Interview: Jacob Jones

In this edition of Interview, Last Resort Films president Phil Dolan sits down with writer Jacob Jones (Story of Sade, Happy Nuke Year) to discuss his latest film, Nexus, and collaborating with Mo Buck.

PD: With Nexus you collaborated with Mo Buck, how did that collaboration happen?

JJ: I would say the collaboration happened via sheer coincidence. It all started when I posted that thread on two movie ideas, one of being Nexus, the other being Story of Sade. I figured that would pretty much be it until I got a message from Mo Buck, turned out he was really interested in the idea and wanted to help out with the writing process. And seeing as this was going to be my first major project with the studio and I was going to need all the help I can get, there was no way I could reject his offer. It turned out very well and Mo even helped me improve on one of the movie's most crucial scenes! If the movie turns out to be a success in the box office, I'm hoping to team up with Mo Buck again to work on the next two movies.

PD: The film has quite the eclectic cast. Was the casting process difficult on Nexus?

JJ: It really depended on the character. Some of them were pretty easy as I had a concrete vision for which actor fit the best for them, a few of them however were hard to figure out and I struggled. I wanted this film to be as perfect as possible, so I really needed to hit it out of the park with casting. I think my major problem with it however was aiming too big. I attempted to negotiate with Christian Bale, Chris Hemsworth and Margot Robbie but none of those deals came through. Eventually, I settled on two excellent actors in Joel Edgerton (who's casting was Mo's idea) and Natalie Dormer and I think they've fit their respective characters perfect.

PD: Critics were not kind to your last film, Story of Sade. What do you think went wrong there?

JJ: I'll take full responsibility for how Song of Sade turned out. I think what happened was that I focused too much on the comedy and one liners and didn't think about how such a concept (a grown women living with a bunch of younger women) could work. Especially with Sade being so in your face with her personality. I was trying to aim for a sassy, blunt, yet gregarious and relatable woman but that didn't work out at all. In retrospect, if I had to go back and try again, I would've had Sade be more like Oprah Winfrey is and have her be like an motivational speaker with her own TV show. And every week, she'd go to a new house filled with volatile personalities and try to fix them. At the end of the day though, once the critics have given out their reviews, they stick with you. And you can either keep doing what your doing and ignore their critiques or you can take the advice and strive to better yourself. And in my case, I'm going to do everything I can to ensure I don't have another critical disaster like Song of Sade.

PD: What are some of your favorite LRF releases?

JJ: In no particular order: Lucky Luke and Billy the Kid, Mandingos, Jonestown, Saga, Bravo/Samurai, Scion (both movies), Ghost Town, Nevada, Iowa, Letter to Myself, and Peter and the Starcatchers.

PD: What's next for you?

JJ: I have two more movies planned for release very soon (possibly by next season), I've talked with M. Night Shyamalan about possibly reviving The Crow franchise for a new generation and we've come with an excellent idea for the movie. I've also got a jukebox musical called Time Passages, named after the hit song by Al Stewart. I've always loved this song for it's excellent and thought provoking lyrics and that sweet saxophone solo, but I wondered how it could be applied to in a movie. So I talked to Rob Marshall and we exchanged a few ideas, and the longer we talked the more I began to realize that there was something there. And of course there's the sequel to Nexus that'll be made if the movie succeeds. I also have two more movies that have been written down and are currently awaiting to be greenlit for production, but they probably won't be out for quite a few seasons. And I'm hoping to get into LRTV, but we'll see what happen.