Crimson & Gold
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The film stars veteran actor Danny Trejo (Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Con Air, The Replacement Killers) and George Katt, who won the Best Breakthrough Actor 2007 award at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival for his role of Zeus in Valley of Angels. Trejo also won at the festival for Best Actor in a Feature, and the film itself received the Grand Jury Prize for Best Picture.
The film follows the travails of a young, morally-conflicted drug dealer in Los Angeles. In reviewing the film for Independent Film Quarterly, critic Todd Konrad wrote, “A fantastic debut peopled with up and coming stars, Valley of Angels is a taut, intelligent thriller from a young director who easily has the chops to break out and be the next big thing without disappointing you in the process.”
Crimson & Gold editor Marc Sheehan talked to Rosten about independent film-making, intellectual property theft and why L.A. is such a great location for a crime thriller.
Crimson & Gold: Valley of Angels is your first feature film. Did you tackle smaller projects first? What kinds of things did you work on as a student?
Jon Rosten: As a student I was able to work on a multitude of projects throughout the program. That was one of the reasons I went to Ferris State the hands-on experience approach to teaching. I did shoot several commercials and TV shows during my first job out of college as well, but nothing approaching the length of a feature.
Jon Rosten poses with Valley of Angels stars George Katt and Danny Trejo. |
JR: I learned a lot from each professor I had at Ferris. Clayton was instrumental in teaching me the artistic side of making projects. I’ll forever be indebted to him, because much of what I do is based on the fundamental principles that I learned from him. He definitely taught me knowledge that was necessary for me to compete in a heavily competitive, albeit artistic field. If there are better professors than Clayton Rye out there, I certainly have never seen one. I’m extremely fortunate to have had such an extraordinary mentor.
C&G: Your two main actors both won awards for their performances. What was the biggest challenge as a first-time director? Is it harder to coax the right emotional pitch from an actor, or manage technical issues like getting the composition of a scene right?
JR: I guess it depends on the director. Some focus on the actors, some on the technical side. I found a director of photography that was on my same wave length regarding compositional issues, so that allowed me to place more focus on the acting. Of course, with a limited budget you never have enough time to work on either component of the equation.
C&G: In addition to directing, you also produced and wrote the script. Which is the biggest challenge directing, writing or producing?
JR: Being a first-time director on a small budget project, it’s definitely producing because you have to work every angle to get the most bang for the buck. Writing is easy for me because it doesn’t involve many variables. Once you get to the point when you’re on a set and there’s dozens of people running around all the time, things get complicated quickly.
Trejo and Rosten discuss a pivotal moment in the film. |
JR: Casting in Los Angeles is relatively easy. There’s tens of thousands of quality actors here. It just takes time to find the right ones for your project. Scouting for locations with budget constraints is difficult. It takes a lot of legwork. Having access to quality actors and crew makes shooting in L.A. beneficial. The cost of everything else, including locations, has driven a lot of directors to move their productions elsewhere.
C&G: Your film is set in Los Angeles. What is it about L.A. that makes it such a great setting for crime novels and movies everything from Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep to Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series?
JR: Los Angeles is such a unique mix of everything, from culture to social class and everything in between. This gives writers many variables to create good drama. The intrinsic dark side of the entertainment industry, which spills over to the whole city, probably steers many writers toward crime stories.
C&G: In another interview you said a film that made you want to be a director was the really amazing movie Jacob’s Ladder. What was it about that film that affected you?
JR: It moved me. I believe that’s ultimately the purpose of all art to move people in one way or the other. One reason why I really liked Jacob’s Ladder is that there were enough pieces left out of the puzzle to allow the audience members to complete it themselves based on their take on the ambiguities. It’s still a film I find myself talking a lot about to this day.
C&G: Intellectual property theft and digital piracy are big issues in both the film and recording industries. You had your own problems with that, didn’t you?
JR: Absolutely. An unfinished version of Valley of Angels found its way to the peer-to-peer sites before the domestic release. The studios are fighting hard to stop the theft, but it’s hard to see how they’ll stop the inevitable retraction the industry will face due to piracy. It’s sad to see how many people will resort to theft if there’s little chance of repercussion.
C&G: Can you talk a little about the next project you’d like to shoot?
JR: The next one will be a horror/thriller called The Final Transition. It’s about a university professor who convinces a fragile student to commit suicide in order to contact him from the other side. Hopefully I’ll be able to start principal photography on it early next year. The impending SAG strike coming this summer is forcing a lot filmmakers like me to put off shooting new projects until next winter.
Rosten walks through a scene with one of the dark suits. |
JR: I think it’s someone in the electrical or grip department of a film production. I’m not sure. I get them all confused.
C&G: Anything else you’d like to add about your work?
JR: Just that it wouldn’t have been possible without the tremendous knowledge I learned from my years spent at Ferris State. I’m extremely fortunate to have had such a great undergraduate experience that really prepared me for my journey thereafter. It’s hard to fully value education until years afterwards when life experience tends to continually show you how important it all was.
Valley of Angels is available at such online stores as Amazon.com, Target.com, Bestbuy.com and others. More information about the film, including cast forums, cast bios and a trailer is available at www.levelblue.com.