band is supposed to do on stage.”
Bechard’s New Haven based What Were We Thinking Films has also just received backing for three feature film projects:
PIZZA, A LOVE STORY, a documentary that delves into the phenomenon that is New Haven brick oven pizza and the trifecta of Sally’s, Pepe’s, and Modern Apizza. With perpetual lines around the block and customers that include everyone from presidents to rock stars, these three legendary restaurants come rich with history and spark passionate debates. Beginning with the Italian migration to New Haven in the late 1800’s through the urban renewal debacle of the 50’s and 60’s, and into today when a two hour wait in line for a pie is not uncommon, Pizza, A Love Story is about family, passion, and of course one of the world’s favorite foods, pizza. Filming is currently taking place in the New Haven area.
ONE NIGHT STAND, is part two of Bechard’s planned “Alone Trilogy,” which began with his award-winning YOU ARE ALONE. Starring Lynn Mancinelli and Alex Brown, two leads from Bechard’s indie rom-com FRIENDS (WITH BENEFITS), the horror film explores what happens when you take the wrong girl home. “It’s completely twisted and claustrophobic,” Bechard explains, “the entire film takes place in one small studio apartment, with mainly the two lead characters. It isn’t until the end of the first act that you realize what’s happening, and by the time you get to the third act, you realize you were wrong about that too.” Filming is scheduled for January 2012.
BROKEN SIDE OF TIME, also starring Mancinelli, is the first film set in the world of internet modeling. A dark road trip of slow redemption, the film takes a look at a woman who realizes her lifestyle is a death sentence. “She decides to give it all up, and go home,” the director explains, “but not before one last taste of the vices which are killing her.” BROKEN SIDE OF TIME is filming now, and is scheduled to be part of a filmmaking panel for the Hell’s Half Mile Film & Music Festival in Bay City, Michigan in late September. Attendees can watch Bechard and company as they shoot the closing scene of the film.
My next music doc!
The other day I came up with what really should be my next music documentary. A companion piece, if you will, to Color Me Obsessed. Me and a crew of three other camera-people each assigned one member of the band Vampire Weekend. We stalk them. We harass them. He break into their homes. We are there when they eat, sleep, call their mommies. We make their lives miserable. And all we ever do is pose the question: “Why do you suck so much?” Over and over again. “WHY DO YOU SUCK SO MUCH?”
I would see it almost as my gift to the rock ‘n’ roll world as the confrontations would inevitably force the band members to get hopefully angry, turn to alcohol, or better yet, hard drugs, to finally take off the white V-neck sweaters grandma knitted, grow into angry punks, growing some actual balls in the process. It could only help their sound. They’d ditch the rinky-dink keyboards, opting instead for barely in-tune fenders, taking out their frustration on the unknowing strings. (I could almost hear the Fenders whispering to one another at night. “This was supposed to be an easy gig. Never a scratch. Fuck! We should have gone home with Taylor Swift instead.”)
It could be a transformation caught for everyone to see on camera, turning the wimpiest band in history into something raw and potentially brilliant. (Okay, brilliant might be pushing it for these guys, but at least something that wasn’t vomit inducing.) But just picture them breaking down, stealing old ladies purses, screaming at stranger in the street, urinating in public!
Or of course it could backfire. We could so distress their gentle egos that they’d instead shrivel up and wither away.
Either way, it would make for great film.
And their fans really would have nothing to worry about, as I’m sure there’d be many other set of silly silly hipsters waiting to take their place, with an iPod commercial song and a Honda commercial song already in the can.
P.S. Before all the VW fans get their panties in a bunch, let me point out that it isn’t just about this band. But they are the poster child for hipster lame, for hipster wimp. This could just as easily be about dozens (hundreds!) of other bands, many from Brooklyn. They’re all so easily interchangeable you’d think someone would be embarrassed. Though I’m not sure that’s anything they teach you at hipster school.
The making of COLOR ME OBSESSED – part 21
Just a quickie here, but wanted to post some of the fun graphics created for the film by Sarah Hajtol. One of the most important thing any film can have is eye-catching graphics. But something that is not only eye-catching, but also fits the tone of the film.
Think about it this way, picture a wall of band flyers. Do you want to get lost in the mix, or do you want to stand out? Same goes for film festivals. You want your poster to grab attention whether it be hung on a wall in an indie video store, or on a telephone pole, of just lying on the welcome table when you enter the festival.
My directions to Sarah: “break all the rules.” As always, she rocked it!
And here first is our amazing poster: (Photo of The Replacements by Greg Helgeson)
Our banner:
The front and back of our promo postcard: (Photo courtesy of Twin/Tone records.)
And our bumpersticker:
Feel free to use these for COLOR ME OBSESSED promotional purposes.
The making of COLOR ME OBSESSED – part 18
Back to filming COLOR ME OBSESSED. Our third day of shooting.
After Jesse Malin, whom we shot in the East Village, we were scheduled to do an interview on the upper West Side, then two in Brooklyn. Unfortunately Jesse’s interview ran long, so short of my Jeep suddenly morphing into a helicopter, there was just no way.
With only two of us working (me asking questions, Adrian manning two cameras), we couldn’t give the upper west side interviewee a respectable heads up. I called the moment the interview was over, and got voicemail. He was unfortunately on the subway, already headed towards his apartment. We he returned the call, I tried to explain, apologized profusely, but he was pissed, and we lost his interview for good. Lesson learned. We allowed a lot more time between interviews. And Neil, if you’re reading this, once again, sorry. In over 140 interviews, it never did happen again.
Next, Adrian and I scurried to Brooklyn to interview one of our Executive Producers, Diane Welsh and her son Brendan. Now a little backstory, Diane is the queen of outbidding you for rare Mats items on eBay. If you’ve lost an item you thought you had in the bag, mostly likely it’s in Diane’s amazing shrine to the band.
A few years back when I finally found a PLEASE TO MEET ME mobile on eBay, I bid well over what I thought it would sell for, into the hundreds. An hour before the auction it looked like I would have it for $45, give or take. Of course when I checked later, after the auction had closed, I had been outbid, by none other than the woman who would in so many respects become the angel for CMO.
Of course, the next time a PTMM mobile appeared, I put in some crazy high bid of around a thousand dollars, and ended up paying only around $40. There was no Diane to outbid me…
Friends (with benefits) vs. No Strings Attached
First off…sorry for the lack of updates…we’re getting COLOR ME OBSESSED ready for its sound mix, and time has been short…but I promise to continue on Sunday.
But first, since so many have asked, I wanted to repost these two post from the FWB IMDB board…
The first comes from someone whom I do not know, her IMDB name is Estella2. In a post titled “why isn’t this getting a main stream release?” she writes:
“okay….so why is it that two horrible movies with big main stream casts with basically the same story line are getting released within the next month or so…but this isn’t? this was a hell of a lot better. was this idea like stolen from someone and sent to hollywood? or did this guy sell it and agree with not having to have his name credited at all…..it just seems weird.
“no strings attached” with natalie portman with a very very similar story line and characters. even had the same original title “F*u*c*k* buddies” and no mention of the writer of this film having anything to do with it. “friends with benefits” mila kunis. also a very similar story line and no mention of this writer.
was this just some sick coincidence or what? if not, then as an independent artist i feel pretty small and hopeless right now.
what’s the point, if hollywood steals everything and turns it into garbage? if we have to keep seeing natalie portman ashton kutcher justin timberlake and mila kunis then why even try to have other actors out there? we can just have all of hollywood recycle themselves over and over until they die or become paralyzed from too much plastic surgery. there used to be such a thing as “new talent.” guess that died a long time ago along with celluloid film.”
This was my response:
“It is frustrating. I wrote this as a spec script called “Fuck Buddies” back in 1999. It was shopped around, but because of the more controversial sections of the film (pretty sure you know what I mean if you’ve seen it), eventually no one purchased it. (I was asked to take those out, but I declined.)
Now, the young lady who wrote No String Attached (also originally called “Fuck Buddies”, then called “Friends With Benefits”) went to Yale shortly after my agents began shopping the script around. What does seem a little strange to me was that my wife employed a bunch of Yalies at the time, and we were friends with a lot of people in the New Haven scene…so I’m pretty sure word got around as to what I was working on (as I was pretty well-known in New Haven at the time due to my books and older horror films)…
That there are SO many similarities in the script is upsetting. (Funny, what’s bothered me most is that the Justin version actually has an orange logo! Really?!?! There was no other color. And it’s not like they didn’t know about my film. Our URL is FWBmovie.com, theirs is FWB-movie.com. I mean…c’mon.)
So yes, it feels like I did all the work. As for it being a coincidence…there’s no such thing as coincidences! (And I never secretly sold any rights to this story.)
As for your closing…I believe the gap between indie and hollywood is larger than ever. We just need to keep to our side and keep putting out worthwhile projects. Let’s face it, an Ashton fan probably wouldn’t enjoy a true indie film anyway. So, let them have their bad copies…we know where the originality lies. We can see the difference. Never give up hope (or your dream). ”
NOW…after having seen NO STRINGS ATTACHED, I can honestly say aside from the premise, original title, and the fact that Natalie is a doc, there is very little stolen from FWB. But what is annoying about the film is their tag line “Can Best Friends Be Sex Friends?” That would work perfectly for our film, but not for theirs. The two main characters are strangers. It’s not a friends with benefits situation, it’s a two strangers having sex situation, i.e. THEY’RE DATING. As for their “rules,” well we have Brad’s Rules…and there’s no comparison. And so much for the female empowerment crap. Sure she makes the decision at first, but she’s also the one who comes crawling back begging his forgiveness. As for raunch…please. It’s a typical Hollywood romantic comedy. The cast and crew of FWB know raunch! (Oh, but they do have two girls kissing! And anyone who’s seen my FWB knows what I have to say about that!) Look, it’s a middle of the road romantic comedy. Nothing more, nothing less. I’d say that no matter what. If this were any other film and my wife and I were watching this at home on DVD, I’d have started reading the NY Times five minutes in, and she would have taken it off after about 15 minutes. And she LOVES rom-coms.
I will say one positive thing about NSA, and that is that Greta Gerwig is great. I wish she were the lead. She steals the show, and makes you want to go and watch her other films.
That’s all…thanks for listening to me vent. I look at it this way, because of this film, and the Justin/Mila version coming in the summer, we’ve gotten a LOT more exposure than we could have ever hoped for. Riding the coattails of the big publicity machine. It all works out in the end…
If you haven’t, watch FRIENDS (WITH BENEFITS) now for free…and decide for yourself!
The making of COLOR ME OBSESSED – part 17
OK…holidays over, and I hope everyone’s was safe and merry…
…but before I get back to that second NYC shoot…let me state once again and for the record, and so there’s no confusion. Since I have been involved with this film (well over 2 years now), there has never been a time when I considered, even for a second, putting music in the film. We have never approached The Replacements about using their music. We have never approached the band members for interviews. We have never approached the band members about anything, period. That is not and never was (or will be) the film I’m making. Go back to part 2 of this “making of” and hopefully you’ll understand why. I wanted to do something different, an original take on the rockumentary, a genre that’s seen almost everything, except well, this…my ode to what I believe to be the greatest band of all time. I like taking chances…you never know what you’re going to get. (Sort of like with The Replacements, right?) And can there ever be greatness without risk?
The Best Music & Films of 2010
Best & Worst of 2010
I’ll be the first to admit that because I was making a documentary on The Replacements, I listened to them probably more than all other musicians combined. I rediscovered SORRY MA, FORGOT TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH, hearing things that I had somehow never heard before (perhaps I previously focused a little too much on LET IT BE, TIM, and PLEASED TO MEET ME). And I probably played IF ONLY YOU WERE LONELY more than any other song. If was like an old friend, whispering over my shoulder, giving me encouragement and at times enlightenment.
That said, here are what I believe to be the best albums of 2010, in order:
1. Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses – JUNKY STAR – If his voice doesn’t get you, the song writing certainly will. (Or at least the dirtiest guitar sound I’ve heard in a few years.) It was as if Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams had a kid, Eric Bachman was his older brother, and Paul Westerberg his obnoxious uncle. If that description doesn’t have you opening another browser window to order this damn thing now, then go and listen to HALLELUJAH (No, not the one we’d heard a million times over, another HALLELUJAH). I’ve given this album to a good half dozen people. The first word out of their mouths after one listen: “Hallelujah.” Then something like “wow.” Yeah, “wow,” says it best. This is a fucking great record, without a flaw.
2. Joanna Newsom – HAVE ONE ON ME – A three cd set that really defies description and begs to be heard from start to finish. A modern folk opera. Brilliant, certainly not for everyone, but if you give it a chance.
3. The Whigs – IN THE DARK – My favorite straight out rock album of the year. The closest thing I could find in the purest spirit of the Mats (that was actually worth listening to). KILL ME CAROLYNE is hands down my favorite song of the year.
4. Superchunk – MAJESTY SHREDDING – Shame on Mac and company for making us wait this long for another release, but one of the two best bands of the 90s (you know the Archers of Loaf was the other), returns to solid form with a record that sounds as if it could have been released in their heyday. LEARNED TO SURF is as good as rock gets in this decade.
5. Frightened Rabbit – THE WINTER OF MIXED DRINKS – An album of rousing anthems about drinking and screwing and all the things rock songs should be about. It’s one of those albums that just kept getting better on every listen. And that they can pull off the songs live was an eye-opener.
6. Ida Maria – KATLA – Last year she topped the list EASILY. And while this is nowhere the masterpiece of FORTRESS ROUND MY HEART, the gal from Norway nonetheless delivers 9 sucker punches. For anyone who thinks girls stopped rocking with Bikini Kill, give her a listen. Her lyrics are funny, sexy and the growl will make you weak in the knees.
7. Spoon – TRANSFERENCE – After writing these guys off because of their hideously lame GA GA GA cd from a few years back, Spoon returned to what they do best: catchy rock songs with good guitar licks. I know a bunch of people who wrote off this band after GA, take a chance and revisit them. While not as spectacular as GIRLS CAN TELL or KILL THE MOONLIGHT, still in a year of limp-doodle rock, it was damn refreshing.
8. Titus Andronicus – MONITOR – A concept album that may or may not be about the civil war. But who cares. It’s a rowdy collection of tunes that owe a lot to the spirit of The Replacements, and I can’t give a band higher praise.
9. The Gaslight Anthem – AMERICAN SLANG – Likewise Brian Fallon and company owe a bunch to the spirit of the Mats…with a little Springsteen tossed in. A solid rock album, a perfect summer driving record. Leading to…
10. Bruce Springsteen – THE PROMISE – outtakes from his best rock album (I’ll probably still take NEBRASKA over DARKNESS), his “punk” album if you will, are the sort of songs most rocker would die to write. Sure, it’s like reliving a time when rock music was exciting and vibrant, and it shook our worlds. Hmmm…because of that perhaps this should be in the number one slot.
The best songs of 2010 (in no particular order):
KILL ME CAROLYNE – The Whigs
CLEMENTINE – Sarah Jaffe
HURRICANE J – The Hold Steady
HALLELUJAH – Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses
LANTERN – Josh Ritter
PRECIOUS STONE – Pete Yorn
THE LONELINESS AND THE SCREAM – Frightened Rabbit
ANYBODY LOOKING FOR GOD – Grandpaboy
The most disappointing album:
THE SUBURBS – Arcade Fire – After the brilliance of NEON BIBLE my expectations were damn high. And at first listen I loved everything about this record. But by the fourth or fifth go around I was getting bored. And within a week it was removed from my playlist. I’ve never gone back. Have never even wanted to. Maybe it’s me.
MOVIES
Best Documentary: EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP (WAS IT REAL? Who cares? It was entertaining as hell, and Banksy proved himself one of the art geniuses of modern times.)
Best Film: THE TOWN (Riveting, edge-of-your-seat drama from Ben Affleck. BEN AFFLECK! A rare gem in which you find yourself rooting for the bad guys. Rebecca Hall is heartbreakingly great.)
Most Enjoyable Film of 2010:
KICK-ASS (a movie that proved a beautifully foul-mouth 12-year-old girl could quite possibly be the greatest movie super hero of all time)
Guilty Pleasure Film of 2010:
CHLOE (two words: Amanda Seyfried)
Runners Up (In no particular order):
WINTER’S BONE
THE SOCIAL NETWORK
THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE
Worst Film of 2010
SOMEWHERE (I truly loved Sofia Coppola’s LOST IN TRANSLATION. But I don’t know what happened here. I kept waiting for something to happen. Kept waiting to feel something for any of these characters. Still waiting. So utterly boring.)
That’s my list. It’s subject to change. Having spent most of the year filming and editing, I certainly didn’t get to see everything. I’ll update it as I do…
To a rockin’ Replacements New Year!
The FRIENDS (WITH BENEFITS) interview…
Some questions and my answers to a little interview I did recently for FRIENDS (WITH BENEFITS):
1. What would you say to someone sitting down to watch this film for the first time, knowing nothing about it?
To please put all preconveived notions about what sex and romance should be, to crank up the volume, and get ready to laugh and be turned-on…
2. What was the inspiration for writing the story for this film? Is it autobiographical at all?
Well, yes, back in my college days, I had a few long-term friends with benefits, of course, we called them fuck buddies back then. Which was the original name for the script, when I first penned it back in 1999. But I was finding that none of my actors wanted a film called fuck buddies on their resume. I’ve always felt it was an interesting aspect to any friendship, especially male/female friendships. How can you not want to be with a person with whom you have a lot in common?
3. How did the project come together? Was it difficult to get this film off the ground and into production? What were the major challenges?
The biggest challenges are always fund raising and casting. I raised about half the money pretty quickly, based on the script. I found matching funds from a group interested in also putting the film out on DVD. A win-win, until they started giving me script notes. I’m beyond the point of taking script notes from investment bankers and accountants. My feeling is, you want to invest in the film, great. But you have no say. Life is too short to deal with assholes who think because they have money they know anything about story development. So, the minute they brought up script notes, I told them what they could do with their matching funds, and moved on to the lower budget I had already prepared. (I always have backup lower budgets.)
4. How was the casting process? Any surprises in the cast you finally got together?
Well, Margaret Laney was onboard first…she was friends with Jake Alexander…who knew Brendan Bradley…who knew Anne Petersen. Then Jake remembered an old friend from Boston, Alex Brown. So that was 5/6 of our lead cast. It was the final role which took a while, and eventually went to Lynn Mancinelli. The leads rocked. It helped that a number of them knew each other, but it also helped that we rehearsed once a week for going on 6 months because filling shooting. They all seem like good friends. The chemistry is there. I couldn’t ask for more. And likewise, there’s no one else I’d picture in the lead roles. They own them. But, as always, finding supporting players was a lot harder. No real surprises, except for perhaps Tara Stiles, who plays one of the webcam girls. She’s an uber-famous yoga instructor now. She rocked that small part. Wish we had seen more of both her, and the coffee shop girl, played by Rooney Mara.
5. How was Rooney Mara to work with? What do you think of her casting in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?
I’ve been friends with Rooney for a long time. I originally cast her as the Ilona, the Daughter of God, in the intended film version of my first novel, The Second Greatest Story Ever Told. In fact you can see her on the cover of the paperback reprint. But when I walked away from $2 million in funding (same reason as above), I moved on to FWB. But Rooney looked too young at the time to play any of the lead roles. I think she’s going to kick ass in Dragon Tattoo. I’m proud of her. Can’t wait to one day get Second Greatest Story off the ground.
6. Any memorable moments on set?
It was a tough shoot. We had a lot of locations and only 18 days. And there are many times I’m a 20-take director. So we don’t have much down time. Scratch that, we have no down time. But that said, my favorite day of shooting was the, well, without giving away too much, let’s just call it the orgy scene. It was very tight quarters. We shot that in an attic, so the ceiling where we placed the camera and crew was about 3 feet high. It was in the 90s, that day. No A/C. And yet, there’s one particular shot in which that scene all comes together. It wasn’t planned. It was as if the god if indie films was shining down upon us and it all just clicked. But you’ll know it because what you never expect to happen, happens.
7. Are there any particular scenes you like the best, or that you’d like audiences to really take note of?
I have two favorite scenes in the movie that still to this day give me goosebumps because they feel so real. Both are between Chloe and Owen. The first is the kiss on up East Rock park, when they first talk about what they want to be when they grow up. The other is the dance at their senior prom, when he puts his jacket around her shoulders. The looks they give each other are beyond perfect. I made the film and yet I believe in those moments they are in love.
8. How about any scenes that were particularly challenging to shoot?
The East Rock scenes…on those nights it would either be raining, or freezing, or both. NEVER shoot exterior scenes in low budget films. It’s suicide. Also the bar scenes. 21 pages in about 22 hours, with band performances, shooting overnight for two nights while the bar (Cafe Nine, in New Haven) was closed.
9. What would you say is the overall message you’d like people to take away from the film?
Sex is something different for everyone. We all have our kinks, whatever they might be. Instead of discriminating against people because of differences, we should learn to embrace and enjoy those differences. It might just turn you on like you’ve never been turned on before.
You can watch FRIENDS (WITH BENEFITS) now on Fancast or Babelgum. Or you can purchase the DVD (with tons of extras) at Amazon.
Happy Holidays to all…
The Making of COLOR ME OBSESSED – part 16
The third day of filming for CMO brought us back to NYC. A really cold day, February 2, 2010. Just me and Adrian making the drive.
We began with someone who’d become one of CMO’s patron saints, Jesse Malin. He was our first official rock star. We shot the interview at his bar Niagra, on Avenue A and 7th Street.
Jesse was great! He told stories that seemed to connect with Jack Rabid’s, of seeing them on their East Coast Whirl back in 1983, of jamming with Paul Westerberg after their set at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. He spoke of how the band seemed like a real gang, nothing phony about them. And when asked what he would tell a younger rock fan to turn them onto The Replacements, he said:
“It’s real. It’s real rock n’ roll. It encompasses everything that rock n’ roll and punk rock should have. Great songs. Great energy. Rebel music. A fuck you. A comradery of the people. A great sense of humor. And a unique style. A unique sound. Fearless. Timeless in a way.”
Guy With Typewriter 