John Oak Dalton

"Not 'Hollywood Independent' - writer John Oak Dalton is the real Real Thing." --Cinema Minima."Very weird and unpopular b-movies and comics."--Blogalicious. "After watching the film I am left to wonder if he had some childhood trauma he is not telling us about."--IMDB user review. "Screenwriter John Oak Dalton wanted to be in Hollywood. Instead, he's in the rustic kitchen above the Germania General Store, stirring a pot of boiling hot dogs." --The Harrisburg Patriot-News.

Friday, February 07, 2020

Tuesday's Gone with the Wind

This post first appeared in my secret e-newsletter I WAS BIGFOOT'S SHEMP.

Last Friday I had a chance to go to the Indiana University Cinema to hear Jim Jarmusch talk. He as an absolutely formative director from my early years of interest in cinema; STRANGER THAN PARADISE had a lot of influence on me, but MYSTERY TRAIN and NIGHT ON EARTH are two later, great movies, and I would recommend GHOST DOG: WAY OF THE SAMURAI as an entry point to anybody.

He said so many things that hit me right where I live: that there are as many ways to make movies as there are movie directors, but there is only one way for a director to direct an individual actor, that a movie will tell you what it wants to be. He talked about how you had to be interested in all different subjects to make your movies interesting. He had a million stories about moviemaking but one of my favorite things he said was that, no matter the state of the world, his memories of the movies he's seen can't be taken away from him. I have said forever, to make a good movie you have to come from a place of honest appreciation of movies; if you come from a place of cynicism, you'll get found out by the fans. I got a tremendous charge from this trip.

Yesterday I was driving back from work meetings in Chicago and passed a Family Video in Frankfort, Indiana. I thought I would stop and see if they were going to stock my movie THE GIRL IN THE CRAWLSPACE, which streets everywhere today. It hit streaming platforms in October, but I'm old school, and was eager to see it on the shelf somewhere.

They actually had it, but had not shelved it yet, and let me take a picture without asking why, though I eventually told them, and they vowed to promote it.

It was a dizzying and humbling feeling to hold this movie for the first time, in a rural Indiana video store along Highway 28.

About 30 minutes later I passed another Family Video in Elwood, Indiana, and they had it too, and the staff there was very friendly and excited for me.

I think this is everything I hoped would happen; that the movie would appear on the shelf in small towns and all the highways and byways in America. Because I hope somebody like me will see it, and be inspired to make their own movie. Even if they see it and think "I can do better than that," as my wise old b-movie friend Mark Polonia says, if someone says they can do better than you, it means they can learn from you.

And now it exists and is out loose in the world for real and for true. If you see it anywhere, please send me a picture, or post one and tag it.

It's a long road. I starting shooting at my own house with a group of friends and a handful of favors in March 2018. Again, it is a humbling experience to see it exist now. But if it wasn't feeling humble, all I have to do is remember this picture, from my first day of shooting ever as a director, wearing my sweatshirt inside out.