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Russ Emanuel marks his professional
feature film directorial debut with "P.J." Originally from San
Francisco, he grew up in both Japan and the United States, garnering
an international viewpoint of the world throughout his childhood. He
wrote his first screenplay in 1993. He then went to the University
of Southern California in Los Angeles to study Cinema-Television,
International Relations and Japanese. More recently, he wrote a
10-part fantasy saga and a science fiction trilogy, worked as the
"Assistant to the Producer" on "The Failures", and founded his
production company Russem Productions in 2002, "Her Knight", "Mavet",
and presently "Girl With Gun" and "Perfect Red" being the first
films under its banner.
TONY: For those who might not be familiar with you,
tell us about yourself, Russ.
RUSS: My name is Russ Emanuel. I'm a filmmaker,
of course. I guess this interview is about my first
feature film that I directed, which is "P.J." The film
features John Heard, Vincent Pastore, Patricia Rae,
Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Glynnis O'Connor, Eddie Malavarca,
and Robert Picardo. It's my first film with name
actors. I feel very grateful to be at this point in my
life. I went to school, of course. I went to USC,
getting a minor in Cinema and took classes at UCLA
Extension. Upon graduation, I made my own short films.
I started out (professionally) in 2002 with a short film
called "Her Knight." That was my first one. |
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I met a lot of the crew that I work
with to this very day. The composer, Neil Argo, just did an
incredible score for "P.J." We have a nice documentary about it on
the "P.J." website. Emile Haris, who was the editor for this film,
worked with me on all my shorts. After "Her Knight," I made a short
film called "Girl with Gun." "Girl With Gun" got into over thirty
festivals. It definitely gained a lot of recognition. It won a lot
of awards, which I'm incredibly grateful for. Because of "Girl
with Gun," I was able to raise funding for "P.J." along with my
business partner Howard Nash, who's also stars in "P.J." He started
the project, and I came on board and helped get more funding. We
shot "P.J" from December to February in New York and Los Angeles and
we're currently in post.
TONY: What was USC film school like?
RUSS: I took a lot of critical studies classes. It taught
me about film analysis. All you really need to do is watch films
and analyze them. That's what the USC program taught me. And you
do have to go out there and work on other films. I worked as a PA
on a feature film called "The Failures." It really opened my eyes.
You need that real-time experience. So, if you want to be a
director, you really need to analyze films and figure out how it
works. That's what USC taught me.
TONY: What was it like growing up in Japan and the U.S.?
RUSS: It definitely gave me an international viewpoint of
life. I respect all cultures and all religions. I've seen it first
hand. I grew up in two very different cultures (United States and
Japan). I've traveled with my family around the world as well.
I've taken family vacations in Italy and Thailand. I've really seen
the world. And I went to an International High School (in Japan) as
well. That helps out. I was ready for an international university
like USC. It has the biggest number of international students. It
did in the 90's I know. I try to understand everything. I try to
put this internationalism into my films. I try to respect
everybody. It's the same with me. I'm half-white and
half-Japanese. I have two very different cultures in my blood. I'm
very glad I was brought up that way. It definitely gave me a
respect for all walks of life.
TONY: Who were some of your favorite filmmakers growing up?
RUSS: That's a good question. I grew up on Spielberg and
Lucas films. I grew up on Richard Donner's "Superman." I remember
I started loving film music from "Jurassic Park," which I saw when I
was a teenager. I'm a big fan of "Star Wars" and "Star Trek." I'm
a big Sci-Fi geek I guess. I definitely love those films. And film
music is a big part of that.
"The Empire Strikes Back" is one of my favorite films. It's a Sc-Fi
film, but it's about the characters. That's what I liked about it.
It's about the dramatic interaction. It's about the story as well.
In that episode, it was especially strong in my opinion. I just
really liked that. I love character conflict. It's better than the
usual cardboard cutouts that you get with a lot of films. I don't
like seeing one-dimensional characters. I want to see them
develop. Films like "The Empire Strikes Back" helped me to see
that.
TONY: When was the exact
moment that you knew you wanted to become a filmmaker?
RUSS: As soon as I was
born. (laughs) As a kid, I used to build sets out of shoe boxes and
use Lego characters. I did stop-motion with Lego's. I remember
using an 8-millimeter video camera, which is now defunct. It was
pretty big in the late 80's and the early 90's I built shoe boxes
of medieval kingdoms. I'm a big fan of Fantasy as well. I built
these medieval kingdoms. I played with the Lego figures and made a
film.
For our senior project, we had to do something that took the whole
school year to make. It took an element of risk and it took a lot
of our energy. I decided to do a film. It was a "Star Trek: Deep
Space Nine" episode. I went through development, pre-production,
production, post, and publicity. I finally completed it. When we
finished it up, we had a screening for the whole school. We had a
screening in the auditorium. I guess that was the premiere of the
film. We even made some money back from selling the videocassette!
This was before DVDs! From what I hear, it inspired a cinema
program at my school. I'm glad it helped. And it was very fun to
do it. Looking back on it, it wasn't a very good film. There were
a lot of problems. For a sixteen-year-old kid, it was wonderful. I
really loved the experience.
I also remember doing some documentaries in college. I did a
Japanese documentary. I shot some footage of the Japanese New
Year. I had my friend narrate it. After I put it together, I
submitted it for a contest.
I remember my parents saying I watched "Superman" fifty times. I
don't really remember that! I was just really inspired by that
film. I loved the ideals of the "Superman" character. I loved
everything about it. I was very eager to see "Superman Returns."
Thankfully, it was faithful to the first "Superman" film.
TONY: What was it like
going from being a film student to actually making your own short
films?
RUSS: After I graduated
from USC in 2000, I started writing a lot. I wrote some
screenplays. I had the theoretical knowledge of filmmaking by
analyzing film. That being said, I had no idea how to make a film.
I worked on "The Failures," which I talked about earlier. I learned
a lot from that. It was the first time I had seen a film shot on an
HD Camera on the Independent level. This was in 2002. Nancy
Schreiber, the cinematographer, had never handled an HD camera
before. I remember going to her house when she was doing tests. It
was a very good experience. I got to see pre-production and
production. Also, I got to see how everything was handled after you
finished shooting. I got to see how you have to return the
equipment and sign paperwork. I definitely learned a lot.
I decided to take some directing courses at UCLA extension. I took
other courses as well such as cinematography. I took numerous
courses and learned different techniques. We actually had to make
films of our own. I really enjoyed that hands-on experience. All
of that made me confident. It made me confident that I could do a
film. It's daunting for anybody. I thought to myself: "If I didn't
give it a try now, it might never happen." I decided it was time to
do it. I actually met Emile Haris (the “P.J.” editor) at UCLA. We
met during a directing course at UCLA. We have a friendship to this
day. We wanted to write a simple story that was economically
feasible. He had the camera for the “Her Knight” project. We went
through all the stages together. We did learn along the way as
well. That's how I made that transition. Once you get the
knowledge, just go for it.
TONY: What was it like
going from short films to your first feature film?
RUSS: It's very daunting.
Not only that, I knew I was going to be working with name actors
like John Heard. So here’s how I convinced myself I could do it:
I know how to make short films. I made a very successful one in
"Girl With Gun." I know how to do it. This is just a short film on
a feature film level. I'll just do the same steps that I've done on
my shorts. I'll just do it on a feature level.
In a sense, I guess the transition was easier than when I tried to
make my first film in "Her Knight." In another sense, it's a whole
new world. With my short films, we shot them in only six days.
When it comes to "P.J.," we had fifteen shooting days. We also had
two more days in L.A. to get the final footage in order to make a
final cut. It was seventeen days total. I moved from L.A. to New
York for a whole month. I stayed at my sister-in-law’s apartment
while she moved in with my brother Chris (Emanuel). She was very
kind. Her name is Kimmy Emanuel. She was very kind to let me stay
there for a whole month.
So to sum up: I'm around people I don't know. I'm directing a
feature for fifteen days. We were shooting six days a week. The
only days we had off were Christmas and New Year's. It's daunting.
We also have these seven name actors in the film. But I knew I
could do it. I love film. I just pushed ahead and took it one step
at a time. I'm eternally grateful.
TONY: Tell us about "P.J."
RUSS: "P.J" is
more of a spiritual film I would say. It's about a guy
who has amnesia. He was in an accident and something
happened to him. He has burned hands. He doesn't
remember how it happened. He's transferred to a
psychiatric doctor, who's played by John Heard. He has
a week to try and diagnosis him and get him better
before he has to be moved to a state mental institution
on orders by his superior, who’s played by Robert
Picardo. With the help of his assistant, who's played
by Vincent Pastore, he's trying to get it out of him.
Is he crazy? What happened to him? How did he burn his
hands? After a while, they're able to bring in his very
bitter ex-girlfriend, who's played by Patrica Rae. He
has to figure out what happened to him. There's a
spiritual twist to it as well. That's about as much as
I can say without giving it away. |
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TONY: Is it hard to direct from someone else's material?
RUSS: For me, no. I just
take the material and direct it. I'm very faithful to it. Every
time I take someone else's material, I know it's their baby. I want
to be as faithful as possible. While it's my own vision, I also
converse with the writer. I talked with the writers from "P.J."
before I started shooting the film. I wanted to get their point of
view. In fact, I feel honored to take someone else's script and
bring it to life.
TONY: Was it intimidating
to be working with so many big name actors?
RUSS: Oh, yeah! (laughs) I
would be a hypocrite or a liar if I said no. John Heard was acting
before I was born. It's very surreal. It was very intimidating.
At the same time, they are just human beings. They're human beings
who love to act and make a great story come to life. That's how I
treated them as their director. I treated them as fellow human
beings. In that sense, it wasn't intimidating. We're all in it
together. We're in it as a family. You work together and
collaborate. We all collaborated together to make "P.J" happen.
TONY: What did you learn
from shooting your first feature?
RUSS: First and foremost, I
want to have more shooting days. We did manage to do it, but I
would want maybe a week more next time. I learned how to manage
everything on our budget. We had to make due with the budget that
we had. We had to look and see what's economically feasible and
what's not. We had to do a lot of preplanning. We made some
mistakes, here and there. That being said, I think it would have
been lessened if we had more shooting days. I would want a lot more
rehearsals. We had some rehearsals, but not as much as I wanted.
But, It went pretty smoothly for the most part. I was very happy.
We all worked together very well. We were pretty efficient. In the
end, we felt good when we had that wrap party.
TONY: What's your most
vivid memory from shooting "P.J.?"
RUSS: My most vivid memory
is probably when we were doing location scouting (in November). We
were trying to find a good location for the hospital. I remember
when we went to Williamsburg, which is where we ended up shooting.
We went on the roof, and I looked across the roof and saw
Manhattan. I remember saying to myself: "We're shooting here." It
was such an incredible view of New York. It's amazing. We made use
of it in the film. We were able to have some great shots with John
Heard there. We shot the scenes during "magic hour" when the sun is
setting. It's one hour where the lighting is just perfect. It's
this beautiful red-orange hue. That's my most vivid moment.
TONY: If someone is reading
our interview, tell them why they should see "P.J."
RUSS: It's a very good
film! It has a very strong story with incredible actors. They're
all wonderful together. When you put them all together, it's just
magic. I would see it because it gives you hope. It's
entertaining. It's just a really well-done film all around. It has
an incredible live orchestral score by composer Neil Argo. From
early reviews so far, it's been really positive. I have great hopes
for it. I really think it will touch a lot of people. I really do.
TONY: When can we see your
film?
RUSS: We'll be done with
the film in July. We'll probably premiere in New York and L.A.
We're going to have two premieres. We hope to get into The Toronto
Film Festival around September. I would say the earliest for the
viewer is September. I'll keep you updated on it, Tony. You can
pass along the information to everyone if they want to check it out.
TONY: What are your plans
after "P.J.?"
RUSS: I want to do a bigger
film with a bigger budget. I hope it's longer than "P.J.," which is
91 minutes. I want to do a longer film. I want to work with a
bigger budget. I have several scripts that I've read so far. We're
waiting to see the reception that "P.J." gets. Right now, it's all
about "P.J." That'll help determine when we're going to do the next
step, which is another feature film. That's all I can say right
now.
TONY: What's your advice to
future filmmakers who are having a tough time getting their film
made?
RUSS: Passion and
persistence. The two P's. You have to be persistent. I remember
last year I was just adding my-space friend after my-space friend.
I was up all night doing it. It's a lot of work, but it gets your
message out there. You have to send your film out to festivals. You
have to hammer away. You should probably start with a short film.
It's not that hard to do these days. It's very cheap. The cost of
making a film has lowered dramatically from 10 years ago. You have
to keep hammering away. If you really love film, you'll find a way
to do it.
TONY: Best of luck to you
and your film, Russ.
RUSS: Thanks Tony for your
time as always. I appreciate it. |
