Page 12 - the Noise April 2017

by Leon FredrIcKs
Q & A with Bob Reynolds
Fresh off the Sedona Film Festival circuit, regular contributor and Film! column editor, Bob Reynolds took time off his whirlwind schedule to speak about his recent film, the original short story for which was published in these pages some 21⁄2 years ago ...
JFK’s Last Interview presupposes a 13-year old girl interviewed John Kennedy before he was shot, a candid conversation that not only discloses much of his presidential baggage, but one in which the President himself alludes to a Military Industrial Complex as “running the show.” Can you tell us a bit about the process for this? Why did you decide upon a 13-year old girl as the protagonist? And how did you go about “channeling” JFK for his interview?
Mary Hart won a writing contest to interview the President at St. Joan of Arc Parrish in Dallas on 11/21/63. In the film, which is different than the “found document” in the short story, Mary is now 65 years old “remembering” back 52 years to what JFK’s last interview did to her the next day and for the rest of her life. It’s a memory piece ... and we get to see what Mary remembers from that interview. She narrates with her adult voice “looking back” until we are positioned at the “actual” interview.
She asks questions and JFK answers using a mixture of his famous quotes and speeches in the film ... Where I took liberty was in bringing the ghost of JFK back to talk about the Banking cartels and JFK’s infamous executive order #111110 which “would have” given the printing of money back to the American people and taken it away from the private cen- tral banks in Europe. (Which is not a conspiracy theory, but on record.) Of course he was already pulling advisers out of Viet Nam before the ramp up to a trillion dollar war for the “military industrial complex.” As well as JFK’s Cuba fiasco and firing of Allen Dulles, the Head of the CIA.
Certainly the conspiracy theories surrounding JFK’s death are among the most varied and popularized, as witnessed in supermarket tabloid headlines of “JFK Alive in a Brazilian Hotel” in the 1990s and Oliver Stone’s landmark film, which played up a CIA cover-up many now take as historical fact — all alternatives to the “official story” taught in public schools and many national museums. Why do you think there remains so much controversy around his death? And what was the impetus for you to re-imagine these events again?
The real conspiracy is why we choose to believe the mainstream media? Or the CIA when they help lie us into a war in Iraq or get 55% of Americans to believe Iraq and Sad- dam Hussein had something to do with 9-11.
from left: Grace otto and Nick rabe in Bob reynolds’ JFK’s Last Interview.
As writer, producer, and director for the film, you had quite a few hats to wear. How did you go about finding your actors, and what was their reaction to portraying a revisioning of history some consider as still very sensitive? Did you have any trouble finding financial backing for the project?
My executive producer, Chris Gunn of “Shot by Gunn” productions liked the short story and script and paid for the cameraman and editor, among other items. I bought meals and paid to enter contests. We got into 6 film festivals out of 14, so far. Nick Rabe, a veteran of Theatrikos Theater was perfect for JFK, but finding a smart intelligent young woman to deliver Mary’s character was more difficult. We had an audition, and one young actor even came from Phoenix. But Grace Otto, from FALA and now at school in University of Arizona in Tucson really “got” the script. She said after reading it, “this is really about now isn’t it?” (And I knew then she was perfect.)
We shot this one location centerpiece, the actual interview, in one long day. This became a play after a short story, before a film, so the interview is “play-like.” We shot from 8am to 6pm. Then our editor Darren Rudy, helped open it up by finding old footage from that era to help book-end the film. And I always knew I wanted to end with the Zapruda film. Its impact is palpable on the big screen.
We may never know what happened on that day (11/22/63) but “supposedly” if Winston Smith isn’t in the backroom doing re-writes, 75 years after the assassination, certain docu- ments will be released. (Maybe even frame 312?)
Have you come across any negative reactions to your screenings of the film, especially after an election which closely resembles the Nixon/Kennedy voter split? How would you describe the suspension of belief this story induces in your audience, both in print and on screen?
People do get upset when you bring up an emotional chapter in their life (JFK’s assas- sination) and “play” with that heretofore ‘unknown’ reality. I offer a fictional tale, to tell a greater truth, à la Hemingway, perhaps, or not?
It’s a good story, well told ... and people seem to want to talk about it afterwards, they seem to recognize the quotes and some wish to watch it again ... So, all in all, the response has been good.
Oliver Stone’s JFK helped a new generation, almost 30 years later, look objectively at the evidence of a “magic bullet” and the “lone gun man” in a new light ... And you’re right, the correlations and affinities between the Nixon/Kennedy election and Trump/Clinton and Bush/Gorebecomealmosteerie,“if”youbelieveinfictionlikevoting! MarkTwainsaid:“If voting mattered, they wouldn’t let us do it.”
We are so screwed as a country ...
... Bob’s 13-minute film is expected to continue touring the independent film circuit this summer and fall. His newest feature, Orwell For President, is currently in edits.
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