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Tom Gustafson Goes Round with the World
Expanded Edition of 12-10-08 Windy City Times Interview
by Richard Knight, Jr.
Expanded Edition of 12-10-08 Windy City Times Interview
by Richard Knight, Jr.
Were the World Mine director and co-writer Gustafson with co-writer and partner Cory James Krueckeberg, Tanner Cohen and Neil
David Patrick in the film
David Patrick in the film
Out writer-director Tom Gustafson has had quite a year. For the last five years he’s been working on a gay twist on Shakespeare’s
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” first with the short Fairies in 2003 and then with the full length Were the World Mine. Since March he's
been visiting film festivals worldwide trumpeting the film and building positive word of mouth for the movie, most of it coming from
GLBT audiences. Critical praise – including a rare rave in the New York Times for a gay indie – has helped build the audience for the
movie which Gustafson and his partners are distributing theatrically themselves.
The delightful film is a musical comedy with pop songs ala Erasure and Abba in which the daydreams of a gay teenage high school
boy about the high school jock magically comes true when he finds himself turned into a real life Puck, able to turn the narrow
minded, homophobic townspeople gay and for awhile, the jock as well.
Were the World Mine, which Gustafson co-wrote with his offscreen partner Cory James Krueckeberg was filmed entirely in Chicago with a
mostly local cast and crew headlined by Wendy Robie (of “Twin Peaks” fame) – many of whom will be on hand when After spending
10 months on the festival circuit Gustafson is again continuing to travel to support the movie (a Northwestern graduate, he and
Krueckeberg now live in New York). He returns to Chicago on Saturday, December 13th for an after screening Q&A at the Music Box
Theatre. The film opens there exclusively on Friday, December 12. www.musicboxtheatre.com Excerpts from our interview:
WINDY CITY TIMES (WCT): I know you don’t like the term “gay film” which we talked about at the Chicago Film Festival screening
last October.
TOM GUSTAFSON (TG): Yes.
WCT: But, of course, being a queer film critic and having seen pretty much every single queer film that comes down the pike and
this looks to be the queer indie film of the year—
TG: Well, thank you.
WCT: Is that still a derogative term in your mind?
TG: I have such a love/hate relationship with that label because obviously I think that the buzz that we have created around this
film and the press that we gotten is 100% because of the reception that it’s had at gay and lesbian film festival. I mean without
those festivals we wouldn’t have an audience; we wouldn’t have the buzz out there. So I think it’s really important that a) there are
those festivals and b) we did make a film with gay characters so obviously it is a gay film. But the downside to that is that it’s a
constant fight with press and trying to get an audience in the door with that label because as soon as someone hears “gay” they
think that it’s just for gay people. So we constantly have to be challenging that label as well to make sure that we don’t just limit our
audience. I think the film doesn’t just resonate with gay and lesbian audiences. So it’s been a challenge with that label but I also
understand why it’s a good thing.
WCT: Did I read somewhere that LOGO came to you and said, “We want to turn this (Fairies) into a series” and you said, “No, we
want to do a feature film first?”
TG: No, we actually were talking to the gay networks – at that time I think there were three. I think Q Television was interested as
well. They were all kind of starting and hadn’t launched yet and we talked to a couple of them about doing a series or doing
something with the idea of Fairies. LOGO bought our short film but then as we started developing the idea for the series we were
like, “You know what, this has to be a feature” so that kind of stopped quickly.
WCT: Let’s talk about the songs which are terrifically infectious.
TG: Thank you. When we decided to expand it we knew that we wanted more music and we decided to figure out where within the
story the music would make most sense. I’m really proud of the soundtrack, Cory and I did the dialogue editing for it and I think it
really captures the film. I’m really proud of it.
WCT: That’s the one thing I wanted more of – I wanted more songs, more musical numbers. That’s a major highlight of the film.
I'm guessing you’ve heard this a zillion times, right?
TG: I have and I really do think that it’s such a good thing that people say that because it would be terrible for people to say the
other thing. You know like, “Oh God, if I hear that song one more time…” and people say that about lots of movies.
WCT: I think people don’t really understand the nuts and bolts of putting together a movie like this. Trying to raise money for
something like this has to be very different than Milk, say.
TG: (laughs) Totally.
WCT: When Gus Van Sant said, “I have Sean Penn” then I’m assuming the money was there.
TG: Right.
WCT: You didn’t have that luxury. So, do you do backer’s auditions like a play or something?
TG: No, not really. I was pretty naïve going in on it because my day job was casting on really big movies like Pirates 2 and 3 and The
Dark Knight, the Batman movie so I kinda had that Hollywood mentality of, “We’ll get a name actor and we’ll get the money” and
sure, that works for some people but it’s hard for a first time feature filmmaker as well as a gay musical. So we tried that for a little
bit, we chased our tail trying to get a name actor to attach but we couldn’t get that without the money and we couldn’t get the money
without the actor so finally we said, “Look, this is silly. We’re going to make the movie for whatever. We’re going to take our credit
cards and we’re going to go for it.”
At that time we had done a couple of staged readings of the screenplay in New York. But it really wasn’t until we said, “We’re going
to make this no matter what and we’re ready to go in crazy debt to do it that our investors started coming in.” I think we ended up
with a total of five or six private investors who financed the whole film and have truly been the angel investors that have completely
believed in the project and Cory and my vision for it.
WCT: That’s wonderful but scary to hear. Then you assembled this very fresh cast. I also love that the Wendy Robie you know
from “Twin Peaks” and The People Under the Stairs is seen in a whole new light in this.
TG: She’s amazing. When we found her for the short film she had just relocated to Chicago for a little while. She stopped the TV
stuff and decided to come back and do some stage work and we found her through one of the small little theatre companies. There
was her head shot and we met and the character was created.
WCT: Now do I understand that both young actors, your two leads, are out?
TG: Tanner (Cohen) is out.
WCT: Well that’s good. We need a lot more of that.
TG: I completely agree. I find it very important. It was very important to Cory and I to cast gay actors in the lead roles so that’s
my comment on that. I’m very tired of the closet. I think it’s a very relevant question. You know one of our actors is dealing with
what that means and how to deal with it but I truly believe that the closet is industry created and we need to burst that from the
inside or else it will never go away.
WCT: It’s so ironic that this would be the case in the movies – what I refer to as the gay man’s Olympics (laughs).
TG: I know. Totally.
WCT: It’s so odd that gay men can’t be out in an industry that they’re so inherently a part of behind and in front of the camera.
TG: Totally. It’s silly, kinda silly.
WCT: Well kudos, because I think that it worked. Okay, so now the film is finished and now you take around to film festivals – that
was the next step. Was it like 60 film festivals you were part of?
TG: I think it’s like 75 now. We’ve gone to Japan and Italy – all over the world with it which is really exciting to see it universally
acclaimed. The reaction has usually been the same – audiences are so wanting an optimistic, fun film so it’s been really exciting
and gratifying.
WCT: How do you logistically go to 75 film festivals? Who pays for that?
TG: It’s a mix. A lot of film festivals will bring you out for Q&A so they fly you out and put you up. A lot of independent films
decide not to play many festivals because they’re worried that it’s going to hurt theatrical. We’re just starting our theatrical so we
don’t know the answer to that yet but I think without the festivals that we’ve play – and we tried to play every single festival that we
could – I think that’s what has given the film a longer life than a lot of the gay indie films. We are finding our audiences at the
festivals so that’s great. We launched in March at the Florida Film Festival and it’s been 10 months.
WCT: After this theatrical run have you guys figured out what you’re going to do next with the film?
TG: Yes, we’ve sold the film within the U.S. to video on demand which starts I think in February through Time-Warner and Wolfe
Video and then Wolfe Video will have the DVD which will launch I think in May or June of next year and then we will be on LOGO next
summer. Then we’ve also sold it to between like six and eight other countries. We just sold it to an airline so we’re going to be on
an airplane (laughs).
WCT: Oooh! I like that.
TG: And several other countries – I know we’re getting a theatrical release in Germany, I think in January.
WCT: Now after five years of this material are you are you ready for another project?
TG: I’m definitely ready. Cory has written a new screenplay called Mariachi Gringo and we’re hoping to move into that pretty quickly
next year and try and get that off the ground so we can be shooting next year. We’d love to come back to Chicago and shoot. It’s
going to be shot in both the U.S. and in Mexico. Its music driven, it’s got like about a dozen mariachi songs. It’s about this guy
who this guy who runs away from his dead end life to go be a mariachi singer in Mexico. It’s all about music and is music driven.
WCT: Is it gay driven too, are there gay characters?
TG: There is, there’s a gay plot in there.
WCT: Okay, love that. Well I’m really excited for you guys. It’s a great film for all audiences – gay or straight.
TG: I agree!
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” first with the short Fairies in 2003 and then with the full length Were the World Mine. Since March he's
been visiting film festivals worldwide trumpeting the film and building positive word of mouth for the movie, most of it coming from
GLBT audiences. Critical praise – including a rare rave in the New York Times for a gay indie – has helped build the audience for the
movie which Gustafson and his partners are distributing theatrically themselves.
The delightful film is a musical comedy with pop songs ala Erasure and Abba in which the daydreams of a gay teenage high school
boy about the high school jock magically comes true when he finds himself turned into a real life Puck, able to turn the narrow
minded, homophobic townspeople gay and for awhile, the jock as well.
Were the World Mine, which Gustafson co-wrote with his offscreen partner Cory James Krueckeberg was filmed entirely in Chicago with a
mostly local cast and crew headlined by Wendy Robie (of “Twin Peaks” fame) – many of whom will be on hand when After spending
10 months on the festival circuit Gustafson is again continuing to travel to support the movie (a Northwestern graduate, he and
Krueckeberg now live in New York). He returns to Chicago on Saturday, December 13th for an after screening Q&A at the Music Box
Theatre. The film opens there exclusively on Friday, December 12. www.musicboxtheatre.com Excerpts from our interview:
WINDY CITY TIMES (WCT): I know you don’t like the term “gay film” which we talked about at the Chicago Film Festival screening
last October.
TOM GUSTAFSON (TG): Yes.
WCT: But, of course, being a queer film critic and having seen pretty much every single queer film that comes down the pike and
this looks to be the queer indie film of the year—
TG: Well, thank you.
WCT: Is that still a derogative term in your mind?
TG: I have such a love/hate relationship with that label because obviously I think that the buzz that we have created around this
film and the press that we gotten is 100% because of the reception that it’s had at gay and lesbian film festival. I mean without
those festivals we wouldn’t have an audience; we wouldn’t have the buzz out there. So I think it’s really important that a) there are
those festivals and b) we did make a film with gay characters so obviously it is a gay film. But the downside to that is that it’s a
constant fight with press and trying to get an audience in the door with that label because as soon as someone hears “gay” they
think that it’s just for gay people. So we constantly have to be challenging that label as well to make sure that we don’t just limit our
audience. I think the film doesn’t just resonate with gay and lesbian audiences. So it’s been a challenge with that label but I also
understand why it’s a good thing.
WCT: Did I read somewhere that LOGO came to you and said, “We want to turn this (Fairies) into a series” and you said, “No, we
want to do a feature film first?”
TG: No, we actually were talking to the gay networks – at that time I think there were three. I think Q Television was interested as
well. They were all kind of starting and hadn’t launched yet and we talked to a couple of them about doing a series or doing
something with the idea of Fairies. LOGO bought our short film but then as we started developing the idea for the series we were
like, “You know what, this has to be a feature” so that kind of stopped quickly.
WCT: Let’s talk about the songs which are terrifically infectious.
TG: Thank you. When we decided to expand it we knew that we wanted more music and we decided to figure out where within the
story the music would make most sense. I’m really proud of the soundtrack, Cory and I did the dialogue editing for it and I think it
really captures the film. I’m really proud of it.
WCT: That’s the one thing I wanted more of – I wanted more songs, more musical numbers. That’s a major highlight of the film.
I'm guessing you’ve heard this a zillion times, right?
TG: I have and I really do think that it’s such a good thing that people say that because it would be terrible for people to say the
other thing. You know like, “Oh God, if I hear that song one more time…” and people say that about lots of movies.
WCT: I think people don’t really understand the nuts and bolts of putting together a movie like this. Trying to raise money for
something like this has to be very different than Milk, say.
TG: (laughs) Totally.
WCT: When Gus Van Sant said, “I have Sean Penn” then I’m assuming the money was there.
TG: Right.
WCT: You didn’t have that luxury. So, do you do backer’s auditions like a play or something?
TG: No, not really. I was pretty naïve going in on it because my day job was casting on really big movies like Pirates 2 and 3 and The
Dark Knight, the Batman movie so I kinda had that Hollywood mentality of, “We’ll get a name actor and we’ll get the money” and
sure, that works for some people but it’s hard for a first time feature filmmaker as well as a gay musical. So we tried that for a little
bit, we chased our tail trying to get a name actor to attach but we couldn’t get that without the money and we couldn’t get the money
without the actor so finally we said, “Look, this is silly. We’re going to make the movie for whatever. We’re going to take our credit
cards and we’re going to go for it.”
At that time we had done a couple of staged readings of the screenplay in New York. But it really wasn’t until we said, “We’re going
to make this no matter what and we’re ready to go in crazy debt to do it that our investors started coming in.” I think we ended up
with a total of five or six private investors who financed the whole film and have truly been the angel investors that have completely
believed in the project and Cory and my vision for it.
WCT: That’s wonderful but scary to hear. Then you assembled this very fresh cast. I also love that the Wendy Robie you know
from “Twin Peaks” and The People Under the Stairs is seen in a whole new light in this.
TG: She’s amazing. When we found her for the short film she had just relocated to Chicago for a little while. She stopped the TV
stuff and decided to come back and do some stage work and we found her through one of the small little theatre companies. There
was her head shot and we met and the character was created.
WCT: Now do I understand that both young actors, your two leads, are out?
TG: Tanner (Cohen) is out.
WCT: Well that’s good. We need a lot more of that.
TG: I completely agree. I find it very important. It was very important to Cory and I to cast gay actors in the lead roles so that’s
my comment on that. I’m very tired of the closet. I think it’s a very relevant question. You know one of our actors is dealing with
what that means and how to deal with it but I truly believe that the closet is industry created and we need to burst that from the
inside or else it will never go away.
WCT: It’s so ironic that this would be the case in the movies – what I refer to as the gay man’s Olympics (laughs).
TG: I know. Totally.
WCT: It’s so odd that gay men can’t be out in an industry that they’re so inherently a part of behind and in front of the camera.
TG: Totally. It’s silly, kinda silly.
WCT: Well kudos, because I think that it worked. Okay, so now the film is finished and now you take around to film festivals – that
was the next step. Was it like 60 film festivals you were part of?
TG: I think it’s like 75 now. We’ve gone to Japan and Italy – all over the world with it which is really exciting to see it universally
acclaimed. The reaction has usually been the same – audiences are so wanting an optimistic, fun film so it’s been really exciting
and gratifying.
WCT: How do you logistically go to 75 film festivals? Who pays for that?
TG: It’s a mix. A lot of film festivals will bring you out for Q&A so they fly you out and put you up. A lot of independent films
decide not to play many festivals because they’re worried that it’s going to hurt theatrical. We’re just starting our theatrical so we
don’t know the answer to that yet but I think without the festivals that we’ve play – and we tried to play every single festival that we
could – I think that’s what has given the film a longer life than a lot of the gay indie films. We are finding our audiences at the
festivals so that’s great. We launched in March at the Florida Film Festival and it’s been 10 months.
WCT: After this theatrical run have you guys figured out what you’re going to do next with the film?
TG: Yes, we’ve sold the film within the U.S. to video on demand which starts I think in February through Time-Warner and Wolfe
Video and then Wolfe Video will have the DVD which will launch I think in May or June of next year and then we will be on LOGO next
summer. Then we’ve also sold it to between like six and eight other countries. We just sold it to an airline so we’re going to be on
an airplane (laughs).
WCT: Oooh! I like that.
TG: And several other countries – I know we’re getting a theatrical release in Germany, I think in January.
WCT: Now after five years of this material are you are you ready for another project?
TG: I’m definitely ready. Cory has written a new screenplay called Mariachi Gringo and we’re hoping to move into that pretty quickly
next year and try and get that off the ground so we can be shooting next year. We’d love to come back to Chicago and shoot. It’s
going to be shot in both the U.S. and in Mexico. Its music driven, it’s got like about a dozen mariachi songs. It’s about this guy
who this guy who runs away from his dead end life to go be a mariachi singer in Mexico. It’s all about music and is music driven.
WCT: Is it gay driven too, are there gay characters?
TG: There is, there’s a gay plot in there.
WCT: Okay, love that. Well I’m really excited for you guys. It’s a great film for all audiences – gay or straight.
TG: I agree!
