Laura Colella’s new film, Breakfast With Curtis has been warming the hearts and entertaining audiences throughout the independent film circuit. In February, this film was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award and won the Find Your Audience Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, The Master) became a fan of Breakfast With Curtis after it’s screening at the Los Angeles Film Festival and is helping it reach more audiences. Colella has served as writer, director and editor for two features and several shorts, which have been screened at about 100 film festivals and venues internationally, winning 20 awards so far. Colella currently teaches film classes at Rhode Island School of Design and freelances her various cinematic skills. The University of Toledo is hosting a screening of Breakfast With Curtis on Friday, September 13 at 7:30pm and Colella, writer, director and editor of the film, will be present to conduct a question and answer session with the audience afterwards. This exclusive interview with Colella takes a look into her filmmaking journey and her new film Breakfast With Curtis.
I’m sure there are many, so I won’t ask you to narrow it down to one—what are three films or directors that have inspired your cinematic aesthetic the most?
My formative filmmaking years as an undergrad film student at Harvard probably had the biggest impact. It’s when I first started paying attention to movies, and saw a lot of great classic and experimental films, especially from Europe. I studied with a visiting professor there, the brilliant late director Raul Ruiz, who made a strong impression on me by encouraging us to resist formulaic approaches to screenwriting.
I read in an article on The Hitlist that Paul Thomas Anderson was one of your advisors at the Sundance Directing and Screening Labs when you were working on “Stay Until Tomorrow.” How was your experience with him? What is the best piece of advice he offered?
During the labs, he was very supportive. I was pretty quiet and wrapped up in the work I was trying to do, so my memory is mainly of positive reinforcement rather than detailed conversations. Later, when I was finishing the film I worked on there, my second feature STAY UNTIL TOMORROW, he did say something that rang out as sound advice, and that often comes back to me in creative situations: Don’t second-guess yourself.
Q: In the same article, I noticed that you used a non-professional cast for “Breakfast With Curtis,” what benefits (or possibly disadvantages) do you find this has in the filmmaking process?
From a purely artistic (vs. pragmatic) perspective, I’ve found the challenges and benefits of working with actors who are trained vs. untrained just about balance out. I love working with both. Training is more important in theater, but in film, sometimes it works best to cast someone close to the character, with the natural idiosyncrasies and physical attributes you’re looking for. It’s also a somewhat artificial distinction, because training and experience come in infinite varieties. Many experienced/professional actors aren’t necessarily trained, and sometimes training can get in the way. Children can be amazingly natural and convincing, and I generally like working with actors who have a similar lack of self-consciousness, and ability to immerse themselves in an imagined world.
What was your inspiration for “Breakfast With Curtis”?
I was mainly inspired by the fun I have with the people who live around me. I live with my boyfriend in an apartment in a 3-family house, and we’re close friends with the five other residents in our house, and four people who live next door. We’re the main cast, and the principle locations are our homes and yards, which have a lot of character and are visually interesting. In our yard, for example, we have a beautiful ragtag garden, 3 fountains, a big swing from a tall tree, a ping pong table, a blowup bed that is like a big swing, a hammock, etc. We call it the earthly paradise, and the house is nicknamed The Purple Citadel. With this project, I was looking for something I could go into production with immediately, for a very low budget. So I capitalized on the beauty, drama, and crazy characters that were all around me.
How many festivals is “Breakfast With Curtis” circulating on?
After over a year on the circuit, we have only a couple more upcoming festivals, and are focusing on the film’s release this November and December. It will open in a handful of cities theatrically, and then be released on digital platforms. As I write this, about a week before coming to Toledo, I’m on a flight to New Zealand, to show the film there and do a couple of workshops in Auckland and Wellington.
Is the film screening at other universities besides the University of Toledo? Why is UT one of the schools with the opportunity to see this film?
The film hasn’t screened at many schools yet, though we’re going to pursue bringing it to other college towns, where we think it will find appreciative audiences. I feel I should say that it’s really a movie for adults of all ages, and isn’t particularly geared towards younger audiences, despite the fact that Curtis is a teenager. I’m coming to Toledo at the invitation of professor Holly Hey, whom I met several years ago through a mutual filmmaker friend. She was my colleague at the Rhode Island School of Design before moving to Toledo to teach film.
What is your ultimate goal for the film? Will we be seeing it on store shelves or Netflix?
Yes, it should be broadly accessible within six months, especially through online outlets, though I don’t have exact dates yet. My ultimate goal is just that, for it to be out in the world for people to enjoy, because I think it’s a fun movie. Festival audiences seem to have found it especially rewarding to see on the big screen, because laughter can be infectious, and because of its visual qualities. So I hope as many people as possible will get to experience it that way.
If you could offer aspiring filmmakers one piece of advice, what would it be?
I’d say to try to relish every part of the process, because if you do, it will always be worth all the insanely hard work.
Breakfast With Curtis will be showing at the University of Toledo’s Center for Performing Arts on Sept. 13 at 7:30 pm. A question and answer session with Colella will follow the screening. Admission is free. UT Center for the Performing Arts, 2801 W Bancroft St. 419-530-2375. utoledo.edu/cvpa
