Q & A with Henry LeRoy Finch ( writer/director/co-composer), Susie Landau Finch (producer/casting ), Gus Carpenter (editor)

Q: What did Gale throw up in bathroom?
A: Grape nuts, brown sugar, red food dye ... a mixture made by Matthew Clark, our artist in residence, who also made the whiskey-coloured water. Originally he used different colours for scotch, bourbon etc. but by end of filming we didn't care any more. Matthew also made the bottle labels eg "Le Roi" cognac right at the end, and the "Kings Landing" whiskey at the beginning.

Pictures of the brothers as young boys: The cute one of the cowboy is Gus (the editor), and the other shots are actual snapshots of the actors as children.

Q: For how long did you plan to shoot in digital?
A: 100% planned, tailored to digital

Q: What was the birth order of the brothers?
A: Roy - Sebastian, Raymond, Jack, Kyle. Susie - it's a little questionable between Raymond and Jack but Raymond seems like the older of the two.

Q: Is D.R. Coffin a real garage in town?
A: Yes. Everybody in town calls it Dr. Coffins, that's why we liked the irony. The garage lent us shirts and shooting space for no charge. The whole town was very supportive.

Q: Casting?
A: Roy wrote the script for Gale. Roy told Gale he was writing the script for him at a party the night before he left to start filming QAF. We went to see Dihlon at a play and Blake was sitting there with his feet up in a leather jacket, and Susie said "I think that's Raymond." The original idea was to age Sebastian, not cast someone else older. April was played by an actor called Dusty who stuck in Susie's mind from a casting job.. Roy originally wrote the part April for April and the part Dusty for an actor named Dusty. But April eventually decided she didn't want to be an actor anymore so they recruited their niece Rainier instead. They gave the dominant part (Dusty) to the more experienced actor (Rainier) and gave the part of April to Dusty. So at the end of the day, Dusty was played by Rainier and April was played by Dusty.

Susie on casting: "Casting is intuitive."

Q: Is Wake going to have a commercial release? [*note - dates for Wake in LA and NYC subject to change]*
A: We've just signed a distribution deal. WAKE tentatively opens in LA on April 16 and plays for a week there at least. This is two days before QAF premiere. It opens in NYC (Quad Theatre, 13th St btwn. 5th Ave and Ave of the Americas) on May 7. From there it could go on to maybe Dallas and Chicago and could expand further …so selling out theatres would make a huge difference. Distributors want to see that it can do well in a theatrical setting. Cast is expected to be at both LA and NYC premieres (Gale will be in LA for official QAF premiere on April 13). Susie thinks Rhinoceros Eyes is opening in NYC on April 30th. [ed: Rhinoceros Eyes will be opening in NYC on April 23rd.] Then WAKE will go to cable and DVD. We're trying to get it to Australia
.
*The dates are now confirmed for the WAKE screenings, which will be on May 28th in Los Angeles at Laemmle's REGENT SHOWCASE, Hollywood Regent Showcase, 614 LaBrea Ave, Los Angeles (323-93f4-2944) and in New York on the same date, May 28th, at the Quad Cinema, 34th West 13th Street, NY (212-255-8800)

Roy on IMDB: Audience reviews on the IMDB website do make a huge difference. Industry people actually go there and check out what people are saying so for an indie movie it can make all the difference in getting wider distribution.
Gus (the editor): And if you don't like it, the site is down!

Q: We've heard that lots of extra footage was shot. Will that make it on to the DVD?
A: You're referring to the long experimental improvisational scenes? Yes, we hope to put some on DVD. We've also been saving bloopers and out-takes, and might put on some or all of the currently unedited 'making of' footage.

Roy on Wake: “It's a romantic comedy without the romance or the comedy." Parts of Wake are intended to be funny, despite the overall dark feel (especially at beginning).

Q: How long did it take to make?
A: By now, it’s been three years in the making, including about 14 1/2 days to shoot what is now on screen. We spent another 3 days shooting flashback monologues/comedy scenes (mainly Raymond and Sebastian) which were taken out right away as they didn't fit with rest of movie.

Q: In what order was it shot?
A: More or less in sequence.

Q: Did Kyle stay away from alcohol because of meds or previous abuse problem?
A: Both.

Roy on the brothers: Kyle and Raymond represent two halves of the Riven family, the mother and father, masculine and feminine, but both have "heart". Thus the importance of the shared memory from their childhood.

Q: Was it always intended to leave so much of the back story ambiguous, unexplained?
A: Yes, always. The idea was to avoid explaining everything, tying it all up with a bow at the end like most movies. We wanted to give the audience just enough to understand the ideas, no need for details. The editor had a bigger need for details - he needed to have enough idea of what was/had happened to be able to convey it.

Roy on Blake: He's not at all like Raymond in real life. He brought his parents to the LA screening and was so embarrassed that they heard him swearing so much!

Q: What are you doing next?
A: We hope to work with Gale again some time. We currently have two projects in the works. One is called “The Lucky Day”. The other is "Sleepwalking" with Benjamin Bratt, Martin Landau, Gina Gershon. This is more cinematic - a virtuosic performance for Martin, involves a bigger canvas, travels across the country, sadder.