There are always several compelling stories floating around Park City when Sundance and Slamdance both come to town. But the film “Bindlestiffs,” which had its premiere at Slamdance and won the 2012 Audience Choice Award, may have them all beat this year.
The film is a high school satire combining themes from “SuperBad” and J.D. Salinger’s novel “The Catcher in the Rye.” Three high school virgins suspended on a graffiti charge flee to the inner city to live out the plot of Salinger’s seminal coming of age tale; however none of them have read the book or understood it. The film documents their encounters and the obstacles they face along the way as they surrender their virginity to vagrants, prostitutes and crack fiends. Chasing them down is an unbalanced security guard, who thinks that they are planning a school shooting, and takes the law into his own hands to stop them--and save America in the process.
The director, Andrew Edison (also co-writer, producer, actor, and editor) , felt in his senior year at high school a lack of ambition in the classroom, and used this to create a project that inspired him and this served as an emotional launch that would tell a story of characters in a similar mindset. Edison has the distinction of not only being the youngest filmmaker in Park City, but also of being the great-great-great-great grand-nephew of iconic inventor Thomas Edison. Curiously enough, he is deaf in his right ear, as was his Uncle Thomas.
The process of making this film was a life-changing collaborative experience for Edison as a director. He was also fortunate to have a remarkable team of colleagues and mentors. No one was paid. The guerrilla filmmaking method mirrored the approach of the characters themselves. The film sought out the new learning experiences not offered in the classroom. The filmmakers aimed to simultaneously create and capture that pure, spontaneous energy that can only be fueled by bold risk-taking, blind passion, and adventure—and succeeded in the process.
Edison’s filmmaking career began in the sixth grade--skipping gym to shoot short films. Subsequently, he spent seven years growing up in Houston, Texas - working and collaborating with fellow members of the city’s tight-knit, super-supportive film scene. “Bindlestiffs,” his feature directorial debut, originated from a critical case of high school senioritis and a push in the right direction from filmmaker and mentor, Mike Akel, who is currently enrolled at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
After a year of film school, he moved back to Texas to finish “Bindlestiffs” and develop future projects with writing partner and co-conspirator, Luke Loftin. The pair own and operate Green Stoplight Productions out of their apartment in the beautiful “Slackerwood Hills” of South Austin. He could not be more proud to call “Bindlestiffs” his first feature and hopes to make at least sixty more films before he gets struck dead by lightning.
Loftin, (actor / co-writer / editor / producer), born and raised in Houston, Texas, has been acting in theater and writing since the third grade. After debuting as Army Ant #3 in elementary school and performing in several stage productions throughout high school, his screen debut was in the improv webshort “SEXT” directed by Edison. This was the template for the style and characters of “Bindlestiffs.” In college, he discovered his inner frat bro while attending USC as a theater major with a minor in screenwriting. Loftin has studied improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York, and his work has been featured on the front page of FunnyorDie.com. He is currently on hiatus from college, launching “Bindlestiffs” and developing future projects with Edison.
Film Slate Magazine’s Jasmina Nevada was in Park City this year, attending both Sundance and Slamdance. On getting the chance to interview Edison and Loftin, she reports: “I met them for the interview at the Treasure Mountain Inn, Slamdance HQ, Park City, Utah and was greeted by a very cheery and energetic cast and crew dressed in bright yellow waterproofs and yellow clothing.”
Film Slate Magazine: Would you like to tell me a little bit about ‘Bindlestiffs’ in your own words?
Andrew Edison: The film is a comedy about three high school virgins who flee to the inner city to live out the plot of 'The Catcher and the Rye' but they haven't read the book beforehand all the way through so they get suspended from school on a graffiti charge.
FSM: Where did this idea arise from?
AE: We started writing it in my senior year in high school and I had a case of senior-itis and I was ready to graduate and wasn't feeling motivated and wanted to take that and turn it into something positive.
FSM: You are the youngest filmmaker here at Slamdance 2012; what do you have to say to other filmmakers your age that may have the idea to do the same?
AE: I think tell stories that are true to you, that resonate with you and don't take no for an answer, don't let anyone tell you that you can’t make a film because you can.
FSM: How did you find taking this character on?
Luke Loftin: It was great. I play John in the film and because it was improvised the actors had a harder job. All the dialogue was improvised and while we were shooting, we would completely make up the conversations on the spot. It was actually a lot easier to get into character as we would be pretty much be talking to each other for the shoot and the minute the cameras were rolling we would already be there.
FSM: Did you find it easier to 'prepare' or did you find the 'in the moment' improv better?
LL: Actually it was a lot easier to be in the scene. Also because the crew was so small and we felt we were ourselves just talking to each other it was great...
FSM: How long did take you from the idea to the finished product?
LL: From writing it to now, two and a half years. It was an interesting process as because the movie was improvised--we had a lot of footage...over 200 hours of footage. So we had to trim that down to a watchable size...
FSM: How long is the movie now?
LL: From 200 minutes to 80 minutes, because there was no script, so we wrote the dialogue in the editing room using the raw footage as a template and we would use the best lines, the best moments, the crucial beats of the story and trim it down to an exciting 80 minutes. We would outline each scene, and have character points, plot points and a lot of the film was outlined before we started shooting. We would try not to put any pre-conceived ideas as we wanted a movie that was about teenagers that actually sounded like teenagers.
FSM: Are you impressed with the finished product?
LL: I could not be happier; it is exactly what we set out to make from the beginning it could not be more perfect, in my eyes.
