Written by: Jesus Figueroa
The
incredible 20 day shoot for "Short Term 12" made for an intense shoot
that captured a realistic view of a foster home. The cast got to be very close
and helped each other through the troubling process while building up their
characters and supporting each other throughout the filming process.
"That
scene, cause of my own phobia, really shook me up. It was the only time that I
left in kind of a weird state. I felt really upset when I got home. Actually
one of the producers called me when I got home to make sure I got home safe
because he was concerned with me," Larson said.
Writer
and director Destin Daniel Cretton set forth this project with lead actors Brie
Larson and John Gallagher Jr. who got to know each other and their characters
in an unorthodox manner.
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| CHEESE - Cast and director at SXSW. |
"We
(Larson and Gallagher Jr.) went to dinner together a couple I days before we
started shooting. Destin dropped an envelope off on John's doorstep before he
met me for dinner,it said to open when we got to the restaurant," Larson
said, "so we opened it an it had this sweet little note from Destin
wishing us well and hoping that this helped. It ended up being another envelope
with conversation starters, pieces of paper with questions and things. It was
great we didn't have to think about what we should be talking about, how to get
to know each other," she said.
The
relationship between cast and director seemed to be one aspect that made this
film so intense.
"He
(Destin) manages to get out of the way I think cause as a director he does
things in a very collaborative way. It's very organic," Gallagher Jr.
said, "it's very much everyone has a voice and opinion. It feels like team
work," he said.
Going
from short to feature length most characters were recast, but the magnificent
performance Keith Stanfield, who plays Marcus, delivered had Cretton wanting
Stanfield back for the feature length.
"I
was really just outdoors, planning stuff and running around in the dirt. I like
to work in the dirt, so that's what I was doing," Stanfield said, "I
wasn't even messing around with the Internet much. So, I decided to check it
one day, good thing I did," he said.
He
received many emails asking him to coming in and audition for the feature
length role of Marcus.
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CONTEMPLATING - Director Destin Daniel Cretton
creates a realistic feel for "Short Term 12."
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The
manner in which the film was shot, the placement of the cameras and the
condensed shooting time helped to create a feel that emerges the audience to
the film.
"I
think that was a really intelligent move on the part of the cinematographer's
behalf, and Destin, to get really close up and get that intimate feeling,"
Stanfield said, "they really capture, for me, what was going through my
mind at that particular time," he said.
Rami
Malek, who plays Nate, had been thrilled to be cast into his role and
communicated with Cretton often showing his enthusiasm for the role.
"I
was really affected by the script after reading it," Malek said, "I
say down with Destin and I really got along with him, he really got along with
me. I wanted to work with him to knowing that he wrote it and he would have the
vision to direct it."
Kaitlyn
Dever, who plays Jayden, felt the shoot ran to her strengths, it helpe her
emerge herself in her character and be able to shake off the intensity once the
shooting day was done.
"I
felt like alot of scenes were hard to tackle. I think for every body there were
alot of scenes to get into the mindset for," Dever said, "but I feel
that the scene where I am reading my story, it seems like she's just reading,
it seems easy, I actually wrote the story down before shooting the scene. It
seems easy but it was actually really hard because it the only way for her to
communicate with Grace," she said.
The shoot
brought each cast member together to support one another through the highly
troubling shoot. The story becomes intense and if not for the connection established
between the cast the shoot may have been much more stressful and tiresome.
"I
think the process more than anything collectively all of us together creating
an environment that felt as little like a film set as possible. It felt more
like kids playing make-believe ," Cretton said, "as the shoot went on
our relationships were naturally building and people were building friendships,
I think the performances became better because everybody just felt more
comfortable," he said.
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| PROUD - Director Destin Daniel Cretton holds the award won by "Short Term 12" at SXSW. |
Leading
from one intense scene Stanfield goes and brings raw emotion to his following
scene in which he shaves his head to look at the scars under his hair.
"It
was hard for me to do the mirror scene, to look at the scars on my head, the
difficulty to get to that place. Then to consecutively even more. I went to
some dark places in my past to get there so it was kind of heavy,"
Standfield said.
Stanfield
has probably the most stressful scenes as Marcus travels through a rough patch
that includes a suicide scene.
"The
one that felt difficult to shake off was the one after I discover Marcus has
hurt himself," Larson said, "it's because I have this issue with
blood. It's meant to stay in my body and in your body. Just keep it there,
don't show it to me," she said.
As with
the topic of suicide it may be the most troublesome scene to watch due to the
realism of the scene and the manner in which both Stanfield and Larson deal
with it.
