Interview: Joel Miller (part 1 of 3)
Former roadie Joel Miller reflects on art and commerce in his debut feature The Still Life. He discusses the making of the film, his thoughts on the business and his police encounters with TheFilmChair.com
TheFilmChair: When I looked on IMDB.com I saw that you did all your filming in L.A. Is that right?
Joel Miller: I filmed most of it at my house. I had been a set dresser for a little bit. I wasn’t an art department pro by any means, but I did have the time and being that I lived there I was able to change the building and make it look like an apartment. It’s actually a house. None of it was an apartment at all. The old lady’s room, Mrs. Stratford’s room, her door that Jason (Barry) goes too was actually my bathroom. Her apartment was actually upstairs (in my house). Jason’s room was upstairs. The film office was upstairs. Rachel’s room was in my house in the living room. Mr. Fernot’s office was the other side of the living room. Party scene, backyard.
FC: So you had Terry Moore hanging out in your bathroom for some of the shoot.
JM: I guess so.
FC: It didn’t look like you had many locations.
JM: I started the film with limited financial resources. I don’t come from a film family, where I have any connection. My dad was a car mechanic. You use what you have. When I spoke at Penn State Erie (during the Great Lakes Film Festival), it was cool. I told them that they can do what I did. You don’t have to be in Hollywood.
FC: Did you try to limit the outdoor scenes, just as a matter of practicality?
JM: Yeah, because of the cops. We had the cops come to the set a whole load of times. I think they came four times. When you are outside, it’s a lot easier for the cops to get pissed off. What are you going to do, you know? The meter maid scene, that’s behind this guy I knew’s work. It would have been cooler if we did it on a real curb, but the cops still came…Once the cops came to my house and they said, “You didn’t get any permits, this is totally unacceptable, we’re going to close you down”…Well, the cop grew up around here, and he knew Fishbone. The singer in Fishbone is my buddy, so I go one a twenty minute tirade about Fishbone. I’m telling him rock stories, while they’re shooting upstairs the entire time…The cops thought I was funny and they were like, “We just want to go upstairs,” and basically their interest was, “Are you guys shooting porn? If you guys are shooting porn we are not cool with that.” We go upstairs and Jason has his shirt off [laughs]. But I said, “Hey this is the cops, and the deal is, if you guys are good, they’re going to let us keep shooting. If you suck, we’re not allowed to shoot anymore. So try to make this shot good you guys.”
The Still Life
featuring the film
and the soundtrack
Available Aug. 7
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