Ep77 - Brett Haley / "Hearts Beat Loud"

kirsy Clemens, Ted Danson, and Tony Collette. We talked about that film, which is sort of a love letter to Red Hook Brooklyn, and about the state of independent cinema in general, among other things. So sit tight. This is Playback was in April. Yeah, that's awesome, dude. It's almost two turns two in June. That's awesome. Going back east for that North Carolina. Yeah, yeah, totally. That's great man, living the life. I know. We both met our our

women in college. I didn't know that. Yeah, Linda. Linda was in the drama program. Oh I didn't know it. Yeah, wow, she's like she's the Burrife. She gets some stories. Then, oh yeah she did. She did not like me back back in in actual college. It was a it was a thing. Yeah, probably probably the same way. Well, we're recording, um, you know, half hour chat about your flick dive right in. I'm here with Brett Haley everyone, director of Heart's Beat Loud,

which was your Mr. Sundance lately. Man, you keep going to Sundance with your stuff. How's that? Thank you for doing the show. Oh well, thank you for having me, Chris. I mean, being at Sundance three times in four years is certainly you know, it feels good. I mean, getting the Sundance deal of approval is always a big deal. And I'm never sure I'm going to get in, and

I think we'll see you in my dreams. It was like a total shock, you know, I just submitted and had you know, didn't know anybody over there, and the fact that it got in and did so well, and and then the hero and hearts to be Loud. After that, it's you know, if you you want to sell your movie, you go make a true independent film. That's the place you want to be. So I'm very I'm very grateful to them. I'm glad they liked my movies. Absolutely. What was it like this time compared to the other couple

of times, you know, with coming in with Hearts. Yeah, I mean we were the closer closing. Yeah, that was a little bit different, just because we premiered so late, and obviously it's a you know, it's a it's a business driven week for every filmmaker. They're trying to sell their movies. So we had like some press screenings and early screenings for buyers. Then Sundance was very good about that. They they you know, gave us a lot of screening

so that people could see the movie early. And um, you know, I think everybody felt, um, you know, a little bit more pressure this year than other years, just because certain buyers weren't making moves and you know, the industry is constantly changing and evolving, and you know, but if you look at it, there's really strong movies coming

out of Sundance this year. You've got Hereditary, You've got Blind Spotting, You've got you know, um American Animals, and it's a lot of really good films, you know, coming out. And the film that I saw you at um Search Search, you know. I mean there's some really great films coming up that I think are going to feed you know, audiences this summer and the fall. And I think it was a good sundance all like when the dust settled. I think everyone was kind of freaking out at the festival, like,

oh things are a little slow. Yeah, I came in. There was that feeling. But if you look at it, it's like, hey, sorry to that. He was getting a huge release and blind Spoty is getting a massive push. We're getting a push. I think it's I think it's when the dust settles. I think we'll look back and go everything's the same, it's what people are looking for you.

I was there for the tail end for the second half of the festival, so I came in on Tuesday already it's like, oh, this is a week's sundance, blah blah blah. First thing I see a hereditary I'm like, what is it all down after this or something? And and everything I saw I really liked. And I think people are just expecting it to be another big, sick, mud bound kind of year. Call me about your name. It's like that, that's a that's a big year. But like this year, I thought they were solid films. It

was more spread around. There wasn't and that's always I think that's good when there isn't one movie that everyone is talking about from the festival, but rather like five or six or seven movies and everyone's like, I really like these movies and they're doing well, and you know, I think that's more ideal than anything. So I'm excited. And all these movies are getting big theatrical pushes and and we sold our movies. It's Sundance, and mean, that's

the whole goal. So you know, every every can, every Sundance, We're always going, oh, what's going to happen? And I think it's just you know, it's evolving. It's about staying relevant. But I think those festivals continue to be extremely relevant. You guys are with Gunpowder and Sky. Yeah, what do you think about this company? I really like the Powers. No,

they're great. I mean they did such a good job with Jeff Nis film last year, The Little Hours, and there are obviously a new company, but they're all people who have been doing this a very long time. You've got a lot of film buff people. And then Van who ran MTV and was you know, a huge part of MTV films. You look at the films he put out, like he put out Napoleon Dynamite, he put out Election,

he put out you know Varsity Blues. He put out all these movies that I think really you know, hustle and flow, and Van just knows he's he's It's a great partner for us because he knows music, he knows the music world, and he knows the film world. And I think they've been very smart about how to approach this movie. And frankly, I went with them over other companies because they were just really passionate about this film. They really understood it and how to get it out there.

And you know, they're they're really they're putting their money where their mouth is. They're putting it out and we're gonna get a push, and obviously we have to do well. You know, we have two people have to come see it opening weekend, and we're doing an expansion on Father's Day weekend, which we think could be a good thing.

But they've been great, and I think that the more of these companies that come out, the better for the industry, because what's happening with the bigger companies is they're doing stuff from the inside. But I think there's got to be room right now for filmmakers to be able to make something completely outside of the system and for companies to pick pick it up. I think it's crucial that everything isn't developed within and and that's happening more and more,

and I think that's good. Hey you get an Amazon deal or deal, that's great. But I also think there should be room for like, nobody really wants this, but I'm gonna go make the movie anyway and then sell it and see what audiences think. Because I've made all all of my movies that way. I've never had a big company be like, yeah, we want to make this

within the system. It's always been after the fact that the finished product speaks for itself and audiences are responding to it, and then it gets it finds it's you know, it gets a distribution deal from from there. Yeah. Absolutely. I had you know, had Cats on the show a few weeks back, and we were talking about his film and his take on just kind of the state of independent cinema and what it's like out there. Uh, you

tell us what's it like for you guys? I mean, I for me, it's been an incredibly healthy you know, I've I've had the opportunity from the you know, minor success of my films to go and make more films. You know, I think that the level at which you can make films is is going to be limited. And that's just that's just how this this works. You're not going to get the five or ten million dollar completely

independent movie with no distribution in place. It happens, but you've got you know, John Apatow or something behind those types of films. So what I've had to do is I've had to change my vision basically to create these movies. And Mark Bash my co writer, and I think, right, write it down. You know, it's like, hey, we wanted five million for this movie, we got X. You know, we got much less than that. How do we go about now approaching this right? So I think that it's

a challenge in a way. But also as a filmmaker, you want to feel like you have the ability to flex your muscles, that you have the ability to do, to have more time and more money to do more interesting things with coverage, with blocking, with cinematic beats. And I think I've done all of my movies in eighteen days. You know, there's no time for that. And I try

my best to put whatever I can into it. But what I have to do as a director has put my my eggs in one basket, and that basket is the script, and it's the performances, and in this movie that obviously the music, and and so for me, it's like it's a it's a gift to be able to make a film, any film, and so I've been very

pleased with it. I do look forward to the moment in which someone is like, Hey, we're gonna give you a little bit more time and money to to actually execute something, because I think you're getting some version of it. But the independent I think it's it's vibrant. I mean, if you look at all the avenues, there's so many avenues for movies to get out now. So I think more movies are being made, more good movies are being made. There's obviously always going to be bad movies, but no

one is trying to make bad movies. Everybody's trying to make good films. And I don't see it as a big like red alert, Oh my god, what are we gonna do? I I still think movies are you know, We've got these huge movies and we've got this these kind of you know, you can go see Solo and go see Hearts to be Loud in this this summer. They're both sitting there for the audiences to see. So

I'm not freaking out about it in any way. You have strong feelings about the streamer world about you know, uh, companies like Netflix, that the amount of product they're putting out is crazy. Yeah, it's a lot. It's part of their business model to have like a stranglehold on on that in a way. But you know, do you do you have any strong feelings about people seeing your stuff on screen on a big screen or not or anything like that. I think that there are certain movies that

play really well on a big screen. I can tell you from people who have seen Heart Speed Loud on their computer versus seeing Heart Speed Loud on with an audience. It's always better with an audience. And you know, I think as old school kind of you know, our generation that there was not a streaming service growing up, it was like we had to go to the movies and Blockbuster was our you know, our Netflix if you will, and it was a big deal. We had to wait

like a year to see a movie on video. So it's it's a it's an adjustment to be like, but then you look and you're like, look, at the movie. Look at the who Netflix is giving their money to. They're giving them to people who maybe normally wouldn't because the studio system, and I don't blame them, is relying on I P it's relying on big things that everybody knows. Netflix is giving avenues for big, big movies, for filmmakers and a tours that maybe normally wouldn't be there. Amazon

is the same thing. I said. It's to me, it's all good. You know. I think that whether your movie lives on it, you're just looking at different stakes. Basically, like when your movie comes out in the box, in the in the theater, you've got to deal with how are the critics going to respond because that's going to drive business, how is the box office going to be? And then there's awards at the end of all of that.

It's just stress upon stress upon stress. And there's something about this idea of like, oh my movies on Netflix, there you go. I'm moving on with my life, you know, moving on to the next project. I've to some degree I'm very much that kind of filmmaker. I like to just be like I'm I've done what I can for

this movie, and now I'm moving on. There's but there's nothing better than knowing that my movie is going to be out in theaters, but of course no one could come and see it, and then it's like, oh, well that's a bummer, or it could be a hit and everybody comes see and that's a really good feeling. But Netflix, you know, while you don't get those highs, you don't get those lows either. It's just sort of like, Okay,

I'm done the movies out, people can see it. I mean I read somewhere that like eight million or nine million people streamed Roxanne Roxanne. Like people are watching movies on them on on this on this platform. So um, I'm open to all of it. I really am. I would love to make a movie for Netflix or have Netflix by one of my movies. I like my movies being in theaters. I think it just I think they know exactly what they want and what we'll play on

the platfor form. I think there. I think they're doing smart things, and I like, I like how many options there are for for movies. How many you know avenues there are absolutely Uh, let's talk about how prolific you are. Pretty pretty prolific lately, stacking up projects, walked in here, you said you were working on another one. I'm working on like six other ones, on a number of them. How do you stay motivated to keep writing like that? It's hard. I couldn't do it without Mark Bash, my

co writer. I mean, like, if it was just me, I wouldn't have I wouldn't be nearly as prolific as I've been. I think Mark and I have a really great working relationship, and we push each other, you know, we say like, look, we've got to we've got to write a movie. And I think now we're looking to kind of graduate, to get to the next level. As I was kind of talking about to try to get a bigger movie. And I'm not talking like a Marvel movie.

I'm just saying, which, by the way, if you're listening, Marvel, I'll take the job. But it's been meeting the meeting at least, just you know. I love all those I love big movies, like you know. I went and saw Deadpool two as soon as it came out. I saw Infinity War the second it came out. I really do enjoy big movies. I also enjoy these small films, and and I think that to be as prolific as I've been.

It's because I've I've chosen to make small films, four small films basically in a row, three very very close together. And for me it was sort of like, well, I can sit around for two or three years trying to get the next big thing going, or I can just keep making movies. And I'm really addicted to being on set and working. I just love it, and I feel sort of empty if I'm just writing, if I and

not being and not directing. So I'm driven, I think a lot by just the allure of being back on set, because I'm happiest and kind of the best version of myself on set. So that sort of addiction keeps me like going and I and it's been something that you know, God bless Mark for just kind of sticking with me and pushing and working really fast and hard and rewriting on set and doing everything we can to get to the next thing. But I think, you know, my goal is to do a movie a year at least for

a while. You know, that's a pretty difficult thing to do. I don't know if that'll be something that I can accomplish, but if you can shoot them all in eighteen days to be able to do that, and at some point we got it, Like I said, we gotta get Maybe, I don't know, I'll take twenty four. It's anything anything more than eighteen Uh. This one hearts beat Loud. It's about a guy on his record shop. Uh, widow, widower,

single father. Um. He and his daughter kind of strike up a band and they have a sudden hit kind of Uh in the summer before she goes to college. Where did this idea come from? You know, it's something that like I I love, you know the I think I wear my inspirations pretty squarely on my sleeve on this one. You know, there's a dad ash of high fidelity. There's some that thing you do. There's a little inside

Leewin Davis, there's a bit of once. I love those movies, and I specifically high fidelity and and that thing you do. I kind of grew up on and really feel a connection to those films. So I think that it's always been kicking around, Like as a filmmaker, I'm constantly thinking about ideas and genres that I want to kind of be in. I'm a huge musical fan. I love musicals like full on musicals, but I also love band movies

or movies about music. I'm a bit of a music snob, and this was an avenue in a way for me to to kind of get that part of me out there. And then working with Keegan and knowing how talented Keegan de Witt is and knowing that he could write these songs like I, I just had a feeling. It just sort of kind of came together because of a mix of influences and things that I wanted to do in

the kind of movie I wanted to make. And once I had the premise mark and I through the writing of it, really that's where the themes really started coming in. And I think there's this film on the surface is quite simple. Even even if you look at it and watch it and walk out of the theater enjoying it, you can say that was it was pretty simple. It was pretty straightforward, but it's actually quite layer. There's a

lot going on beneath the surface. I think of all my movies, but particularly this one, that there's more going on, and I really like that. I really like the subtlety and and and what is beyond behind the dialogue or behind the scene or behind the moments and what the movie is really saying about family, what it's saying about creation, art, music, about lost dreams. There's a lot going on in this movie, and I think people are hopefully connecting with that aspect

of it. But you know, it's something where I knew I wanted to do a musical for lack of So this is kind of my version of a musical, like an indie musical. Yeah, big school rock fan. I love School Round. I mean, you can watch that movie. If that movie is on, you're watching it. It's one of those movies high fidelities, so top top five, side one track ones good Man. Yeah, I almost could do it, but I'm not going to. Uh, this one kind of lives or dies by the chemistry between these two obviously,

Nick Offerman and Kersey Clemens. What what made them the right match? You know, it was a bit of magic. You know. I like to think that I know how to cast a movie and I have a feeling about like who's going to be good together? And frankly, I didn't know with Nick and Kerssy, I just I just they didn't know each other. I I knew that Nick Nick's one of those actors and people who just everyone who meets him loves him. He's just that kind of guy. He can And great actors, by the way, are like

that because your job is an actor. One of your jobs is to connect with the other actors you're working with, whether or not you have a connection with them in real life or not. It's like part of your job is to create that chemistry. And Nick is so open and he's so genuine and Kiersy, you know, I didn't know. I just knew of her work and I was a huge fan of hers, and when I discovered she could sing, I just made the offer. And so I was like nervous,

you know. I was like, Nick and Kirsy are literally meeting like three days before we start shooting, and we've got to do band rehearsals and all this stuff. And they met, and immediately I knew because we started a text chain and immediately they started like busting each other's balls and banter, and I was immediately like, Oh, we're going to be fine. But I think Kirsy and Nick just have that talent of of sort of opening themselves up and and allowing themselves to be able to connect.

It requires sort of opening the Gates and saying I'm here, I'm available, Let's let's do this. And they both have that ability. I mean, Kirscy Clements can walk into any room and just own it without being just she just walks in and you're like, watch out, here comes Scarcy. And their chemistry was just, I think, really genuine, because I think both Nick and I have this with Cisy where we're trying is so cool. We want her to

think we're cool. So I think it was like Nick was all he said that a lot that he's just like I was just trying to get her to like me and think I was cool, and that's very dad, and it just sort of fell right into that. So they just had this natural thing and then the music and but I really just they're both just such open and genuine people that I think it was just just we got We got really lucky with that. Now, what was the conversation like convincing Ted Dancing to play a

bartender again? It was actually way too easy. And I just remember Ted because I remember saying that would be such a big deal to get him back behind a bar, but he probably won't want to. But Nick his friends with him, and Nick is an executive proaster on the movie. So Nick called him and he's buddies. They worked together on far Ago, and he's said, look, I want you to come the way Nick puts it has come play with me. Come play with me for a couple of days in Brooklyn. You get to we get to be

my buddy in this movie. It'll be it'll be fun. And Ted read the script and he's like, I really like it. I want to do it. He goes, but can I be a pothead? And I was like, yeah, you can be a pothead. So Mark and I wrote rewrote pages for him to be a pothead and send it back to him and he's like, I love it. I'm ready, let's go. So and he's man, he's I've just gotten so lucky, like working with people like by Dan Or Sam Elliott, Rea Perlman, June's Squib, Mary kay Plays.

All these old school people have been in the industry for song there's they're all incredible. And Ted just adds to that list of just like this is a guy who has every right to kind of just be checked out and like, I don't care. I don't He is so passionate and kind and giving and so so fun to watch work. I mean it was. It was the first two days of shooting with him, and I was

just giddy. You know. My brother came to set. He's like Sam all Own was like, my god, you know when I was a kid watching Cheers, And we all feel that way. We all feel like we know Ted Danson and he's better than you think. Like you think he's gonna be amazing, he's actually better than you think. And I don't take it for granted how big of a deal it was to get him behind a bar. But that's Ted for you. He didn't he didn't think of it that way. He's just like, oh, yeah, that's

the role. Let's do it. Where was that bar by the way that you shot down? So that's sunny is that's a that's a famous Red Hook bar, really old school bar. So the name of the bar in the movie is the actual name, and it's it's in the heart of Red Hook near the water, and it was an old um sort of like the doc workers and the and the boat guys used to come off the piers there in Red Hook back in the day. They'd go to Sonny's at like five am and have coffee

and whiskey, beers and breakfast. So it's it's been there, you know, forever, and it's just this incredibly down to earth like authentic place and they have music every weekend and it's just it's quite. It's quite the place. Were there any challenges, like, obviously you wrote a lot of this with places in mind. Where did you have to

let anything go, whether anything, anything didn't come together? Yeah, I mean, like like I was talking about, when you have only so much time and only so much money, you have to be able to say, well, I can't do that. You know, Mitski is in the movie on a computer screen, and originally we were going to go to a Mitsky concert, you know, I wanted, you know, Kirsty's character to go to a mit Sky show and

be inspired in person by her. But with just you know, the second you start looking at logistics, well that's half a day shooting, Well, we need the venue. I need at least a hundred extras, and even that's gonna look thin. Then we've got to like figure out the logistics of the how is the performance going to be immediately like well, shoot, that isn't like one million percent necessary at least in that way, to tell the story. Shoot that's got to go. So stuff like that. That's what you have to do

on these level of films. You have to say, well, I I can't get everything, so how can I make this work? But for the most part, you know, when we wrote Baked, which is a coffee and bakery in in Red Hook where uh Nick's character, here's the song for the first time, you know that was written and Sonny's was written, and I'm trying to think, you know, yeah,

like Stinky. The shop is actually in green Point. It's called Academy Records and it's a huge space and that's why I picked it because it was just a big space. So it's not actually in Red Up. There's there is a little record store in Red Hook, but shooting there would have been especially for how much of the movie takes place in the record shop, it just would have you know, we wouldn't have had the real estate to

kind of keep things dynamic and have that. I was really looking for that depth, to be able to shoot through the record rows and things like that, and also to do the performance. Okay, I've got to get thirty people in here do a performance. So we shot that in green Point, um, but read it was always going to be a made up record store, Red Hook Records. So but for the most part, we got you know, we got what we wanted. I think again, just time money. It handcuffs you a bit. You can't go out and

shoot all the stuff you want to shoot. But that, you know, it also focuses you getting put into a box. You're like, all right, now I've got to what's really important to tell his story? It's like, and that's what the script was. The script was like eighty pages and it was just what was necessary. And still stuff got cut in post. You know, you're still so in some ways it's a great exercise in narrative storytelling. We're gonna talk about Tony. Collette just had Tony on the show

an hour ago. She sends her love she's the best. Uh yeah, that's what I was gonna say, She's the best. She really that was gonna be my hope that you would launch from that. So yeah, let's go from there. She's the best. Well it was. It was amazing because I met Tony at a party It's Sundance. Uh not this year, but last year when I was there with the hero and she was there with Fun Mom dinner

and I went. I know Adam and Naomi Scott and they're they're amazing and they produced that movie, and um they invited me to their little party after their premiere, and so I went and Tony was there, and you know, I try to be cool around celebrities and I'm not like I'm I'm a big like I get really nervous around celebrities. Um, I still get nervous around people like I've worked with, Like I just love could because you know, I'm a movie guy. I love actors, and so I

get a little nervous. And so I saw Tony and I was like, oh, I can't, you know, go up to Tony Klett and tell her how much I love her. She's at her party. I don't want to bother her. But eventually, at some point I just was like, fuck it, I'm going I'm gonna go talk to Tony Klutt and I I just sort of like it was on the dance floor and I was like, Hey, I'm Brett, I have a movie here at the festival. I think you're amazing and I just really want to work with you,

Like can I can I write something for you? I was like, is there something that you like, If there's something that you feel like you're missing in your career, I'll help you because I love writing for actors and and um, you know. She smiled and was very nice, and I thought, well, you know, at least I tried. And then, to my surprise, a few months later, I got a call from my agent saying, Tony Klutt wants to sit down with you and have a coffee. She's

in New York. And so we sat down and we had coffee and we talked and she told me about some ideas and we just kind of talked. And at that time, heart Speat Lot was really kind of just still up in the air, and I wanted to do something where Tony was the lead. I was like, that's what our conversation was about. But when it came up and the role of Leslie was available, I was like, you know what I'm gonna I'm just gonna ask Tony. And I don't know if you guys talked about this,

but she told me. I think she was just coming off of Hereditary and she was like, I just needed a break, like I just needed a break before Hereditary, like lighter stuff. And then she got this like heavy heavy script with Hereditary. But I mean, she's obviously incredible. I mean, I cannot wait to see that movie. Oh I haven't seen it. No, man, I know I'm excited.

But it's like I keep telling people they both come out the same day, and well, obviously New York and l A. Hereditary is going to be all over the country on Janet's But I tell people like, hey, go see Hereditary feel like shit about your family, and they come see my movie and feel good about your family. You know what I mean. It's a great double feature. Tony Colletts in both. But you know, Tony was so great. She came, you know, she brought her family to Brooklyn.

Her and Nick had amazing chemistry right off the bat, which needed to happen. And she's just kind of a legend. When you kind of look at her career, she's she's like as Sam Elliott or a bly Now you forget how many amazing things she's done over the years, from Muriel's wedding to six Cents. Do you want to talk about a performance? I mean, I'll go, but I go back to that all the time. I go back to that car scene all the time. I can't watch that scene in the car at the end of six Cents

without crying. It's amazing. And that's her ability. And it was fun to work with Tony on this where she just got to have fun and got to be sweet and got to I think she I can't speak for, but I think she really enjoyed the process. It was just a fun shoot, so you know. But day one was like, hey, Brett on the call sheet, Ted Danson, Tony Collet, Nick Offerman, good luck And I was like,

oh my god, how am I gonna do this? So you know, but they they're just also great and so willing to kind of play and have fun, and um, I was just an honor. And I really hope I get to work with Tony again. I would. I think I will. I think I will, uh if she'll have me? Of course? Is your next Your next thing is not

announced yet, right, No. I've just got so many things kind of in the in the burner, you know, and I don't know what it will be, Mark and I are constantly writing there's a few things, you know that are independent, or a few things that are with companies, or you know, a couple of jobs circling and you just kind of have to stay very active and lenient and flexible because you never know what movies gonna go. You never know what's gonna go or when it's gonna go,

and it's hard. It's been hard for me to adjust to that because I think there are filmmakers that are like, Okay, I'm done with this now, I'm gonna go make this right,

but those are very few. You got what the Cohens and and Garrimo now can kind of do what he wants and you know, they're the heavy hitter guys and gals can do that, or like, Okay, now I'm gonna go do this now, like Ava du Verney and Ryan Coogler, like these are amazing people who have totally earned their stripes and saying all right, now I know my next movie and then everyone's like, great, let's go make that now. And for me, I'm still at the place of like,

I don't know what's going to be next. I'm saying, oh, i'd like it to be X, but there's no guarantee that that's going to happen. So I just try to try to I'm trying to adjust to how that feels, because it's hard it is hard to not know what's you know, where your next paychecks coming from, what you're going to be focused on, is it the right next movie?

And I think people often forget that sometimes we don't really have a choice in that if we want to continue to make a living and put food on our family's table, we've got to sometimes go do movies that maybe maybe it's not the ideal follow up or something like that, but you just have to go and and believe that, Okay, there's something in this story that I need to tell, and and and try to attach yourself to things that you feel like you can bring value to.

So it's a mix and it's so many different things. But I'm hoping. I'm hoping to be back in cinema the next year. That would be great. You'll get there, You'll figure out whatever. Whatever it counts on laptop screens. Yeah, that's fine. I'm you know, I'm watching um not it's not. I'm watching Evil Genius right now, and I love it.

It's great. Well, movie is called Hearts Beat Loud. June eighth is a release date and New York l a and then getting wider on Father's Day we can and then it'll be kind of nationwide by the third week. Go check it out with that if you can. Yeah, it's a great dad. Good for that. Yeah, Well, thanks for coming on the show. Brett really appreciate it. Yeah, Chris, thanks for having me. Man