Kurt Sutter has been writing film scripts while working on demanding TV shows and now his first feature, "Southpaw" (pictured), is being released; the singer Miguel talks about growing up mixed-race in his beloved L.A.; the box office for "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" and "Dope" hasn't measured up to their indie darling hype.
Buzzy Sundance films fail to deliver at the box office
The indie film “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, was the talk of the town this year at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won two top awards and sold for just above $4 million to Fox Searchlight.
But it looks like all the buzz surrounding its release didn’t translate into box office success. Since its June release, despite positive reviews, “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” — a tale of a young boy’s falling in love with a terminally ill high school classmate — has grossed only $6.2 million at domestic theaters.
"Teenagers this summer seem to be very taken with the more mainstream fare," said Hollywood Reporter film writer Pamela McClintock. "When I went to see the film, I didn't see one teenager in the audience."
But "Earl" isn't the only Sundance sensation struggling to sell tickets. "Dope," which also premiered to widespread praise at the festival this year, is also doing poorly at the box office.
The comedy by filmmaker Rick Famuyiwa about three nerdy kids trying to get respect in a rough Los Angeles neighborhood, has stalled at $16 million at the box office, a mediocre return for the critically acclaimed movie.
"It was released nationwide by Open Road Films, so considering it was a nationwide release that's a pretty poor number," McClintock said. "It hoped to play in both commercial theaters and art house theaters and never really took hold in more commercial cinemas."
Though we still have several months left in 2015 — including those critical awards season months — it seems indie films have an uphill battle to face at the box office this year.
Miguel tells us about his multi-racial identity, love for Los Angeles and new album 'Wildheart'
R&B artist Miguel Jontel Pimentel, better known simply as "Miguel," released his third album "Wildheart" at the end of last month. He is slowly becoming a dominant force in the music industry with over 1 billion Pandora plays on his last album "Kaleidoscope Dream," which also won him the Grammy for best R&B song in 2013.
The L.A.-based artist says a lot of his style stems out of his more sensual nature.
"I'm a sexual person, so I think throughout my music I'll always paint with that color and that texture," says Miguel. "It's a part of who I am. It's a part of my personality. I think the dynamic of exploring the emotions behind it and also exploring the straight, carnal is kind of my dynamic. I'm kind of very extreme in that way."
Along with expressing his true carnal nature, Miguel's new album deals with his struggle growing up feeling like he had to choose an identity. Being Mexican-American as well as African-American lead to pressures from society to solidify a specific identity and to fit in a specific category.
"Well, you know, society wants you to choose one or the other," says Miguel. "We have these standardized tests that ask you after you fill in your name, What's your ethnicity? Are you Caucasian? Are you African-American? Hispanic? I always had to check the 'other' box. Until at some point I was just kind of like, that is who I am. There is no box for me."
The non-conformist nature Miguel exercises surfaces not only in his lyrics, but in his musical style.
"I think that kind of also lends itself to my artistry and my creative process," says Miguel. "I don't feel any need to conform to the ideals of what an ethnic person is supposed to create. It's funny, because even though I make music that is very much rooted in soul but is clearly rock 'n' roll, it's like people still shy away from saying it's rock 'n' roll. They have to associate it with something that speaks to an ethnic audience."
The album, Miguel says, also helped him verify himself as a L.A. native.
"The album is a L.A.-centric record," says Miguel. "Being born and raised here, it was really important for me to finally establish my identity."
Miguel says he believes that it is his responsibility an artist to go where his inspirations guide him, no matter what they might come from.
"I think it's our job as creative people to just paddle out and wait," says Miguel. "However the wave comes, however it sets up, whatever speed, direction, force, height, or whatever. It's just our job to be out there and ready to ride. My creative process is pretty much just to honor the creativity — honor whatever inspiration comes. If it's a phrase in a conversation, if it's something I saw in an advertisement, a melody, or it's a sound that I'm triggering. Inspiration comes in so many forms at the most random times, but I think it's our time just to honor it."
Miguel's track "Leaves" touches on his challenges following an inspiration that takes him in many directions.
"'Leaves' is really about change in general," says Miguel. "That one line saying, 'When you love me, woman,' I refer to my dreams and my aspirations like it's my woman. So I often refer to my conversations with my passions referring to her as if she were the love of my life. So 'Leaves' isn't really romantic at all. It's purely about feeling as if I lost my way."
Kurt Sutter learns to let go of being a 'control freak' for 'Southpaw'
Kurt Sutter makes his feature film debut as the screenwriter of "Southpaw," a boxing movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Antoine Fuqua which hits theaters this Friday. Gyllenhaal plays a boxer who is fighting a custody battle for his young daughter and fighting to regain stability as his life spirals out of control.
Sutter has worked mostly in television. He created "Sons of Anarchy" and was a writer/producer on "The Shield" for seven years. He's currently working on "The Bastard Executioner," a new series for FX.
Sutter talked with the Frame's John Horn about making his feature debut with "Southpaw," working in TV versus film and why his next project is a 14th-century Welsh period drama.
Interview highlights
While working on the screenplay for "Southpaw," Sutter drew inspiration from the life and struggles of rapper Eminem, who was originally planned to play the lead part in the film. Giving up this plan wasn't an easy one.
Initially it was very difficult to see it as anything else other than what I had written it for. I was like, "Oh I don't know, Jake [Gyllenhaal], I love him as an actor but..." Then I met with Jake and Antoine [Fuqua], who was attached to direct at that point. He was incredibly passionate about the project and Jake had all this insight into who this guy was. He had done a lot of research. Suddenly, I saw it not as necessarily an allegory or a biographic piece, but as sort of a standalone story of redemption.
When I met with Jake and got his perspective and Antoine's perspective — it was interesting for me as a guy who is perhaps a little bit of a control freak — I realized, "Oh, this is bigger than I thought it was. It's bigger and other people have a different perspectives. It's sort of a story on to its own." Truthfully, that became the process for the whole movie. For me it was an exercise in letting go, you know?
Relinquishing control is something that does not come naturally to you?
No it does not, my friend. Some of it was — I was back on the last season for "Sons [of Anarchy]" and my time was limited. It really got to that point where I had to hand it over to Jake and Antoine.
One of the things that is certainly prevalent in the narrative of this film is that there are two sides to the characters that we meet. Billy Hope, played by Gyllenhaal, is very savage in the ring. He's got an anger management problem, and yet he is a gentle father and a loving husband. Is that something that you wanted to make this movie about outside of the boxing and outside of the redemption that happens inside the ring? The redemption that a man can go through when he is faced with a tragedy?
Yeah. I think that it's always an interesting conflict for a character, or a man in general, who has those sort of savage impulses to life. When buttons get pushed the reaction goes to 10, you know? The result of that creates a lot of wreckage, burns a lot of bridges, and yet the flip side of that passion is a guy who is incredibly sensitive, doesn't have many friends, and is very connected to the single people in his life. So it's a big difference but I think it's sort of an organic one.
This is your first produced feature film screenplay. At the time it had been in development and kicking around you probably did three or four seasons of "Sons of Anarchy"?
Two into three.
So a lot of filmmakers right now are going from film into TV. You're kind of doing the reverse commute. Do you understand why they're going in one direction, and does it make sense that you went in the opposite direction?
I love features. I started out wanting to write features. I always kept my toe in that pond. A lot of times during my hiatus I would write features. I always referred to it as my "virtual career," because I would write these scripts, I would get great feedback, I'd give them up, and they would just disappear into the ethos. I'd be like, OK. I've always sort of been doing it, so it's not so much making the decision now to do it. But yeah, it is sort of interesting. It makes sense because there really isn't any big dividing line between TV and film anymore.
Do you respect and admire the speed at which you can work in TV when the stars align? Obviously not every show is like, Yeah, let's make this — it's on tomorrow. But maybe in your next series, "The Bastard Executioner," the progress of production that you have on something like that versus the movie "Southpaw," are they different beasts? Is one, just in terms of the speed, more satisfying to you as an artist?
Look, TV is sometimes a little too fast — as I'm a few days behind on a script as we speak. [laughs] The idea of having an idea on Monday, beating it out on Wednesday, writing it on Thursday, shooting it on Friday, and watching it over the weekend, is incredibly satisfying. It can be daunting at times, but as a storyteller it is really satisfying. That doesn't quite happen in features.
Can you tell us a little bit more about "The Bastard Executioner" and if you think it's a natural follow-up to "Sons of Anarchy" in some way?
I guess it follows a natural path as far as characters go. I am really drawn to broken and conflicted heroes. Wilkin Brattle, who is the lead in "The Bastard Executioner," is deeply conflicted, but about different things. I knew after seven seasons of "The Shield" and seven seasons of "Sons of Anarchy," that I didn't want to get into yet another contemporary crime-ish kind of project. I was not necessarily looking for something period, but looking for something in a different wheelhouse. Something that scared me a little bit. It definitely terrified me.
In what way?
It terrified me, in a good way, because obviously it's a different world and a completely different conflict. The dialogue is completely different, the vernacular is completely different, and the rhythm is completely different. I really was sort of forced to reeducate my ear. I'm not doing traditional old English speech, because no matter how well that is done to me it always sounds goofy. It just sounds bad. So it's a mix of somewhat a contemporary rhythm but with words of the period. I never use any modern vernacular and things like that. We strike that balance.
For people who have not seen "Southpaw," they are probably very familiar with the idea that Hollywood loves movies about boxers. There have been a lot of great movies about boxers. For those people who are on the fence or on the ropes so to speak, about whether or not they are going to jump in the ring and see the movie — what is your pitch to them to go check it out?
I think that you go to a boxing movie with a certain amount of expectation. There are certain stereotypes you can't avoid because it's boxing, there are fights, there are winners, and there are losers. I think I would say that this movie has such incredible performances. I think Jake — this is some of the best work I've ever seen him do. As I said, he and Antoine had run away with this story and taken this character and this film to a place I had never imagined it could go. The depth that he brings to Billy Hope is really heartbreaking and beautiful.
I would say that it's worth it really just to go see Jake's performance. For the candy of it all, the fight sequences, Antoine just shot the hell out of them. They're brutal, they're exciting, and incredibly vivid. So it has got all the candy it's supposed to have, but I think — as I'd like to think some of my stuff does — it has got the brutality, but then underneath is something that will make you think and maybe break your heart a little bit.
Belgium-based La Chiva Gantiva kicks off Skirball Center's Sunset Concerts series
If you’re looking for somewhere to get your dance on, might we suggest checking out the band La Chiva Gantiva at the Skirball Center tonight:
Made up of musicians from Colombia, Chile, Belgium, France and Vietnam, the Belgium-based band is a veritable United Nations of influences. La Chiva Gantiva is making its Los Angeles debut at the opening night of the Skirball Center’s Sunset Concerts series on Thursday.
Guitarist Felipe Deckers stopped by The Frame to give us a sense of what to expect from their live show:
Each show is alike a collective with the audience. So it is not only us, but it is really together that we are making this feeling, you know? I think this is something that we learned about Colombian music that its really this sharing energy with the audience.
The Sunset Concerts series is free and runs every Thursday night until August 27.