Interview with Director Casey Safron on "Wasted Sunshine"

Casey, it's great to talk with you. Let's begin by you telling me about yourself? I am from New York and went to school in the Bronx, which is where I met Richard Weintraub, the producer of "Wasted Sunshine." I've made movies all my life and eventually graduated to making feature films after college.

What made you choose to produce the film "Wasted Sunshine?" "Wasted Sunshine" was a film written by my college roommate, Jonathan Lang, with the intention of creating a true Florida Keys tale of depression, almost like a Charles Bukowski piece with more drama. I had worked with a good team of friends for many years creating films, and Jon was part of this team. He grew up in Florida and had a family home in the Keys, we based the story around the location and went from there.

"Wasted Sunshine" is dramatic comedy, following Danny Moore (David Brownstein), a devout Alcoholics Anonymous member, on a visit to see his alcoholic, retired DA father, Victor Moore (Carson Grant). A messy love-triangle evolves between Danny and his Dad's new wife, Melody Barnes (Sarah Ford Smith), who is Danny's age. The film was shot on location in Islamorada, Florida. The shoot was full of intense moments.

We closed down a highway for an hour, were bitten by endless mosquitoes and a couple serious equipment failures, particularly with a generator the size of a motor home and some faulty sound equipment.

In the end, it was a true learning experience for everyone involved. The cast and the crew worked 24/7 to succeed in completely the film in this short time frame. The actors really got into the souls of their characters, forming them from the outside in, by doing their own costume work and rehearsing privately.

We shot about 20 hours of digital video in just a week, a tremendous amount of work for a small crew. The actors had to be on point at all times while the crew needed to focus extra hard to succeed and complete the tasks.

On the character of Victor, what made you decide on choosing actor Carson Grant for this role? Carson was the most interesting character actor that we met. It was as if the role was written for him without even knowing him. In auditions, he pulled out all the stops and was clearly the actor with the most emotional edge in the studio. He became Victor in a way that the writer could have never imagined.

What is behind the woman and the locket? The locket is a gift from the Victor character to his young wife. The twist behind the locket is that the locket belonged to Victor's previous wife, Danny's Mother. Also, in a key scene in the film, Melody places the locket on Danny, consummating their romantic encounter but later accidentally revealing it to Victor.

In the one scene in the hospital where the son forgives his Dad, what is he forgiving him for? The Dad doesn't seem to know why, yet accepts, could you tell us about that? Danny forgives his Father for remarrying so soon after his mother died. He also is trying to get forgiveness for himself for fulfilling his attraction to his Father's new wife. In his dying hospital bed, Victor discovers the locket on Danny's neck and confronts the hidden affair.

"Wasted Sunshine" has been shown at Pumelo Film Festival 2006, Dusty Film Festival and Superfilms Premier Screenings.
Casey is currently producing animation for MTV and the Sundance Channel. For More Information about "Wasted Sunshine" visit http://www.ridgewood13.com/film_wasted.html

I'd like to thank Casey very much for the interview.

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