WAMG Interview – Ron Judkins: Director of FINDING NEIGHBORS – SLIFF 2013

Ron Judkins is an Oscar-winning sound engineer. He has worked on over 50 films since 1976 including blockbusters for directors such as Steven Spielberg, Gus Van Sant, Paul Thomas Anderson, Richard Donner, and Barry Levinson. He won two Academy Awards for Best Sound for JURASSIC PARK and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. He made his directorial debut in 1999 with the film THE HI LINE, which he also wrote. Now Ron Judkins is back in the director/writer chair for the new film FINDING NEIGHBORS, a comedic drama about three sets of Los Angeles neighbors who are searching for true connections.

FINDING NEIGHBORS is the story of a formerly acclaimed graphic novelist who goes looking for a true connection outside of his marriage – and just over his fence. Six months late on a book delivery, Sam (Michael O’Keefe) has succumbed to a full-on midlife and creative crisis. Sherrie (Julie Mond), the provocative girl-next-door, offers him an easy and willing distraction. But it is Sam’s budding friendship with another neighbor (Blake Bashoff), a gay man, that ultimately helps him reconnect with his creativity. Sam, however, reveals nothing of this to his wife (Catherine Dent), and as he begins to change, she becomes increasingly suspicious about what’s going on in the neighborhood. Understandably hurt that Sam has become emotionally intimate with someone other than herself, she’s doubly confused by the discovery that Sam’s “someone else” is a man. As Sam begins to recapture his creative fire, he finds he may be losing the one thing he has never doubted: his marriage.

FINDING NEIGHBORS will be screened at the St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) on Saturday, November 16th at the Plaza Frontenac Theater. Ron Judkins will be in attendance to answer questions about the film after the screening.

For ticket information, visit Cinema St. Louis’ site HERE

http://www.cinemastlouis.org/finding-neighbors

Ron Judkins took the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks about FINDING NEIGHBORS before his visit here for SLIFF.

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman November 14th, 2013

We Are Movie Geeks: FINDING NEIGHBORS is your second feature film as a director. Your first was THE HI LINE in 1999. Why the 14 year gap between films?

Ron Judkins: That’s the way Hollywood works. When I made THE HI LINE in 1999, it went to Sundance and and it was sold to Showtime and I thought that would sort of catapult me to more mainstream filmmaking where a studio would come and finance my project. I went down that route and had several films in development. We worked on casts and scripts, and the years were going by and I realized more years went by than I had realized and I was soon aware that I was right back where I was when I made THE HI LINE which was just wanting to make a movie and gather resources. It was something I wanted to green-light myself instead of asking someone else for permission to make a film. That took a while.

WAMG:  I was looking at your credits on IMDB – you started on some low-budget horror and sci-fi genre stuff. What was it like working for Roger Corman on BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS?

RJ:  I had just moved out to Los Angeles, that was in 1980. I thought I had hit the big time. There were real actors in that movie, and spaceships, and all kinds of really cool stuff going on. I was really excited. Even back then Roger Corman was such a legend I felt like I had finally entered the mainstream world of filmmaking. Roger Corman was certainly a character.

WAMG: As a sound mixer, are you on set much during a film’s production or is most of your work done after filming is completed?

RJ: No, I’m totally on the set. My job is to record the original dialog while the camera is rolling. I’m right there. Being on the set is really what I love. I have friend that are post-production mixers and they go to these dark studios and they spend the rest of their lives there and I just couldn’t do that. I like to be where the action is.

WAMG: You’ve been nominated for 11 Oscars and won two Oscars for Sound for Steven Spielberg films. How did you get involved with Steven Spielberg?

RJ: I had just gotten into the union and was working on a movie called DAD with Jack Lemmon. Amblin was a co-producer and Steven Spielberg had gone to watch some dailies. I think they had discussed the sound and thought the sound was quite good so Steven came to the set of DAD one day. Lo and behold, he walked over to me and said that he was getting ready to start filming his movie HOOK and asked me if I’d like to do the sound. It was my dream come true. HOOK was one of the hardest jobs I’d ever done. There was a lot of children on the set and a lot of improvisation every day. These kids would ride roughshod over the set. But we got through it and it was really nice and led to a good body of work with Steven.

WAMG: How did you come up with the idea for FINDING NEIGHBORS?

RJ: The original idea was based on our little neighborhood here in Los Angeles. We live in part called Atwater Village and on one side of us live a gay couple in their forties and on the other side live a married couple but the wife is awfully flirtatious and I just wanted to embrace that in a comedic drama. There were things that happened with them that made for good story materials, and I just ran with it. Much of the movie, especially stuff at the beginning, is based on true life.

WAMG: You wrote FINDING NEIGHBORS which is about a graphic novelist. Are graphic novels something that you have been interested in?

RJ: No, but I have a lot of friends that are in  similar situations, friends that work in that sort of creative industry, whether it be the film industry or the publishing industry. We all live in this culture that focuses on youth. All the creative energy and attention goes to the twenty-somethings. I really just wanted to tell a story about an aging baby boomer guy  and how he stays relevant in his own mind and in this culture and creatively. I think what happens to a lot of people is that they buy into that kind of thinking. One thing I wanted to convey in the movie is that no matter how old you are or where you find yourself, your voice is so important. We tried at a screening in Austen to target, not an older group, but an audience that wasn’t just made up of 20-years olds. The audience response was really overwhelming. I thought I’d really hit a bit of paydirt there.

WAMG: What was Michael O’keefe like to work with and were there other well-known actors you considered for that role?

RJ: There were a few others that we considered. We worked with a casting director named Susan Shopmaker out of New York and she was an avid advocate for Michael. He has this perfect combination of being likeable but also being a bit of a curmudgeon. I think that comes through on the screen and it came though on the set as well. You hear stories about how actors remain in character all the time and I think Michel remained in character all the time on the set as well. It made for interesting interplay creatively. There were times when he was grumpy and there were times when he was the character. I think it all worked out perfectly.

WAMG: Who are some of your favorite filmmakers that you have not had a chance to work with who you would like to?

RJ: Right off the bat, Steven Soderbergh. I hear really good things about his process on the set. I’ve done one film for Paul Thomas Anderson, PUNCH DRUNK LOVE. I met my wife on that film, actually. I’ve gotten close to working with Paul again since then but our schedules have never worked out, but I would love to work with Paul again. I think he’s very creative. I like directors who really share  the process on the set. The rehearsing, the working with the crew and the actors. As a technician on the set, you really get to feel as if you’re part of the creative process.

WAMG: What can you tell me about your next project?

RJ: Right now I’m working with a filmmaker that I’ve always wanted to work with. A New Zealand filmmaker by the name of Niki Caro. She did the movie WHALE RIDER about eight years ago. I thought that was an incredible story, very visual and it had so much heart to it. I got a call a couple of months ago from a producer offering me the chance to work with Niki Caro and that was a no-brainer. We’re working on a movie called MCFARLAND and we’re about two thirds of the way through. It stars Kevin Costner and Maria Bello. It’s more or less a cross between THE GRAPES OF WRATH and COACH CARTER. It’s a great heartwarming story.

WAMG: Sounds good. Best of luck with that and with FINDING NEIGHBORS and I hope you enjoy your visit to St. Louis this weekend.

RJ: Thank you.