Mean Creek is going to be one those films like Stand By Me that launches everyone involved into the stratosphere of Hollywood. Writer/director Jacob Aaron Estes has created such a true life tale of horror that you could actually believe that things like this happen every weekend. It stars Rory Culkin, Josh Peck and Carly Schroeder.
The journey within begins as a plot for playful payback on a local troublemaker; the journey onscreen begins with a river, as a ragtag group of teenagers set out on a boat trip to celebrate the birthday of their youngest member. As a sort of boyish Heart of Darkness trip develops, cracks in the crew form when some of the teens have second thoughts about what they are about to do.
Check out the website for Mean Creek
Daniel Robert Epstein: There are many films that arent dissimilar to Mean Creek. When writing this film how did you want to make it different?
Jacob Aaron Estes: First of all I wrote the first draft seven years ago so Im not sure what came after it. Compared to movies like The Rivers Edge and Stand By Me where its sort of a story where kids arent culpable in the death. Mean Creek is about kids who create the tragedy themselves then have to deal with the tragedy themselves. That sort of distinguished it. Also I really wanted to make a movie about the bully as a human being where he as a complexity about him that you can care about while also being repulsed by him.
DRE: I was home sick one day and I watched Max Keeble's Big Move twice in a row. I love that movie now and it starred Josh Peck.
JAE: Ive never seen it.
DRE: He plays a character called Robe in it because he always wears a robe to school. Hes also got the number one rated show on Nickelodeon called Drake & Josh. What made you see the darkness in him?
JAE: Fortunately going in I didnt know any of these actors except for Rory Culkin. I didnt know the difference between a kid who had been in ten movies like Trevor [Morgan] and a kid who had never been in a movie. I was just meeting them and having an instinct on whether they could do and look the part. Josh auditioned for the role before I even turned over his resume. By then I didnt care that he had only done comedy before this. Hes so intelligent and aware of what the part required. It was clear he had the physicality we needed and that he was likable. We needed George to be likable but at the same time he needed to be incredibly ugly, hostile and abusive. He needed to be a serious potential threat to the other kids. We called him back and asked him to do the scene Daddy splattered his brains all over the wall. He was just horrifying.
DRE: I cant think of anyone that wouldnt take a swipe at him at that point in the movie. It seems like they wanted something horrible to happen him after he fell in the water.
JAE: I wanted to put the audience in the same mindset as the kids. He is a human being that you do feel sorry for but hes so out of control and it gets so bad that you just want him to shut the fuck up. Youre just as satisfied as the kids are to knock him out of the boat. Its not about hurting but just stopping his ugly hateful rant. I wanted the audience to understand what the characters were going through.
DRE: Is Mean Creek an independent film that was bought by Paramount Classics?
JAE: Yes, truly independent.
DRE: Ive worked on many independent films and I couldnt imagine anything harder than directing six kids in a rowboat on a river.
JAE: [laughs] Physically it was a huge challenge. Coming up with solutions on how to film it with me directing was tough. Sometimes we would have two boats locked together by a metal arm underneath. Other times we would just free float to get an extra layer of background with the camera moving, the foreground moving then the background moving all because of the water. It was tough but it was fun. Nobody was there for a paycheck so it became all about wanting to work on this movie.
DRE: Was George a slow kid?
JAE: I think of him as really intelligent but I think he has incredible emotional handicaps or something that cause people to freak. Some kids pull out their hair, others cant stop cursing. I did a lot of research and just found that there is no appropriate title for what he had. But people that have it have huge impulse control issues. George has some variation on that.
DRE: Because you had so many characters in the film did you feel like you may have shortchanged some of them? I really wanted to know more about Clyde [Ryan Kelley] and his situation with the gay fathers.
JAE: There was definitely dialogue that was cut out so Clyde might have had more to say. But if he got more the rest of them would have had to have more as well. The character was exposed to the extent that he needed to, so I dont think he got shortchanged. There is only so much one can do in 89 minutes.
DRE: Believe me I appreciated how short the film was. Its rare for an independent film about a serious subject matter.
How was this movie personal for you?
JAE: Well like most people Ive been involved in the social dynamic of a group of friends. Ive been teased and ridiculed and also been on the other side of it with acting out and such. But I was never involved in any tragedy like that.
I wanted the characters to be involved in a huge moral crisis and see where these teenage characters would go. There is a huge genre of films that launched this whole notion like Lord of the Flies, Over the Edge, The Rivers Edge, Stand By Me and Bad Boys with Sean Penn. Its a whole slew of movies about teenagers in a world where the adults are in the background.
DRE: Mean Creek was a critical favorite at Cannes Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival. What was that been like for you?
JAE: This movie came from such humble small beginnings. The budget eventually crept up to a half a million dollars but started out much smaller so this has just been a dream come true.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
The journey within begins as a plot for playful payback on a local troublemaker; the journey onscreen begins with a river, as a ragtag group of teenagers set out on a boat trip to celebrate the birthday of their youngest member. As a sort of boyish Heart of Darkness trip develops, cracks in the crew form when some of the teens have second thoughts about what they are about to do.
Check out the website for Mean Creek
Daniel Robert Epstein: There are many films that arent dissimilar to Mean Creek. When writing this film how did you want to make it different?
Jacob Aaron Estes: First of all I wrote the first draft seven years ago so Im not sure what came after it. Compared to movies like The Rivers Edge and Stand By Me where its sort of a story where kids arent culpable in the death. Mean Creek is about kids who create the tragedy themselves then have to deal with the tragedy themselves. That sort of distinguished it. Also I really wanted to make a movie about the bully as a human being where he as a complexity about him that you can care about while also being repulsed by him.
DRE: I was home sick one day and I watched Max Keeble's Big Move twice in a row. I love that movie now and it starred Josh Peck.
JAE: Ive never seen it.
DRE: He plays a character called Robe in it because he always wears a robe to school. Hes also got the number one rated show on Nickelodeon called Drake & Josh. What made you see the darkness in him?
JAE: Fortunately going in I didnt know any of these actors except for Rory Culkin. I didnt know the difference between a kid who had been in ten movies like Trevor [Morgan] and a kid who had never been in a movie. I was just meeting them and having an instinct on whether they could do and look the part. Josh auditioned for the role before I even turned over his resume. By then I didnt care that he had only done comedy before this. Hes so intelligent and aware of what the part required. It was clear he had the physicality we needed and that he was likable. We needed George to be likable but at the same time he needed to be incredibly ugly, hostile and abusive. He needed to be a serious potential threat to the other kids. We called him back and asked him to do the scene Daddy splattered his brains all over the wall. He was just horrifying.
DRE: I cant think of anyone that wouldnt take a swipe at him at that point in the movie. It seems like they wanted something horrible to happen him after he fell in the water.
JAE: I wanted to put the audience in the same mindset as the kids. He is a human being that you do feel sorry for but hes so out of control and it gets so bad that you just want him to shut the fuck up. Youre just as satisfied as the kids are to knock him out of the boat. Its not about hurting but just stopping his ugly hateful rant. I wanted the audience to understand what the characters were going through.
DRE: Is Mean Creek an independent film that was bought by Paramount Classics?
JAE: Yes, truly independent.
DRE: Ive worked on many independent films and I couldnt imagine anything harder than directing six kids in a rowboat on a river.
JAE: [laughs] Physically it was a huge challenge. Coming up with solutions on how to film it with me directing was tough. Sometimes we would have two boats locked together by a metal arm underneath. Other times we would just free float to get an extra layer of background with the camera moving, the foreground moving then the background moving all because of the water. It was tough but it was fun. Nobody was there for a paycheck so it became all about wanting to work on this movie.
DRE: Was George a slow kid?
JAE: I think of him as really intelligent but I think he has incredible emotional handicaps or something that cause people to freak. Some kids pull out their hair, others cant stop cursing. I did a lot of research and just found that there is no appropriate title for what he had. But people that have it have huge impulse control issues. George has some variation on that.
DRE: Because you had so many characters in the film did you feel like you may have shortchanged some of them? I really wanted to know more about Clyde [Ryan Kelley] and his situation with the gay fathers.
JAE: There was definitely dialogue that was cut out so Clyde might have had more to say. But if he got more the rest of them would have had to have more as well. The character was exposed to the extent that he needed to, so I dont think he got shortchanged. There is only so much one can do in 89 minutes.
DRE: Believe me I appreciated how short the film was. Its rare for an independent film about a serious subject matter.
How was this movie personal for you?
JAE: Well like most people Ive been involved in the social dynamic of a group of friends. Ive been teased and ridiculed and also been on the other side of it with acting out and such. But I was never involved in any tragedy like that.
I wanted the characters to be involved in a huge moral crisis and see where these teenage characters would go. There is a huge genre of films that launched this whole notion like Lord of the Flies, Over the Edge, The Rivers Edge, Stand By Me and Bad Boys with Sean Penn. Its a whole slew of movies about teenagers in a world where the adults are in the background.
DRE: Mean Creek was a critical favorite at Cannes Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival. What was that been like for you?
JAE: This movie came from such humble small beginnings. The budget eventually crept up to a half a million dollars but started out much smaller so this has just been a dream come true.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
missy:
Mean Creek is going to be one those films like Stand By Me that launches everyone involved into the stratosphere of Hollywood. Writer/director Jacob Aaron Estes has created such a true life tale of horror that you could actually believe that things like this happen every weekend. It stars Rory Culkin,...