For this edition of Interview, Last Resort Films president Phil Dolan sits down with the great Chad Taylor (Sam, Miracles) to discuss his creative drive and his latest film, The Beat Goes On....
PD: The Beat Goes On is a very ambitious musical film in just about every possible way. What were some of your inspirations when writing it?
CT: So this started with the ambition of wanting to do an original musical at LRF. I first encountered Ralph Bakshi's American Pop a few years back and liked the idea of decades-spanning musical telling the story of both a single family and American culture as a whole. The problem then became finding the right structure to tell that story in a standard live-action timeframe. Honestly, LRTV's "Rolling Stone" also was an influence here as I liked the way that is wove a fictional protagonist through real events. I've probably mentioned before that Walk Hard is a favorite comedy of mine and, beneath its parodic surface, that film's best trait is how it mimics the musical changes and visual styles of the times that is covering. So that presented a challenge for me to find what would be the best songs to show a similar evolution and the most recognizable locations to set each segment in.
PD: Will Smith has obviously become a controversial figure over the last couple of years. Did you have any reservations when casting him in the lead role?
CT: I like movie stars and the associated connotations they bring on-screen to every role. Will is one of the most recognizable stars of the last thirty years and I'd wanted to work with him a while but it'd been a while since he had a big hit. And it's also been a while since he'd appeared for LRF so his bankability wasn't what it once was. And of course the Oscars moment threw another tarnished his brand in a big way. But I didn't think that necessarily meant he should be turned away from films for ever, even if some people might not feel comfortable seeing a movie of his. And to be honest, I ended up tailoring the role of Bill Swift to Will specifically because it was one that was both charming but also deeply flawed. Which seemed like just the role that Will could use in a moment like this.
PD: You added a few more Golden Reel Awards to your trophy case in Season 27. How do you maintain your creative drive after all these seasons?
CT: That's a question I often ponder myself. I think the one key to sparking ideas has always been my own evolving vocabulary of film and film history. I can look back on my filmography and see what film movements, filmmakers, genres, etc. were on my mind at that time. I imagine that a lot of other LRF writers could say something similar. I've reached a stage in my film-viewing life that I'm not able to see nearly as many movies as I could five years ago. So I don't know if I'll ever be able to match that level of drive ever again. I've definitely been slowing down a bit of late, but I'm also nearing my 100th film written for LRF. I actually think I'll be hitting that this season. So this time was due eventually. But I still get just as excited when I spark a new idea as in that first year. Just had one an hour ago in fact!
PD: You have a few very different films coming out throughout the rest of this season. What can you tell us about those projects?
CT: Whoo boy, yeah these are all over the place. I think all four, including The Beat Goes On, were projects that I found to be a fun experience writing. APJ and I had casually thrown out Duke Nukem as a potential video game adaptation down the line and luckily we both had the exact thing in mind for what the tone should be. That's also a role that needs a very specific kind of actor and I think we found the perfect one in John Cena. Nick Fury felt like writing without any constraints, a limitless sandbox. If it fails, it's a one-off prequel that can kind of live on its own so I felt like I could just try some things and make some swings. It had a bit of a troubled production as you know, some of which traced back to the making of Iron Man. I think people are going to like it though! And the last is another original project that Jimmy Ellis and I had a great time crafting the world of. You're going to get some variety from me in Season 28, that's for sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment