While Dan Fogler‘s star has risen, he’s managed to maintain a certain honesty that is both humorous and indicative of the awkwardness of Hollywood and things that go with the filmmaking business. His latest film is one he wrote and co-directed called Don Peyote, which is now on VOD and in theaters. The movie plays as a wandering narrative focusing on a pot-smoking manchild that loves conspiracy theories and ends up knee deep in all of its pitfalls. He’s about to get married and has the pressures of maintaining normalcy until all hell breaks loose and he ends up coming across all manner of people throughout that both lead him deeper and try to bring him back. Together we talked about why the film is personal to him and whether he wrote the role specifically for himself to play, whether he started riding his bike in New York for this film or prior, why they didn’t mind spoiling the cameos, and much more.
The Film Stage: With this film, you’re front and center throughout. Was there ever a moment when you, being the writer and co-director, thought of someone else in this role?
Dan Fogler: I always knew it was going to be me. I wrote the part for myself so I could flex some of my abilities. I tried to put everything in it that I could do. Make you laugh, make you cry. A little song, a little dance. A little bit of everything. I did a movie called Balls of Fury where I had a lot of cast members and then there was a movie I did called Scenic Route where it was just me and Josh Duhamel and I knew I could hold my own.
How long ago was this shot?
We started shooting it in 2010 and finished around 2012. Then, post and everything, around the end of 2012. It’s taken this long to get it out there to the world.
There are a lot of films with cameos that they keep very secretive. They don’t want to reveal them. But in the opening credits of your film, and even on the poster and advertising materials, you pretty much list every big name that appears in the film. What was the decision behind that?
That’s XLrator Media, who is the distributor. They kind of decide how they want to sell your film. They want to get it out there to as many people as possible so they basically sold it as an ensemble. I’m obviously the lead in it and I got my buddy, who is like my Sancho Panza, his name is Yang Miller who plays Balance. But you can’t really put his name or face on the poster, you know? Kelly Hutchinson, who plays my fiancé and is a very large part of the movie, can’t put her face on the poster. When they’re selling the movie that’s what they’re really concerned about. The money of it and how they can get it out there so they put as many recognizable faces out in front. I don’t have enough star power in certain venues. That’s a huge reason why I had so many people in the film. This movie is very close to my heart. It’s got a very special message to it. If I want to get it out to the world I got to put people in it that are known around the world. That was the intention. Yeah, man, Anne Hathaway is in the first 10 minutes of the movie. We’re trying to get her people. So, that’s as honest as I can possibly be about that.
One really cool feature of the film is that every character seems to have an introductory hand-drawn image. Some of them are fantastic. How did you find the artist and what was the inspiration to have drawings introduce them?
Yeah, the drawings are like chapter markers. The guy that did it was Eugene Rohklin, who is an excellent artist and animator. He was just getting started out of school. He was interning with my studio, Studio 13, and he worked his way up there and I immediately saw the guy was a genius and I asked if he wanted to do all of the animations in Don Peyote. Now he’s super busy doing all kinds of stuff on his own. That idea came out of the idea that this was all happening in Warren’s head. If he was going to have chapter markers they would all be drawn out and animated like that because he was graphic novelist. That’s throughout the movie. We have a lot of fun drawing transitions. We had a small budget so we had to use the resources we had. My original idea was epic! I wish I could have Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas production stuff. I wish we had the budget to make some of these look more Hollywood. But it’s a very independent movie and that become the charm of the movie so I’m glad you dug it.
You mentioned that you had a small budget and one scene that I enjoyed in the beginning was you riding your bike around New York City. I’m curious if you actually do that or was that a one-off deal for this film?
No, man. I ride my bike. If I’m going to get exercise. [Laughs]. I don’t like to do it in the normal fashion. I’m going to do something fun and I like riding my bike around the city. In the movie, I was at a time when I wasn’t wearing my helmet. But that was pre-baby. Now I definitely wear my helmet and I love riding my bike. I based a lot of the movie on how I was personally feeling at the time. Warren is about to get married and he’s worried about that. He’s worried about the future and in a nutshell, that’s what I was going through at the time. I was about to get married and the world seemed to be in chaos. I felt it was something I needed to document in order to get through it.
Don Peyote is now available on VOD and in limited release.