Film maker Steve Balderson was raised in Wamego, Kansas until the age of twelve, when his family moved to Manhattan, Kansas. He attended Manhatten High School and graduated a semester early, ahead of his peers. He refused to walk to the stage and accept his diploma, opting out of the graduation ceremony altogether. The administration asked if he would like his diploma mailed to him. He responded, "I'll never need it."Balderson attended film school at California Institute of the Arts, where he directed six full-length digital movies. After months of working one-on-one with his dean, Steve decided he was ready to leave CalArts without graduating.
After leaving CalArts in 1996, Steve returned to Kansas and directed his debut feature film. 'Pep Squad' satirized and predicted American school violence prior to the horrific series of school shootings. After the era of school violence ended in the United States, 'Pep Squad' was released on DVD. In November 2009, Steve sold distribution rights for 'Pep Squad' and it will be re-released this year.
Balderson’s award-winning second feature film, 'Firecracker,' starring Karen Black was released theatrically in 2005 to sold out audiences in a first-ever "Freak Show Tour" supervised by Landmark Theatres, the nation’s largest art house chain. Preeminent film critic Roger Ebert called it "Brilliant" and named 'Firecracker' on his list of the year's best films.
'Firecracker' premiered at London’s Raindance Film Festival, to sold out crowds, where it won a Jury Prize nomination for Best Picture. It also won numerous awards on the festival circuit worldwide including: Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Actress for Karen Black, and Steve Balderson won the 2005 Domani Vision Award for emerging talent at Tribeca’s Visionfest.
Balderson's next film 'Watch Out' premiered at the Raindance Film Festival in London as well.
'Watch Out' is the story of Jonathan Barrows, a man who falls in love with himself. He is attracted to his own body, carries out an erotic relationship with a blow-up doll that resembles him, and takes pleasure in rejecting the advances of male and female admirers. He descends into a world of carnivorous priests and Prozac-popping Polish prostitutes and eventually assassinates the world's most popular pop diva. Sounds fun doesn't it?
'Stuck!' is Steve Balderson’s homage to film noir women-in-prison films. The movie, photographed in black and white, was produced in Macon, Georgia, during April and May of 2009. Again 'Stuck!' premiered at the 2009 Raindance Film Festival in London, England. Currently on the festival circuit, the film is an official selection of the 2010 Macon Film Festival and the 2010 Boston Underground Film Festival.
Balderson’s attention to detail and strong work ethic is chronicled in the award-winning documentary series WAMEGO. Wamego: Making Movies Anywhere was released in 2004 on DVD, Making Movies Anywhere won Best Film at the 2005 Fox Film Festival and the 2004 Kan Festival Award. Wamego Strikes Back, the sequel to Making Movies Anywhere, was released in 2007. The third installment, Wamego: Ultimatum chronicles the making of Watch Out.
Steve Balderson was in Los Angeles this past week for the premiere of 'Stuck!' at the Egyptian Theater. Richard Levi and I were lucky enough to get a few minutes to hang out with Steve to talk about his career and get some new photos. He is humorous and down to earth, the way people from Kansas tend to be. He is also a very talented film maker that I am pleased to showcase on this blog.
AM: The first thing that comes to mind when I think of you is that you live in Kansas! What do you have to say about that?
SB: (laughing) I grew up there. I started making movies there when I was very young. I went to CalArts school out here in Los Angeles. They would give us assignments like go make a short and I always pictured places in Kansas. I would always fly home to do my projects and then fly back three or four weeks later to deliver them. The teachers would ask me where I had been since I hadn't been to class for weeks. I told them I was doing my work. I just kept this up so after I got out of school I moved back home and made my first film there.
AM: I bet making a movie in Kansas is a lot different.
SB: I grew up in a really small town of 4500 people so you can close streets off and nobody cares. There was an explosion in my first film so we called the fire department to see if they wanted to come out and they said well you know what you're doing. That would never happen here. Because it was so easy and so much cheaper we thought we could make a million dollar film for a hundred thousand dollars, so let's do that! We did that two or three times and it worked. 'Stuck!' is the first film I have made outside of Kansas.
AM: Where did you shoot it?
SB: In Macon, Georgia. Have you been to Macon?
AM: No but I have been to Georgia. What brought you to Macon?
SB: There was a film festival that honored Karen Black last year and they showed "Firecracker" so they flew me out to present the film with her. It reminded me of my hometown. It's much bigger, but it had that easy to get around town feeling. You can drive anywhere in five minutes. The people that I met were inter-connected so that if you needed something there was a network of people that could help you do that.
AM: What else did you like about Macon?
SB: They also had a bunch of gorgeous abandoned buildings. There is also a prison there. I needed to build a set because half the film is shot in a prison and the other half on the set. I needed this big empty space and my town didn't have that. So I thought I should just shoot in Macon. That is how it came about.
AM: Did you have a bigger budget for this film?
SB: Actually there was even less than my other films, but what I figured out how to do is, I operate the camera and do all the lighting myself, so I omitted some people on the crew. What I actually found is if it's just me, a sound guy, and maybe three people to help there is only five people on the crew and it is awesome. We get stuff done fast. We were two days ahead of schedule by the end. It was fun. Another thing about a small crew and only five actresses is there is only ten people so you can go to someone's house for dinner. They can donate a meal for your set.
RL: It becomes a much more intimate experience.
SB: Totally. Where as my other films had 45 people on the crew and it took six weeks to film. It was a production.
AM: You made a documentary, "Wamego: Making movies Anywhere" about the making of "Firecracker" which I have seen, thanks to you.
SB: We made a trilogy out of it. You need to see the other two.
AM: I really love that documentary and I have showed it to a lot of people who love it. It's really inspiring.
SB: Cool. Thank you.
AM: Do you plan on making movies like this forever?
SB: I do.
AM: You're not interested in million dollar budgets?
SB: If someone approaches me to direct a script I say, "If you are hiring me to be a director then I have a particular job and focus. I can do that for you. If you want me to take it on and produce it the way I know how to do it then it's a whole different thing. I don't usually get paid when I make my movies so I try to keep every dollar as low as I can. If somebody else wants to spend a million bucks on a movie and hire me then great. I'll do it. I'd love too. I've been reading about John Cassavettes and he would do that. He would work and do a big movie and then make one of his own for two hundred bucks. I kind of like that.
AM: I want to ask you about a rather controversial film you made called "Watch Out." How did that go over for you and how did the public react?
SB: It was interesting. It was sort of a test for me. It was at the point in my career when I was thinking can I really do a movie with five people? I wanted a movie that was an easier production. I thought this would be a good experiment to see if that would work. At the same time I was fed up with how the system works. I wanted to be loud, obnoxious and in your face. It was a lot of fun making it. Then when it came out the reaction was split right down the middle. To fifty percent of the people it was the greatest thing they've ever seen and the other fifty percent were walking out of the theater and throwing things at it. It's a hard movie.
RL: You got a reaction.
SB: I think that's pretty cool.
AM: I do too. Do you plan on making more movies in that style that is controversial where you might alienate fifty percent of your audience?
SB: I do, not that in your face, but I do have other projects I'm thinking about doing that are on the back burner. I tell other film makers if you want a movie to stand out you have to do something unique whether it is loud, unusual, in your face, there has to be something that sets you apart and is contrary to what everyone else is doing. I don't want to do John Waters and be shocking but I think it needs to be loud enough that people will hear it.
AM: Do you notice that you are gaining more of a reputation and more awareness of your films?
SB: Sometimes. I try to monitor people who have ordered the products from our web site or from Amazon or anywhere else. I try to make sure the mailing list is growing. I want people to still be showing interest. It kind of freaks me out sometimes, but it's good.
AM: Do you have a lot of fans?
SB: I read this article once in WIRED magazine that talked about having one thousand true fans. It stated that if you had one thousand true fans that would spend a hundred bucks a year on you then you would make a hundred thousand dollars. You don't need a million fans. You have to find your niche' and keep building that. That's what I am trying to do.
AM: I notice you work with Karen Black a lot. Is she a muse for you?
SB: I don't know if I would say she is my muse, but I when we were shooting in Macon and it was her on the bed doing this scene and me with the camera and a sound guy with only us three in the room, I looked up and I had this vision of being back in high school with just a couple friends making a movie. The only difference now was I was with people who respected their craft. It was like going out and having fun but you were making something and treating it with respect. I looked at her and said, "Karen isn't this awesome?" Karen is so great that when I am working with her, everything she does is awesome the first time she does it. She is perfect. It's not grueling at all. It is a lot of fun working with her.
AM: Do you have your next film lined up?
SB: I have a couple coming up. One is about a group of women who have a recipe club that turns into wife swapping and damaged people. I'm so excited about having something mid-century in Palm Springs with Pucci swimsuits and high heels, just those colors. Then to tell a story that is "Valley of the Dolls" heavy.
AM: Where will you film that?
SB: I'm not sure. I'm thinking I should shoot it in Palm Springs. You can rent a house for a couple of weeks and just stay in it while you film. The crew can just stay there too. It would be really fun I think.
AM: What's the other one?
SB: The other one is a screw ball comedy loosely based on my family set at Christmas with a dead body. It's more of a farce and real fun. It's ridiculous.
AM:: All your films, even if they aren't labeled a comedy, still have humor.
SB: They do. I think it's important to have the up and down. If you want to make something really sad you've got to give the audience a place to laugh before hand or afterwards. If it's all sad it gets sort of dull. You need that break. I want to do every genre I think. I want to do a proper Western, a psychological Horror film, and a true Science Fiction film just to see how it feels to make movies of different kinds and styles I'm not familiar with, just because I like the challenge it presents.
AM: Is your family still involved with your film making?
SB: A little bit. The last couple of projects I did my Dad didn't co-produce with me but he was still there to help me do things like taxes and paper work. We see each other everyday so they hear me venting about it over lunch. I like learning how to be totally independent in that way.
AM: Are you going to stay living in Kansas?
SB: I will have a place there always. I have recently been thinking about living other places part time like Paris or New York. I like traveling. The one good thing about Kansas is that you can live really well for very little money.
RL: Are you the only film maker in Kansas?
SB: There are four of us that I know of.
AM: Do you all know each other?
SB: Yes we do. There is one in Wichita and two in Lawrence and one in Kansas City.
RL: What is the film industry like in Kansas?
SB: Kansas City has a lot of commercial work but it may be all regional. Every now and again there may be a movie that comes through that people will get a chance to work on but there's not a system. If you were a gaffer you wouldn't want to be in Kansas.
AM: I think it really lends to a unique persona for you. I think it's a calling card.
SB: It totally is. I can call anyone and say this is Steve Balderson in Kansas and they say of course. They know exactly who it is because no one else is calling from Kansas. The funny part about that is I can't show my movies locally. (lots of laughter)
photos: Alan Mercer
To learn more about Steve Balderson visit his web site http://www.dikenga.com/
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