The new film “Wuss,” written and directed by Clay Liford, centers on Mitch, who is a substitute teacher, a Dungeon and Dragons enthusiast—basically a mega dork who still lives at home and is picked on constantly by his sister, friends and even his students. The film, which stars Nate Rubin, Alicia Anthony and Alex Karpovsky, won the 2011 Audience Choice Award in the Young Americans section at this year's AFI Fest.
He is perceived as a 'wuss' and some students take the ridicule too far and he is repeatedly beaten up by some of them. Mitch decides to take a stand and finds help and support in one of his female students, and that creates a bond beyond friendship.
Liford portrays the story in an unpredictable way with twists and turns in the plot, and offers up a fresh take on the timely issue of bullying.
Film Slate Magazine’s Jasmina Nevada caught up with Liford and Barack Epstein, one of the movie’s producers, at the festival and discussed the making of “Wuss.”
Jasmina Nevada: Wuss is a very American term…and is a derogatory term also? Where did the idea arise from?
Clay Liford: Nate Rubin and I did another short that played at Sundance, “My Mom Smokes Weed,” and it was kind of like a personal film and it was the dynamic about being small and downtrodden…I liked the idea of putting the dynamics in, comedy, and I knew that I wanted to work with Nate. He is kind of a small guy and I thought at the same time I would go with this.
JN: Is there any true to life experience in this?
CL: No…the truth is in the details ... I have never been in a fight in my life...The only true life stuff is in the details of nerd culture; I was in marching band and Dungeons & Dragons, and those were all things that I had association with in junior and high school. This is more of a fiction character piece.
JN: Why this title?
Barack Epstein: There were several other titles in the works…
JN: What other titles were you playing with and why did you go with ‘Wuss?’
CL: Our working title which tied into the film for a long time was 'Butt-Whore' and it makes sense due to the content of the film.
BE: But we were actually worried that the executive producers were going to be a little upset if we called the movie that...
CL: 'Wuss' makes sense as it is about an adult who gets beaten up by his students and doesn’t really do much about it at first, and that is the epitome of the term and about him coming to his own in a weird way and trying to deal with that.
JN: What is the message or perception you may have been hoping for from the audience?
CL: I am not really a message filmmaker...I just wanted to tell a story and I am not very political. I made this movie about teachers. I am not into making movies about cops and lawyers, which is of no interest to me.
I am interested in persons I admire, like scientists and teachers and stuff like that… it was about this weird timing in life where you are to come back home with your tail between your legs. And how you deal with that and what kind of person that makes you? I wouldn’t say there was a particular message. And if there was a message, I would just hope that people figure it out on their own.
JN: What is next for you?
CL: I am about to do a short film about these young kids who write erotic Harry Potter fan fiction…then after that a feature about a kid actor next year called ‘Kiddo.’
JN: As the producer, how long did it take from the pre- to post-production to the final product?
BE: We shot over the summer and there was about over two weeks shooting time which is very, very quick for a film as ambitious like this with lots of locations.
JN: Where did you shoot?
BE: In Texas. Garland, Texas, the suburb of Dallas…at Garland High School we used this high school we had used in another film we had around the festival circuit last year called ‘Earthling.’ This high school is very picturesque. They have a film program for their students, so they were very willing to have their students help out and be extras. Clay and I did guest lecturing for their classes and that was kind of our trade to get the location for free.
JN: So there was a nice rapport and feedback?
BE: They loved us and they are very active in the film community. Then basically about six to eight months of post-production before we premiered at South by Southwest this past year and we have been doing the circuit, so to speak since then and waiting for some sales.
Links
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1696197/
