Sunstruck

A local independent film, made on a shoestring budget, heads to Sundance. by Jerome Moroux

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

A local independent film, made on a shoestring budget, heads to Sundance. by Jerome Moroux

Begin with Fyodor Dostoevsky. Add a casting call placed only in local newspapers. Throw in a little Beowulf. Seat a former UL outside linebacker in the director's chair. Into the casting call walks Paul Batiste, Church Point native and Lafayette barber. What you get, by way of quixotic thinking, whimsey and let's just call it what it is, a lucky lightning strike of inspiration, is Lord Byron, an independent film made entirely in and by Acadiana artists, headed to the Sundance Film Festival. Lord Byron was made on a shoestring by a who's who of young Lafayette filmmakers and a who's who? of previously undiscovered stars. Here's the cast, crew and the story line:

As far as the film universe is concerned, Zack Godshall, barely 30, has had a good run. After finishing at LSU, Godshall, a Lafayette native, applied to graduate schools and found himself accepted into the UCLA film school. Admission to one of the nation's most prestigious film institutions was only the beginning of good fortune to befall Godshall. Following graduate school, Godshall's first feature length film, Low and Behold, was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival, the largest independent film festival in the country. Selection at Sundance is a career accomplishment for any director, but it is an unheard-of achievement for a director one year out of grad school. Low and Behold tells the story of a young insurance adjuster's ennui amidst the flooded rubble of post-Katrina New Orleans. Its earnest and provocative approach to the tragedy made for a courageous and wise film, suggesting a director well-versed in the history of cinema and interested in the metaphysical within the mundane. Not surprisingly the film was a critical darling. Along with its acceptance at Sundance, the film took "best film feature" at a host of film festivals within the independent film circuit.

Ross Brupbacher's unlikely career arc is a story in itself. You may remember Brupbacher as the hard-hitting team captain for the UL football team in the early 2000s. But while training for the NFL draft, Brupbacher suffered an ill-timed injury that sunk his NFL hopes. In the face of this reality, Brupbacher channeled his energy to more artistic pursuits. His journey took him to North Carolina to learn woodworking and furniture construction; he moved to Austin and became a collector of eccentric music and came home to Lafayette and discovered an interest in sound recording, eventually converting his entire Saints street home into a recording studio. Brupbacher's budding interest in film and his knowledge of sound led Godshall to ask Brupbacher to work on a documentary with him. It wasn't long before Brupbacher pitched an idea to Godshall. "I was reading The Brother's Karamazov, and I had just watched [Andrei Tarkovsky's] Andrei Rublev and I was sort of thinking about monks and people who become monks," Brupbacher explains. "I was wondering what would happen if someone who liked women and drinking, if they'd just decide on a whim that they would like to become a monk. I thought it would make for an interesting movie."

Brupbacher and Godshall discussed the plot, talking through scenes and ideas: What would it be like if they made a film for less than $1,000? What would it be like if the film had people who had never acted in a film before? What would be like if there was no script and nothing was set in stone? The fruit of their labors became the wondrous and breathtaking Lord Byron. Filled with a cast of eccentric characters, each pursuing dreams and missions of their own making, Lord Byron paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of the strange and lonely world of its title character, a middle-aged, late-20th century romantic confused about his own ambitions and desires. Byron, who lives with his ex-wife, her kids, and her boyfriend, is a lothario who indulges in all manners of excess. Seeking peace from the loud world, Byron makes the capricious decision to become a monk and join the local monastery. The picture documents his sometimes calamitous, sometimes uplifting journey.

Lord Byron is a magical document, a testament to Godshall and Brupbacher's vision and exciting approach to film making. "Working with Ross made me forget how I had learned to make movies and taught me to approach making a film as though I had never made one before," Godshall remarks. "As a writer, I think about how things and stories are going to fit together. Ross was not concerned about that at all. He wanted to shoot whatever he saw. Nor was he worried about the logistics of a shoot. For instance, long after we had finished shooting the film, Ross thought it might look interesting to film a tree on fire. We called everyone back for one last shoot. While the cast ate barbecue, Ross stood for hours at the top of a rickety and fully-extended extension ladder spraying a tree with kerosene. Shockingly, it worked."

Most shocking was the film's microbudget. At around $700 - less than most films' daily coffee budget - the film represents the collaborative spirit of Lafayette. "This film really typifies the South Louisiana ethic where people seem to just naturally share so much of themselves," Godshall adds. To make the film, Brupbacher's sister, Allisa, designed the costumes. Actors gave their time, friends loaned their houses for shooting, and families provided food and meals for the cast and crew.

Brupbacher and Godshall's mix of complex whimsy finds a perfect voice in Paul Batiste, the Church Point native and Lafayette barber who plays the film's lead role. Batiste wound up at the casting call for Lord Byron by mistake and was just about to leave when Godshall begged him to read lines from Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon warrior poem. Another stroke of luck. On film, Batiste lacks the self-awareness that dooms many actors in independent films. Instead, his big, sad face fills the screen, delivering lines and thoughts with a voice at once both familiar and foreign. "A lot of actors are skeptics. They want to understand the reasons and rationales for what a director is doing," Godshall says. "Paul is one of the best actors I have ever worked with. He was game for everything we ever wanted to do and never complained about anything. He never doubted us, never questioned us and had total faith in me and Ross. That trust frees up the creative process for director."

After spending over a year painstakingly editing the hours of fragments and ideas into a cohesive structure, Godshall sent a copy of Lord Byron to the Sundance Institute. In December, Godshall received word that of the thousands of films sent for consideration, Lord Byron was among the 115 films selected to premiere at the Park City, Utah, event. "When they told me Lord Byron was accepted, I could not stop laughing," Godshall recalls. "A crew of three and a cast of unknowns from Lafayette. It was impossible. When I called Ross he was convinced I was playing a practical joke on him." Perhaps more improbable than Lord Byron's Sundance selection has been the film's reception in critical circles as it has been short-listed as one of the films to watch at Sundance this year.

In celebration of the film's surprising success along with helping to bring the film to Sundance - including travel costs and the other exorbitant expenses associated with transferring the film to HD - friends of the film will be hosting a fundraiser at the Schilling Shack on Jan. 8, with music provided by Eric Schexnayder and Kenneth Richard - two stars in the film. The fête will be an opportunity for anyone interested in film to meet the directors and cast as well as a chance to be a part of Lord Byron's impossible journey. As Godshall notes, "This film's DNA is Acadiana. I hope everyone will share in it with us."

Sundance fundraiser for Lord Byron, at the Schilling Shack, 244 Refinery St., Lafayette, Jan. 8 at 8 p.m., $15 donation (includes beer & cocktails while supplies last)
Feel free to BYOB, red beans and rice will be sold. All donations go to helping bring Lord Byron to Sundance. The Sundance Film Festival takes place in Park City, Utah, from Jan. 20-30.