Interview with Actor Lee Valmassy

Lee Valmassy: Jason Trost (hereafter referred to as JTRO) and I were movie-making friends in high school. The FP was a creation JTRO had the idea for after wanting to parody "The OC" which was popular at the time. The two of us made the original FP shorts together based on an outline he came up with. Prior to that we had made a number of other shorts and a feature-length 90 minute movie funded by high school lunch money.

What in the world did you think of the script? Did you "get" the universe and tone right away?

A large portion of the dialogue comes from things Jason, myself and other friends in our circle had either been first-hand witness to, had heard stories about or had offhandedly said at one time or another during one of the many house parties we crashed in the FP [the real Frazier Park]. The raw storyline in the script was something JTRO compiled based on the story that ended up being crafted in the two short movies we made just after high school together. I was involved in a major part of the creation of the shorts so it was quite familiar to me going into the movie, which I was also heavily involved in the production of.

Quite a bit...because of my level of involvement with the early shorts, after JTRO and Brandon [Trost, co-writer/co-director and DP], I had some of the best context of what the movie needed to be going into it. People liked my character in the short so I had some authority when it came time to the movie. A lot of the direction from JTRO and Brandon was to approach a scene in a completely different way or to flip the scene on it's head by improvising...they allowed me a lot of freedom to play and encouraged the deviation from the script in the name of creating a cinematic moment. I will say that when we made the first high school short, the day I played L Dubba E for the first time, we shot the a small version of the scene where L Dub pulls up in a truck and picks up Stacy - he drops the line "If you play your cards right, I'll let you give me a blowjob when we get to the party". I drove home after the shoot completely embarrassed, thinking that the short was going to be unwatchable, but JTRO loved it and assured me it worked.

What is it like working with with the Trost bros. and having two directors on a film?

JTRO and Brandon have two very different styles and thought processes but they are also very similar in a lot of ways, being brothers. I suppose JTRO operates as more of a loose cannon, firing explosive creative content, while Brandon has a more structured and methodical mode of operation. They are very alike in the way they dish out opinions and are authorities on what's cool and what sucks - and they are definitely not shy about letting you know when you suck. Working with them is great - both extremely talented and passionate movie-makers who know how to get what they want.

So much of it was Sarah's creation that hardly anything I added could be said to be any part my own idea. I think maybe I used to wear sandals a lot so for one of the jumpsuits I opted to wear those and she allowed it? Sarah designed a whole line of badass jumpsuits she came up with based on the cocky flair of Elvis as far as I know. The grills were imported from Korea - all Sarah - all the time.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes, you're definitely getting warm with that assessment...a greater commentary on today's lower/middle class mediocre suburb youth, for the particularly observant ones out there, such as yourself.



Is it more difficult tackling a huge dance battle scene or one in which you yell alone in a phone booth?

The dance battle scenes went longer and were tiring but felt great because of the energy from the crowd cheering me on. The phone booth scene was freezing balls at 5am in the mountains and all I had on was a pair of undies beneath that one-piece jumpsuit with sandals - the phone booth scene was more difficult probably because of the cold...but way fun, nonetheless.

I don't know that I was born to play the part...I think the stars aligned in the little mountain town for me the day I stepped up to the plate. The Trost bros. decided to keep me on after replacing everybody else except JTRO from the shorts, so that in itself spoke to their level of belief in me. I don't think it was just the other actors I was worried about screwing up in front of or disappointing, it was everybody, including myself. I'm definitely my harshest critic so it was a solid week into production before I fully felt confident in my boots. JTRO and I had created and played JTRO and L Dubba E in 3 different projects prior so that was vital character research we had but the other actors lacked, giving me a bit more confidence going in.

What were your thoughts upon witnessing the completed film with a full audience for the first time?

I didn't get a chance to see the film in a theater until it had already made the rounds in SXSW and some other festival showings. I first saw it at the Roxie in SF and was beyond ecstatic to see people liked it and were laughing. JTRO told me there had been a showing or two where people were silent the whole time but the one I went to was one of the better showings, so I felt happy to have had a chance to see an audience enjoy themselves. The premiere at the Cinefamily in LA was also a blast. We drank tallboys during both screenings.

What was the most important lesson learned from working on a micro budget feature?

Keep people well fed and make sure they have plenty of video games to play, movies to watch and places to sit while waiting - it's worth spending money on those things to make it so people like showing up to set every day, donating their time and energy. A happy crew that likes the project is key. We had that on the FP.

Can you share any insane stories regarding the production or your co-stars?

The fight scene at the end - we were rushed for time so JTRO and I worked out the fight all in one take and shot it several times as a 2 minute staged fight. It was late and we were getting tired - I accidentally busted JTRO's eyebrow open with an elbow, which you can see make-up covering in the shot immediately following the fight where I give up. He also headbutted me in the nose for real during the chaos. The puking scene where I stick my finger down my throat and puke is real - it grossed Caitlyn (Stacy) out so bad she had to break between shots. Actually every time someone pukes in the movie, including JTRO, it's real. I think JTRO fractured his foot on the rock jumping training montage scene too and had to do beat beat matches after on a hurt foot. The used condom slapping me in the face at the end had fake sperm in it but real pubic hair spray-glued to the outside that got tangled in my beard, courtesy of T-Rob, the Art Designer - they told me after the shot while laughing and pointing.

How did the FP experience compare/prepare you for your work on All Superheroes Must Die (aka Vs.)?

The FP was a considerably bigger production with a whole team of people in a production office on site. I had been a part of the FP in witnessing many of the stories, adding my own input, helping make the shorts, and even living on set while we made and shot it. ASMD was more of a last minute addition for me as I was on my way out of the US and my general role in the project was much smaller than in the FP.  ASMD was almost done entirely with a skeleton crew with JTRO at the helm...I only really helped to secure some locations for JTRO and show up to act in it.

ASMD was your last screen credit. Are you working as an actor currently or are you tackling different career paths?

I am currently living in Beijing, China and have been working here as an online video producer / director. After working on ASMD, I made a move over to China in 2010, which I had lived in for a year prior to making the FP, and began pursuing a new career. It turns out Beijing has its own budding film industry and I fell right back into movies on this side again. I did acting for two years in TV shows and movies here, but worked my way up through networking and hustling low budget jobs as a two-bit commercial director. Now I have a full time position doing commercial directing here with plans to do a feature-length film this year (likely in Chinese).

Finally, is shit hard in the FP?