The Insurgents: John Shea part 1 and 2
The Insurgents: John Shea Promotional Interview
Interviewer: So tell us what attracted you to this project, The Insurgents.
John: I read the script and I liked the script. I thought it was different. I read an awful lot of scripts. It's sort of what I do for a living, I think, is I read, and I feel like a 49er kind of panning for gold. And I'm always look for things that are well-written, different, that can kind of provide a challenge. Something different from the last kind of thing that I did. The last film that I did was a romantic comedy. The one that I did before that was a film noir, set in London. And then suddenly this film comes along called The Insurgents, which is, you know, a political thriller, intelligently written, set in a really unnamed American city, and it has a lot of things in it that are controversial, provokative. And I think to myself, "This is a good writer, and this is an interesting script." And so I call my agents and I say, "I wanna meet this guy." And they say, "Well, I'm sorry, he's in New York, and I think the thing is already cast." And I say, "Well, no. This is too important to even just think, I want you to find out." And so I say, "Because I'm going to New York next week, and if it's not cast, I wanna go meet the director." So they call and they do some research for me, and they say, "Okay, yeah, you're right. It's not cast yet, and he'd like to meet you in New York next week." And I said, "Great." So I go to New York, and I'm coming to New York to go -- this is just before Christmas -- to be with my family and so forth. I set up this meeting. And I meet Scott Dacko, and we meet at The Player's Club downtown by Gramercy Park. I happen to be there for another meeting for another film, and I say, "Hey Scott!" Turns out that he lives a block away. So he meets me over there, and we start talking about the script. So it's then this intense, you know, discussion of ideas. And he said, "Well, what do you think?" And I said, "Well, this is what I think." And I give him my ideas. And I've already been re-writing things and making millions of notes in the margins; I've flown across the country with the script in my lap, and I'm constantly jotting down line things. So I say, "This is what I think." And he says, "Okay, well, this is what I think." And we sort of had this discussion. And I said, "Look, I would love to do your film. If it works out, you know, it'd be great, you know, let me know." And I go away. And a couple of days later, I think, maybe the next day, he called me and said, "Okay, I want you to do the film." And I said, "Okay."
Interviewer: For a first time director, a lot of first time directors are hiding behind the camera. They're engaged in the technology. Whereas with you and Scott, it's all about ideas. It's all about the character. It's all about the backstory, and it's great to see that.
John: Yeah. I've worked with directors who don't even come to the set. You know, they're either in a box somewhere or they're in a trailer. They're watching the whole thing by remote control. Scott is an engage director, you know? If there's a disengage politically and engage, he's engaged. And he's there. He's on the front lines with you. And he puts his mouth where his money is and now he's gonna be in the film. He put his ass on the line and showed up today and they're shooting the scene where he's actually going to be in the film. And this is really involved, and it's kind of passionate filmmaking, which is important. The thing about Scott, about this play too, is that while it's got this really clever twisting plot to it, it is a play of ideas that you don't often see. And that's a refreshing thing because it reminds me of like back to some of my favorite playwrights, like George Bernard Shaw or Bertolt Brecht. These people who had kind of a political passion for life, and yet they were able to write three dimensional characters and bring these ideas to life so that you're not just talking about stick figures. You're talking about people.
© The Insurgents
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