BURT (2025) is a film about a musician with Parkinson’s surprised to meet a long lost son he didn’t know he had. Toledoans, actor Oliver Cooper and director Joe Burke produced this film for about $7,000. Since taking it on the film festival circuit, BURT has taken home a Jury Award for Best Comedy Feature at Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, CA, awards for Best Picture and Best Acting Ensemble at the Phoenix Film Festival, and the Florida Film Festival’s Special Jury Award for Best Screenplay. It’s an affecting movie that the two filmmakers are accompanying on a trip home to the Maumee Indoor Theatre for a one-time screening, presented by Toledo City Paper, on Saturday, June 14. We talked with Cooper about making the movie, coaching non-actors and getting to the truth in cinema.
TCP: I’m curious about tone. I feel like that’s the toughest intangible to get right. What choices did you and Joe make to refine the mood/tone of the film? In other shows and films you’ve been a part of that you felt succeeded as art products, where do you see the tone primarily being refined?
Oliver Cooper: I think the tone can be a really difficult thing to get right in a film and it is a crucial part of making something good. A cohesive tone comes before a frame of the movie is shot. It’s the filmmaker’s voice. A lot of times you see a tone shift in a movie and, even if you’re not consciously aware, it can throw off your viewing experience. Joe and I have worked together so much over the years we know instinctively what the tone should be. And Joe has a very distinctive voice so that part is never a question. And on films I’ve made where the director doesn’t know what he or she wants, the tone tends to be off and it’s generally not going to be a good movie.
TCP: Burt showcases a range of acting talent. The movie has a voice-over cameo from Academy Award-nominee Brenda Vaccaro (of Midnight Cowboy fame), but mostly relies on Burt and Steve, both unknowns discovered by you and Joe. Though Joe was director, you both wrote and produced the movie, in addition to your acting role. What were the challenges of coaching first-time actors through production of a feature-length film?
OC: Working with non-actors presents challenges and it has its benefits as well. Similar to child actors, they may not have the craft or ability to hit their mark. But they tend to have this magic about them, if you cast right. Also they want to be directed versus, perhaps, an experienced actor who doesn’t want their role to be managed. Oftentimes with non-actors you’re looking for someone who is so interesting that they almost can’t be anything other than themselves, even if they tried. They are so purely them, in the most beautiful, interesting way.
But the key to getting a good performance out of them is creating an environment where they feel safe, where they feel free to play. But that’s true for any actor really. We were lucky with BURT. We had such a small crew that (the cast) felt like a family and the line between action and cut was blurred.
TCP: How did the real-life tensions of the non-actors that you and Joe cast inspire or inform the story of the movie that audiences will see on the screen?
OC: Burt and Steve are real roommates who have lived together for a decade plus, there’s a lot of love, and also conflict, that is exacerbated when you are making a movie. I think Burt and Steve would drive each other crazy at times which was great for the movie and their dynamic. But also you can tell there is real love there. It comes across in the film, and in real life.
TCP: You and Joe both have experience blurring the reality of non-actor characters with fictional film stories while making a true-to-life feature like Four Dogs (2013). Was there anything you maybe didn’t recall that took you by surprise when approaching the production of BURT?
OC: I don’t know if there is anything that is surprising or that I forgot about. But it’s exhilarating working with non-actors and exploring their real lives. I think the thing that is delicate is to make sure you don’t cross a line. This is their life. It’s something that always appeals to me — in stuff I watch. It’s the closest you get to the truth in cinema.
BURT screens on Saturday, June 14 at the Maumee Indoor Theatre followed by a Q&A. $17. Tickets at maumeeindoor.com and eventbrite.com.
