Tallgrass filmmaker questionnaire: Douglas McGinness, ‘The Epic of Hershey’
Douglas McGinness, writer-director, “The Epic of Hershey”
Currently residing in: New York City
Genre(s): Drama/fantasy
When is the screening? 3:15 p.m. Sunday at Garvey Center (Timothy Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers program)
Tell us about your film in 10 words or less: Homeless children create new religion, boy seeks to prove it’s real. That was 11 words.
Why were you drawn to tell this story? This is based on a true story, actually, pulled from Lynda Edwards’ “Myths Over Miami” published in 1997 in the Miami New Times.
In the article, Lynda documents how the homeless children in Miami (and later, the South as it spread) had created a new religion to give them hope, as they didn’t believe that God could hear their prayers anymore. In their religion an evil demon named La Llorona is the source of the children’s suffering, and the only thing that can save them is a goddess named the Blue Lady, who lives in the ocean.
It’s said that if she’s summoned by name, the Blue Lady can save you from anything, even bullets – but her name has been hobbled by a spell and none of the children know it. The children were all actively looking for her name, and that’s what really inspired me. The article was originally optioned by Disney in the early 2000s but was never greenlit, and then it went viral around 2012, which is when I first discovered it.
How long did you work on the film? About a year and a half now. I started working on the script in November/December of 2013, but didn’t start preproduction until July of 2014. We filmed in October last year and were in postproduction until completion this May.
Who are directors you look up to/are inspired by: I was greatly inspired by Benh Zeitlin’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” when I was formulating this story, as I loved how those films blended magical realism with real world events and themes. In general, I’m a fan of the spectacle, so I love blockbusters. Lucas, Spielberg, Cameron, Edgar Wright, Christopher Nolan – they tend to make the kind of films that are transportive, which I admire. I’ve lately been watching a lot of Bollywood films, for similar reasons.
What’s your favorite film? Impossible to answer with finality but I can give two: The film I admire most is “Lawrence of Arabia,” the film that I can always watch without getting tired of it is “Batman Begins.”
Do you prefer jumping off a cliff or taking the long, winding way down? I’m one of those people that will say “Yeah! Let’s jump off the cliff!” until we actually get to the edge, at which point I’ll come to my senses and be screaming bloody hell. Most of the time I’ll still eventually do it, but only after an intense internal debate in my head and a change of pants.
Been to Wichita before? Born and raised.
Be honest. Ever mutter the phrase, “Toto I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore”? Never. Because the first thing most people will do when you mention you’re from Kansas is make a “Wizard of Oz” joke, which is just the worst.
Any advice for aspiring filmmakers? Take phenomenally stupid risks, and then keep taking them. A friend of mine recently said something that stuck with me, which is, “You take the most difficult variation of what it is you’re trying to do, and then figure out how you could do it.”
Anything else? Well since you asked, you should know that I’m definitely grabbing a Freddy’s Patty Melt before the screening.
This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 2:06 PM with the headline "Tallgrass filmmaker questionnaire: Douglas McGinness, ‘The Epic of Hershey’."