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Barron's Cove Director on Ensemble Cast, Struggles and Influences

Writer-director Evan Ari Kelman spoke to Bleeding Cool about the ensemble cast for his feature debut, filming struggles, and influences.

For his debut feature, writer and director Evan Ari Kelman had lofty goals as a storyteller, choosing the murder-mystery thriller in Well Go USA's Barron's Cove, a film shaped with themes of family and its internal struggles. The film follows a father with a violent past (Garrett Hedlund) as he grieves the sudden loss of his only child. Convinced of a cover-up and intent on obtaining answers about his son's death, he kidnaps the troubled boy he holds responsible – the son of a prominent local politician – which ignites a media firestorm and frenzied manhunt. But as he grows ever closer to uncovering the truth, he is left to wonder whether his pursuers are really seeking to protect the boy or merely the secrets he keeps. Kelman spoke to Bleeding Cool about his ensemble cast, how their unique talents shaped the film, his struggles during filming, and his biggest filmmaking influences.

Barron's Cove Writer-Director Evan Ari Kelman on Ensemble Cast, Standout Sequences, and Influences

Bleeding Cool: Can you tell me a little bit about what Brittany [Snow], Stephen [Lang], Hamish [Linklater], Trammell [Tillman], and Christian [Convery] brought to the film?

Absolutely, each is unique, and because of that, they all brought their own special element to the project. If I had to find one unifying trait, they were all 110 percent committed to this film, and they had complete trust in me, which is what you want and what you need as a director to do great work. They all understood what I was trying to do. They came prepared, understood their characters, had questions, knew the backstories, and they came ready to be vulnerable on camera in different ways. Brittany had to be very vulnerable in a different way than Hamish did, but all of them gave, held nothing back, and they relied on me to be the judge of what was working, and how to improve, change, or experiment. It was an incredible collaboration with all of my talent, and I'm so lucky to have had that experience.

What was the most difficult sequence to film?

That's a really great question, and I think about that a lot. It's a tough question, because all of it was hard. There was no easy sequence to film. We shot the film in about 22 days, and there was no sequence where any of us felt relaxed, at ease, or had time. We had so little time. All of it was intense for different reasons.

What stood out to you?

The train tracks were a challenge because they were a wide area, the crew could be very far away from each other, and equipment had to be transported to remote areas over roads. It also requires some specialized equipment. We had two camera teams that day shooting different things, and we had a vehicle to do certain things with the B cam, so that day required a lot of coordination. Again, we had a relatively small team, so being spread out in a rural setting with specialized equipment without a lot of time and a lot of shots to do was a pretty intense day.

What are your biggest inspirations as a filmmaker?

That's a great question. As a filmmaker, there are a lot of pieces you're working with, and each element creates its own inspiration in terms of the types of movies that you like. That's an avenue of inspiration, but the themes you want to explore are also an avenue of inspiration, and then the visual styles are their own thing as well.
Cinematically, I was inspired by some of the thrillers I loved growing up. Recently, some of the films I loved that inspired me on this are 'The Place Beyond the Pines' (2012). That was an exciting film for me to watch. I loved that film. I appreciated its narrative structure, but I saw a way to tell a different type of story. Maybe touching on some of those themes of fatherhood. I wanted to do something a little bit differently and similarly. If you look at 'Prisoners' (2013), 'Logan' (2017), and 'Road to Perdition' (2002), these are all movies, and I have an extensive list of films that were an inspiration to me. You can pick up a little of [Christopher] Nolan in some of what's here, a bit of [David] Fincher, and a bit of [Steven] Spielberg. These are people who informed my taste over the years, cinematically.

Barron's Cove, which also stars Raul Castillo, is available in theaters and on demand.

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