L-R: Jacob, Olicer, and Madison on Set of "Nathan's Kingdom"
We had the wonderful opportunity to speak with filmmaker Olicer Muñoz about his film Nathan’s Kingdom. It will premiere at the 2019 FirstGlance Film Festival in Los Angeles on March 14-17th.
Hi, Olicer! Thank you for granting the interview. Congrats on your new film Nathan’s Kingdom. Tell us what inspired the script.
I wanted to tell a story about siblings and that no matter what they are put up against, blood always runs thicker than water. It was actually 10-years ago that I began writing the script and it didn’t take me long to write the first or second draft. It was getting the film made that took so long.
As I was writing my story about a young brother and sister trying to scrape by on their own, Autism was becoming a mainstream topic in the media. I paid very close attention to this because I grew up spending time at my father’s pediatric office. I was there every day for 10-years. I played in the waiting lobby and engaged with pretty much every kid who wanted to play. The kids that stood out to me were often kids with developmental disabilities. I think I was 7 or 8 years old and I just wanted to get to know the kids more with disabilities because I genuinely wanted to learn how I could adjust my methods to better play with them. It blows me away how aware and proactive we can be as kids! There’s no real thought behind it. Your mind as a child just wants to collaborate.
Flash-forward 20-years and the brother character in Nathan’s Kingdom is is written to be “On The Spectrum.” I conducted a lot of research on the subject. Additionally, I was also inspired by a coming-of-age documentary titled Billy The Kid. It’s incredible! It literally shaped who I wanted Nathan to be; a hero in his own mind surrounded by those who either get him or don’t.
There’s also Laura, the opiate-addicted, teenage sister played by the incredibly talented, Madison Ford. Her character evolved from the idea of being a younger sibling, with her own baggage, struggling to take care of herself, and is forced to be responsible for another human being with a developmental disability. The storyline spawns a plethora of stories to tell.
Like a recipe, I then added story elements that would take the Nathan and Laura character on a fantastical journey, where the rules of reality don’t necessarily apply. Fantasy and Sci-fi aspect gave the film a platform to create our own rules, thus, making the possibility infinite . . . Within a 90ish minute movie, of course.
So, why the fantasy Sci-fi genre? If your character’s life is so impossible to overcome, then one must “dream” of a possibility. For Nathan, I wrote that he had a scrapbook that also serves as his diary. The diary is of a mythical family that he invents to help him cope with reality. Nathan’s escapes (or copes) through his imagination that intersects his reality (a family diary); and Laura escapes (or copes) through her opiate addiction.
Films that inspired me while writing Nathan’s Kingdom are Lord Of The Rings, The Never Ending Story, Terminator 2, Assassination of Jessy James, There Will Be Blood, Where The Wild Things Are, The Thin Red Line, Pans Labyrinth (a huge inspiration), and Documentary -Billy The Kid.
Once I had the third or fourth draft written, my good friend and producer, Michelle Opitz, raises the same question I had, “how in the hell are we going to pull off a film that takes us into EPIC (big budget) territory . . . And that revolves around a character on the autism spectrum?! I told Michelle “I’m a little crazy and you’re just gonna have to trust me.” I don’t think this line works on every producer, though.
Any special plans for the film festival, such as a separate premiere or screening during the festival?
Nathan’s Kingdom is on its main festival run. We’ve been blessed to have won at our World Premiere (first public screening) at the Sedona International Film Festival and received the Director’s Choice Award. We went on to screen at Dances With Films in Los Angeles and the Heartland Film Festival. Currently, we’re slated to appear in four more festivals, including the FirstGlance Film Festival in Los Angeles. The cast and crew are exceptionally excited about FirstGlance because the film has been nominated for several awards, such as Best Sci-Fi / Fantasy, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Breakout Roll, Best Lead Actor, Best Lead Actress, and Best Young Actor. Yeah, our cast is incredible, to say the least! Soon after our festival run, we hope to get picked up by Netflix, and for good reason, too. There is no other film like Nathan’s Kingdom right now in the world. It’s because we decided to push boundaries on the kind of roles actors on the Autism Spectrum can play in Sci-fi & Fantasy cinema.
It’s amazing you chose an actor with Autism. What are your expectations for Nathan’s Kingdom on the festival circuit?
I’d like to talk about technical polish behind the film because every editorial decision I made is meant to engage a theater audience. The film is mixed in 5.1 surround sound and calibrated for a theater setting. Just as important, the film’s picture was colored at Technicolor by established colorist, Daren Wooldridge.
All these elements are so important when telling your story on the big screen. With Nathan’s Kingdom, I want to literally take the audience on a mental, physical, and spiritual journey. To do this, I need them to “feel” the movie with all their senses minus taste, but taste would be cool, too, right?!
I’m all about pushing boundaries. Nathan’s Kingdom should take audiences on an emotional journey that begs the question, “What would I do in this situation?” I have had two separate mothers raising a child on the autism spectrum approach me after a screening with tears in their eyes. They each expressed to me how much the film meant to them for its honesty. They also experienced the frustrations that our character Laura feels in the film and expressed how real that emotional rollercoaster is for them at times. “It’s real.” A father spoke at a Q&A after the screening at the Los Angeles’ Dances With Films Festival. He talked about how Nathan’s Kingdom gives him hope for his young autistic son’s “abilities” because of what our lead actor, Jacob Lince, was able to accomplish.
These discussions serve as a sign to me that we made something bigger than a movie. I feel sort of foolish to say this, but we made art that inspires people. And that’s what I set out to do when I decided to be a filmmaker.
My hopes and expectations right now are that we, the cast and crew, are recognized for our efforts so we can produce more films that empower and support people of every ability.
Was it a challenge to direct the film?
Directing Nathan’s Kingdom was the most enjoyable process in making the film. Producers Michelle Opitz and Emily Beach did an amazing job maintaining production, which then gave me space to focus on directing. If I had to choose a challenge, it would be the first two days of filming on location. I had to get a jump start and not fall on my face. Imagine a treadmill running at 20-miles an hour and being expected to hop on it without falling.
The entire production was at a desert location, hundreds of miles from home, and I needed to start at a sprint that wasn’t going to stop for weeks! Plus, we had the most complicated scene (multiple actors and vehicles moving) to be the first scene I directed. Note-to-self, start with an easy scene and build up into production. It seems logical, but there’s nothing logical about filming an indie feature at the level we were trying to achieve. Yet, we did it and made it work.
What are you most proud of in making Nathan’s Kingdom.
Like in any race or journey, the success of making a film is finishing a film. That’s the hardest part, and every filmmaker should feel proud crossing the imaginary finish line that really keeps getting extended until you finally are sitting in a theater sharing the film with others. My proudest moment in the making of Nathan’s Kingdom was, after 10-years of trying to make this film, being able to share it with those who supported me and kept me inspired. People need to understand that films to a writer-director are a large fragment of their identity. We put so much of ourselves into it and we involve so many people in the process, that a film literally represents us. It’s why artists get so emotionally “attached” to their work because its a part of who they are.
Tell us about a typical day on the set.
A typical day on set is bracing the cast and crew for an outdoor adventure. We were outdoors for 90% of the film, traveling to isolated areas of the Mojave Desert, filming at elevations of 12,000 feet in the High Sierras. We even entered an abandoned mine that cuts through a mountain. Our locations were breathtaking, but getting there involved daily logistics meetings. It was important that we took advantage of available light. And so, everything we did coincided with where the sun was going to be pointing at certain scenes. All of the traveling and technical traveling each day was a lot of fun. Our cast and crew got along amazingly well. Plus, we realized early on that we can only film so fast. We’re either going to do it right or wish we did it right. So, our cinematographer and friend, Pete Villani, and I worked at a controlled pace. Trust me, I know time is money and we have to get the shots we need each day. But I didn’t want to half-ass the making of this film because I needed to make the day. I’m pretty sure our cast appreciated that because it shows in their amazing performances.
What is going to surprise people about the film?
The biggest surprise I have in store for the audience is that they really don’t know what to expect from the storytelling in this film. Specific events in each act are portrayed in unconventional methods. One scene in particular completely catches people off guard and I’m told is their favorite scene in the movie. I manipulate the telling of the story in ways that better engage the audience. I basically made a movie I would want to watch.
Without giving anything away, what’s your favorite line of dialogue from the film and why?
“There is a Kingdom for every man, woman, and child. Darkness and fears climb inside each of us to destroy it.”
This is my favorite line of the film because it sets a tone that relates to everyone. We all have a dream or an expectation of who we want to be, where we want to be, how we want to live our lives. This can be defined as our Kingdom (our happy place). BUT, it’s our doubts and fears that make things more difficult for us or even keep us indefinitely from reaching this Kingdom. More simply put, you don’t think you’re good enough and because of this, you don’t try.
When looking at back on the production, what resonated with you the most and why?
What resonates with me when I look back on the production of Nathan’s Kingdom are the countless little miracles that needed to happen to get the film made. On paper, Nathan’s Kingdom wasn’t supposed to get made with the little money we had. In the eyes of production companies and studios, Nathan’s Kingdom couldn’t be made starring an actor who’s actually on the Autism Spectrum. This isn’t just a story of making a feature film against all odds. To me, this film represents a miracle that unfolded in the form of the thousands of steps that it took to get it made. One little slip-up or wrong decision would have killed the film. And I believe most of the credit needs to go to our cast. They stayed on the journey with us, the principle filmmakers, which is composed of me, Pete Villani, Michelle Opitz, and Emily Beach.
In your opinion, what scene in the film is going to blow people away and why?
I can’t say that there is one particular scene that is going to blow people away because I am under the belief that the entire film is what blows them away. Most who viewed the movie for the first time believe Jacob Lince (playing Nathan) is a very good actor who’s “acting autistic.” While it’s true that Jacob is a phenomenal actor, he is like Nathan. He is on the Autism Spectrum. All of a sudden, a large piece of the fantasy (the film) is actually real and this blows them away. A film like Nathan’s Kingdom, starring an actor on the Autism Spectrum, doesn’t exist. This is it . . . Until we make the next one.
What did you enjoy most about the characters in the film?
What I enjoyed most about the characters in the film is the conflict brewing inside each of them and the conflicts that happen between them. Conflict and love are the driving forces of the film; some argue it drives the universe (no joke). So, it’s very important to build a backstory for each character and know how to instigate conflict within the story. Every time I got to direct conflict between characters, little or big, it was amazing to then see these character live and breathe like REAL PEOPLE.
Do you have anything else you would like to share about Nathan’s Kingdom?
It’s important for me to share how Jacob Lince and I found each other. In trying to cast the Nathan character, it was important to me that I try and be as authentic as possible. I didn’t really know if casting an actor on the Autism Spectrum was feasible, at first, until I was contacted by The Performing Arts Studio West (PASW). They saw a casting call I posted looking for lead male actors with life experience knowing someone on the spectrum. PASW said, “Hey! We actually train and represent actors on the Autism Spectrum.” I drove over to their facility in Los Angeles and got to audition most of their actors. For two days, I worked with several actors on the spectrum. And on the third day, a new guy shows up named Jacob Lince. I remember calling my wife after working with Jacob for the first time. I remember telling her, “This actually might work. I think we may have found our Nathan.” Five months later, we were shooting with Jacob Lince as our lead in Nathan’s Kingdom.
I want you to understand that the only way for Nathan’s Kingdom the movie to exist is through Jacob Lince and Madison Ford (plays Laura – Nathan’s Sister). I wouldn’t have made the film if it wasn’t for casting them. I am so grateful for the PASW. This organization is run by real-life heroes like it’s founder and president – John Paizis. He and his staff love people and they love acting. Put that together and you have a genuine organization that provides a platform for actors of all abilities to perform at their best. God bless them, really!
Do you have anything else you would like to share about your career?
I really feel that the stories we tell as filmmakers say a lot about us as people, who we are and where we are going. I’d like to project that in my next film. I will continue to utilize the talents of actors on the Autism Spectrum. It’s important that films not just tell a story, but move people in a direction that opens their minds and inspires them to achieve great things for themselves.
Further, I’m in the middle of writing a trilogy that takes place mostly underground. It’s epic; and why not? Films are so hard to make from the get-go that big or small, it’s often times the same amount of effort!
Thank you for chatting with us about your career. I hope we can catch up in the future for another interview.
I learned through making Nathan’s Kingdom that we should never put a limit on our abilities, and neither on the abilities of others. The majority of my gratitude goes to my wife for always supporting my abilities.
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Images Credit: Moon And Back Films, LLC.
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