A chilling wind dips down below the trees and rustles the frozen grass as 12 shadows stand poised in the shifting moonlight, shaking from the cold. It’s beyond freezing on the set of Battleground. The actors pace through their own cloudy huffs of breath and mutter lines. The boomer puts on two pairs of gloves and squints through the false staging light. The man with the camera stands alert as the director analyzes new ways to shoot the scene. From slightly off set, someone is scribbling notes down furiously. Complete with 4 pairs of wooly socks and 3 Cosby sweaters, the screenwriter bounces from one leg to the other in anticipation. He looks up and motions to the tired cast and crew of the film. Jon Graf gives a sheepish smile. So, how about one more time?
Interview with Jon Graf
You are the screenwriter for Battleground. When did you become interested in writing for movies? When did you start?
When I was eight-years-old, my aunt gave my cousin and I a Panasonic VHS camera. Our first film was called The Mission and starred our G. I. Joe collection and our hands. I am briefly featured in the film as a giant because my cousin accidentally caught me on tape. From there, we made a bunch of other films, like Wild Life, Wild Life 2, Wild Life 3, Wild Life 4, Frankenstein Lives (sic), The Wolfman, Nerd Herd. I knew that I wanted to be a filmmaker. My passion for film evolved into a passion for writing, so here I am.
Battleground is about the aftermath of an alien invasion. How did you get the idea for it and how did you go about writing the script? How much of it was collaboration with your director, Max Moore?
The entire process was a collaboration. Max and I develop ideas together, build the world, outline the ideas and then I write it all out. I send a draft to Max, he sends back notes and I revise until we’re happy. With Battleground, we were revising the night before the first shoot, much to the actors chagrin. This is fairly common, though. Joss Whedon was once airlifted to the set of Capt. America, or maybe it was Thor. As for the idea, I’m very interested in ‘the aftermath’ as a theme. And so is Max. I use it frequently in my work. A typical movie or, say, blockbuster would focus on the abduction or the aliens destroying a town. I’m interested in what happens next. When the credits of a film like that roll, I’m left wondering about the supporting characters, about the auto shop that was destroyed in a wide shot only shown for ten seconds.
Explain your process of starting to film. Where did you find the actors and the sets needed for the film?
We hired two casting directors, amazing and lovely Sydney Hayes and Ramya Hipp: they are seriously awesome. And then we put out a casting call, contacting the university and the local theatre community. We also reached out to individuals who we knew would be good for the part. We had a sprawling cast from age baby to age 60 or so. We were very fortunate and lucky in that regard. I’m pleased and proud of whom we chose. With the sets, we were very lucky. Most of the locations were found by simply driving around small towns here in Iowa. Primarily we shot in Hills and Riverside. A lot of phone calls were made by me. I called about a dozen auto shops before finding the perfect one, which was actually relatively close to this beautiful church we shot at and a graveyard. A lot of the set pieces in the film would have costs thousands on thousands of dollars to produce but we were lucky in that we either found them or they were donated. We turned a broken down school bus into a club house. There was a busted old truck sitting outside of the auto shop. The basement of the church had a gift shop. A friend of mine let me borrow his motorcycle. I’m very proud of our location scouting.
Are there any new projects on the way for you?
Yes, Max and I co-writing and co-directing two music videos for local artists. One for Dan DiMonte and another for Dana T. We’ll probably do a feature at some point.
Do you plan on screenwriting in the future?
Yes, always, until I die. Screenwriting got me into the game. It won’t leave me. I’ll be sitting on a bus and overhear a conversation, and I’ll think to myself, that’s a great story or that’s solid dialogue. That should be a movie. So I just start writing.
To watch the newest trailer for Battleground: http://vimeo.com/88529226