Butchsie
by Brian Jewell
arts writer
Thursday May 8, 2008
Michelle Ehlen tweaks Tootsie and does a lot of other stuff, too
What does it take to make it in the scrappy world of independent film? Talent, vision, determination? All that, sure, but when your business card says writer / director / producer / actress / editor, you need one thing more: boundless energy. Even over the phone it’s clear that rising queer filmmaker Michelle Ehlen has energy to spare. She talks a mile a minute as we discuss her first feature film, Butch Jamie. Imagine a lesbionic twist on Tootsie and you’ve got the high concept of this low-fi comedy in which a butch actress, played by Ehlen, finds she can only get roles by pretending to be a man. Already receiving accolades on the festival circuit, this quirky comedy is sure to be a highlight of this year’s Boston Gay & Lesbian Film/Video Festival.
Q: Congrats on Butch Jamie getting picked up by Wolfe for video distribution.
A: Yeah! They’re going to put it out probably some time this fall.
Q: And you’ve been doing well on the festival circuit.
A: That’s been really cool. It won Outstanding Actress at Outfest and Best Narrative Feature at the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and Best Female Feature at the Long Island gay & lesbian festival.
Q: So take me back to the movie’s beginning.
A: It came out of a couple of things. I did a short film called Ballet Diesel, which was a mockumentary about a butch lesbian with closet girly habits. It was the first comedy I had done, and it was really well received at film festivals. So when it came time to do my first feature I really wanted to do a comedy. And then the actual content came from some things in my personal experience. The film is fictional, but I lived in L.A. for a few years and as an aspiring writer/director I put some of my career frustrations into the film, into the things that Jamie deals with. Being in L.A. as a butch lesbian, and being at odds with how people see you and what they except from you, that’s where the gender stuff in the film comes form.
Q: Have you had any audition experiences like Jamie’s?
A: I used to go out on auditions in college, but after I graduated in 2000 I’ve focused on writing and directing. There was a short period when I moved out of L.A. - that’s actually when we shot the film, when I lived in upstate New York - and I did do some auditions for community theatre then. And I did grow my hair out and dress up a little to appear more feminine, so I took some of that and exaggerated it into what Jamie does in the film. But I wasn’t really pursuing an acting career. It was more for fun.
Q: So why act in your film? You had plenty on your plate...
A: Well, I do really love acting. I’ve been acting since I was young. I consider myself more of a writer and director, and also the way I look has steered me away from acting. And that wasn’t a big heartbreak because I was going to do my own thing anyway. But since I write films about characters that have a lot of me in them, I always saw myself in the role. I think working as a director and actor, I can let go of my inhibitions and give myself carte blanche to dive in there. And I think in some ways my acting informs my directing, because I feel the scene in a very intimate way. So I think it’s worked out well. I don’t picture myself acting in all my films, but it’s not something I’d rule out.
Q: I wonder about the logistics of acting and directing at the same time. How do you make that work?
A: Communication with the director of photography is key. He’s the one making sure we get the shot. That technical stuff is his job anyway, and I think being in the scene with the actors you can monitor the performances. There are some compromises, but I think I gain a lot by being on both sides. And of course we use stand-ins when we’re working out the blocking.
Q: Did you have the chance to do much rehearsal before filming?
A: Yes, because we shot over a period of three months because we were shooting on weekends. Although, performances can get stale if you over rehearse, so we tried to leave more room for spontaneity as we went on. You have to find the right balance.
Q: You said you knew you wanted your first feature to be a comedy. Was that for commercial reasons or just where your head was at then?
A: Kind of both. I did think it would be more commercial. And I think you can do a good comedy on video, while with drama I think of shooting on film and trying to get name actors. Well, indie name actors. And my previous project had been a dramatic short, Half Laughing, so I wanted to do something fun. Plus I hadn’t really done comedy when I was doing theatre. Ballet Diesel was really my first step into comedy, so I wanted to explore that more.
Q: Was the process fun?
A: Yeah, it was. We improvised a little on set. Especially the scenes with the cat. You can’t get the cat to rehearse.
Q: You alluded to production costs ... even with the advances in digital video it’s not cheap to make a film. Was this a credit card movie?
A: [laughs] Well, it’s privately funded. Being in upstate New York instead of L.A. really saved us money. All of our locations were free, except one. So that was a big thing. And in terms of production design we didn’t have to do much. We shot it on DV and the DP had some of his own equipment, which also really helped our costs.
Q: I was interested that you suggested you wouldn’t shoot a drama on DV.
A: Well, film is very beautiful and gorgeous. Whenever I think about my dramatic stuff I feel like it needs to be on film. Video seems more like TV than cinema, which I think works for comedy. We’re used to seeing sketch comedy that looks like this, you know? I’m not anti-video.
Q: And the DV aesthetic, I think, fits with the naturalistic tone of Butch Jamie. The film has this interesting tension between farcical situations and a low-key tone.
Q: You think part of that is the shooting format?
Q: Yeah, because it fits with the down-to-earth vibe.
A: Yeah, that makes sense. It all works together, the format and the acting style and the writing style.
Q: You said you’d been acting a long time. How did you get started?
A: I started when I was eight. I got the lead role in the school play because no one else wanted to memorize the lines. And it was a male part, too! It was a great experience for me because I was shy and I learned to express myself. I did that through college, and then I went into editing, and evolved into the writing and directing. I never really wanted to be an actor professionally, but now I think I would like to do it professionally. Now that the film and the acting has been very well received, I’m interested in acting in other people’s projects. But if I never act in another project again, that would be fine. While if I never wrote or directed, I would feel like something was missing.
Q: So how did you move into writing in directing?
A: I did a little bit in college, but I didn’t really start until I moved to L.A. and started working up to being an editor. I was working as an assistant editor and it’s very isolating. I realized I didn’t want to be boxed in a room forever. I wanted to be working with people and getting my ideas out there. But that job really showed me how to be a director, what the steps are. You shoot a short film, and you edit it, and you send it to film festivals, and you make contacts with distributors. So I quit that job and went to the L.A. Film School. In school I shot some films on 16 and 35 mm, which was way too expensive, but I’m glad I did it. After I got out of film school my first task was to write a feature. I still want to do this project someday, but it’s pretty high budget. It’s a 1920s lesbian flapper period piece. It could be a Brokeback Mountain type of thing, but for women. So I had to think of a script I could do myself, without millions of dollars. I was definitely thinking low budget while I was writing Butch Jamie.
Q: I love what I’m hearing about your first feature script. I hope that gets made.
A: I definitely want it to happen someday. It’s just the process of starting small and building up to that. I don’t have an agent now, but hopefully Butch Jamie will lead to getting an agent and then I can shop that around.
Q: And you have another project in the works, right?
A: Yes, I’m writing it now and hope to shoot it next year. It’s called Heterosexual Jill and it’s sort of a spin-off of Butch Jamie. I don’t want to say too much about it, because your readers haven’t seen Butch Jamie yet. But it’s focused on that character, Jill, and some of the other plot lines are continued.
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