The Politics of Superheroes: The Alan Brown Interview
Posted by Robert Samardick on April 23, 2009 under Awards, DVD, Film Festival, Interview, People, Politics, Screenwriting, drama | 
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The title of Alan Brown’s second feature film, Superheroes, may be misleading. Anyone expecting an action packed story of costumed vigilantes will be disappointed to discover the movie is instead a darkly psychological look into the mind of an Iraq War Veteran. They might also be disappointed to find that the movie hits a nerve in the American Mentality, that Brown leaves moments lingering and resolution unavailable. Most disappointing about Superheroes is that you didn’t hear about it sooner.
The film gained rave reviews on the festival circuit, something Brown is used to. His directing debut was the critically acclaimed short film O Beautiful, a Sundance favorite. He has been called a “rare talent” and described as one of the most promising new faces. Brown got into film while he was drunk at a party. He met a camera man. They decided to make a movie. This is Do-It-Yourself Filmmaking at it’s finest. Oh yeah, he’s also written an award winning novel.
Superheroes is currently being distributed through IFC and will be available on iTunes soon. A rare combination of bleak style and haunting dialogue, it is a brilliant story as well as an important cultural document for our times.
Q: Superheroes is a very dark film dealing with the psychological scars of war. How did you come up with the idea? Was your main motive to write a political piece?
AB: I was active protesting the Iraqi War, and worked hard to defeat Bush in 2004. I was devastated when he was reelected, and felt I had to do something creative, to turn my anger and frustration into art. Otherwise I would continue feeling powerless.
The specific idea for the film came from an article I read about a mother removing shrapnel from her soldier son’s back. I started reading about and thinking about shrapnel and it became a metaphor for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the central image of the film.
Q: Dash Mihok is so convincing as a war vet, what did you have him do to prepare for the role?
AB: We talked through the script, and he did have a chance to rehearse some of his scenes. And I sent him articles and put him in touch with vets. But he really did his own preparation. He’s just an enormously talented actor with this vast reservoir of creativity. And we did have an exceptionally good and fruitful director-actor rapport, so there was a lot of creative energy on set while we were shooting.
Q: The end of the film (not to give anything away) conveys a sense of hopelessness. Can the audience pull out any optimism of the film?
AB: Not, in my opinion, regarding wars and their emotional and physical effect on those who have to fight them.
Q: Personally, do you see a light at the end of the tunnel? Can America come out of the war and begin to recover?
AB: I think it will take America, and the world, decades to recover from the eight devastating years of the Bush administration and the destruction those greedy, selfish politicians wrought. And we now have hundreds of thousands of ex-soldiers back home with injuries and emotional wounds, and very little resources to help them. It’s a national and international tragedy.
Q: Why is Superheroes a “true indie”?
AB: It was independently financed. We begged and borrowed (but did not steal ) from friends and relatives and produced the film for a very, very low figure, and shot it in 18 days. And it was a ‘true indie’ in the best sense of the term as well – most everyone involved got involved because they believed in the script and the project and me, and they dedicated their time and energy and talents to making ‘Superheroes’ happen. It was personally and creatively very fulfilling.
Q: What have been the best reactions to the film?
AB: Of course, the film has won quite a few prizes at film festivals, and that’s very gratifying. Film festival audiences are made up of people who really know and care about film. And we’ve had only positive reviews. But the ‘best’ reactions have been from vets, from doctors who work with vets, and from journalists and others who have spent time at war and in Iraq, and who were moved by the film.
Q: The worst?
We haven’t really had any bad reactions to the film – unless you count Hollywood agents and distributors and producers, who just can’t understand why we’d bother making a film like this.
Q: Is making a political film a death wish for filmmakers who want to get distribution? Why have movies become so apolitical and how can the new generation of filmmakers change that?
AB: It depends on what kind of distribution you’re aiming for. We’re very pleased that IFC picked up ‘Superheroes,’ and will soon release the DVD. And that it has been on television via IFC Video-on-Demand, and was just released through Amazon , and will soon be on iTunes. So for a small, grim, political drama, that’s pretty good. Honestly, as proud as I am of the film, I know that if we’d had a theatrical release, nobody would have come to see it. Americans have no interest in the War. Only horror films and romantic comedies are profitable these days.
I hate the keep returning to the Bush administration as the root of all evil, but it was Bush who told everyone to go out and ‘shop’ after 9/11. It was to their advantage to promote a culture of consumerism, and to keep the war out of the news and out of people’s consciousness. They were very successful at that. But I think it’s our duty as artists and filmmakers to give voice to our political views. Every decision we make is a political decision, and our films should reflect that. Don’t give up.
Q: It seems to me that your choice to remain independent has a lot to do with what you’ve encountered working with big studios. Can you talk about your experience with “Hollywood” filmmaking and how it has solidified your decision to remain independent?
AB: In truth, I haven’t worked with big studios, though I have regularly dealt with ‘Hollywood’ – agents, managers, producers, et al. I did work for Miramax (back when it was the Weinsteins’company) on the screenplay for the film version of my novel, ‘Audrey Hepburn’s Neck,’ (available from Washington Square Press) and had the unpleasant experience of seeing one of my main characters changed from gay to straight because of a development executive’s homophobia. And on my first feature, ‘Book of Love,’ I had to sign away the final cut of the picture to the Hollywood producers who financed it – and then had to stand by helpless as a completely inexperienced, cinematically-illiterate, none-too-bright producer came in and edited out some of the very best moments in my film. That was devastating to me, and made me very, very angry. Money buys power - most often for people who have no talent but end up with control of your film.
All that said, if Hollywood would give me the money to make one of my films, I wouldn’t turn it down. But obviously my aesthetic and voice aren’t commercial.
Q: Future plans/Projects?
AB: I’m working on a number of projects simultaneously, including a contemporary adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, using Shakespeare’s text, and set in an all-male military academy. I’ve also written a stage play, ‘Nights in Falluja,’ which is about a gay soldier in Iraq, and deals with the colossal stupidity of our government’s homophobic ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy. As I’m not a theater director, I’m working on it with Kevin Newbury, a wonderfully talented theater and opera director. Political theater is exciting to me, so I’m jazzed about our collaboration. And then I have a new screenplay, a dramatic thriller about the moral choices we make and their consequences. And one or two other projects. Sometimes it’s dizzying, and I long for the days when I could just devote myself for months to a single writing project. But that’s not realistic or useful these days. You never know which project will ‘pop,’ which one will allow you to survive and keep making films.
Q: Where can we see Superheroes?
AB: ‘Superheroes’ is currently available on Video-on-Demand on Amazon.com. Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026SHD8Q
It will also soon be available on iTunes, and on DVD, distributed by IFC.
