Yeah, I was not planning to stay here. That was not the plan. So when you were in Belarus you did do theater there?
Yes, I was a gymnast so my theater work transitioned into gymnastics theater. So we would perform with our bodies.
So were your parents into theater as well?
Well my mom is an artist, but no not really. She did a different kind of art, not acting. I was not very supported in my family, they were skeptical.
How do they feel right now?
I’ m not sure they’ re completely aware of what I’ m doing here. They know I make movies, and I am in movies, but I don’ t think they actually realize the scope of the industry here and that it’ s the real thing.
So when you did“ RITE” what drew you to that story?
Photo Credit: Victor Nguyen
That is an interesting story, So my really good friend Natalie Kingston, she is a cinematographer, she emailed me the script and said“ Hey this actor is doing a film for the first time, read the script and let me know if you like it and if you want to be onboard to produce it.” I read the script. It was a little unusual so it got my interest and we went location scouting. The style of the movie, it was very unusual, very mysterious, very new Orleans, so I said yes.
So what you liked about it was the fact that it wasn’ t a very straightforward story?
Yes, I liked it because it was something about New Orleans, very stylistic and I liked the little twist, with the bird and it’ s also very educational for kids not to betray because this is what can happen.
So how long did it take to put together? You said you were basically scrambling at the last minute to put it together.
I think less than a month. We were hustling. We didn’ t have that much time for pre production everything was happening so fast but we shot it in one weekend, maybe 4 days with two pick up days later and to our surprise we got the Jury Award at the 2015 New Orleans Film Festival for the best Louisiana Short Film. So I guess that paid off. Now we’ re in the process of making another film with the same team, but
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