Director Tim Sutton on 'Dark Night'; the Horrific Movie Theater Shooting
Tim Sutton opens up a deep debate with his latest picture Dark Night, a film that explores the moments before the horrific event in Florida. Speaking with the director, The Film Stage discussed jumping into a project of this kind, and the conversation went from there.
"So, research-wise I really tried to limit myself. People have asked if I’ve talked to a lot of people in Aurora or in Denver, and I did not. The work is purely fiction, outside of a few newspaper articles that I read. I did read Dave Cullen’s book on Columbine (titled “Columbine”) to just see a very matter-of-fact storytelling style of events that happened before, all the way up to the event and then to the post-event.
"It really was important for me to think about it in terms of what would happen in my hometown, any day of the week, knowing the fact that it all just comes down to the theater. The film was not supposed to be a movie that had dramatic arcs or had great relationships to any events that happened outside of the fact of the movie theater."
The conversation diverges, and Sutton comments on Indie film and its place in contemporary filmmaking. "I think the indie film world can make very daring films and very exciting films. And so can Hollywood. But there are the priorities of the marketplace that have fully taken over. If they hadn’t fifteen years ago, they’ve fully taken over now."
And on what's coming down the line, Sutton said "I’m developing a couple of things. One is set in Coney Island and the other thing is set in Indiana. One I’m doing with the producer David Lancaster who did Drive and Nightcrawler. It’s kind of an art film for the red states. And the other one is based in Coney Island is kind of my surreal gentrification movie. Both are visual stories. One is going to be a little more genre-driven, the bigger one, because they’re will be more money at stake. And the other Coney Island one is going to be just as wild as Dark Night. It’s kind of like my Repo Man."
For the entire, fascinating interview, follow the link: https://thefilmstage.com/features/dark-night-director-tim-sutton-on-viol...
