hull in my head

An interview with Brandon O’Larey and James Lipon.

On Friday January 11th history was made. It marked the occasion of the very fist big screen appearance of a Brandon O’Larey film, a Daniel Genser acting début, and the world premier of the film that would make them both famous.

The origins behind The Dream of Zuperman are unadorned. One afternoon in June 2007 whilst heading to Vashon to visit with Daniel and Devon Genser, visionary Brandon O’Larey thought it would be a good idea to make a film. O’Larey later recalls: “Aaron (Kleid) was up visiting so he, Krysta (Ruddick), and Amber (French), would all be there making it a very, um, talented and creative group of 6 people. So I figured I’d bring along my equipment, just kinda awaiting inspiration.”

Several discussions were soon to follow and many ideas were formed but as the crew describes “none of them seemed to really inspire us.” That is until Devon Genser came up with the idea of a simple man who was trying to fly. “This really got the ball rolling,” recounts O’Larey, “…and the ideas just came flooding in.”

Once settled on a plot, the group of six, forever to be known in the indie-film scene as the “Zuperstars,” divided out and each tackled a project. O’Larey began scripting ideas and generally overseeing the work, Daniel began practicing lines and had his make up and costume affixed. Meanwhile Devon and Krysta created the costumes and props, Amber arranged the lighting, and Aaron designed some more props and prepared the various sets. After only an astonishing half-day of preproduction and half-day of filming, the impressionist masterpiece of our time was wrapped and slated for postproduction.

“At this point the film really began to take shape” declared Brandon. The eager filmmaker brought in textile professionals Matthew and Elizabeth Davies and well as surprising newcomer Scott Milbank for help with the title design. “I was doing it myself but my stitching looking like um, like demented Tim Burton cross-stitch.” quips O’Larey. “Matt descried it as a drunk spider wet with ink or something. Plus I was up against some extreme time constraints so Liz, Matt, and Scott graciously stepped in. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

O’Larey also enlisted the help of professional voice actor Nathan Fielder (Wallace and Grommet, Postman Pat, and Batman: The Animated Adventures) as well as Anthony Brodene (Finding Nemo, Gulliver’s Travels) who added their melodious resonance to the dialogueless script. O’Larey articulated: “Yeah, their (Fielder and Brodene) dialogue was the only words scripted, after all it’s meant to be a silent piece. But you can really tell how, like, professional these guys are because they both began to do a bite of improvisation. I loved it.”

And not only did he love it but audiences around the globe loved it too. It became clear to me that this young man would be going places. I mused: “I don’t feel it assuming to say that one day your name will be mentioned with Fellini, Almodovar, or Buñuel.”

O’Larey smiled shyly: “Who?”

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In all seriousness, having a silly little film I made with friends and then passed off as arty premiere in England in a proper cinema (not to mention one of my favorite places in the world) was pretty stinking cool. Even cooler is that was billed with Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited. (He is tied for my favorite director). It was like being a rubbish little garage band that somehow managed to open for their favorite group. Granted, the big screen made things look different (in my opinion worse) and being my own worst enemy with creative things and really wasn’t happy with it. But despite all this, it still was a really really cool experience. How many people can say they had a film in the cinemas after all?

I think I’m going to reedit it once again and try to show it in Dublin. Just for kicks.