Today’s most notable creatives join Variety at Sundance for exclusive in-depth conversations across various entertainment mediums, presented by Audible.
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00:00Like, I was picking up on an accent that had nothing to do with my character.
00:04But it was like, I think that is inevitably, there was this thing of,
00:07like, we were in each other's pockets the whole time.
00:21Well, congratulations on the film.
00:23Max, could you talk a little bit about the genesis of the film?
00:27Yeah, happily.
00:28Um, I wrote the film at a point in time that was maybe the end of the first part of my life
00:35and the beginning of the rest of it, in which I'd returned to where I grew up in rural Colorado and
00:46knew with great certainty and pleasure that that was home.
00:49And that's where I wanted to be.
00:51And it's where my friends were and my parents were.
00:52And that's where I planned to make my life.
00:58And yet, also came back to a place that was challenged.
01:05And there was drought.
01:07And there was smoke in the air.
01:10And a lot of questions and uncertainties about what actually would my life be here like
01:19five years down the line, 10 years down the line, 50 years down the line.
01:25And even though there was nowhere else I wanted to be,
01:28it was hard with real confidence to say that everything here will be okay.
01:36And of course, it won't be.
01:40And this particular script catalyzed when my grandmother's house burned down,
01:47which was extremely sad and also
01:51became this odd, beautiful thing that brought our family together,
01:55that changed the way I looked at the forest it was in,
02:00the way it went black, the way it became green again.
02:05And in watching the way the family responded to that, the way our neighbors responded,
02:11I did begin to see some kind of future that was hopeful and beautiful.
02:16Some kind of future that was hopeful and beautiful.
02:20And it was one in which the disasters of a warming world,
02:25be they fires, be they floods, were there inevitably and unfortunately,
02:31but so too were the beautiful things that come up in their wake,
02:36which is time and time again neighbors taking care of each other
02:40and the best of people coming out.
02:44So this film was an act of imagination and a choice of hope.
02:52Not because I know that's how it will be, but it's because how I want it to be.
02:56And that's how we all probably need to believe things can be on down the road.
03:03I wonder about the cast, how did you all get involved?
03:07Maybe Callie, do you want to go first or Megan?
03:12I first got presented the script,
03:16kind of inadvertently, who was involved with this film,
03:20kind of my name, they had worked with me prior to on another project,
03:25and my name kind of came across Max's desk.
03:27And I got sent the script and I immediately fell in love with it
03:30and spoke to Max about not just the character,
03:33but just the whole story in itself.
03:35Because I was curious as to what, you know, the script felt so personal.
03:39And I just kind of want to know where his mindset was.
03:42And we kind of talked about the character, the story,
03:44and I just immediately fell in love with being part of this storytelling for the story.
03:49Especially, you know, natural disasters or disasters in themselves don't have any,
03:53you know, there's no prejudice.
03:54It can happen to any one of us, any human.
03:57And that human response to it was very much embedded in the story.
04:01And kind of, it was constructed around the, in fact, hope of what happens next.
04:08And, you know, there's the obvious tragedy of it,
04:11but there's a lot of beauty in coming together as a community
04:14and coming from the background I come from personally,
04:16community is huge with me.
04:18And it does come at when you see nothing else,
04:23you know, community can come together and make things,
04:25just take the next step together.
04:26So it was, I was really happy to kind of serendipitous situation happened for me.
04:33Cool.
04:35I've read the script and loved it and then Zoomed with Max
04:38and kind of like fell in love with him too,
04:40because as a human, he is not somebody who wastes words.
04:46He's very thoughtful and sincere and genuine.
04:50And I think that that is one of the most beautiful things that he brings to his work.
04:56Um, so I just thought, um, how lucky to be a part,
05:04any part of, um, the beautiful movie that he, he really wanted to make.
05:09And it's a movie that only he could have made.
05:11And I kind of love creators who, who, uh, I feel represent that.
05:17It's like he, he was the only one who could have made this movie, you know?
05:21So, yeah.
05:22I, um, got sent the audition and the script and read over the first few scenes
05:32and straight away, it was just like, I love this movie.
05:37It, it reminded me of like driving through Australia and seeing black trees,
05:44but in amongst the black trees, you could just see like the green,
05:47like Max talked about.
05:49And watching the forestry grow, it, I was just in Australia.
05:55I was like, I really love this film because it reminds me a lot of home.
06:01And yeah.
06:04I also ask about the accent.
06:05How did you develop the accent too?
06:09Uh, I don't know.
06:12who developed the accent too?
06:18Acting.
06:19Yeah, no, I mean, there were a couple,
06:21actually, I don't know, we sort of,
06:23like I spent a bit of time out there
06:25before we started filming.
06:27Not much time, but a little bit.
06:30And that was just to hear some of the voices,
06:34but yeah, I suppose that was it.
06:38I remember we spent some time going through YouTube and-
06:43Oh, that's right.
06:44Finding, I was looking for people
06:46from the right part of Colorado.
06:48And you're like, yeah, don't worry, I got it.
06:50And then for a long time, I didn't hear it.
06:52And I assumed it would be good.
06:56And I remember, I remember the first-
06:57And it wasn't.
06:59No, I remember the first WhatsApp voice message
07:01you sent me.
07:01Oh yeah, yeah.
07:02And that was a beautiful, great feeling.
07:05But it was funny,
07:06because one of the beautiful things about Max's film
07:10is that there are obviously brilliant
07:14and incredible professional actors.
07:16And then there's non-professional actors
07:21local to where we shot.
07:23There are friends of Max's from home.
07:26There are all sorts of people who came together.
07:28And it lives in the community of the making of the movie
07:34as well as the story of the film.
07:36And some, at times, you know, like particularly art,
07:42like I was picking up on an accent
07:44that had nothing to do with my character.
07:46But it was like, I think that is inevitably,
07:48there was this thing of like,
07:50we were in each other's pockets the whole time
07:52and sort of feeding off each other.
07:55And so I think that that environment of, you know,
07:59around being with each other a lot of the time
08:02that helps settle in, you know?
08:04It was all like, we kind of,
08:07whether somewhat intentionally and somewhat by accident,
08:10I think wound up building something
08:11that was chasing after like different
08:14and broad ideas of what is real and what is true.
08:19And sometimes what's true is to work
08:22with the rancher whose land you're shooting on
08:25and for his truck to be the truck.
08:28And sometimes what's true is,
08:30goes beyond passports and borders
08:33and is something about spirit and soul
08:36and a sense of land and a care for community.
08:41And that's what these people brought from all over the world
08:44in ways I could never have imagined.
08:46I know this movie was made before the fires in Los Angeles,
08:50but it's impossible not to think of them
08:51when you see the film.
08:53And I wonder what your thoughts are
08:55about having this very real parallel
08:58that's going on right now.
09:02I mean, it's just, it's devastating.
09:05It's like so sad, it's the saddest possible thing
09:08to see so many, so many people lose so much
09:12and to know people who have lost so much
09:17as we all do in a crazy way now.
09:22And along with that, in this very bittersweet way,
09:25it's been amazing to watch the way
09:27the city of Los Angeles has cared for itself somehow
09:31and the pride that people have felt for their home
09:37and the donations, the charity that it's brought out.
09:42And that incredible thing that happens after hardship
09:46and in the wake of grief, like that sense of beauty,
09:50that's what we're trying to pay tribute with,
09:52with this film.
09:54And what are you hoping that people
09:55will take away from this film?
10:00Big one, I think the community is one that feels like
10:07for all of us was like a real big aspect of the movie.
10:13Partly, in no small part, like the making of the movie,
10:17the set that Max runs is one that's
10:25has really no kind of clear hierarchy.
10:29There's a real sense of everyone helping each other out.
10:37And I think that's ultimately the film,
10:40as Max has articulated that the film is
10:45looking at, well, I suppose,
10:48following one person's experience post-burn.
10:54But it's really about community.
10:57It's about this family that come together
10:59and it's full of hope.
11:01I think that's what, yeah, I suppose that's what I hope.
11:03And also, I think something that always stuck with me
11:06after the film, too, is watching Dusty
11:11make a different choice.
11:14Watching him the whole movie go in one direction,
11:17and then I think as an audience member,
11:20it feels so good to watch him make a different choice.
11:24And I think that that is something that everybody
11:27at some point in their life has been confronted with.
11:33And I think to see it play out in a way
11:35that you're so hopeful at the end
11:36that it was the right choice,
11:38even though for him it probably felt like the hardest one.
11:41And I think that is one of my favorite takeaways,
11:45as well, from it.
11:48Yeah, I think in a way to the inevitable change of life,
11:52no matter whether it's just natural life-lifing
11:55or something tragic as a community burning down,
12:00rebuilding, I think we mentioned it earlier,
12:02you can't rebuild something exactly the way it was.
12:05It's an inevitable, you have to accept the fact
12:08that you have to move on from something.
12:10It doesn't mean that you have to forget.
12:12Things don't have to be burned.
12:13You might lose some things,
12:15but you can take those memories and rebuild something new
12:18on the foundation of your memories and what you had
12:20and kind of just keep going forward.
12:22And you don't wanna be stuck and married
12:24to this idea of your life, how it should be,
12:27how it's always gonna be,
12:27because life is ever-changing
12:29and things are always temporary.
12:30So you can always start over.
12:32You can always rebuild.
12:34Family doesn't have to be blood.
12:36You can find family.
12:37I mean, we found family in this film.
12:38I feel like this is a family I'll have forever
12:41with this experience.
12:42So I think that's something, really,
12:44that I would love for people to take from this film, too.
12:47And lastly, this studio is sponsored by Audible
12:49and we have a question, which is just,
12:51what do you think is the future of audio storytelling?
12:56Like podcasting?
12:59I don't know.
12:59I don't know the future and the past.
13:02I know that podcasters seem cool.
13:04I also know the radio is cool.
13:06That's a good answer.
13:08Maybe podcasts aren't as new as we think.
13:11Maybe that's a good thing.
13:12Maybe they'll last longer as well because of it.
13:16That was pretty good for someone who didn't,
13:18that was good.
13:19Yeah.
13:20That's all the answer.
13:22It really does.
13:23I love, like, in the UK, British radio,
13:27particularly panel radio, is really great.
13:33Plus that we have a show,
13:35do you know Desert Island Discs?
13:37It's the great, do you know Desert Island Discs?
13:40Let me tell you about that.
13:42Desert Island Discs is a very, very old,
13:45like, I'm talking maybe 1920s radio show
13:52that was originally started as a kind of,
13:56to celebrate people who have done extraordinary things.
13:59Initially, ordinary people who've done extraordinary things.
14:02Now it's like, Benedict Cumberbatch has probably done one.
14:07But it's basically,
14:11the premise of the interview is you're deserted
14:13on an island, and you're only allowed to take eight songs
14:18onto this desert island.
14:20And you talk with the interviewer
14:22about which those songs are,
14:24and we play them when you get to them.
14:26But they're sort of weaved around your life story.
14:30And so the idea is that, you know,
14:32like, a song triggers a memory from when you left home,
14:36or when you started university,
14:38or when this big moment in your life happened.
14:40And that's a song that you would cherish.
14:43And then you're allowed to take a book,
14:46one book and an object onto this desert island.
14:50It's a beautiful radio show.
14:52It's very important.
14:53And for that alone, we should keep audible things.
15:00Amen.
15:01We should keep sound.
15:02You have a good sound.
15:03Keep sound, just keep sound.
15:04I didn't know I was under threat.
15:08But we should try, we should fight against that.
15:11Well, thank you all so much.
15:12I appreciate it.
15:13Congratulations.
15:13Thanks.
15:14Now I want to be on this podcast.
15:19Thank you very much.