IFS Film Festival - Gridlock
A frustrated father’s morning takes a turn for the worse when tragedy strikes amid a traffic jam.
Interview with Director Daniel Imperiale
Watch Gridlock on Tubi, Prime Video and Vudu
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you, and thanks for featuring us on your site. We’re honored to be in the company of some really excellent work.
The kernel for Gridlock was pretty simple; the writer and lead actor Jeff Houkal has a very healthy, therapeutic way of interacting with other drivers on the road, particularly the ones that cut him off, fail to use turn signal, etc., and he wanted to take that frustrating experience of being stuck in traffic, surrounded by inferior drivers, and add an additional few layers of misery to it. He approached me to direct it and we made a few minor script adjustments and got to work.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
If you’ve ever been stuck in traffic, you’ll relate to the film immediately. That being said, the traffic is more of a representation how David (the main character) moves through his life, and as the harsh realities from outside the traffic jam close in on him, people watching get pulled deeper and deeper into his losses.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
There’s a lot in this script that I found running parallel to the biblical book of Job, which has always been one of the more fascinating books of the bible to me. Essentially, the devil says to god, “Hey that guy Job really seems to love you. I bet you I can get him to turn on you.” And god takes the bet, releases a veritable shitstorm and Job, and watches contentedly as the poor man keeps his feeble faith. What god never seems to realize, in my opinion, is that the devil never wanted to prove whether Job was faithful; he wanted to prove that he could force god to impart suffering on one of his most loyal believers for the sake of his own ego. And the devil wins, in that sense, so we wanted to visit a run of personal plagues on David over the course of his drive, and as he has no god other than himself, well...you’ll have to watch through to the end to see what we do with that.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
One of the big things that changed over the course of script development and filming was the character of David’s ex-wife Amy. At first, the love between them had long since dissolved before the start of the film, but we found it gave a greater degree of humanity to both characters to feel a need for each other as they endure the events of the movie. There’s a lot of frustration and anger between them, but we needed there to be a kind of repressed love still dormant for that anger to have the tragedy it deserved.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
A lot of people have used the word “effective” in describing how the film takes you along for what seems like one kind of journey, and then takes you deeper into the characters’ despair. We’ve also been told, for a film that spends each and every second of screen time in David’s car, that we found a way to keep it visually engaging throughout, which is definitely something we spent a lot of time talking about before we shot and during the edit.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
So far, we’ve only had the one screening at our premiere at the Riverside International Film Festival, and we were thrilled to see Jeff Houkal win their Jury Award for Best Actor. I don’t know many performers in this industry as tenacious or committed to the work as he is, but we didn’t expect anything like that going into the festival, so it was a welcome surprise.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Like any filmmaker, we made this film in the hopes that it could be seen by as many people as possible, and an article in a forum like this can help get our name out there. This is my first feature as a director, and it’s Jeff’s first as a writer and producer, so I know we both want nothing but to continue to make excellent films.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We’re currently working with Circus Road Films in an advisory capacity as we target certain festivals. It’s my understanding that our next step is to court distribution for an online, if not a theatrical release.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
It’d be nice if this film could cause its viewers to make one less selfish decision in their lives. Just one. We’re here for such a brief amount of time, and to be generous and empathetic is, to me, the highest expression of civilized humanity.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Well, then ending certainly opens a lot up for debate, but we’ll leave that for after people watch the movie.
Would you like to add anything else?
Just that our next local L.A. screening is Wednesday, May 10th at the Beverly Hills Music Hall at 8 pm as part of the Independent Filmmakers Showcase It’d be great if we could meet some of your readership and have a nice Q&A after.
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Jeff and I just wrapped principal photography on another feature he penned Edge of Isolation. This time he also directed, and I directed photography. It’s a horror film about a young couple who get lost in the woods and found by the wrong kind of people.
My writing partner Antonio Robles and I (he expertly plays the ne’er-do-well Kyle in Gridlock) have also just completed a feature script of our own that we’re beginning to shop around, and we’re also gearing up for preproduction on a little short about modern art and the modern artist.
Interview: May 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Gridlock
A frustrated father’s morning takes a turn for the worse when tragedy strikes amid a traffic jam.
Length: 79 minutes
Director: Daniel Imperiale
Producer: Gloria Poltavskaya
Writer: Jeff Houkal
About the writer, director and producer:
W: Jeff Houkal is an actor, writer, and director known for his roles in Lethal Weapon, Gridlock, and Edge of Isolation.
D: Daniel Imperiale writes, acts, directs, shoots, loves, fights, and plays ice hockey. Visit danielimperiale.com
P: Gloria Poltavskaya is an up and coming producer with an eye for deceptively moving material and a passion for making high-quality films.
Key cast: Jeff Houkal, Brighid Fleming Laura Coover, Phil Biedron, Antonio Robles, Wolfgang Bodison, Wes Tate, Natalie Davis, Dwayne Johnson
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): All of the above.
Social media handles:
Instagram: @dpiwins @jeffhoukal #gridlockmovie
Where can I see it in the next month? Playing at the Beverly Hills Music Hall on Wednesday, May 10th at 8pm as part of the Independent Filmmakers Showcase