Lexie Lowell, Matt Toronto, and Jeff Kenny - Harper Finch
HARPER FINCH is a psychological thriller about a young mental patient driven by obsession, who forcibly attempts to rekindle his relationship with an emotionally fragile fellow inmate. From the executive producer of Sundance Audience Award winner, CROWN HEIGHTS, and the writer/director of Netflix’s FACE 2 FACE. We had the wonderful opportunity to interview them. Check out the interview below.
Hi, Jonathan and Matthew! Thank you for granting the interview. Congrats on your new film HARPER FINCH. You’re both directing and starring in the short! Tell us what inspired the award-winning script.
MATT: You’re right, we both directed HARPER FINCH, but we aren’t starring in it. We have a terrific cast taking care of those duties.
There are a lot of inspirations that led us to make this film. It started as an idea from my brother Aaron, who wrote the film with us. He has worked for years as a therapist and has always been fascinated by mental health. Not only that, both of our parents are psychologists, so we spent our childhoods discussing aspects of personality and the psyche. It only makes sense that we are drawn to those subjects in our filmmaking.
The film is a horror/thriller that deals with characters who are struggling with their sense of identity and their sense of reality. It all takes place in a mental hospital. Aaron, Jon and I have all had loved ones who have been affected by severe mental health issues. They were certainly on our mind as we were working on it.
Aaron and I wrote the film right around the time I moved to Los Angeles with my family. I knew Jonathan was in the area and working in the entertainment industry, but I wasn’t sure what he was up to. Jonathan and I went to college together at the University of Michigan. We both studied musical theatre . . . Feel free to picture us singing and dancing together because that’s what we were doing. Anyway, I hadn’t seen him in 20-years. I reached out and we got together for dinner. As we were getting caught up we realized it was fate that we had come back together after all these years. I pitched him a few of the projects I was working on and he loved the idea for this movie called REALITY BUILDING, which is a feature/franchise we are now developing together.
Well, he thought it was a good idea to make a smaller project, a short, in a similar style, to get the collaboration going. So we sent him the script for HARPER FINCH and we were off. It needed a rewrite, so Jonathan, Aaron and I dove in and started working on it together. And before you knew it, we were making a movie after not seeing each other for 20 years. But it was like no time has passed. It’s such great thing to make a film with people you love, good friends and family!
JONATHAN: I had a friend who was going through a sort of psychological break; schizophrenia. Some of the story is inspired by that person. It was a serious issue, so the schizophrenia element is real.
Did you have to undergo specific training for your roles?
MATT: No specific training for this particular film, but I would say our training began when we were very young. Both Jonathan and I did theatre, music, and dance growing up. That’s where we began to learn about the arts and storytelling. As I said, we studied together at the U of M in a top-notch training Musical Theatre program. But then we went our separate ways and pursued a lot of other training both in life and in school. I spent six years as a professional actor in New York City before I went back to school to get an MFA in directing at Penn State University. It was a theatre degree, but the core of my film directing skills was built there. After that, I spent another eight years teaching acting, directing and musical theatre at Penn State. During that time, my brother Aaron and I wrote and produced our first feature film called, THE PACT, which had a very successful festival run. After that, we were hooked. Nothing teaches you filmmaking like making a film. Now that we had a taste for film, we kept writing and producing as much as we could and learning everything we could about the process. I literally began checking books out of the library about filmmaking. Yes, I was the idiot in the corner reading some book called “SO YOU WANNA MAKE MOVIES.”
In a few years, I had an opportunity to take a research leave from Penn State and that’s when I came out to Los Angeles with my family. My education as a filmmaker really took off after that. And we liked it here so much I quit my job at Penn State and we stayed to make films like HARPER FINCH.
According to IMDb description, “Two mental patients’ romantic break-up turns violent when one won’t take no for an answer.” Tell us more.
MATT: The movie explores some of the most primal elements of the human psyche – sanity and survival. And in this film, both are intimately intertwined. The movie opens with a mental patient who gets caught rummaging through a fellow patient’s room. From there, things take a very dangerous turn as the characters and the audience begin to learn just how their lives intersect until they realize that everything is at stake. I don’t want to say much more than that, otherwise, I’ll spoil it.
Jonathan: That’s right, the movie is based on a concept and a reveal that is best not discussed in the press, but the concept is very strong and fascinating to me as a producer. It was what drew me to the material. The hook Matt and his brother came up with is just awesome writing.
Is it a challenge to star in a film you wrote?
MATT: As I said, we didn’t star in the film, but both of us wore a lot of hats . . . Writers, producers, directors, Jonathan even created the score for the film which perfectly sets up the emotional world. Raising money was a challenge like any film, but the biggest obstacle we faced came from the Government of South Dakota.
You see, we wrote the short with a location in mind: an enormous abandoned psych ward in South Dakota. One week before shooting, however, the state government revoked our permits, causing the entire production to fall apart. But we were committed to telling this story. So we reconfigured the production for a Los Angeles shoot within one week. Unfortunately, this also doubled the budget. Thankfully, our financiers were also committed to the film and were not willing to let us fall apart because of nervous bureaucrats in South Dakota. We found another abandoned mental hospital near downtown LA that had been temporarily turned into a sound stage. And our timing couldn’t have been better… Just weeks after shooting, the building was condemned.
JONATHAN: Making a movie is always challenging! But also a lot of fun when you’re working with your friends.
HARPER FINCH has an amazing cast. Each talent is perfect for their roles.
JONATHAN: The script was designed for these two actors, so it was written in collaboration and workshopped with them for a while.
MATT: Yes, working with the actors during the writing and rewriting phase was a pleasure.
Lexie Lowell captures the perfect mix of fragility, vulnerability and ultimately strength as she stands up to her tormentor. Lexie was so great to work with. She was not only emotionally committed to the role, but physically committed as well. We spent a lot of time rehearsing prior to the shoot including time spent creating and perfecting some pretty great action sequences.
Jeff Kenny was no less dedicated. He discovered this amazing creepy weirdness in his performance that is more than any of us imagined or predicted. He was tireless in his search for perfection. He was devoted to trying to make each take better than the last. He would constantly want to discuss his character, always looking for ways to improve his performance. And it shows.
Tell us about what a typical day on the set was like.
JONATHAN: It was a lot of fun. Matt is a really fun guy, and really just a sweetheart. He is a really kind-hearted director, so he is wonderful to be around. He and I have a lot of history because we went to college together. We have done so much theatre together that we had a shorthand and a trust from day 1. I was more producing and he was more directing on set, so we fell into a really nice flow. It was like making a movie with your best friend
MATT: Yes, there are many things better than working with your best friend and your brother! Set was definitely fun, but also intense. Here’s a story that pretty much captures a day in the life…
On the second day of shooting we had a stunt planned with some break-away glass. Well, as we were preparing for that moment the props master walked up to me white as a ghost. Now when I say “white as a ghost” you need to know that our props master, Mark “Red Dog” Fenlason was a hardened Marine with years of experience in the business. So I was pretty freaked out when I saw him. Well, he told me that all of the break-away glass had broken somehow in its case. This was one of our most expensive line items in our budget and it was also one of the most important effects in the entire movie – so this was bad news. There was no time to get replacements because we had them specially made. After a few moments of panic, we decided to just work the problem. So the AD, Archie Hernandez, Jonathan, Red Dog and I all put our heads together. We decided to use one of the largest shards and try to do the shot in extreme close up. Well everyone pitched in, got down to business and the shot turned out great. I still love watching it every time I see it.
I think filmmaking, in general, is just a series of catastrophes that are turned to miracles by a team of Macguyvers. And we had an amazing team of Macguyvers.
What is going to surprise people about the film?
MATT: There are a couple of twists and turns in the film that I shouldn’t really reveal. What I can tell you is that one of the most “loving” parts of the film is also the most violent. It’s a strange juxtaposition that I find very satisfying. I hope audiences will too.
JONATHAN: Definitely the reveal. This has a really great hook, and I think it has the potential to be a feature.
Without giving anything away, what’s your favorite line of dialogue from the film and why?
JONATHAN: There is a moment when Jeff says “Wait, let me,” and then it gets crazy.
MATT: I love that moment too. I also love a particular moment when the characters sing together. It’s haunting, beautiful and devastating all at the same time.
When looking back on the production, what resonated with you the most and why?
MATT: While I love this film and the story, what resonates most for me is the memories I have of directing this film with one of my best friends. Besides that, it is the new friends I made too.
JONATHAN: I was working with my fiancé, she is the lead actress. So I think it was really fun to be in a close community of best friends and my girlfriend at the time. It was a very nice, caring group of people, so people wanted to make a great movie. Those actors suffered so much to make this short film – it was cold, they were constantly covered in sticky blood, and we were operating in an old psychological ward in downtown LA, so it was spooky for real. There was a lot of history to the building that inspired the acting and style. A lot of “interesting” things kept happening, which made it more weird, and made at the same time a lot of fun. It was a very dedicated group for a small film.
In your opinion, what scene in the film is going to blow people away and why?
JONATHAN: There is an amazing action, fight sequence that was choreographed by a good friend of mine from Sony named Dave Scott, who I have done a lot of dance movies with. His is kind of a big deal, but I asked him as a favor to come in and choreograph the fight scene and he did it for nothing. That fight scene is really it, and the actors did a great job with it.
MATT: Yes, the fight scene moves so beautifully and has such a great rhythm. I think we shot it really well and it also lands really well, story-wise, because it is the moment the film turns. It’s when the power really changes hands. And though it was choreographed by a dancer, make no mistake, it is a brutal fight. But because Dave is such a great choreographer, it has a musicality that is just breathtaking, in my humble opinion.
What did you enjoy most about your character and role?
JONATHAN: The role that I had the most fun with was doing the score, and we had a lot of fun with it conceptionally. Matt let me really find some melodies that we wove in and out of then really let the soundscape pay off in the fight scene and final climax. I feel like we really hit a certain cinematic synergy with image, acting, story, and music by the end which is rare for any film.
MATT: Yeah, the score is awesome! For me, I loved the collaborations. That’s why I love filmmaking and that’s why I love directing. It’s all about meeting other artists where they are and trying to inspire the best in them and letting them inspire the best in me.
Do you have anything else you would like to share about the film?
MATT: We’d like to develop this short into a feature. It was an amazing opportunity to be able to explore some of these ideas visually first with real production.
JONATHAN: I think the film asks an honest question about mental health and the lack of support our culture provides those people who have a legitimate illness. The homeless problem in America is due to closing down institutions that should be part of our social contract. The issues of schizophrenia and speaking about it respectfully – what it means to really be sick psychologically, and what do we do with our responsibility to those folks who suffer? That’s what it is really all about for us.
Do you have anything else you would like to share about your career?
MATT: Since making this film a feature I directed called Face 2 Face was released on Netflix. It deals with some very important social issues (www.seeface2face.com) I also wrote that script with my Brother Aaron. Aaron and I also have several other projects that are in development, including a feature/franchise we’re developing with Jonathan, and another script that was optioned by Excel Entertainment. That one is very close to our hearts because it is about our grandfather. My wife, Jordan Toronto and I also write together. Last year we produced a pilot together and we have two other pilot scripts and a feature-length screenplay we are in the process of pitching.
JONATHAN: I have pretty much dedicated most of my time now to causal movies that have something to do with what we see in society that needs help. Harper Finch is directly in line with that mandate and I’m proud of the entire team. It’s a short we would love to develop from here into a feature.
Thank you for chatting with us about your career. I hope we can catch up in the future for another interview.
MATT: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us too. We appreciate anyone who supports independent film!
JONATHAN: Thanks for taking an interest in our little movie!
Featured Image Credit: Lexie Lowell, Matt Toronto, and Jeff Kenny – Harper Finch.
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