Mammoth Film Festival - The Faceless Man
An offbeat fable about a disillusioned man who discovers his face has been transformed into a mirror and must venture out into the world to reclaim his identity.
Interview with Writer/Director Jeremy Foley
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
First of all, thank you! It’s a real pleasure to be speaking with wearemovingstories.com. The genesis for this film was a short story written by my father. He wrote it around 2008, during the collapse of the American housing market and the ensuing great recession. It was his way of coping with the sense of loss and disillusionment so many people were facing at that time. I read it several years later and remember being so intrigued with the idea: a man wakes up to discover his face has transformed into a mirror and must venture out into the world to reclaim his identity.
What struck me about the story was both the allegorical nature of it - the loss of identity the main character experiences both literally and figuratively - but also the levity with which it was told. What could be considered a dark and dramatic premise, discovering your face had transformed into a mirror, was turned on its ear and the main character was instead confronting these strange circumstances in a humorous way.
So, it had everything I look for in a story: it was unique, thought provoking, and would give license to explore so many interesting themes. I thought that if I could pull this off as successfully on film as on the written page, an audience would feel the same way.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The innovative filmmaking process that went into creating a ‘faceless’ man is truly one-of-a-kind. In order to bring this character to life, our production created a custom prosthetic special effects makeup design molded to our actor’s face that was inlaid with an acrylic two-way mirror (the same type of material used in police lineups). This allowed our actor to see out of it, but to everyone else on set he was simply reflecting the world around him. This means that nearly every reflection that you see in the film was captured practically, in real time, as they were happening. To the best of my knowledge (and believe me, I looked) this has never been done before so I guarantee people have never seen a short film like this. In addition to the technical achievements of the film, the themes of self-reflection and identity have really been resonating with audiences.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Without a face you truly have no identity. To show a character feeling like they lost their identity emotionally and then have a physical representation of that loss was an interesting theme to explore. And I certainly feel that with the current climate of the world and our own country, the theme of self-reflection is a potent one. I love the idea of taking a long hard look at yourself in the mirror (pun intended) and examining yourself, your motivations and your inner potential to affect others.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Actually, this is an interesting question because the script did evolve quite a bit from the story in some respects, but in other ways it didn’t change at all. Since the original source material belonged to my dad, we weren’t constricted in any way with what we did with this story. He gave us full license to change what was needed for a filmic adaptation. There were portions in the beginning of the story where the character was discovering and adjusting to his newfound face, or lack thereof, that had to be truncated for film since we needed to get into the character’s journey sooner for fear that we would lose an audience with too much set up. In addition, for the ending of the film we needed to have a stronger resolution for our character to further illustrate the arc he goes on, so we did have our character (spoiler alert) regain his ‘identity,’ which was not exactly how the story ended. However, there were portions and even exact lines of dialogue that were completely lifted from the story and are in the film.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The feedback we’ve received from audiences and critics so far has been tremendous. People are often surprised at how heartfelt the story is and that it hits them on deeper emotional levels than they expected. One audience member that we spoke to after a screening said that he went out and called his wife to thank her after watching the film.
Another big response we get from viewers is essentially “how the hell did you do this?” People are fascinated by the process and fellow filmmakers are aghast to find out we filmed it practically with real mirrors – which any filmmaker will tell you makes shooting exponentially more difficult. The so-called ‘fourth wall,’ where you would typically have lights, camera and crew, didn’t exist for our film because the mirror face would reveal it.
So our Director of Photography had to get really creative with how to light and shoot scenes, while our amazing actor Billy O’Leary had to nail very specific blocking in order to only reveal what we wanted to with his face. It was a challenging, tedious dance that we called the “Mirror Game.” We have a series of Behind-the-Scenes pieces that detail the makeup and filming process, if anyone is interested in learning more (or suffering vicariously with us, ha!). Even though it was extremely difficult, I am excited to have made something unique and memorable, both in terms of visuals and story.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
We were surprised to hear how many viewers assumed that the mirror effect was created with Visual Effects. We chose to do the film with practical effects rather than visual effects in order to give a grounded feel to this surreal adventure. And the practical application fit in with the overall retro look we were going for – which expanded to the music, color-correction, and even our poster design.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
The film is still on the festival circuit but it will be having its online debut early next year, so we’d love to get the word out to audiences as much as possible with some additional festival screenings before we launch it on the web. The overall hope is to get it in front of many film fans as possible.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I adapted the screenplay with my wife, Sara O’Reilly, who is also the Producer on the film and my partner at our production company, Adjective Pictures. We are hoping that by getting The Faceless Man out to more audiences, we can attract management or other producing partners who can help us take the next step into Feature filmmaking. Our last short film, Fated, was Academy Qualified and is available for purchase on iTunes, so we think we have some innovative projects under our belt that demonstrate our passion for filmmaking and telling unique stories.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We would love this film to be one that people watch because of the interesting premise, but walk away surprised at the deeper ideas and questions it poses. Our favorite types of films are ones that leave viewers thinking and discussing, and our hope is that this film will be passed around for this very reason.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Our tagline is “What do you see when you look into The Faceless Man?” because when people encounter The Faceless Man, they see their true selves and how they really see themselves. What would your reflection say to you?
Would you like to add anything else?
We could not have done this film without our fantastic lead actor, Billy O’Leary. He underwent a three-hour makeup application every day to be transformed into The Faceless Man and really was the MVP of the entire production. Not only is he a terrific actor, but he also was a creative partner through the entire process and even helped us cast a few of the key roles in the film.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Sara and I are writing and developing our first feature film, a road comedy that has our unique spin to it. Billy just appeared in a guest star role on CBS’s SEAL Team and continues to run his successful acting school, Billy O’Leary Studios, in Burbank (http://www.billyoleary.com/)
Interview: December 2017
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The Faceless Man
An offbeat fable about a disillusioned man who discovers his face has been transformed into a mirror and must venture out into the world to reclaim his identity.
Length:12:35
Director: Jeremy Foley
Producer: Sara O'Reilly
Writers: Sara O'Reilly & Jeremy Foley, adapted from a short story by Jeremiah Foley III
About the writer, director and producer:
Director/Co-Writer: Jeremy Foley is an entertainment industry professional with over 20 years of experience, first as an actor and now as an independent filmmaker.
Producer/Co-Writer: Sara O'Reilly is Writer/Producer specializing in narrative, documentary and behind-the-scenes content.
Key cast: William O'Leary as "Tom/The Faceless", Heather Long as "Debbie", Hoyt Richards as "The Cop", Rima Rajan as "The Pharmacist", Nate Moore as "The Homeless Vet", Norma Maldonado as "The Divorcee", Michael King as "The Pundit", Austin Rodriguez as "The Boy"
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Looking for Producers, Managers, Agents and Film Festival Directors
Social media handles: Director: @jeronimo26 Producer: @saraoreally
Facebook: facebook.com/thefacelessmanfilm
Twitter:@facelessmanfilm
Instagram: AdjectivePictures
Funders: Indiegogo
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?: The film just completed its festival screenings for 2017 and we're already ramping up for a busy 2018 - And we're hoping to have the online debut for the film early next year, so we'll definitely be contacting wearemovingstories.com when that happens!