Interview with Filmmaker and Actor Frank Mosley

Interview for Frank’s movie Spider Veins. Watch here.

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How did you come up with the idea for this movie?

I had just come off my second feature film, which had taken four years to complete — -a very intense labor of love. I had grown a lot as a filmmaker during that time and wanted to simultaneously expand the style I had started with the feature but also to make something shorter and smaller that I could complete in way less time. I was into the idea of how people are always performing — -if not on stage or in films, they are always doing it in their daily lives too — -when are they ever truly real? How does this affect their relationships? I had never made a film specifically ABOUT acting even though I’m an actor myself and have been making movies for so long. But it felt right to explore it.

What drove you to use the visual language that you did for this particular movie?

I was really into exploring a style I had started with my previous features and even toyed with in some video installations I’d done around the same time. But I thought it worked for this film. It’s a film that I wanted to feel still, observant, and formal above all else — -to mirror a kind of self-aware “performance” the characters were struggling with.

What other movies or arts did you consume in preparation, or what of those inspired you for this production?

Ibsen’s A DOLL’S HOUSE was the major point of inspiration when writing. When prepping the shoot, Edward Hopper was a big influence, as well as some of the feelings of Cassavetes’ OPENING NIGHT or Claire Denis’ early dramas. But the biggest influences were the installation work of Hubbard and Birchler — -experimental quasi-narratives that felt like their stories could be looped, or viewed in a gallery.

Talk about a pleasant surprise you had during production.

I had hoped for this, but it was still a surprise — -in that the improv by the wonderful actors Jenny Ledel, Katey Parker, Danielle Pickard, Carolyn King, Amber Emery, and Natalie Young felt so authentic and so thrilling and fresh. We did the 360 scene a dozen times, and I can’t remember what take it was that we finally chose for the cut. But it was never a question of their performance, only making sure the camera was right. Though we’d had an outline for them for that scene — of the subjects to cover, the flow of conversation, and their feelings/relationships to one another — -they dialogue they brought to the scene really elevated that moment. I could’ve watched that scene forever.

Talk about a pleasant surprise you had during post-production.

Editing. What had originally been a 20 page script and then an 18 minute first cut eventually landed at 15 minutes way late into the game. I ended up cutting a lot of exposition out of the film and letting the only long conversation be the “fake” one, and then later the one with the women outside. While the structure of the film did not change in editing, it was edited more elliptically and became, ultimately, a quieter film. More questions were answered originally in the 18 minute cut; in the 15, I realized I wanted the ending to have the lingering feeling of mystery. To not end it with a period, but with a question mark.

Why do you think you were driven to make this specific movie at this specific time?

I was about to turn 30 at the time and was thinking about how friends in the art world had started changing; many had moved toward more “practical” jobs and given up the art while others had leaned more heavily into their craft. I wanted to explore that divide not only between friends, but how friends in general can grow apart over time. Because of this, it felt like a turning point.

Did the film come out how you thought it would?

Tonally and stylistically, it did. But again, the edit really changed it for the actors. Katey Parker and Danielle Pickard, my leads, were surprised by how much of their relationship had been stripped down to remain more mysterious in the end.

Do you have your future filmography laid out?

I’m trying to be careful with what I make next. I’m realizing the older I get that I might not be able to make all the myriad of ideas I’ve wanted to do. Time is limited and priorities shift as you get older. Since SPIDER VEINS, I completed two other shorts to form a trilogy on performance and memory. But since then, I’ve co-directed a short film with a buddy (written by him) that is tonally different than everything I’ve made before. I have a thriller feature I’ve been wanting to make next, but might ease into it by making a new short of my own — -playing with genre for the first time. I’m trying to be open to unexpected surprises and fits of inspirations, but also still wanting to make some films that have been in my back pocket for a long time.

If you could focus your life on one thing that didn’t have to do with movies, what would that be?

I’d probably be a writer, novelist or playwright. Still arts related, but focused on the writing. Outside of the arts field, and even now, I’ve been moonlighting in the education field. I am a substitute teacher and have considered teaching full-time down the road, maybe even going into academia at the collegiate level. But outside of my balancing act of art and education, I would probably work in something physical — -working in carpentry or painting houses. Something with my hands. Though I also thought I’d get into social work.

What do you hope to pass along to other artists?

I don’t have anything specific to pass on to other artists. Maybe other than that they keep pushing themselves, keep exploring. There’s never a perfect time to do anything. So maybe they shouldn’t forget that new work or opportunity comes by a mix of timing and experience.

How could your life, as a filmmaker and in reference to your career/art, be improved? What do you wish was different?

I consider myself very fortunate in my life. The fact that I’m able to explore my art at all is a privilege, and I’m thankful. I also have supportive, encouraging friends and family, so I can’t ask for more. But the art is also dancing on the line of being a profession instead of solely a passion. I think if I could do it full time and for a living, that would be really wonderful, but other things would have to change in my life in order for that to happen. And it’s hard to say what will happen next. I’m not making films for a career, like I sometimes do with my choices as a working actor. I’m making films only because I want to, and I want to make a body of work that is completely me, one to be explored by others way down the line. And who knows? If someone could come across one of my films and it leads them to other work I’ve done, that would be wonderful. To be discovered by someone random in the future and to have an effect on them, to make them maybe think about something they otherwise might not have? That’s all we can do.