PRESTON
MILLER

Frustrated with the lack of getting his dream project funded, Preston Miller went out and made a film with a witty script, very little money, and used that experience to go ahead with his dream project using the same method, and he couldn't be happier with the results.

Miller wrote GOD'S LAND, a quirky drama about an Asian cult who leave their home of Taiwan to go to Garland, Texas to experience a spiritual awakening, but the wife of one of the members starts to experience an awakening and discovery of her own. The film also features a small role from Scott W. Perry, playing a reporter who

The film, shot around Long Island and in Texas, made its premiere in Buffalo last October and recently received a standing ovation at the Soho International Film Festival.

To talk GOD'S LAND, Miller talked to the Movie House about making the film, his first feature JONES, the complexities of shooting GOD'S LAND, and my small role in the film.

SCOTT W. PERRY: At what point in your life did you say to yourself “I want to do this for life?”

PRESTON MILLER: Probably after I saw ‘STAR WARS’ in the cinema for the first time when I was about 6 or 7. I got all the action figures that I could and on our kitchen floor reenacted the entire picture everyday after school until at least the second one came out. That early image, maybe the very first image, of the Imperial Starcruiser loudly passing over the audience on the screen was the most impressive thing I had ever experienced. 

SWP: Your production company is named VINDALOO PHILM-WALLAH. What would you say is the mantra for your company and the significance of its name?

PM: If there is a mantra, it would be the quote from Melvin van Peebles that I have on the front page of our website, “I make a film like I cook for friends. I hope they like it, but if they don’t, I’m prepared to enjoy it all by myself.” This doesn’t mean that I don’t want a large audience or that I make films only for myself. To me it means that I enjoy stories, ideas, films that I haven’t seen before. That’s one big reason I make films. The name kind of works in the food theme as well as Indian cuisine and vindaloo in particular are among my favorite dishes. The PHILM-WALLAH is another way of saying ‘Film-Maker’, albeit with sub-continental flair.

SWP: Your first film JONES was well received and was made for only $2000. What was the inspiration behind JONES?

PM: JONES was made in a fit of frustration due to my inability to raise any capital for GOD’s LAND. I wanted to dash off a short fairly quickly to provide possible investors a sample of my work and ultimately what GOD’s LAND would look like stylistically. The story came to me by way of an overheard conversation at a bar. This fellow basically explained his story of being a new father and rather disappointed in the level of prostitutes in the area. I went back and wrote a quick 12 page screenplay. Once we started shooting, I saw that the running time was approaching one hour so we (Trey Albright, the actor playing Jones and Arsenio Assin the DP) decided to add a few scenes to push it over into feature-length land.

SWP: Being that JONES was shot in real time, what would you say was the most challenging aspect for you in order to keep the pacing perfect?

PM: To be clear, JONES was shot in ‘near-real time’ meaning that many lengthy scenes were in real time but the entire film was not. Pacing and rhythm are tantamount in all my work. The challenge came in the actors getting used to ‘stretching-out’ and not feeling rushed by the director or the take, essentially taking their time in a natural way for the character. I had already determined the tempo and feel of the editing so once the actors clicked in it was no challenge at all.

SWP: I met you on the set of GOD’S LAND through Jeremiah Kipp and I understand it is a passion project of yours, written before you made JONES. How instrumental was completing JONES in giving you the confidence to go ahead with GOD’S LAND as your next feature?

PM: Completing JONES was huge, primarily to show to myself that I could make a feature length film that people could respond to. As I mentioned before, shooting JONES was a bit of a dry-run for the very specific style I wanted to shoot with GOD’s LAND. Also we received a number of fantastic notices from some big name critics such as Amy Taubin and Glenn Kenny. That in itself was impressive being that JONES was rejected from about 30 festivals. (It was ‘accepted’ to only one fly-by-night fest in Arizona, but even that was never confirmed.) Basically, I wrote to a number film writer/critics and fortunately a few of them said they would take a look. That absolutely gave me encouragement to keep going.

SWP: The beauty of GOD’S LAND is finding a spiritual awakening against the backdrop of this supposed cultural event but in dealing with the topic of religion, how difficult was it to find that balance without turning into parody? (For example, the reactions of outsiders who automatically and overdramatically think the members of the cult are going to commit suicide)

PM: The earnestness of the script and the actors’ salesmanship were the key. The story was intentionally written to have a comedic or absurdist shell with a dramatic center. What fascinates me is what people do to set aside logic and to ‘believe’ in something. That could be anything from religion to filmmaking to scoring a touchdown. We could have made it a strict parody but it would have lost of the richness and the empathy of the theme. My favorite stories have to do with the multi-dimensionality of the characters and parody does not really allow for that.

SWP: Although this was a passion film for you and you had written the script years before shooting, you allowed for a lot of improvisation amongst the actors. What would you say was the biggest example of doing this where the film was elevated by a performance you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise?

PM: There were a few excellent scenes that weren’t in the script. The scene where Jackson Ning, who played Teacher Chen, is holding a class for the children was a notable instance. As written, Ollie played by Matthew Chiu was just getting dropped off to the class already in progress. But Jackson, speaking in Mandarin Chinese conducted a class on the ability to use your spirit to heal an ailing plant in the room. I didn’t understand what he was saying when we shot but was transfixed by his interaction with the children. I let the scene run along without calling cut. It was many months later when Wayne Chang was helping me with the subtitles that I got what he was saying. Another great scene is where Hou played by Shing Ka goes to a church and speaks to a minister. The minister is played by Shing’s twin brother, Lee who really is a minister of a church in Staten Island. The story that Lee tells is his own true story of how he received his calling and the effects on his family.

SWP: In contrast to the real time element of JONES, GOD’S LAND has an epic feel to it from its many locations, characters, and themes. How many shooting days did you have and in some cases what were some of the benefits of having creative freedom to shoot?

PM: We shot on weekends for the most part at my house and around my neighborhood. We shot approximately 25-30 days, but only 2 or 3 days were long, full days. Due to the fact that most everyone was basically working for free, I had to schedule shooting around people’s schedules. This was stretched for approximately three-quarters of a year. I wish it could have been shot quicker but the down time allowed me to edit along as we went and germinate new ideas or improve on others. Without any kind of external financial or completion pressure I was able to make the exact film I wanted to make.

SWP: I was impressed with Jodi Lin who plays Xiu. Being the film is told mainly from Xiu’s point of view, what can you say about working with Jodi?

PM: Jodi is such an amazing talent and an amazing person. She has an innate sweetness and generosity that certainly comes through in her performance but she also has unbelievable range. There isn’t an emotional note she is incapable of hitting and because of who she is as a person the notes she hits are entirely authentic without having to result to histrionics or showboating. Here she was basically in a dramatic role but I’ve seen her be just as dynamic in stage comedies as well. I am very pleased to be working with her again on a short that she wrote titled BORTE, QUEEN OF TIBET that we are very close to wrapping up. It’s a very personal story for her and I was honored that she asked me to work on it.

SWP: GOD’S LAND recently had a screening at the second annual Soho International Film Festival and has played in Buffalo and Denver. Are there any other screenings on the horizon and how was the reaction at Soho?

PM: The SOHO screening was outstanding. I’ve never sold out anything before. We had a great audience and being that it was the first time GL had screened locally it was special to show friends, family what you’ve been up to these last several months. The Q & A was very good, plenty of engaged audience members had excellent questions. Right now we are waiting to hear back on future screenings but should play a few theaters in NYC and maybe other joints by year’s end.

SWP: Okay, I gotta say it, let’s talk my scene and the blooper you almost put into the film.

PM: For those that haven’t seen GOD’s LAND, Scott W. Perry plays a ‘gonzo journalist’ who consistently pesters the group for info regarding their possible demise in the face of a failed prophecy. In one scene, through smart improv Scott accosts Xiu played by Jodi Lin in the parking lot of store called ‘Hatstacks!’ She is rescued by an employee and basically tells Scott “to step off.” In another scene which didn’t make the cut, the main family pulls out of the driveway in a minivan and Scott accidentally got stuck on the other side of the van when we called ‘action’. The camera is locked off, the family gets in the van and backs out. Then we see Scott do a dance trying to hide from the camera, jolting left then right and finally hitting the deck. I would have left it in but ultimately it was too funny and would have contextually messed up what the scene was actually about. Maybe we’ll include it as an extra thingy on the DVD.

SWP: You’ve done these films on an impressively low budget and it’s become more accessible for filmmakers like ourselves to make high quality films on micro budgets. Do you see within the next few years that all the bad attempts at this medium will be weeded out and will rise above the studio system?

PM: I’m not very good at prognosticating the future. I think that if you make a good film people will find it. I’m sure that’s a little naïve but that keeps me going. I do know that studios are profit driven so if there is money to be made, they’ll go for it regardless of the origins of the work.

SWP: Let’s say you are Professor Miller, teaching the history of film at a college. You have five films to show your students that best represent film as a whole. Which five would they be and why?

PM: Wow, would really have to think about this for a while. What aspects of the history of film do we want to focus on? Writing, cinematography, editing, populism, politics? I would have to start at the beginning with the Lumiere Bros, Edison, Melies, Griffith, etc. I guess I would ask where the class wanted to go after that. I honestly think there is something to be learned/taught in every movie. Maybe I would take a poll and show only films from places that no one has been.

SWP: What is coming up for you and what is next for GOD’S LAND in terms of festivals and DVD distribution?

PM: For GOD’S LAND, we have just about reached the end of the one year festival cycle so now I’m talking to some folks regarding putting it in some small theaters here in New York and other places. Then the DVD, streaming, etc should take place by the end of the year. I have another screenplay I’ve written called HOW I CAME INTO THIS WORLD which is a romantic-comedy and hope to at least begin pre-production this year. Also, I want to flesh out a few more ideas to screenplays before the year is out.

SWP: Thanks Preston so much for your time and best of luck with everything!

PM: Thank you, Scott. Always a pleasure and best of luck to you.

(All photos courtesy Preston Miller)