Interviews // Jonathan Hammond (Fireflies in the Dusk)

I Heart Noise: Congrats on getting Fireflies in the Dusk screened at the Cleveland International Film Festival!

Jonathan Hammond: Thank you very much!

I Heart Noise: When’s the festival?

Jonathan Hammond: It just happened. We screened on Friday–the comedy block.

I Heart Noise: Did you make it to Cleveland for it?

Jonathan Hammond: I went. My producer went, our lead actress went, and my co-writer went. It was our world premiere.

I Heart Noise: So how did Fireflies in the Dusk come to be? What inspired you to make this film?

Jonathan Hammond: You know, I was just thinking about it the truth is I was kind of going through a bit of a dark time, and I wanted to make something that was stupid and fun and funny and wild and original. And when you think that way, there’s just a lot of latitude to just kind of go bull bunkers. And we had the best time making it. I would say that I had grown up, you know, loving science or time travel movies and there’s just something that’s absurd when you think about it in reality terms, about if someone traveled time from one century to the other, especially if it’s for romance purposes, what are you gonna talk about? What do you have in common? And I think that was sort of the genesis from watching them. And then I guess my playful mind just really went into overdrive and we made this movie.

I Heart Noise: I really enjoyed it, the whole time I had to pause it, I was laughing so hard.

I Heart Noise: Do you watch a lot of romance and time travel movies?

Jonathan Hammond: If I can. One of my mom’s favorite movies was Summer and Time growing up, so I had to watch that. I think if there has been one, I definitely would have seen it. My personal taste is actually my favorite time travel movie is La Jetée, which is not funny. And it’s a French short film, it inspired 12 Monkeys.

But I also love Back to the Future very much. And someone else said they thought of Bill and Ted, which I guess maybe subconsciously. But there aren’t a whole lot of romance ones outside of Somewhere in Time. There’s a Hallmark Hall of Fame made for TV movie called the Love Letter with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Campbell Scott that has tones of this. But if it involves time travel, I’ll absolutely watch it.

I Heart Noise: When did you start working on this idea and how long did it take from the inception to the post-production?

Jonathan Hammond: We had written this seven or eight years ago and it just ended up on the back burner. And I do love making comedy and irreverent movies, but it just, it seems like a big swing. And my co-writer, Ryan Roach really wanted us to make it, so he was pushing me to make it. And then I was going back and forth between this and a couple other projects.

We were due to make a short film and I just wasn’t sure. We had written with an actress in mind, one of our good friends who had moved to Norway. So that’s another reason why I kind of just lost steam. I went to a film festival where I met Emily Goss, the lead actress. And within 30 seconds, I’m like, that’s her. That is her. I have this project for you. It’s insane.

I think it took her a swallow before she was on board, but she was like, let me register this. And then she’s like, I absolutely want to do this. So, from there, it was really, really easy getting the cast on. From the time of go to filming was very, very short. So for once, we decided to do it. To filming, I would say it was in a month or two, but for me to say yes to do it, it was about seven years.

I Heart Noise: I was especially thrilled to see Hale Appleman playing Cecil. He’s my favorite part of The Magicians, so I just love seeing him in anything. How did you end up casting him?

Jonathan Hammond: He’s my favorite part of that show, too, and he’s one of my favorite people right now. The reason we ended up casting him was because our producer, Martin Spanjers, is friends with him. We brought on Martin and he’s an actor, and just has a lot of friends. And we were going over who we should cast, and we were putting up feelers. And then he goes like, ‘Oh, my God, my friend Hale would be perfect for this.’

Then my creator, Ryan Roach, is a huge Magician’s fan, so he was like, especially double take. He’s like, ‘Are you kidding’ and started shaking. It’s like, are you serious? And he’s like, yeah. So we sent it to Hale and he read it. He loved it. He’s like, ‘I just want to have a conversation about the tone’. And he was on board. And so, he was a dream to work with, he really is fantastic in this movie. He’s very funny.

I Heart Noise: Is it hard to cast people who don’t look too modern?

Jonathan Hammond: That’s a really good question. So that’s part of this. One of the things we’re spoofing. I would say, several years ago, a friend of mine took me to go see Pride and Prejudice, the Joe Wright version with Keira Knightley. I majored in English literature. And I have read Pride and Prejudice, I think, more than most guys. And I do love the book. I think it’s amazingly structured.

I just remember thinking; do we need another Pride of Prejudice? Because it’s been done a lot. And then when you see it, you’re like, yeah, I see now why that’s really pure cinema. It’s a fantastic movie. But one of the things that you see in the movie is like, everyone is really beautiful. And when they smile, I leaned over and I’m like, you know, if these people were real, their teeth would not look like that. These people have not bathed in weeks.

And so that start carried over, and we wanted to make sure that it was because we’re parodying these things. They look like movie people. That was deliberate. There’s, you know, we considered like, the Austin Powers, makes your teeth bright. I’m like, no, no, we have to make it. This is a movie about movies. So that was a deliberate choice. They have very beautiful people with very good teeth. They were the big movie stars. We used movie stars.

I Heart Noise: I love the way Nick Ballard played Zach. He was like a tool. Was it fun to write his dialogue and film that?

Jonathan Hammond: It was so much fun. That was a concern. Like, is this too much? Is this too much of a bro? This is a caricature. But Nick is such a sweet guy and such a talented actor that I think he knew just the right beats. There was one or two lines where I had to explain, this is what we meant. And he got it. To answer your question, yes, it was a ball. It was a ball to write It. But the concern was, is it too much? But then when you see Nick, acting lands, it’s fine. He actually brings a vulnerability. We’re, like, completely pleased with how it turned out.

I Heart Noise: Near the end of the film, it kind of switches genres from romantic comedy to something else. Can you explain what inspired that?

Jonathan Hammond: That was when there’s like a certain faction of the population that would want to take things back. There’s a romanization of the past, particularly, like a further back past. And that could be in health care, and it could be social. I’m trying to think of how I can say this without giving it away. Sort of social norms, especially, with gay people, they want things to go backwards. So that was kind of our commentary.

That’s kind of the point of the movie, is that a romanticization of the past can be very dangerous. I’m not talking about, being nostalgic or dressing up or whatever. I’m talking about, bringing back things that we have learned from that we’re just deliberately trying to forget. So that, I think, is very dangerous. That was our commentary.

But also, we felt that it was just in terms of story. It was sort of a fun twist that was organic, and it was kind of telling you the whole time without telling you. And I love it when movies kind of present themselves as one thing when they’re really something else. If they do that in a way that’s honest, I, as an audience member, am exhilarated. So, I hope to do that to other people who think like me.

I Heart Noise: How did you end up becoming a film director?

Jonathan Hammond: You know, I was born that way. It’s all I ever wanted to do. Truthfully. That’s all I ever wanted. I grew up movie obsessed. Over the years, I hadn’t done it for a while, and then we started doing the 48 Hour Film Festival. Started doing really well and winning and whatever factors in life kept me away from it, and then I just of late jumped into it. I really want to have a career and do this. I really, really love the process. And I love when people react to my movies positively. When they don’t like them, that’s a bummer. But you know, hopefully fortunately there hasn’t been too much of that.

I Heart Noise: What advice do you have for people who are looking to break into the industry?

Jonathan Hammond: My advice is just to know that it is really hard, is really competitive. I believe at Cleveland there were like 7,000 submissions. They took like 150 movies. So, it’s hard. Just make sure you have a strong story, and it’s executed well. Ask people who’ve done it before to maybe help you. Where I learned the most is, the 48 Hour Film Festival because it really forces you to be as creative on a point as possible. You have to edit, you have to score, you have to do all of the things and its really low stakes. You get an audience. Everyone goes and sees everyone else’s movie and you see what and how people react. So, you see what might work and what may not work, but like winning and losing. Winning feels great, but also if you don’t do well, it’s, it’s low stakes. You spent a weekend and you had an opportunity to learn.

I Heart Noise: Do you have any other projects you’re working on that you can talk about?

Jonathan Hammond: I have another short that is called Mask Looking and it’s nothing like this. It’s a horror, you know the gay app Grindr. It’s kind of a horror based on that. It’s an exercise in tension. It stars Daniel Franzese from Mean Girls. And that is also, I think I can say, it’s going to be at Cannes in May in the short film corner. And then it’ll be premiering in the States in July.