SIFF: Interview with Fly Films director Sue Corcoran

Sue Corcoran was one of the directors of the Fly Filmmaking Challenge during the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). She was not able to be at the group interview Cinematical did with the other three directors, but we caught up with her recently to talk about her Fly Film, Circus of Infinity, her feature-length film, Gory Gory Hallelujah, and what's up next for her.

Corcoran's Fly Filmmaking Challenge film, Circus of Infinity, is a serious parable about the meaning of life and death with a fantasy frosting. Circus tells the story of a dwarf named Baby Violet, whose circus-performer parents have signed her up to be shot out of a cannon. Baby Violet keeps asking, "But is there a net?". The Ringmaster tells Baby Violet a sappy tale about the mythical Net, and the janitor gruffly tells her, "You're gonna get squashed like a melon". Baby Violet shoots out of the cannon and into heaven for the amusement of God and his cohorts, to be judged by a panel of American Idol-esque judges ("Violet, you know I've always been a fan," gushes the female judge).

CINEMATICAL:  Let's talk about the Fly Filmmaking process first, and how it all worked for you.

SUE: Well, the dates were bad for me. I was shooting a big project for Microsoft at the time, and so when I accepted Fly Films it meant I was basically doing two projects at the same time.  We only had about two weeks to turn in the script. To prepare, I researched by watching a bunch of shorts I rented from Scarecrow - Sundance picks, Academy Award winners. I only liked maybe 20% of what I saw, most of them were too pedestrian. It's a tough format. With a short film you only have a certain amount of time (10 minutes in this case) to get a complete story arc. So basically you can do a good joke, or a slice of life, or little stories of human drama told through fantasy.

CINEMATICAL: Okay, so let's get the tough question out of the way. You built the film around a character who is a dwarf. Did you think that people might find the film offensive?

SUE: I wrote the script around Wendy (the actress who plays Violet). I thought about the idea, worked it out, wrote a draft with Wendy in mind, then called her and asked her to take a look at it. I sat down with Wendy and her mom and we talked about her life experiences. The whole bit where Baby Violet's life flashes before her, all that came directly from those conversations - that's basically her life. People look at Wendy as a "little person" first, people always judge that way.

CINEMATICAL: So you knew you might be treading controversy, that some people might view the film as exploiting Wendy.

SUE: In an earlier version of the script, I was avoiding the issue of Wendy as a little person completely. And Stewart Stern, who is my mentor, thankfully he called me on it. He read it, and the first thing he said was, "Why are you avoiding this issue? What are you afraid of?" And he was right. The point of the movie is that she's being exploited by God. That is completely the point of the movie. Look, I feel like a little person in a big world. Everything is bigger than me. It's an existential movie. It's not about critiquing God, it's just a view of life - the futility - or joy - or life, and how fast it goes.

CINEMATICAL: And it's metaphorical.

SUE: Oh, completely. Stewart asked me, after he saw the film, if the cannon (that Baby Violet shoots out of) is the ejaculate or the birth canal. It's both - she's made, she's born, she dies. It's life.

CINEMATICAL: In the end, Baby Violet doesn't get caught by the Net, and she's lying there dying as God and his cohorts judge her and talk impassively about her, then she's swept up in a dustpan to make way for the next person heading towards the Net. Do you see Circus of Infinity as pessimistic?

SUE: The ending to me is very filled with hope. She dies happy, and she's staring up at all these beautiful stars. It's happy. The Net is the metaphor for the afterlife. The janitor is the eyes and ears of the institution, he's the truth sayer, the one person who tells her the truth.

CINEMATICAL: Let's talk about the "discussion panel" after the first showing of the Fly Films.  How did you feel about that?

SUE: (long pause) It was supposed to be an "on-the-fly" critique, that's what they told us, so that's what I was prepared for. I was very nervous about it. I thought Circus of Infinity would irritate some people, and that I'd get hardball questions. Here's the thing - part of what I don't like about filmmaking in Seattle is that they punish production value. They think if you put production value into your show, it can't also have substance or value. It's not like that so much in other places, but here that's how it is.

The panelists - I was just really disappointed in them. I know all but one of them, and I like them all, but I was surprised at how unprepared they were. I was prepared for them to really ask some tough questions, and they didn't really ask anything. They seemed uncomfortable and not at all prepared.

CINEMATICAL: If you had the film to do over again, would you do anything differently?

SUE: Well, those "flies in the ointment", the things they made us add in - the shot of the library definitely wouldn't have been there, that was in there just because it had to be. But I worked really hard on the script to make it tight and very metaphorical. I was happy with that.

I've found that people either really love this film, or really hate it. People that hate it, usually they hate it because they find it sad, or because it's too "artsy", or it just rubs them the wrong way.

CINEMATICAL: But you were true to yourself?

SUE: Yes, totally. Obviously, as a filmmaker you want to communicate something. But you have to do it in a way that's true to who you are. Stewart called me on that early version of the script; I wasn't being true to myself, I was worrying too much about what other people would think. I had to let go of that and just make my film. Stewart's feedback is very valuable to me; other people get bogged down by the fantasy, but he always gets what's underneath the film and makes me think about it.

CINEMATICAL: So what's up next for you?

SUE: Circus of Infinity is being submitted to Sundance, so keep your fingers crossed. And Gory Gory Hallelujah will air on Showtime in late fall or early spring. I'm taking a break this summer, then I'll dive back into work in the fall. So things are good.