Wisconsin cineastes are no stranger to a documentary that follows the story of a talented (if awkward) lead in pursuit of their dreams. Mark Borchardt and American Movie are seared into the local filmmaking conscience, so it should come as no surprise that Chris Smith’s classic documentary loomed as both an inspiration and as a surprising source of talent for Manny Marquez’s feature debut Psychopath, playing this Saturday at the Times Cinema (4:15 p.m.).
A story over a decade in the making, Marquez’s film is a portrait of his Uncle Victor, a man who has long harbored dreams of creating gruesome makeup effects for Hollywood movies, only to find that dream deferred once he started a family with his beloved wife. Twenty-five years later, they pool their life savings together to make a Hail Mary attempt at chasing this obsession – buying acreage in a backwoods Oklahoma location with the expressed goal of building a horror theme park (called the “Psycho Path”). However, the ruined terrain, suspicious (and to be honest, racist) locals and tightening funds all threaten to unravel this dream project before it ever leaves the ground.
It’s a genuinely involving documentary, with twists and turns and an energy all its own. Victor Marquez surrounds himself with unique characters who are looking to help, and much of the film’s drama is wrought from his inability to harness these dynamic personalities. It’s a picture that will ring true to anyone who’s ever followed a long-shot dream. Marquez first brought the rough outline of this story to the MFF in 2012, as a participant in the Work-in-Progress Forum (along with filmmaker Sitora Takanaev, whose short film Carnival of the Animals precedes tomorrow’s screening) and the positive feedback he received there let him know he was on the right path. I was lucky enough to interview Manny about this project and its genesis, development, the struggles of making a film about family and what he has planned next.
On the inception of this story:
“There was a script I had written back in college that I was trying to get made. It was a story about a family friend that tried to murder me when I was a child! The idea I had was to shoot it in Oklahoma in the actual locations, so my producer friend and I went there to scout locations. While in Oklahoma, my Uncle called me and told me he had bought some property in a flood area and he was going to planning on building a haunted house theme park. Since we had cameras with us, we thought maybe this place would be a good location for us to include in our scouting. Ben, my producer, and I went out there, and we were baffled! The place was covered in water, and you had to have an amphibious vehicle to get around it. Yet, my uncle was ambitiously showing us around and telling us all his plans for what he was going to call the “Psycho Path.”
On what spurred him to commit to keep following it:
“…I went back to LA, and we couldn’t raise the money at that time for that feature. So, I was forced to going back to work as a camera assistant on reality shows. I was on set one day, changing batteries on someone’s camera, and it hit me…what was I doing with my life? I studied cinema. I adored cinema. The only way I could make my way into cinema was if I took control of my life and made a movie. So, at lunch I stepped off set and called my uncle. I asked him if he was still working on the “Psycho Path,” and if he would mind if I came and started filming him? He was into it. A friend of mine had recently introduced me to Barry Poltermann. If you don’t know, Barry edited the film American Movie, and I was a huge fan of that documentary! I pitched the idea of filming my uncle, and Barry said he thought it was worth shooting some footage, see if there was anything there. So, he helped us with a camera, audio gear, and got us to Oklahoma to film for a week.
On the long journey Psychopath took towards completion:
“I always believed there was always a story there from the start, I just didn’t know what that story would be. To be completely honest, it took me five years to find the story in Psychopath that I knew we’d chase! The first year we filmed, that was 2005, I lived there for eight months filming everything. At that point I thought the story would just be following my uncle completing the building of the park, and seeing if he resolved the issues with the neighbors. I went back, started cutting the footage, and just became frustrated. I didn’t have a movie I’d like to watch in that box of tapes. So, in the subsequent years, I’d film important events and I’d spend a day or two each Halloween season collecting some footage. It wasn’t until 2010, when a lot of things had happened for my Aunt and Uncle, and for many of the characters in the film, that I know we had something there. I began doing new interviews and shooting supporting b-roll, and we just kept shooting up until about a month ago! If the film festival wasn’t tomorrow, I may still be shooting, and Barry might be tweaking the edit!”
On making a movie with family:
“That was the hardest part for me. When I first started the film, I didn’t want anyone to know I was related to Uncle Victor. My approach to filming it was that I was an outsider just wanting to tell the story in an honest and objective way. As things started unfolding, it was hard to maintain that way of thinking as the filmmaker. In fact, I didn’t even want the audience to know I was related to him. Now, as you’ll see in the film at the festival, I introduce the story. I’m thankful that Barry and the team at AboutFace jumped in on the edit, because there is no way I would have been able to make an honest movie about my family without them. I tell each of you film students out there: ‘Don’t ever make a film about your family. It will be the hardest thing you ever do to yourself.’”
On what comes next:
“I have several documentary projects I’m interested. There’s a film I’d like to do about a year in the life of a parish priest. You know, priests get so much bad press but I’m Catholic and I’ve met many of the good ones that help so many people. They’re the center of many communities, with baptisms, marriages, funerals, etc. I find that interesting. There are a few other projects I’ve been offered, and I’m considering. Other than that, I’m thinking of finally doing the feature film about the man that tried to kill me. Maybe that’s what I should do next, just to finish what I started.”
