Catching up with Filmmaker Joe Swanberg before SXSW
When was the last time that you were at AFI FEST?
I was last at the festival in 2011, when SILVER BULLETS, ART HISTORY and THE ZONE were shown.
You made a new film that screened at AFI FEST last year – ALL THE LIGHT IN THE SKY – but you weren’t able to come to the festival. Where can people see that film now?
While ALL THE LIGHT IN THE SKY was playing at the festival I was busy acting in Ti West’s new film, THE SACRAMENT, in Savannah, GA. Thankfully, Jane Adams, Sophia Takal and Kent Osborne were able to be there and do the Q&As in my place. If people want to see ALL THE LIGHT IN THE SKY, there are upcoming screenings at the Florida, Wisconsin and Nashville Film Festivals in April. And we’re planning to do a small theatrical run later this year along with digital distribution.
Congratulations on your new film, DRINKING BUDDIES, that is going to be playing at SXSW this month. What is it about? And what do you want us to know before we see it?
Thanks! DRINKING BUDDIES is a comedy about two friends, Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson), who work at a craft brewery in Chicago. They have one of those really fun, flirty work friendships that feels like it could be something more, but they’re both in relationships with other people. Kate is dating an older music producer named Chris (Ron Livingston) and Luke is in a long-term relationship with a high-school teacher named Jill (Anna Kendrick). Luke and Jill are at the point in their relationship where they’re starting to talk about getting married. The film is about all of these intersecting relationships and conflicting feelings and trying to figure out what’s right for you. And it’s also about how all of this is additionally complicated when you’re drinking good craft beer all the time!
Some cool things to know about the film:
1) It was produced by Alicia Van Couvering, who also produced Lena Dunham’s film TINY FURNITURE.
2) The cinematographer, Ben Richardson, just won the Independent Spirit Award for his last film, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD.
3) There’s a funny crossover with David Lowery’s new film, AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS. David and I have been friends and collaborators for a long time, and we both started shooting our movies on the same day, so we wanted to have the same character name appear in both films. We ended up actually using the exact same name plate. I shot with it first, and then we sent it to Louisiana for David to shoot.
Here’s a still from DRINKING BUDDIES:
