A personal early favorite of 2017, “Donald Cried” is a little gem of an indie comedy whose sharp humor about deconstructing the notion of “arrested development” had me literally laughing out loud.
In this dark comedy, which was executive produced by David Gordon Green, Jody Hill & Danny McBride, former childhood best friends, Donald (Kris Avedisian) and Peter (Jesse Wakeman), are forced to reconnect under the oddest of circumstances. At its core, “Donald Cried” is a simple story about rediscovery and friendship while remaining bizarrely funny and, ultimately, universal.
I had the opportunity to talk to the stars of the film, whose talents extended far beyond just the front of the camera. Both guys, in addition to their friend, Kyle Espeleta, wrote the script, and this marks Avedisian’s feature-length directorial debut. With so much time, money, and passion invested in this film, we talk about their prior filmmaking history, inspiration from the Coen brothers, and toeing the thin line between “Euro” and “Conventional.”
What was your favorite movie of last year (2016)?
Kris Avedisian: I’m honestly going to say my most memorable experience is not a movie, but it was actually a video game called Inside. It is a small, independent dice-rolling game, like a David Lynch thing. I think that game was just as much a narrative experience as a movie could be.
Jesse Wakeman: ‘The People vs OJ,’ which was also not a movie, but I think it’s amazing.
KA: Was “Green Room” from 2016?
Oh, it was, it made my “Top 10.”
KA: Yeah, that’s one I think about for sure.
I saw “Donald Cried” a few weeks back at the Cinefamily, and I went in not knowing what to expect. Turns out, it’s hilarious! What is it like for you to take this movie on the road and hear the audience laugh?
KA: It’s amazing that you can take [the film] to these different people in different places. I’ve shown it in colleges to younger folk and also people in Tallahassee, FL who are in their 60’s who were really, really into it. It’s been awesome. To be able to make strangers laugh like that is unreal.
JW: It’s kinda sad, you spend all this time wanting exactly that to happen, and then it happens, which is completely incredible. But I’m just too fucked up and always worry what’s wrong with the movie, or what’s next still, unfortunately. Fortunately, it’s been amazing.
How did you two meet and what was your first filmmaking experience together like?
KA: We met in the Bay Area through our other co-writer, Kyle Espeleta. Kyle and I were making shorts and eventually, Jesse came into the mix. We all got along pretty immediately and sort of formed this family.
JW: In retrospect, I feel so lucky that we did meet. I worked as an actor for a long time, before I met the crew. When we first met, I was like, ‘Wow, our sensibilities really align.’ This was about 17 years ago. We were just grinding, working on these short films. We made the Donald short in 2012, at that time we had a couple of feature scripts in the works and were trying to make our first feature, but after the short, we thought, ‘Wow, these are characters we can work with and develop more.’ Plus, we were both in it, so we could control it ourselves. We had to find a way to do it our way but with no money, and do it well. I guess that’s what took us so damn long.
To be able to make strangers laugh like that is unreal.
You mentioned working on other projects before this one, what made you want to make your feature debut with ‘Donald Cried?’
KA: We’ve always liked the comedy-drama mix, and the short film had all of the ingredients we needed– Jesse and I would primarily be in it, we could afford to make it, and it was funny which would be good commercially. Even writing the script, we were debating how “Euro” or “conventional” we should make it. We knew if it was too experiential or “Euro” it would have failed.
JW: I felt like in watching the performances, we weren’t pushing. We had made a lot of shorts where the acting was close to the characters, but it wasn’t quite right. Then we made ‘Donald’ and it was like, oh, I believe these characters.
Among other champions of the film are your executive producers, David Gordon Green, Jody Hill, and Danny McBride, who presented the movie at the Cinefamily screening. What did they say they responded to in the film?
KA: David said at the Cinefamily screening, which I think was the nicest thing he said about it, was that he felt like “Donald Cried” was a personal gift made for him. I don’t want to speak for him, but I think they responded to the humor and the compactness of the story– how much it does in such a small amount of time.
JW: We have been watching their work for years now, they are huge influences on us, so having their approval was huge.
How do you work together, specifically during the scriptwriting process? Do you finish each other’s sentences?
KA: For this particular project, we would just throw ideas around and build outlines. I would then write a draft based on that outline. We’d go through that, see what was and wasn’t working, and then get back together and keep working on it from an outline standpoint. I think that’s kind of our thing, the writing comes last.
JW: We’d look to other films, “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” would come up a lot. That one in particular, although it has a different tone, we’d ask “How did they do that buddy structure?”
KA: I just listened to a Coen brothers [interview] because I was curious how they operated. I forget if it was Ethan or Joel, but one of them writes just because they type faster than the other one. He just sits there and writes as they’re both talking through it.
That’s the scene that ended up being what I hoped it was when it was just in simple sentence form. Plus, people seem to really enjoy that scene, and you can’t tell that we were actually really miserable.
When you look back on shooting, was there one moment that you remember fondly?
KA: I think the scene that we’re smoking pot in. That was written as us going into the woods and kind of fuck around, and it just looked terrible in the script but I knew it was something we would improvise. During production, we shot a version of it that was really constricted and wasn’t improvised, and it didn’t really work. We had to reshoot [that scene] while it was snowing, and I thought the movie was a failure. Jesse wasn’t feeling well but we just forced ourselves to do it, and that’s the scene that ended up being what I hoped it was when it was just in simple sentence form. Plus, people seem to really enjoy that scene, and you can’t tell that we were actually really miserable.
JW: Absolutely, it was tense. The snow came to us five days before we started shooting. We needed the snow, but were prepared to shoot without it, but it came. And then when we needed to do the reshoot, it came again.
Any last thoughts on the film before it hits theaters?
KA: I hope people see it in a movie theater, that’s the best way to experience a movie. I need to see more movies in a movie theater.
JW: Yeah, we just feel so lucky and hope to make more things soon!
