Photo by Walter Thomson Filmmaker Brett Simon on the set of his new feature Assassination of a High School President

• Name: Brett Simon
• Created on: 1973-Nov-28, Palo Alto, California
• Record last updated on: 2008-Feb-14
• Homepage: www.brettsimon.com
• Domain: Filmmaking
• Location: Venice, California

Brett Simon is not just any Los Angeles-based filmmaker. Our history with him goes back 7 years to our days at RESFEST, when as a graduate student at UC Berkeley, he submitted one of his amazing short films, Counterfeit Film, which we subsequently screened around the world. That film not only established him as one of our favorite filmmakers with a bright future, but also highlighted his clever narrative style. Plus his innovative use of a scanner is still remembered to this day.

Simon caught the filmmaking bug while attending Princeton University (summa cum laude, Comparative Literature and Creative Writing), where he wrote and directed a play and started experimenting with a friend’s DV camera. In describing his early short films Brett has said “I work in the place where narrative and experimental video meet. The conflicts between art and entertainment, and between film and video, serve as subplots in many of my pieces.” Over the years we have continued to showcase many of his music videos and shorts films but we knew it was only a matter of time before he would make the big leap into feature filmmaking. That time is finally here.

We spoke with Brett about his first feature film, Assassination of a High School President, on the eve of its world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. He describes his film as “the love child of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and All The President’s Men.” The film will screen at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival and is scheduled to hit theaters in early 2009.

First of all tell us a little about yourself, your background?
I grew up in a family where movies took the place of religion and politics. I imagined that films were made by some mysterious cabal; it never occurred to me that I would actually be allowed to make one. When those first DV cameras came out, I saw a way in. I spent four years making short videos, teaching myself to shoot, to edit, to tell stories with pictures. Then I moved to LA and started directing music videos. That’s where I learned to work with film, the big toys, and with a crew.

Mischa Barton is the most popular girl in school in Brett Simon’s Assassination of a High School President (2008)

What attracted you to the script for Assassination of a High School President?
I loved the messiness of the tone, the way it swung from humor to heartbreak in a given scene. There’s a truth in this mess. I also was drawn to how seriously the characters took themselves. Their minor conflicts took on life or death consequences. The bittersweet tone and the high stakes attracted to me the film.

Counterfeit Film (2001)

In your shorts and music videos you’ve explored narrative, animation and experimental forms of storytelling. How would you contrast short film/music video making vs. a feature filmmaking?
With every short project, there’s a sense of starting from scratch each time. And as soon as the wheels are spinning and the crew has congealed, you’re finished. On the feature, you have the time to learn from your mistakes, to develop a language that is unique to the film, to form a creative bond with the cast and crew. The world of the film takes on its own logic, its own rules. After a while, you don’t need to force things to happen; the world unfolds on its own.

Are you focused on exploring traditional narrative filmmaking or will your experimental side crop up in future works? i.e. can we expect you to push Bruce Willis’ face on a scanner bed sometime soon?
A short film or music video can be carried on the back of single bold experiment. (Like my scanner video.) But with features, the best experiments don’t call attention to themselves. They become part of the stories and traditions. And the best traditions are constantly being twisted, tested, and re-invented. I didn’t stick Bruce on the scanner but I certainly dragged him into some odd experiments.

On the floor of his apartment Brett pressed Polar Bear frontman and Jane’s Addiction co-founder Eric Avery’s face onto a scanner, captured thousands of images and then animated them to create the memorable “Belly” music video (2003)

Was there a particular short film/music video/commercial that was your calling card or entree into the feature film world?
Not really. My short film, The Sailor’s Girl, was a lot darker in tone than the features I was going after. If anything, after seeing my reel, producers needed to be reassured that I wasn’t some art school freak, that I had a sense of humor, that I could play nice with others.

The Sailor’s Girl short film (2005)

The film is clever and funny with ingenious characters and a very timeless feel. What was the most challenging aspect of the shoot?
The lack of time was the most challenging part. I was used to moving at lightning speed from music videos, but somehow I always fantasized that when I finally made my feature, I’d have time to rehearse and block scenes. To spend time gazing through the viewfinder, finding just the right lens for the shot. Not so. The time crunch kept me on my toes, shooting from the hip, working on instinct. For six weeks I was working in the eternal present tense.

What is your favorite scene in the movie?
Bobby dancing at the party. I’m just a sucker for dance scenes.

Mischa Barton as Francesca Fachini, hottest girl in school and Reece Thompson as Bobby Funke, intrepid high school journalist at the dance

Reece Thompson (Rocket Science) as Bobby Funke

Were you involved in casting this project? What led you to cast Reece Thompson as Bobby Funke?
I was involved in casting every role. Bobby was the toughest. I needed someone who could be both awkward and vulnerable, but also charismatic and alluring. I needed a teenager with just a hint of the leading man he would become. Reece put himself on tape and sent it to me. His audition conjured the ghost of a young John Cusack. The search was over.

Selected Filmography
Assassination of a High School President (2008) | feature
The Sailor’s Girl (2005) | short
Counterfeit Film (2001) | short

Selected Videography
Queens of the Stone Age | Sick Sick Sick (2007)
Sugarcult | Do It Alone (2006)
Lost Prophets | Town Called Hypocrisy (2006)
Good Charlotte | The Chronicles of Life and Death (2005)
Unwritten Law | Save Me (2005)
Joggers | Hot Autism (2004)
Polarbear | Belly (2004)
The Killers | Somebody Told Me (2004)