Sundance 2019 - The Phantom 52
Loneliness: a trucker who calls out on his CB radio waiting for a reply that never comes. A ghost that haunts the deserted highways. A whale that sings at a frequency no other whale can even hear.
Interview with Writer/Director/Animator/Producer/Editor Geoff Marslett
Watch The Phantom 52 here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I made The Phantom 52 because I was moved by the story of a real whale out there in the ocean speaking in a frequency no other whale can hear. It is sad, but it is also amazing. This whale has persevered since at least 1989.
This animated short is my way to relate to that whale's experience. To relate it to my own experience driving lonely highways...and to expand that idea into a sort of ghost story for folks who love whales and trucks and animation.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Hmmm. I would hope saying this is a ghost story about whales and trucks would have already hooked you...but if not, let's try this. Everyone can relate to being alone in a crowd at some point, but what happens when that becomes your normal, your entire existence? When your ability to reach out to the world you can see and hear, but they never respond...are you even there anymore?
Tom Skerritt's voice brings this lonely entity to life with grit and sadness and wisdom (in a way that even I couldn't have hoped for). That familiar voice anchors the team of animators creating a highway through an undersea world, and the sound designers immerse us in that audioscape. In the end we present the audience with an animated tale that is unique and memorable...all in less than eight minutes.
Plus, did I mention it is a ghost story about whales and trucks?
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
No matter what I tell a story about, that story is always a little about me. I like to connect to people. The romance of getting to know someone else...as a friend, a partner, family member, stranger in passing...all of it is exciting, like exploration. That connection fuels my own life day to day, and often fuels my writing, even when that writing is about traveling to Mars or about the old west or about truckers. In this particular film I got to explore what that lack of connections can do to a being. In some ways, I got to explore one of my fears here.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
After a conversation with Lauren Modery about the actual whale, while stuck in traffic, my mind went down a rabbit hole of analogy creation. I related to being surrounded by strangers (in their own metal boxes) and being separate from them (in my own metal box). I started thinking about the whale calling out across great distances and the CB radio could not help but sink into our conversation...ultimately I got home and wrote the script very quickly. That script pretty much remained unchanged.
What did take time to evolve was the "how are we going to get this made" question. I wrote the film back in 2014, but it was tough to get a team together and even tougher to get a budget together for this film. So much so I almost gave up on it. The reinvigoration by Warren and Tom in 2018, breathed a new life into the film, and gave me cause to spend another 600 hours drawing pictures.
So the script stayed true to course. The drawing, making, animating, and all the other moving parts had to evolve over the years.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We shall see what happens when folks get to see it in a week!
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I am sure it will!
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Most of all I hope this reaches some a potential audience that feel like this is the kind of movie they want to see. I hope someone reads about what we tried to do, and that convinces them to seek out The Phantom 52 in a field crowded with amazing (and sometimes not amazing) films vying for your time and attention. And I hope if it does steer some folks toward the film, that they will share it with others and it will build an audience out there.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We are a low budget (as in made on my credit cards) film, so getting press coverage and additional screenings is always an uphill struggle. What we could use most is folks who can give the film a little coverage and/or another place to play on down the road. I honestly believe that the universal messages about loneliness and throwing messages in bottles into the world for connection are universal. If audiences get the chance, I do think it will make them reflect, but we can't do that without advocates.
If somehow that message gets out maybe it can lead to a larger version of this project...
So who can help? For sure journalists, reviewers and festivals. Beyond that, everyone. Word-of-mouth from audiences, a kind word in the hallway after a screening, a producer to help with the next film – in short, whoever is reading this, you are who I am looking for.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I don't know. I guess I just want to get it in front of people and hear back from them. Of course I hope it strikes a chord, but I still am not sure what that chord will be. In any case I hope the audience response to it helps me figure out how to guide it's impact (or if it will have one)....does that make any sense?
Would you like to add anything else?
Beyond the content of the film, I hope by having Beth Kellogg and Evan Josephine Meyer and Tom Skerritt and Aron Campisano and Xuan Nguyen and Warren Etheredge with me at these screenings at Sundance that I can have some discussions about how we all worked together to make the visuals and sounds. It is hand-drawn, frame-by-frame drawing, where each of us let our own style show through. Beth and Bob spent many hours assembling sounds and audio environments. Animation has the benefit of letting us micro-manage every element of picture and sound, but it also has the responsibility of micro-managing every element. We did that as a team – and I hope some of the discussion can also be about how we came together with a common vision to do that.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Well speaking for myself, I do hope to turn this idea of an elaborate true story, animation-doc hybrid into either a feature or a series of similar shorts...and have begun initial work on two more. So hopefully more of this soon. Plus, I completed a feature script with one of my writing partners, Stevie Salas, for a revenge western centered around an Apache shop keeper in 1880s Arizona. We are currently working on getting that made in the very near future. Tom Skerritt (and executive producer Warren Etheredge) have been building Heyou media and also suggest you check out their site!
Interview: January 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. 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
The Phantom 52
Loneliness: a trucker who calls out on his CB radio waiting for a reply that never comes. A ghost that haunts the deserted highways. A whale that sings at a frequency no other whale can even hear.
Length: 7:52
Director: Geoff Marslett
Producer: Geoff Marslett
Writer: Geoff Marslett
About the writer, director and producer:
GEOFF MARSLETT is a director, writer, producer, animator and actor. He directed Monkey vs. Robot, MARS and Loves Her Gun; produced the experimental documentary Yakona. He lives in Austin, Boulder and Pittsburgh, splitting time between filmmaking and teaching. He’s a nerdy cowboy with a cat named FatFace, and loves making things.
Key cast: Tom Skerritt as the Phantom
Looking for: film festival directors, journalists
Website: www.swervepictures.com
Other: IMDB
Funders: Self-funded
Made in association with:
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City Utah, Friday January 25, 2019.