Interview with the Director of The War Days - by N.L. Belardes
I took some time today to do conduct a phone interview with Landen Belardes, Director of The War Days, a student-made war flick premiering at the Spotlight Theatre on Thursday, May 19th. Even more than just being the Director, Landen is the writer/actor/storyboard artist/digital film editor. He talked about the film’s music controversy regarding the film’s use of violence, acting and filming on location, and marshmallow peeps. Here’s what he had to say:
N: Landen, how do feel about The War Days premiering the same day as Star Wars, Episode III…
L: I’ll tell you it’s double the excitement (pause as I hear Landen is about to conduct an experiment with Marshmallow Peeps. He’s heard if you put them in a microwave they blow up really big)
Blowing peeps in the microwave is an experience I haven’t experienced before…
N: Wow, so you haven’t actually tried to blow them up yet. How long…
L: Well, you put them in for 1minute.
N: Why did want real costumes, and not some cheesy Toys R Us plastic costumes?
L: Wouldn’t look totally realistic. This isn’t a cheesy movie… there are no cheesy costumes…
N: Why did you choose the Vietnam era?
L: I wanted to do a World War Two film, but weapons and costumes were too much of a problem. You can’t get Thompsons and M1 Garand rifles, but M16 toys are easy to get and make look real like we did. We could have gone with desert storm but I was more on a Vietnam track.
The marshmallows went inside out… ah now it’s shrinking…it got bigger but shrunk back after door opened.
N: But did it look cool?
L: Yeah… it was funny.
N: What was the toughest part about acting in The War Days?
L: Trying not to laugh. Because we don’t have proper training, and we’re friends, and maybe most actors aren’t close friends. So we laughed a lot; that was hard for us…
N: What was your favorite scene to film?
L: The end when the second Dalloways song came on that leads into credits…
N: Wasn’t there lots of bugs, poison oak and stinging nettles at some of those locations?
L: We all got it and were itching really bad. There were bugs like spiders. There’s a part in the movie you can see a spider crawl on my gun.
N: Did the bugs bother you?
L: No the itchiness and the grass… In one scene with me and Matt Prieto got stinging nettles pretty bad…
N: I hear there were some scenes with friendly cows around. Describe what happened…
L: We were walking to film a death scene and we happened to see these cows. Jordan tried to scare them away because they were coming towards us… he only scared away a couple. So some of us got kind of nervous.
N: Does that mean there were a lot of cow patties around?
L: Yeah in one battle scene Shaun jumped in one.
N: That had to of been pretty messy.
L: Pretty gross…
N: How do you feel about the upcoming May 19th premiere?
L: I feel good. We talked about the Fox. I was pretty excited about that… I would have been excited to have it at someone’s house but then I found out about the Spotlight… pretty excited about that… It’s a cool theatre.
N: Do you plan on making more movies?
L: I will be making more I know that. There are some ideas going around. Maybe a horror film…that’s kind of evolving…
N: What about film school. Does this look like it could be your career? (He’s only in 8th grade right now)
L: Maybe USC or UCLA film school….
N: Do you want to tell people what this film is about?
L: The War Days is about how all these friends who have known each other go to war together, and two who hated each other have to go too… through the movie they bond…
N: How do you feel about the violence in the film?
L: The violence isn’t as violent as I could have made it…
N: I heard a band wouldn’t participate because the movie is violent…
L: It’s just a student film. All the bands who are participating are excited to have song in a movie, in any movie. And their song had fit really well… but…
N: But they said it condoned violence.
L: It does condone violence… but maybe they were expecting something like Platoon or Full Metal Jacket’s violence. But this is nothing like that… I feel bad for the band that didn’t participate. They could have had a show and maybe more people would have known who they were…there’s going to be a lot of people for who this is going to be their first experience with Bakersfield music… and that’s a good thing.
N: I agree. Exposure for bands in the local scene is good. But for people who like war movies there are some battle scenes?
L: There are some good battle scenes. They’re not cheesy at all.
N: Anything else you would like to add…
L: Yes, I would appreciate people coming out and supporting the film. There’s gong to be some great bands after the show… So come on out and get your tickets early. Between all the bands fans and people wanting to see the movie, tickets won’t be available for long.
N: I hear tickets may go on sale Wednesday… call the Spotlight Theatre for more information 634.0691
N: Landen, how do feel about The War Days premiering the same day as Star Wars, Episode III…
L: I’ll tell you it’s double the excitement (pause as I hear Landen is about to conduct an experiment with Marshmallow Peeps. He’s heard if you put them in a microwave they blow up really big)
Blowing peeps in the microwave is an experience I haven’t experienced before…
N: Wow, so you haven’t actually tried to blow them up yet. How long…
L: Well, you put them in for 1minute.
N: Why did want real costumes, and not some cheesy Toys R Us plastic costumes?
L: Wouldn’t look totally realistic. This isn’t a cheesy movie… there are no cheesy costumes…
N: Why did you choose the Vietnam era?
L: I wanted to do a World War Two film, but weapons and costumes were too much of a problem. You can’t get Thompsons and M1 Garand rifles, but M16 toys are easy to get and make look real like we did. We could have gone with desert storm but I was more on a Vietnam track.
The marshmallows went inside out… ah now it’s shrinking…it got bigger but shrunk back after door opened.
N: But did it look cool?
L: Yeah… it was funny.
N: What was the toughest part about acting in The War Days?
L: Trying not to laugh. Because we don’t have proper training, and we’re friends, and maybe most actors aren’t close friends. So we laughed a lot; that was hard for us…
N: What was your favorite scene to film?
L: The end when the second Dalloways song came on that leads into credits…
N: Wasn’t there lots of bugs, poison oak and stinging nettles at some of those locations?
L: We all got it and were itching really bad. There were bugs like spiders. There’s a part in the movie you can see a spider crawl on my gun.
N: Did the bugs bother you?
L: No the itchiness and the grass… In one scene with me and Matt Prieto got stinging nettles pretty bad…
N: I hear there were some scenes with friendly cows around. Describe what happened…
L: We were walking to film a death scene and we happened to see these cows. Jordan tried to scare them away because they were coming towards us… he only scared away a couple. So some of us got kind of nervous.
N: Does that mean there were a lot of cow patties around?
L: Yeah in one battle scene Shaun jumped in one.
N: That had to of been pretty messy.
L: Pretty gross…
N: How do you feel about the upcoming May 19th premiere?
L: I feel good. We talked about the Fox. I was pretty excited about that… I would have been excited to have it at someone’s house but then I found out about the Spotlight… pretty excited about that… It’s a cool theatre.
N: Do you plan on making more movies?
L: I will be making more I know that. There are some ideas going around. Maybe a horror film…that’s kind of evolving…
N: What about film school. Does this look like it could be your career? (He’s only in 8th grade right now)
L: Maybe USC or UCLA film school….
N: Do you want to tell people what this film is about?
L: The War Days is about how all these friends who have known each other go to war together, and two who hated each other have to go too… through the movie they bond…
N: How do you feel about the violence in the film?
L: The violence isn’t as violent as I could have made it…
N: I heard a band wouldn’t participate because the movie is violent…
L: It’s just a student film. All the bands who are participating are excited to have song in a movie, in any movie. And their song had fit really well… but…
N: But they said it condoned violence.
L: It does condone violence… but maybe they were expecting something like Platoon or Full Metal Jacket’s violence. But this is nothing like that… I feel bad for the band that didn’t participate. They could have had a show and maybe more people would have known who they were…there’s going to be a lot of people for who this is going to be their first experience with Bakersfield music… and that’s a good thing.
N: I agree. Exposure for bands in the local scene is good. But for people who like war movies there are some battle scenes?
L: There are some good battle scenes. They’re not cheesy at all.
N: Anything else you would like to add…
L: Yes, I would appreciate people coming out and supporting the film. There’s gong to be some great bands after the show… So come on out and get your tickets early. Between all the bands fans and people wanting to see the movie, tickets won’t be available for long.
N: I hear tickets may go on sale Wednesday… call the Spotlight Theatre for more information 634.0691
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Saturday, May 07, 2005.
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