Interview with Actor/Director Jett Garner
by Chris Weidner
ShortFilmTexas.Com

Film: Womb
Cast: Matt Dunn, Jessica Robertson
Writer/Director: Jett Garner
Format: MiniDV
Location: Austin, Texas

Like many actors in Austin, Texas, Jett Garner has had his fair share of brief brushes with success. One such opportunity was landing a small speaking role in the Ron Howard produced version of The Alamo. While this job enabled him to work along side Hollywood A-Listers like Billy Bob Thorton and Dennis Quaid, the film would unfortunately flop at the box office. It was just this sort of win/lose situation that would serve as a catalist to move the actor in bold new “directions”…literally.

Since then, Jett has acted in several shorts and features, including the recently completed film Baghead by the Duplass Brothers, directors of last years indie hit The Puffy Chair. He has also added the credits of Director, Writer and Editor to his ever evolving resume.

I sat down with the Actor turned Filmmaker to talk with him about his career choices and his directorial debut short film, Womb.

Q: How did you become involved in Texas filmmaking?
A: Well, I moved to Austin from Indiana because I wanted to act in movies.

Q: Why Texas over, say California or New York?
A: I’d heard about Texas, specifically Austin, and how it was becoming this beacon for independent filmmaking and I figured, just starting out, I’d have a better chance getting my foot in the door here versus L.A.

Q: And did you find work quickly?
A: I did. I started working right away but found that about 10% of the films I was in were never finished or of such low caliber that I was embarrassed to show them to my friends or family.

Q: Is that why made the decision to try your hand at writing?
A: In a nutshell. I started writing and I’d hand these scripts over to people and I’d be the actor and the writer and they would be the director and basically I got tired of them fucking up my ideas. I decided to give directing a shot last year (Jan. 2006). I wasn’t going to edit any of these films because I didn’t think I knew anything about it. Then one day, about a month after I shot my first film as a Director, which was Womb, I accidentally discovered this real simple editing software on my PC that I didn’t even know was there. I cut Womb together and I thought…hell, I can kinda do it all.

Q: So then let’s talk about your short film Womb…uhm, how did you come up with the idea—actually, tell me what is Womb about?
A: It’s about a guy who has an addiction. He has insomnia. His girlfriend wakes up. She was sleeping peacefully while he’s dealing with his insomnia. They have a bit of argument. He begs and pleads her to let him kinda dive back into this addiction. And uhm, she say’s “You can do it one more night” but she puts conditions on it and he agrees. So they’re in bed resting peacefully and he kinda breaks the rule that she laid down and this wakes her up and…well, I don’t want to give away the ending…

Q: So how did you come up with the idea for Womb?
A: Without giving too much away, it’s basically based on when my wife was pregnant with my son. He got this gift at a bridal shower, he obviously wasn’t born yet, but the gift it…it kinda freaked me out a little bit. And I thought to myself, what if he’s still using this when he’s in his 20’s?

Q: How did the project come together?
A: Very quickly. I had the actors come over one night. I borrowed a GL-1 camera and we shot Womb in about 3 hours. They improved the whole thing.

Q: I noticed that it was shot in black and white. Was that a conscience decision? Or…?
A: Yes.

Q: Why black and white?
A: Well, to be honest, the GL-1 is a cheap camera, as far as digital camera’s go. And considering the fact that we were improving, we had no real plan in place what so ever, I didn’t want to try and make it look like something it wasn’t. So I thought if I put in black and white it might help cover any lighting flaws and possibly come across a bit more artistic. Plus I love the way black and white looks. I really fell in love with black and white when I watched the Coen Brothers film with Billy Bob Thorton, The Man Who Wasn’t There. That’s when I really started to appreciate how great a modern day black and white film can look. But I’ve also always been a big fan of black and white photography as well.

Q: Who are the actors in Womb and how did you end up casting them?
A: Matt Dunn and Jessica Robertson. Uhm, Matt is a just a friend of mine from a long time ago. I was a bit uncertain, actually, if he could pull it off. I’ve known him personally for a long time but he’s just been, like a lot of actors in this town, you know, working in student films and taking parts in a lot of projects that never get completed. So I figured, it’s one night, if it works then great, if not, then I’ll just use that as rehearsal, but it turned out that he was fantastic! He did great.

Q: And Jessica?
A: Jessica was someone I’d know for a couple of years and I just really like her as a person—basically I just really like these actors as people and I thought, well if they show up and have any kind of connection and let their balls hang out, so to speak, we’ll see what we get and they performed way beyond my expectations.

Q: So it sounds like you don’t like to rehearse. Do you prefer to just wing it?
A: On the three films I’ve directed so far, yes. But those are all short films. As an actor I don’t like to rehearse. I hate it. As a Director I just haven’t done it yet. I think with the next movie I direct, whether it’s a short film or feature, I’ll probably try to incorporate some rehearsal and see if I get some different results.

Q: What filmmaking lessons did you take away from making Womb? Any advice?
A: Well, number one you don’t need money to make an interesting film. When it comes to storytelling, even the simplest things can be dramatic and interesting and funny. I didn’t have money. I didn’t have a lot of planning. I borrowed a friend’s camera. I mean, I’ve submitted Womb to some of the major film festivals and it hasn’t got in yet, but I honestly believe I can show that movie to just about anyone, anywhere, and they’ll have some level of appreciation on an artistic level for it. We just showed up one night and did it. You can’t win if you don’t play, right? Personally, I also learned that there are certain ways that I like to cut that are very non-traditional. The way I do everything is just non-traditional. When I first sit down I find myself worrying about if this is going to be a good movie. Then I shoot the movie and by the time I’m editing, I forget about all that other stuff and I’m not really thinking about any other end result beyond…will I like it?

Q: In the end, did Womb come out the way you envisioned it?
A: No. It was completely different. I mean, the story arc, the plot from beginning to end, the actors were very good in their improv to make sure we stayed kind of close to that, but as far as the whole thing, watching it as a finished project, I would never have been able to envision that in the planning stages.