Guy Interviews a Guy: Evan Glodell, Director and Star of Bellflower

We had the opportunity to speak to Mr. Glodell in-depth about his film, his craft, and his fondness for Road Warrior-character Lord Humongous. It took almost 7 years for Glodell to bring his aggressive, affecting vision to life. As you’ll see in this interview, he’s glad he did.

What’s a post-apocalyptic movie without an apocalypse?

Actor, writer and director Evan Glodell seeks to answer that very question with his debut feature Bellflower. The film tells the story of two friends, Woodrow and Aiden, waiting for a worldly catastrophe that never comes. Not for lack of preparation, either. The friends build flamethrowers and a fire-breathing powerhouse of a car named ‘Mother Medusa’ in the event that their Road Warrior-inspired endtimes come to fruition. When one of them falls hard in love with a girl, we see the self-imposed bubble of these man-children start to burst.

Interview:

GUY: I thought it was a really unique film, especially by indie standards. Can you talk a little bit about the genesis of the concept?

Evan Glodell: Yeah, yeah. It was a relationship in my early 20s where it was sort of like in the movie. It was really good and really bad. When it ended, kind of in the wake of it, it was more extreme than I had expected I guess; where I was standing there trying to figure out what happened. And I had made short films and all of a sudden I had gotten the idea for a structure of a movie that could be made based on the idea.

And it hit me really hard. I was like, “You’re going to write the script and it’s going to be your first feature film.” And it took many years before that actually happened.

The vehicular beast, Medusa

GUY: Obviously you acted and directed in it. But then of course you wrote, produced and edited it. Was it challenging to wear all those hats or did you find it ultimately more freeing?

EG: I think probably both. I mean, it’s definitely challenging. A huge project. We had a readied film crew, so almost everybody that worked on the project had at least three or four hats. But for me personally, aside from the frustration that comes from it sometimes, you have to fight all the battles yourself in every department. When you run into a problem you’re the only one close to you. But I think the good thing, it’s freeing certainly in the way that you’re in control.

“And it hit me really hard. I was like, ‘You’re going to write the script and it’s going to be your first feature film.”

GUY:  I feel like Woodrow and Aiden are like these two little kids on a playground and then Milly comes in and upsets the balance. I take it that was intentional — to present them as almost childlike?

EG: Yeah, yes. All of it is slightly augmented reality. So it’s only certain parts of characters’ lives that are focused on.

GUY: So as you guys were acting and playing off each other that was informing the decisions you make in the performance?

EG: Childlike?

GUY: Yeah.

EG: I don’t think I ever used that word. But it was talked about a lot — where the characters are and how, obviously, almost from the very first joke you hear my character’s like “What do we do, the world is ending?” Certainly not the most important thing but that’s the most important thing to him.  [laughs]

GUY: Obviously a lot of the film is owed to concepts introduced, or made famous by, The Road Warrior. But it never feels derivative to me. I take it that you’re a fan. Can you talk a little bit about your relationship with that film and your feelings on Lord Humongous?

EG:  Oh yeah! Me and my best friend when I was a kid saw Road Warrior and freaked out and thought it was one of the awesomest things ever. There was a phase where I was in middle school where we talked a lot about the apocalypse and we’d joke around a bit. We’d have our own gang at the end of the world and we’d rule the apocalypse. Just joking around.

It kind of was forgotten for awhile and then when I was working on the script the idea came back in. From there it came back in and [I] sort of realized all these ideas really served me well with what was going on in the movie with the characters. So I kept building on it.

As a kid when I first saw [Road Warrior] I was scared of Lord Humongous because he’s this bad guy or whatever. He seemed like he was super smart by the way he talked but he was also huge so he could crush you. Which was sort of two different kinds of bad guys, but he was both. So I thought that Mel Gibson’s character was super cool and then, as I got older, I realized that Lord Humongous’ character was actually much… [pauses] Y’know, if you could have one of those two people having your back, you would probably much rather have it be Lord Humongous. To the point where he dies just trying to help his gang at the end of the film.

GUY: As I was watching the film I thought that it’d make a great double feature with Road Warrior. I wanted to go and pop that in right away after seeing [Bellflower].

EG: Oh that’s awesome! I think someone already did that.

GUY: Really?

EG: The Museum of the Moving Image in New York had a screening there about a month or two ago and they did a double feature.

“Y’know, if you could have one of those two people having your back, you would probably much rather have it be Lord Humongous.”

GUY: That’s so cool. Is it true that you built the flamethrower?

EG: Yes, yes! [We] built the flamethrower and two cars and some of the special effects rigs.

GUY: I actually looked that up on IMDB and I can’t remember what age it said exactly, but you’ve been building flame throwers for awhile.

EG: Yes, it’s kind of silly. When I was a kid, especially in middle school, I’ve always been good at building things. During the time that I was in middle school I’d find something to do with fire and destruction and explosive things. I remember trying to build a flamethrower when I was like 13 or something. And it didn’t work very well. So I never tried it again until it was for this movie.

GUY: So going on your technical prowess, I really thought that the scenes with Medusa (the car) we’re incredible. What risks or challenges did you encounter with Medusa and the flamethrower? I assume there had to be a few.

Medusa is outfitted with not one, but two flamethrowers

EG:  Yeah. Any time you’re driving a car like an idiot there’s always going to be some danger but there were no chase scenes or anything, obviously. It wasn’t like we were having to drive around super fast.

Actually the flamethrowers that we built into the Medusa car were the danger. Just the same thing where you have limited money. If we could have had a ton of time to focus just on the Medusa car then that would have been our only goal. We would have been able to build everything and have it be really safe. But when there’s all this stuff going on at the same time and you’re rushing it you’re like “Okay, today the car will look cool, work well and be safe.”

We were aware of the time so we took every precaution that we could but the car set itself on fire twice, accidentally. And both times were really terrifying for about ten seconds but then we were able to get it under control.

“Actually the flamethrowers that we built into the Medusa car were the danger.”

GUY: The film is apocalyptic and yet there’s no global apocalypse obviously. What does it say about these two guys that they’re just sitting around waiting for the apocalypse?

EG: I think it certainly says that they’re in a place in their lives where they don’t have a lot of direction. Where they’re not sure where to go.

GUY: I feel like they’d be pretty successful guys with all their technical expertise, if only they weren’t so emotionally damaged.

EG: To me the interesting thing, in my mind these characters do have jobs. They’re menial jobs, at whatever point they’re at in their lives. It’s like one part of a person’s life that’s being focused on and exaggerated.

The obsession with the apocalypse, there are probably so many ways to analyze that. The fact that they’re obsessed with the apocalypse means the world isn’t really working for them. At that time in their lives. It’s like when things aren’t working you want them to be changed. The only way the world’s going to change for you is if the apocalypse happens.

GUY: You assembled a talented cast. What was it like working with your actors?

EG: In my mind I was casting, I was always about to make this movie, from the time I finished the script. I wrote the script in 2003. So a number of people that I worked with in the past I tried to cast them for parts in this movie. I’d always have my eye out, or I’d meet someone and was like, “You are now going to play this part.” And they were like, “Cool.” So all of the main cast had been aware of the project for many years. And we talked about it tons and they kind of knew if changes were happening we’d all talk about it, every aspect imaginable. So by the time we were all there shooting it wasn’t just my project. It was everybody’s project.

GUY: Aiden’s monologue at the end at the end of the film is a little disturbing. In your opinion are a lot of the issues raised in this film brought upon by the two main characters coming to grips with their feelings for each other?

EG: It could be. How do you mean disturbing?

“So by the time we were all there shooting it wasn’t just my project. It was everybody’s project.”

GUY: I suppose I don’t find their relationship disturbing. I think it was disturbing was because the scene’s intercut with [Woodrow and Aiden] riding around and shooting guns in the air. So I just think it’s the implications of what they’re going to do next [that's disturbing]. I also sensed that there’s some feeling for each other between the two.

EG: Certainly the movie is a love story. It’s a love story between the two friends and it’s a romantic love story between the guy and the girl. It’s interesting to me how differently everybody takes the ending of the movie.

To me, it’s oddly a happy ending, even though it’s sad. Because what’s going on there from my point of view is that the characters are coming to realizations and basically taking responsibility for their actions. And they’re moving forward in a positive way. Aiden, Tyler Dawson’s character, isn’t going to talk serious to his friend. Unless he does it in joking terms.

“To me it’s oddly a happy ending, even though it’s sad.”

They’re having this really serious conversation about how Woodrow needs to move on and it’s not the girl’s fault that the relationship fell apart. It’s just life.  And they both played their part. But he (Aiden) just does it in this really strange, joking way where he’s talking about Lord Humongous and the apocalypse.