Collegiate Special: Q&A with Alum and Oscar Nominee Michael Gottwald

2/24/2013

Michael Gottwald '02 will walk the red carpet at the Academy Awards this weekend, in hopes of leaving with one or more Oscars. The first feature film he co-produced, Beasts of the Southern Wild, has been nominated for four awards. He recently spoke with us about the process of making Beasts, and living his movie-making dreams.

Michael has loved standing behind a camera to reflect unique aspects of life since his days as a student on Collegiate’s Mooreland Road campus. He credits a film studies class he took during his senior year, as well as two short films he produced at Collegiate for a foreign film festival, with helping him determine a career path and passion.

Still, he has been as thrilled and as stunned as numerous others by the tremendous success of Beasts, which he co-produced in collaboration with fellow filmmakers he met during his studies at Wesleyan University. Their company is called Court 13.

In addition to garnering accolades and awards throughout 2012, including the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Beasts has been nominated for four Academy Awards – Best Picture, Best Director (Benh Zeitlin), Best Actress (Quvenzhané Wallis) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin).

Winners will be announced on Sunday, when the 85^th Academy Awards airs live on ABC at 7 p.m.

Michael will share the evening with a special guest - his mom.

How immersed were you (and your colleagues) in the culture of southern Lousiana by the time you began shooting Beasts?

MG: I moved there to make the film, but it became home for me, because we were there for so long. I lived there about three years, on and off. Benh (the screenwriter) had lived there since 2006, and New Orleans has always been an inspiration to him.

As you were making the movie, did you intuitively know it was something special, and that it would be so well received?

MG: We did not have that gut feeling. We were just worried about finishing the film (in time) to take it to Sundance (in January 2012). For me, it was more about having faith in Benh. I wanted to be a part of whatever story Benh was telling. I trusted that whatever he created would be something awesome and amazing.

Your lead actor, 9 year old Quvenzhané Wallis, is the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. How did you and your colleagues know she was “the one” for this important role?

MG: It was Benh’s decision, but I was there for the first audition. When she came through, she immediately was very imaginative and had a composure to her. She was very still, not fidgety, and possessive of some kind of wisdom. I think we responded to her. When Benh saw her, they just connected.

Court 13’s production process has been heralded as unique because you used mostly local actors and other elements genuine to southern Louisiana throughout the movie. How did that impact this project?

MG: Benh was in (Louisiana) a full year before doing any filming - writing and befriending people in south Louisiana, where we made the film. We genuinely have friends we’re still in touch with down there. From lending us animals to props, it was a collaboration. The culture in the film is deliberately supposed to span all kinds of south Louisiana.

Where were you when you learned the film had been nominated for four Academy Awards?

MG: I was in a hotel room in Los Angeles with my friends – Benh, and the other two producers and the composers. We just couldn’t stop screaming and jumping up and down. We went over to Quvenzhane’s room and woke her up and jumped up and down with her.

How has your family reacted to the film’s success?
MG: They’re very excited. For a long time, they didn’t quite know what I was up to with this film in New Orleans. Now it’s coming to fruition, so it’s pretty exciting.

What advice can you share with current Collegiate students interested in a filmmaking career?

MG: If there’s a film studies class at Collegiate, definitely take it. The film class (weight coach) Skip Johns taught my senior was only 45 minutes, but it made a deep impression on me.

Your initial exposure to filmmaking at Collegiate intrigued you enough to pursue film studies at Wesleyan University. How did your matriculation there shape your creative process?

MG: (Wesleyan) had a great film series on campus. On Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays I was able to see old Hollywood movies, foreign films, (et cetera). If you have an eye for it, watching movies can teach you as much about film as you can learn from attending class.

What’s next for you in your filmmaking journey?

MG: I’m working on a documentary about a border town in southwest Texas and a narrative film called Ping Pong Summer. It’s an indie film, similar to what we did with Beasts, and has a mixture of nonprofessional kid actors and then some well-known actors like Susan Sarandon, Lea Thompson and John Hannah.

What are some of your filmmaking goals beyond 2013?

MG: My long-term goal is to keep loving what I’m doing and to be surrounded by inspiring people whose work I appreciate.

Congrats, Michael, and all the best on Sunday!

Roger Ebert ‘s Chicago Sun-Times review: “Sometimes miraculous films come into being, made by people you’ve never heard of, starring unknown faces, blindsiding you with creative genius. Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of the year’s best films.”

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