INTERVIEW: ‘Summer Night’ is a midsummer dream
Photo: Summer Night stars, from left, Justin Chatwin and Bill Milner. Photo courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films / Provided by press site with permission.
Summer Night, the new coming-of-tale movie from first-time director Joseph Cross, features a narrative fabric of intertwining stories and characters, all meant to celebrate and explore the intricacies of life, love, struggle and friendship. The movie, written by Jordan Jolliff and released by Samuel Goldwyn Films, debuts in several cinemas Friday, July 12.
“I feel great,” Cross said about his first feature. “A lot of people came together to make this movie happen, so every time it achieves its next goal, it always feel really good. When you first get your distributor on board, it feels like a big victory, and then when you set a date, and you know it’s coming out and people seem to be responding really positively to it, it’s great. It’s all very exciting. We have such a spectacular cast and such a wonderful crew, and so much hard work went into this movie. So it’s really nice for me to see all the work of the people around me being recognized.”
The cast of Summer Night features many up-and-coming actors, including Ellar Coltrane, Ian Nelson, Analeigh Tipton, Bill Milner, Callan McAuliffe and Ella Hunt.
The entire project came from a chance encounter between Cross, Jolliff and executive producer James Ponsoldt. Jolliff and Ponsoldt were working together on a movie called The Circle, and Cross was working on his own script that was “not very good admittedly.”
“But Jordan was kind enough to help me through that, and we just got along really well,” Cross said. “So I was like, ‘If you have anything you want to send to me, anything you want me to read or give opinions on, anything.’ So he started sending stuff, and then he sent Summer Night.”
Cross loved the story almost immediately. He responded to the warmth and connection of the characters, and he also thought there was a true honesty to the coming-of-age tale.
“I said to Jordan, ‘Hey, I’ll do anything I can to try to help you get the movie made. Let’s start working on it,’” the director remembers. “So we started working on the script together, and then after that, I said, ‘I can’t imagine handing this over to somebody else. I really want to direct this, even though I’ve never done that before. Would you be open to it?’ I sort of went through how I thought I would execute it, and he was on board. … I just loved the nuance in Jordan’s script and the quirkiness,” Cross said. “I felt it was very unique, and I thought he had some really funny positions and opinions on stuff. I thought that his characters, some of them had really funny, diverse worldviews. It all just worked to me.”
The duo then approached Ponsoldt to see if he would come on as an executive producer and add credibility to the project. Once he was in place, the new trio started moving forward to bring the script to life.
Once funding was secured, Summer Night proceeded on a tight schedule and tight budget. Due to the financial constraints, they needed to truly appreciate prep time and ensure any issues were solved before the cast was on set and the cameras were rolling.
“We weren’t just sitting around hoping somebody would come in and make it with us,” Cross said. “Jordan and I were working on the script for well over two years and would keep working on it all the way through production, and every time a new actor came on board, I would go back in and tinker with it a little bit to try to tailor the parts to that actor a little bit more specifically. We were an 18-½ day shoot. We were not a big budget. We were very small, so it was very much a labor of love and passion for everybody involved. I don’t want to speak for the cast, but being an actor myself, when you see these little gems of roles in these special little scripts, you want to go do that. You want to go do something that feels honest, that you feel you can really make your own.”
He added: “Thankfully people responded really positively, and they were down to come and have a real indie filmmaking experience. I don’t think that our craft service table was going to impress anybody. We were a small movie, but we had a lot of heart.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Summer Night, directed by Joseph Cross, opens Friday, July 12 in a number of cities across the United States. Click here for more information and tickets.
