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Compilation CD

Who Is KK Downey? Filmmaker Interview

Who Is KK Downey
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Interview With Darren Curtis one of the Filmmakers Of Who Is KK Downey By Chris 8/9/09

Who Is KK Downey? is a great Canadian film and also one of the reason I'm a huge fan of Canadian films. Good acting and writing make this film something special. It stars one of my favorite actors Kristin Adams and it's a film worth checking out, so read on.

www.whoiskkdowney.comWho Is KK Downey Website

1. How did the film come about?

Kidnapper Films (www.kidnapperfilms.com) was a collective formed in Montreal 10 years ago by myself, Pat Kiely, Matt Silver, Dan Haber, Kieran Crilly, Jared Curtis and Paul Renaud. We began performing, writing and shooting sketch comedy and achieved mild success. Eventually we wanted to concentrate our comedy chops on telling one large story rather then a bunch of short one's. Then in 2006 we came up with the idea for Who is KK Downey?

2. What was the inspiration behind the story?

The story behind the story was of the literary hoax committed by JT LeRoy, the infamous author behind the Heart is Deceitful Above All Things and how it was just a chick dressed up like a dude. Also too a lesser extent, James Frey. We just liked how these two took everyone for a ride, including us.

3. How long did it take to film the movie?

We shot over 22 days, then did an additional 4 days of inserts and pick-ups.

4. How was the process of choosing the actors for the film like?

We used ourselves mostly for budget reasons as well as a bunch of people from a local improv troop. Other then that, open auditions with just about every card carrying actor in Montreal.

5. Was it hard to edit the film to make the story flow?

Yeah, we edited for a long time and even had to shoot a few scenes again or slightly change them to make the whole thing work. The movie starts out way rougher then we would have liked but gets better as it moves towards the third act. We always knew there was a good story in there trying to get out, just didn't know how long it would take to get it out.

6. Has the film had much international sales yet?

None internationally yet, but it is with a seller, hopefully Australia will be the first.

7. What was it like working with such as actors as Kristin Adams?

She was great, she was the only actor from outside of Montreal and she was a real trooper, putting up with all of us knowing each other before as well as the tribulations of working on an indy film. We were very happy with her.

8. Were you happy the way the film turned out?

Yeah, it is definitely a first film and can be hard to watch these days, but we feel we never compromised our vision-we made the movie we wanted to, and learnt a lot along the way.

9. Was it hard to make the film with the budget you had?

The movie was way too big for the budget, too many speaking parts, too many locations, but we called in a lot of favours and fortunately for us montreal is a very supportive city when it comes to helping out "artists", so without them the movie never would have been possible.

10. What have been the responses so far to the film been like?

Very good critically, we got reviewed in variety and they had some really complimentary things to say. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but those who like it seems to be really excited by the film.

11. Was it hard to get finance for the film?

It took a few months, a lot of haggling, but at the end of the day we didn't spend a ton of cash. Luckily we had a bit of rep in the city so it wasn't a cold call and at the time people with money were actually interested in "unique" investment opportunities.

12. What did you learn from making of this film that you can use for future features?

Make sure the script is awesome and you never need as many locations as you think. also, shoot on sets when you can and cold weather sucks period.

13. Has the internet played a good part in promoting the film and generating sales?

Yep, we setup a site www.whoiskkdowney.com which we used heavily, all our press and release info in one easy to use site. Also facebook and myspace helped out.

14. What was the editing process like for the film?

in a bedroom for 8 months, luckily our winters are long and cold so it gave us something to do.

15. Is their anything you wouldn't do next time that you did this time in regards to making of the film?

Never shoot a script that isn't really, really good.

16. What next for yourself?

We are producing two films through the canadian film funding body, one starring us and the other for a bunch of older guys called the Wolfpack.

17. Did the actors stay pretty much to the script or was improv allowed?

We improved a lot, the other actors who had a background were amazing at this and the stuff they would make up was sometimes better then the stuff on the page.

18. Were their any major problems when making the film?

no, just the typical film stuff, mostly being on location and breaking stuff. The camera fell out of the back of a van one day which cost us 4 hours.

19. Is it hard to make an independent film in this day and age?

I think it's hard in any day and age, most people say when they are done doing it, if they had known going in how difficult it was going to be they never would have done it in the first place. I think this has been true since the beginning of making movies.

20. What advice can you give to some one wanting to make a independent film?

write a script that will attract a big name, it really opens a lot of doors.