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Independent filmmakers overcome obstacles By BILL VARBLE Connor Ratliff and Shaun Peterson knew that independent filmmakers face legendary obstacles. But they weren't ready for sets that walked off in the middle of filming. They were shooting "Living in Missouri," written by Ratliff and directed by Peterson, in Jefferson City, Mo., and had rented a house that served cast and crew as a combination hotel, production studio and set. One day the dining room furniture that in the movie belongs to two leading characters vanished. It turned out the landlords had come in and taken it away while the crew was filming on another location. Scenes had been shot with the furniture, so its disappearance created a continuity problem. "That was a panic day," says Ratliff, now of Ashland. Such is the world of the indie filmmaker. Working on a shoestring, without nervous studios looking over his shoulders, he's free to make uncompromising pictures that steer clear of Hollywood's clichés du jour - if he can just find a way to do it. Flash forward two years. The recently completed "Living in Missouri" shows twice this weekend at the Ashland Independent Film Festival, at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 12:30 p.m. Sunday. It's been nominated for the festival's best acting ensemble award. Ratliff says the movie is about a disturbed love triangle that unfolds one tumultuous Missouri autumn. Ryan (Ratliff) and Todd (Ian McConnel) have been friends since they were in the eighth grade. Ryan is married to Amy (Christina Puzzo) and has two kids and a 9-to-5 job he hates. Todd lives in his parents' basement, works in a video store and envies Ryan. Amy is trying to balance family and career with little help from the selfish Ryan. "Ryan kind of uses Todd," Ratliff says. "Todd hates Ryan for having it all and not appreciating it." When Amy turns to Todd for a shoulder to cry on, they begin meeting secretly. Todd mistakenly believes they are having an affair. A disastrous series of misunderstandings follows as this dark comedy of manners goes in an unexpected direction. Ratliff, 26, wrote the picture three years ago when he was living in England and had just made his professional acting debut in Christopher Shinn's "Four" at the Royal Court Theatre in London. "I thought it would be novel to see a 25-year-old having almost a mid-life crisis," he says. He came up with an unusual strategy to develop the characters. He created a Web site, "Ryan Johnson's Star Wars Prequel Rumors," that featured the journal of the fictional Ryan going on at length about his wife, Amy, and his friend Todd. "I had him making up ridiculous rumors," Ratliff says. He made up a squirrel-like race of people called Trinkies he claimed would be in George Lucas' upcoming "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace." One day he picked up a Spin magazine in a Tower Records store in London, and there was the rumor reported, complete with a picture of a squirrel dressed up as a Trinkie. In the movie, Ryan is a "Star Wars" fan who creates a rumor-mongering Web site. Ratliff says the real site helped crystallize Ryan's character in a case of life imitating art imitating life. "I saw he needed to go in a darker direction," he says. When Ratliff had a finished screenplay, he called Shaun Peterson, in Los Angeles, a buddy since high school. Peterson is an award-winning editor (1998's "Whiteboy") who worked on MTV's "Biorhythm," VH-1's "Behind the Music" and A&E's "Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll." Peterson liked the story well enough to put aside another project and join Ratliff in Missouri, where Ratliff had grown up. The two put together a five-person crew and shot the thing in five weeks for $7,000, most of that living expenses for five people. One actor who signed on was character actor Holmes Osborne ("That Thing You Do," "Ally McBeal," "The West Wing"), who plays Ryan's friend and mentor Uncle Roy. The Screen Actors Guild allows guild members to cut a deal with indie filmmakers for deferred payments. Osborne worked three days playing a shut-in, which made it easy because his scenes required only one set. "He's brilliant at improv," Ratliff says. "He came up with some hilarious stuff." The crew changed the camera angle in the remaining dining room scenes and finished 40 hours of video that Peterson in turn took home to edit on his computer. New software makes it possible to do that without a professional editing suite, but software problems dogged Peterson for months. This cut was finished just weeks ago. The digital video has been treated to look like 35 mm film using the Asiva process by MJM Postproduction in Los Angeles (for more, visit www.livinginmis-souri.com). There was an ongoing debate about just what the movie was. Ratliff said it was a comic tragedy. Peterson said it was a tragic comedy. A Hollywood consultant said not to call it a comedy. They settled on describing it as a dark comedy of manners. Ratliff admits he doesn't know what to expect when he sees the film along with a live audience for the first time. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail bvarble@mailtribune.com |
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