Interview with Director Jason Trost

Also on Trash Film:
The FP Review
Interview with actor Lee Valmassy
Interview with costume designer Sarah Trost

My obsession with The FP's perfect ocean of absurdity knows no bounds, so I telepathically linked with director/writer/star Jason Trost who was gracious enough to entertain my random queries regarding the film, his directing career, and the wild fantasies of rich white kids fighting for survival in the desolate wastelands of the modern USA. Some would call this a "teachable moment." Behold, Trash Film's first ever interview.

(NOTE: Interview conducted through email)


Trash Film: How do you feel about the charges against The FP that it's some sort of "ironic instant-kitsch" or that you just made it so it could become a "cult" film? 

Jason Trost: I think that's a generally ignorant claim from someone who either didn't really watch the film or is jealous that we beat them to the punch. We never thought this would be a cult hit when we made it. None of us had names for ourselves at that point. We were all just a bunch of kids playing in the trash who wanted to make fun of white people.

There is a handmade aspect to the film that is endearing rather than looking cheap, as if the characters built their little world from scratch. Was this intentional or a happy accident due to budgetary constraints?

It was definitely intentional, but also because of the budget. I created the idea for the movie by looking around at the piles of trash living in Frazier Park. I always thought "this trash looks awesome, let's build a world around it." We wanted people to feel like the world was cohesive and everyone lived in this trash. And like all white trash, they're still stuck in the Civil War. 248 in the north, 245 in the south.

There seems to be a very personal quality inherent in The FP, as if this is just a heightened, pseudo-fantasy version of your adolescent reality. Is this accurate?

That's very accurate. A good 70% of the dialogue in this movie is just shit talk my sister and i would hear growing up. Then for the other 30% I'd just assume  what some shithead from high school would have said in a situation, and bam. Seamless.

I have this theory that since the rest of Frazier Park appears so ordinary throughout the film, the characters created this dystopia and gang conflict just to give themselves something to do to alleviate boredom. Was this something you considered or am I completely nuts?
  
You're not completely nuts. That is definitely what the movie is about. I think the same assholes who labeled this a "ready made cult hit" are the same ones that deemed it a "post apocalypse film." That was never the case. This is the imaginary world that all those hard rich white kids live in in their own minds. I always thought that was clearly stated in the beer run scene. Oh well. I guess people dig the post apocalypse theory though.

How much of the film was pre-visualized or storyboarded? It seems that some of your sets were so hyper-active that pre-planning shots would be difficult and you'd grab what you could in the moment.

There wasn't a lot of pre-planning with shots. I'd try to do some beforehand just to let the crew know what we'd have to set up for. Where I planned more was with the actors. Everyday I'd hand them a page that told them where their character was at in the day's scenes. Like a mini journal. I find on low budget movies things like storyboards can really screw you because you never know what you're going to come up against on the day. How does the set look? Is there a set? Did the actor even show up? Do we have that prop? Etc. So you kind of want to be loose and good on your feet.

People often find it odd that I think The FP is a great film due to my simultaneous love for the "artier" side of cinema. I guess they haven't seen this blog. Do you see any distinction between "art film" and the rest of cinema aside from, say, shot length and Hungarian country sides?

I think every movie is art, technically. Not all art has to be good. But all art is definitely subjective to each person who sees it. Take Spring Breakers for instance. My brother [Brandon Trost, cinematographer on the FP and many big-budget Hollywood films] thinks it's the second coming of Christ and I think it's a meandering hipster circle-jerk with no story. Doesn't mean either of us is right or wrong. It just means it's art. And that's the fun of movies. How they can impact people in such dramatically different ways.

Is there a reason you prefer to work in genre with your films?

I prefer genre because A) it's easier to make and be accepted on a low budget, and B) you can really tell personal stories and touch on meaningful morals that people wouldn't care to watch otherwise. But they'll watch it if it's buried in a genre movie.

The FP was your feature directing debut. What important lessons did you learn? How have you grown as a director since this project?

Technically, a film I made when I was 16 called "Moon Vampires" was my directorial debut, but that was a piece of shit so we'll keep it on the DL. Important lessons learned...Don't let anyone else tell you there are rules that can't be broken. Whenever someone says "That's just the way things are. That's the business", fire them. Movies are supposed to be about breaking down barriers, not building a prison. It's basically about building the right crew and really believing in yourself. Not second guessing yourself because someone thinks differently who has more credits than you. You always need to remember you're making your movie, not their movie. I also think it's really important to make movies for people who watch them, not for people who make them. That can be a slippery slope. I'm so much stronger as a director at this point than when I made The FP that it's ridiculous. I can't wait to get back into that world, to show everyone where JTRO and KCDC go next. I was 21 when I directed that film. I wrote the script when I was 18. I'm 27 now and I'm ready to do some damage.

Still from "How To Save Us"

Having seen the teaser for your new feature How To Save Us [WATCH IT HERE], it looks like you are taking a more contemplative approach as opposed to the frenetic work of your previous films, both narratively and visually. Was this a conscious change of gears in your filmmaking? What else can you tell us about this new project?

Yeah. This one is definitely my "art" film. It was actually pretty hard to cut that trailer and make the movie feel like a "normal" movie. But it still has quite a few genre elements that you'd come to expect from me. But I've always wanted to make something a little more, "adult" for lack of a better description. It's the most sober film I've made, without a doubt the most emotional and definitely the most personal. I'm really excited and terrified for people to see it. I really don't think it's what anyone expects, because I really don't think anyone has seen this movie before. We shot most of it in Australia and it's kind of like an 85 minute psychiatry session. But I'm sure the internet will hate it because they'll go in expecting a horror movie when it's actually closer to being a family drama. But screw 'em. It's my favorite movie I've made so far.   

Is there a recent film you have seen, say from the past 5 years, that has inspired your filmmaking or altered the way you think about cinema?

Off the top of my head, I loved Cloud Atlas. And surprise surprise, a lot of people hated it, because it's a movie that actually requires you to watch it. But that movie was such an amazing feat and so different from anything else I'd seen in quite some time. I was really shocked a studio funded it. But weirdly I think the thing that has inspired me the most in the past five years was the show LOST (pre-season 5 and 6). That show started the whole revolution of good television. It was funny even watching Breaking Bad you can see where they stole things. Hell they even stole the same last shot of their finale from LOST. LOST was crazy, it did whatever it wanted, it was fantasy, drama, sci-fi, comedy, just everything which you're always told you can't do.  Sure a lot of times it would swing and miss, but when it hit... holy shit, it was better and more emotional than movies. And I respect that, just go for it attitude.  

Finally, some hypotheticals:


Actually scratch that. Fucking Highlander. That's what I'd remake goddamnit. 


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The words of the mighty JTRO himself. I'd like to thank Jason for taking the time to honor Trash Film with his moon-booted badassery. His newest film How To Save Us is currently in post-production and you can contribute via Indiegogo to help him complete what is clearly his most ambitious project yet. 

CLICK HERE to check out the campaign.

Follow Jason on Twitter: @TheJTRO
'Like' him on Facebook HERE