Black & white, the 1950s and opera. Yeah, I don't understand it either. I think I wanted this film to be my own weird spin on how I felt about love at the time, but I'll be darned if I even understand this... and I'm the schmuck who made it!From what I remember, I was set on making something that was pretty ambiguous and allowed people the opportunity to give it their own spin; sort of a Kubrick meets Joel & Ethan Coen kind of film. I was also very much enamored of the Coens' black & white masterpiece The Man Who Wasn't There, which is probably pretty obvious. I actually don't have my own interpretation of this; what others think it's about is far more interesting and, frankly, creative than anything I could come up with. If I were to make this today, I think there are a few tweaks that I'd probably make but, for the most part, it's pretty close to what I had in my head.
Went to a few festivals, got pretty mixed reviews, cost me a fortune (at the time) to make, but it got me started on my love affair with making movies. It's one thing to watch movies and another thing entirely to make movies, and True Blue Beauty's gift to me was revealing how amazing it is to make movies. For me, I love the process and it generally goes by far too quickly. Making the film also allowed me to make a few friends that have stuck by me and supported me over the last decade -- most notably the great Jeff Hofmann, who I'm bound and determined to try to put in everything I do.
When I think about it, as goofy as it might sound, True Blue Beauty really is the gift that keeps on giving. It is to me, at least.
