After the whirlwind of indie-world deals from Sundance, here’s a true indie story from The Playlist: Mark Webber, the indie film veteran who played Stephen Stills, the frontman of the band Sex Bomb-Omb in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, will be directing a version of his own past in his sophomore directing effort, and will be joined by his real two-year-old son.
Webber’s terrific turn as the flighty Stills in Scott Pilgrim should be his star-making role, but it looks like he’s content to stick to his indie roots. After roles in The Laramie Project, Broken Flowers, and Dear Wendy, Webber made his feature directing debut with Explicit Ills.
The untitled drama centers on a single father (Webber) dealing with the loss of his wife while caring for his two-year-old son (Webber’s own boy). To shield his son from the process, Webber is using as minimal a process as he can, limiting the crew to himself, the cast and a director of photographer, as well as shooting on the non-intrusive DSLR Canon 5D.
Webber is quoted by The Hollywood Reporter:
“It’s been really cool and eye-opening to limit the exposure to my son but create the scenes and moments that seem realistically uncomfortable,” Webber said. “The blurring of boundaries and the overcompensation that you do with a child — how you look to them for affection when it’s not appropriate? It’s been an exercise to capture real life moments and still tell a compelling story.”
The film will also include Scott Pilgrim co-star Michael Cera, Big Love‘s Amanda Seyfriend, Shannon Sossamon, and Jason Ritter as versions of themselves.
“I’m getting them to show a real side of who they are and smash that up with people’s expectations of celebrity.”
Webber is evidently shooting the film in Los Angeles at the moment, and this could premiere at next year’s Sundance. I think this project sounds pretty intriguing, it has a Jim Jarmusch-like feeling to it, and Webber, a welcome screen presence, could prove a serious directing talent.