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Last night's live Twitter Q&A with Dan Romer went totally above and beyond our wildest expectations. Dan is a Twitter tour de force and thank you all the participants for asking such fun questions. In case you missed it, we put together some highlights from the conversation below.
If you feel like you missed your window with Dan — fear not — he can still be reached at formspring.me/danromer and on Twitter @Dan_Romer.
It goes without saying that we're incredibly humbled, mystified, and proud that our tiny film has caught Oprah Winfrey's eye. We've come so far! Sunday, August 26th at 11 AM EST/PST, Oprah will be spending a full hour with Dwight, Quvenzhané, and Benh on her multi-platform Super Soul Sunday. The show will air on OWN (your local channel is easy to find on the Oprah site) and is also available streaming online and on the OWN Facebook page.
WE WANT YOU TO HOST A SUPER SOUL SUNDAYVIEWING PARTY!
Supporters from Cleveland to California will be getting together to amplify this boost for Beasts!
http://youtu.be/smnHGRVTPZM
Viewing parties come in all shapes, sizes and geographic locations. You could call your local brunch spot and corral a group of hungry friends to watch there. Or simply open up your living room, have a few folks over, and try out a new recipe. When Beasts screened in Ashland, OR, a local restaurant called Thai Pepper served up "the Hushpuppy", a tasty drink of sweet corn infused vodka, soda (or tonic), and a bacon salt rim! Create your own Bathtub Gin or fried Hushpuppy and send us photos of you and your friends enjoying them together!
If you're going to organize an event, emails us at beasts@beastsothesouthernwild.com and we can send you a goodie bag of posters, pins, recipes and other cool party favors.
Dwight Henry (aka Wink) is getting his friends together to watch at a Jazz club in New Orleans so stop by if you're local, or follow on twitter via @abuttermilkdrop.
You can also mention @BeastsTheMovie, @SuperSoulSunday and #beastingit to make sure we know you're out there!
Head over to our Be a Beast page to organize an event and find out what's going on around you.
See you on SUPER SOUL SUNDAY!
Cinematography Geeks! The Post Lab interviewed our very own Ben Richardson about film stock, labs, workflow, and how exactly he went about shooting Beasts of the Southern Wild.
What were some of the visual references that inspired the look of the film? There’s a 1970’s short documentary called Dry Wood, by Les Blank, that had a lot of the palette we were looking for. It’s a real run and gun documentary from the 70s, and I think it was even shot on reversal stock. A lot of the qualities of the Bathtub are present in this documentary. It was one of the most perfect encapsulations of a cinematic version of the world we were trying to create. A key touchstone for the camera aesthetic was the short film shot from a children’s perspective called Jerrycan, by Julius Avery. Obviously after we watched these films a few times and understood what we were getting from them, I preferred to stop specifically trying to make references to them and went back to responding to the world that I was seeing in front of me.
Read in full at the Post Lab.
What is it about Louisiana that appeals to you so strongly? I think there’s a difference in what people value here. It’s not a place that’s ambitious. You know people here for six years and still have no idea what their job is. Your personal value isn’t based on that. People here are judged on their joy. It’s like, How much joy do you have? There’s a real freedom and fearlessness and a kind of relief from superficial success. There’s an enlightened notion that all that stuff just isn’t that important, because every commodity has been taken away from people so many times. There’s an appreciation for things that are actually important. It may appear downtrodden—it’s certainly not a rich town and doesn’t have that kind of first-world technology and progress feel when you’re here—but I don’t think people would consider themselves downtrodden. I think people consider themselves a little bit freer.
Do you drink? There was a point in the movie when we were wondering if things would be different if they just drank a tiny bit less.
I do, yes. Proudly. It’s a party culture. You could look at it as a movie about a bunch of alcoholics living in the woods, sure, but that would be inaccurate. It’s like, if the culture were more ambitious and didn’t appreciate partying would it be more successful by the terms of New York City? Yes. But those aren’t the terms down here. The terms are: How much are you enjoying your life? How much are you celebrating your culture and your friends and your people? People celebrate by dancing and drinking and that’s the culture. People can look down on that but that’s bringing a different cultural lens.
From time to time, we notice patterns or common threads in the feedback we're getting from our audiences. Recently, we've been incredibly touched by the responses from parents and children with whom Wink and Hushpuppy's relationship resonated. Below are some of the voices we've encountered that seemed almost in dialogue with one another. If any of the stories you read below ring true (or don't!) we encourage you to share your story and join the conversation, we're all ears. Jason from Boston, MA
We went to "Beasts" Sunday and really loved it. Still think about it every day. My 10-yr old was especially quiet after. She said she really liked it a lot, and she mentioned it was the first non-animated movie she'd ever seen in a theater. I hadn't realized that. I asked why she was so quiet and she said ".... I think I want to cry, but I don't think I'm sad?" I totally knew what she meant.
Later that night she was trying to unscrew a cap from a bottle of water and for millionth time asked me to do it for her, I said "Come on, just give it a little effort, then if you can't I'll do it for you." For the first time in the 10 year ongoing battle of trying to get her some confidence, she actually gave it her all. Little fingers clenched on the cap, her face turned red, a vein in her forehead became visible and finally it opened. She slammed it down on the counter and yelled "I'm the man!"
Best laugh I had in a long time.
Kathy from Brattleboro, VT
My father was both hugely flawed an hugely caring, strong, protective. Even though, I’m not six years old, well, your dad is your dad. So I sat in the theater and watched this beautiful, spiritual, horrible story and I cried. You know, one of those good cries.
So on behalf of all daughters being chased by monsters, thank you.
Katie Calautti & Mark and Joe Pezzula, Twitter
Screen shot 2012-07-27 at 12.05.51 PM
Todd from Los Angeles, CA
I'm a single dad so there was much resonance in the film for my daughter and me. She loved the character of Hushpuppy and remembers a few of the lines from the film.
Rebecca from Seattle, WA
After many months of anticipation, I finally saw this outstanding film last night. I will surely see it again before it leaves the theater here. I was utterly captivated not only by the remarkable performance of Quvenzhane Wallis but by the depiction of the utter devastation that a child perceives when a parent disappears or dies. The deep connection that Hushpuppy has to the “universe”, both in literal and metaphorical terms, and the sense that even in the face of destruction one can be a survivor, a beast, and even have a little immortality, touches something deeply human. Adults know it cognitively, but children do in their own way. Bringing those two together as they were in the film was a true tour de force. To find a girl who can embody that was an incredible stroke of luck and turning her into that little, wonderful beast was directing at its finest.
Ellen Sweets, Blog Commenter
This film is so effin’ brilliant, so effin’ moving that i can’t believe the whole world won’t weep when hushpuppy faces down the aurochs…anyone unmoved by this film has a hole in his/her soul. my daughter and i have never — repeat — NEVER agree on a movie since “E.T,” "Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and, “Oh Brother Where Art Thou.” We can’t stop talking about “Beasts.” There will be a second viewing. Maybe a third. we’ll look for hushpuppy at the Oscars….and don’t mess with her hair too much.