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An Interview with Tristan James Jensen, Director of Beguiled Company

by Mike Haberfelner

February 2022

Films directed by Tristan James Jensen on (re)Search my Trash

 

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Your new movie Beguiled Company - in a few words, what is it about?

 

It’s about a group of young friends who come together and embrace chaos by going on a downward spiral of anarchic mayhem. A logline for the movie goes “do drugs. do crime. repeat.”

 

A Clockwork Orange is referenced time and again in Beguiled Company - so what do both book and film mean to you, both personally and also in relation to your movie?

 

I remember the first time I saw A Clockwork Orange. My prior experiences of the movie were as a teenager with a slow motion scene from a South Park Coon & Friends episode where Cartman beats the shit out of his “friend”, and the anniversary edition trailer that I remember seeing on my Sucker Punch Extended Cut Blu-ray; you know, the ALMOST complete masterpiece by Zack Snyder that still needs his Director’s Cut treatment. It was pretty funny watching A Clockwork Orange and realizing I had seen references to its scenes a bunch of times. I was pretty high while watching with my buddy, and the movie got me in a sort of psychosis trance where I felt like the movie has something to do with… me. I got into lots of trouble as a kid and it was as if the movie had some sort of spell about it that connected to me. I think it’s a great film but it’s not one of my top favorites. Kubrick films are among the best but they aren’t ones I rewatch as frequently.

 

People are influenced by culture and art. Often when people see things they like very much, it attaches to them personally. Early on in Beguiled Company, Brenden claims to have seen the film adaptation and is presented with the book by someone he looks up to. A Clockwork Orange is moreso an inspiration for him within the context of the story than it is for me outside of the story. Brenden is shown throughout the movie to still be reading, keeping the book around, and you can see how he incorporates it into his darker persona. His choice of costume/weapons and repeating lines and phrases from A Clockwork Orange reflects his appreciation and fascination with it.

 

During a sequence where he trips on acid he finds the last chapter and rips it out. The last chapter was not included in the first releases of the book in the United States nor were its scenes included in the film. The reasoning was that it seemed to flip things and contradicted the rest of the story. Brenden sort of idolizes the main character Alex and is disappointed that the chapter shows he loses his appetite for immoral activities and decides to live as a law abiding citizen. Naturally Brenden lights the pages on fire. When we filmed it Chance was supposed to rip out just the pages and not the backing but there was a miscommunication. So we had to get clever about not showing the back in the two scenes needing the book that hadn’t been shot yet.

 

(Other) sources of inspiration when writing Beguiled Company, and is any of the movie based on personal experience?

 

It’s difficult to identify inspiration for my movies. I see things in movies that I like or don’t like, things that I would do differently or even techniques I would like to use. I watch/interact with a lot of people both closely and in passing and I often see behavior that interests me. There are some of my personal experiences of life in the story mostly with a spin, switch-ups, or additions. One thing that was copied word-for-word is a conversation between the manager at Perkins named Sarah and Brenden, when she is angry at him for still being at work. After a manager at a restaurant I worked at did the same thing to me I wrote down our brief conversation. It worked really well for the movie to be unfair and put Brenden down a bit.

 

To what extent can you actually identify with Brenden - and/or any of the other lead characters for that matter?

 

Me? Well I’m in the same generation/age group as the lead characters. I also work in the service industry and I do feel like there’s many problems in the world that aren’t handled correctly. I think there’s so many people out there that will identify with the various characters. It goes to show that even people who are not so bad can end up doing terrible things. I think the movie isn’t some kind of social essay but it shows how a loose ideology and misdirected anger can quickly get out of hand, among other things. I don’t try to write my movies with some kind of Roland Emerich message at the end. This being said, when I watch Roland Emerich movies they do hit me pretty well. Reality is complicated and fully understanding it is an insurmountable task. It’s important to try and do as little bad as possible because actions can have dire consequences.

 

A few words about your directorial approach to your story at hand?

 

I’m not just approaching it as a director but also as a writer, producer, cinematographer, editor, and more. I’m a full package filmmaking force! The little money I had for the production was what I had saved from working in a restaurant and as a swim teacher. I don’t think describing how I do a movie can be done in a few words. I’m not sure how exactly to put it in many words either.

 

Do talk about Beguiled Company's key cast, and why exactly these people?

 

I sent out casting calls on social media for the central character which was then retransmitted by others. I briefly described the six main characters and asked for video auditions. I think there were somewhere over a hundred videos sent to me. I narrowed down the options and sometimes gave direction for another video audition.

 

The actors in the movie are very good and really nail the characters - I went with choices that would have slipped through the cracks of other productions. For example Chance Gilliam and Jess Tomasko's auditions weren't considered "good" by other people involved in the casting process. In the audition they didn’t deliver the scenes very well but I could see past the way the acting was being presented and knew that they had the characters I was looking for inside of them. Megan Thompson was going for Ilisha because her script example seemed more badass - which assured me that she was great for Sydney who is going for the badass vibe. Devyn Williams' auditions gave off a more cool vibe but I knew on the other end of that he could bring out a more quiet character who has confidence to build over the story. Sometimes there were significant connections between the characters and the actors.

 

You can see in the film they do an incredible job and are capable of even more than the project gave them. The main cast was given a low amount of money, and yet turned in fantastic performances. Most of the people involved in the movie donated their time to the production and I couldn’t have made it without this help.

 

What can you tell us about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?

 

Most of the first act takes place in Minneapolis and we filmed at my buddy's apartment, Perkins, and Swede Hollow Park in July 2017. There was a hiatus as I desperately looked for the right locations and suffered from a deep depression due mostly to a hard breakup. It seemed like the movie wouldn't be finished. Eventually the movie was saved by Majestic Oaks Golf Club allowing us to shoot there for a se piece in the third act. Soon after a friend who plays a character in my stories, Joe Pasutti, offered us his Cottage Grove home for the majority of the second span of filming. We tested special effects for a battle and got approval to use them but while filming it turns out they caused damage to the kitchen floor and stained areas red. That house was essential to the second half and the movie couldn’t have happened if they didn’t let us film there. I don’t know how I would have lived without the movie to complete.

 

Shooting was chaotic. When I started filming the script was only written to about the hour and fifteen mark in the finished movie. About half of the final scenes were in the last script drafts. I was lucky to get a lot of help from some people who joined the crew, a huge shout out to Eliza Mc-Gowen Stinski, Robbie Burant, Nick Crossman, and Jourdan Kile for being there the most.

 

Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Beguiled Company?

 

You and Eddie Pasa of DC Filmdom are most of my critical responses so far, and both of you responded positively to the movie. In Eddie’s he details many elements and I agree with much of his understanding of the film. Since the time I started writing this the trailer has come out and is damn good. It took me a long time to know what to do and get myself locked in making it and I’m satisfied with the result. I want to do a short, comedic, and really flashy trailer later for social media and ads. There is a large audience out there that is looking for a movie like this and it is difficult to connect with them. I think of places I might find some of them - a psychedelic rock concert, Taco Bell at midnight, raves, protest events…

 

The audience reception has been overwhelmingly positive. It premiered at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Woodbury, Minnesota on one of the few "The Big Show" theaters in the entire nation. Alamo is the best damn cinema that is or ever will be so it was an honor to show my movie there. I want to show my next films in the same place and I aspire to one day make a theatrical screening deal with them. Whilst writing this I actually took a break to contact Drafthouse Films and ask if they would release my film on Blu-ray. Anyways back to the screening, it was on November 3rd aka Godzilla day, and the remaster of that classic was in a smaller theater - Beguiled Company ended up having it beat in attendance and in sales of delicious food/drinks/beer. I am proud that my small movie managed to outperform it in a one-night showdown.

 

One of the big praises Beguiled Company gets is the trip sequence for its realism to actual psychedelic experiences paired with the amazing Horology trilogy music by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. It is a bit “long”, but that's what a crazy acid trip is often like, I was worried it would be boring for too many but my concerns evaporated after hearing the feedback. The acid sequence is the one that gets the most praise and I think it’s well deserved. All in all it delivers a realistic, powerful, and entertaining trip. I shot it with certain conditions and techniques to ground it but also have the movie presentation sort of break apart at the seams. The visuals were generated with Google’s Deep Dream AI and python coding that I set up even though I didn’t understand it very well. Big thanks to Jonas Massa for providing his work on GitHub, I was lost until I found his article.

 

Any future projects you'd like to share?

 

Floating around in my head are MANY different movie ideas. I’ve always wanted to tell a large interconnected story between different films since I was a little kid, so I'm often considering where characters are headed and what different situations they might find themselves in. Who will they meet and what will the consequences of their actions lead to? My top movie ideas right now are another action anarchy one with new people, a direct sequel following a lead character's rise to power called Beguiled Company, a totally unrelated dramedy story staring someone who was in a few scenes of Beguiled Company, a sequel about a main character from Beguiled Company who has an epic and terrifying underground adventure to go on, an action-horror movie about an Isreali-American team up of people fighting theological horror, and more.

 

Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?

 

I don’t really have a website! My Instagram is @TristanYoshi and one could follow the Beguiled Company page at facebook.com/BeguiledCompany

 

Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?

 

I mentioned Zack Snyder earlier - his movies have some of the best soundtracks. Music is one of the areas of film I consider the most. I’d love a chance to talk more about the music in Beguiled Company as the soundtrack is filled with incredible artists that helped me by providing their excellent work.

 

There’s a great score by Joe Voth that I am happy to have tie the movie together. I was very adamant about themes and theme placement, obsessively and meticulously organizing details and connections in the story. It was very hard work finishing the score and I’m satisfied with his impressive results. I hope for him to quickly get more scoring gigs that he finds are both valuable and enjoyable.

 

Bass artist Levitation Jones provided two soundtrack songs and custom score pieces. I met him while shooting a robbery at a Shell gas station in Wyoming Minnesota, he took one look at the ketamine shot in a teaser I showed him and we knew right there it was happening. He’s a really cool guy and we’ve become trusted friends over the years.

 

My composing duo is Tomandandy, and I have been a fan since I was a tween due to my obsession with Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich’s Resident Evil series. Before I even knew who they were, there were things in the music standing out to me in The Hills Have Eyes remake that influenced early thoughts about music in movies. Thinking about implementing music came to be one of my greatest inspirations when coming up with ideas. Fast forward several years later: one night I was going hard while editing Beguiled Company and just sent them an email. They ended up donating unreleased tracks to the production!

 

Lucid Planet is an incredible psychedelic metal band from Australia, and their new album is a tour de force. Forever I was having major issues finding the right music for the climax battle. Nothing composed or that I listened to seemed right, not even any of the temporary music just dropped in from my iTunes library. One day Spotify recommended “Listen” from their debut album and it all started falling into place. I remember the day they contacted me to allow me to use their music, completely free, and I freaked out jumping around and exclaiming my excitement to my friends.

 

The Spiritual Machines is an epic rock band lead by Evan Frankfort, an established film and TV score composer. We ended up linking up while I was editing The Unearthing and his work has been an inspiration for my own. His song Bubble was in my last short Freedom and Isolation. I came up with the ending of Beguiled Companyy listening to The Man is Me, which ended up being the final opening and ending music of the movie! ProletR is an artist whose work many people have heard. He blends old jazzy style music with hip hop vibes and the results are tops, it’s pretty funny I was at work checking the paper towels in the mens bathroom when I realized the radio was playing April Showers - the same song near the beginning of Beguiled Company while Brenden is changing paper towels in the men’s bathroom. That was a cool trip right there.

 

This fire track by Dr Goon and the Daily Tribune speaks for itself in a coming-together montage music video sequence - I only know a couple of the members of that group personally but they are clearly cool and hella talented guys. dj_Jo released an Attack on EDM EP with a song called Attack on Titan that was based on the anime/manga of the same name. I listened to the track over and over and imagined a set piece to it. That is the action part a little past the middle of the movi,e and the song dropped right into the editor to fit the flow of everything. In the context of the movie it is a parody of recurring background music from the anime and provides a comedic angle with also thematic ties to the story. We never talked personally but he was kind enough to allow his manager to let me use the song for a small fee.

 

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I mentioned how King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is in the acid trip scene - this was from their phenomenal album Polygondwanaland, which they decided to release completely free for anyone to redistribute or sell. It’s a real class A move on their part! The acid trip was a big black hole until I got the music in there and knew where I was going - I found lots of little meanings in the lyrics that tie into the context of the movie. There are also more artists whose music plays in the party scenes including totally chill stuff by my friends Kyle George (Diverse) and Tristan Hendrickson. Indian Fire by Promise Music and a track called Welcome to Our World / Dreaming in Digital / Digital Insanity from production software pirating keygens are also featured and smack hard!

 

I could talk about things that interest me forever. Best just leave it at this and hey there’s always next time! ;)

 

Thanks for the interview!

 

Hey thank you man. It’s hard to share my film and you’re doing me a solid by providing this opportunity!

 

© by Mike Haberfelner


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In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

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Robots and rats,
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Tales to Chill
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Tales to Chill
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