Ledyard High School graduate Chris Russell, from the class of 2001, directed a 23-minute short film called “The Lord of all Future Space and Time.” It is showing at the Mystic Film Festival on September 26. It is a western that gets suddenly bombarded with sci-fi elements, and also a comedy pondering deep life questions through all the laughs. The movie is quite complex, but, in all simplicity, it follows Dyson Wheeler, a man in the Old West whose wife was just killed, and he, too, has a life nearing its end. Suddenly, a duffel bag appears and shakes up not only Dyson Wheeler’s life but also the universe itself, making Dyson Wheeler the Lord of All Future Space and Time
The film has an 80-person cast and crew, directed by Russell. When asked about it, Russell said, “We shot one day in an old western town set in Santa Clarita, then did three days in the California desert in the height of the summer. 100+ degrees days, 30+ mph winds,” and not only that, but the set was miles away from where they were staying; they had to bring everything they needed, including food and water, all the way to the desert. They had an on-site medic who gave them water and electrolytes when necessary. Post-production was just as difficult; there were 150 VFX shots in the film, all of which were done by Danny Shephard, and it took them two years to finish them.
When originally coming up with the movie idea, Russell found that the first thing that came to him was “the first image of the movie, a duffel bag appearing in the desert and saving a cowboy from execution. I thought that was strange and funny, so I wrote down some of those first moments. A few days later, I woke up with the narrator’s voice in my head, taking me inside characters’ brains, into the future and the past, and out into space. Suddenly, the entire character of the story became very clear.”
Russell just kept writing from there as more of the story came to him. But it wasn’t just the sci-fi and crazy elements that came to him; it was the soul of the story, the grounded theme of grief and loss, and the ways one reacts to them. He also brought up one of the most interesting ideas he chose to play around with in this movie. He wanted to shove as much story in the least amount of time as humanly possible. How much could the audience fully absorb in such a limited amount of time? This movie is 23 minutes long and contains a full story of grief and loss set in the past, the achievements of several different lineages, a story set in the future caused by the story set in the past, and even more. Suffice to say, Russell completed this goal.
Russell believes that besides a sheer love of doing it, filmmakers-to-be also need a love for the idea. You can’t work hard on an idea you hate because it will become the bane of your existence at some point in the process. He said you need a love for the process; you need to love obsessing over the necessary details, making every decision, and enduring difficult conditions. My favorite thing Russell said throughout the interview is that enjoying making this art is “a sickness” if you like it; something is wrong with you in the way only filmmakers can be. He says the third and final thing you need is a love for the people. Filmmakers are a special type of person, and you have to love being around that type of person and work well with them. Russell says, “a filmmaker’s life isn’t defined by the projects made, but the process and the people involved in making them. In the end, as difficult as moviemaking can be, you’re just playing make-believe. So find good playmates and make your time together as fun and full of love as possible.”
Russell recalls how teachers at LHS inspired him to be the person he is. He fell in love with filmmaking at LHS and can think of three teachers who pushed him to be his best: Frank Juhasz, who was the teacher who ran the filmmaking club when Russell was in school. Jerry Lentz, a teacher who made science fun and digestible. And Lance Rockefeller, the creator of the Colonel Magazine and an English teacher until his unfortunate passing in 2000. Russell says that Rokerfeller “recognized my passion and talent for writing and pushed me to become the person I am today. He remains the most important teacher I ever had.”
Russell says that LHS is one of the greatest influences on the filmmaker he became, and he hopes to inspire others to do the same.
The Mystic Film Festival is showing Russell’s film on September 26 during block two of the event at 2:00. Go to mysticfilmfestival.com and purchase tickets. Or watch it on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBzepYD1b64.
Lance Holwitt, Staff Writer
Junior Lance Holwitt is a staff writer, passionate about filmmaking, film editing, and pretending to be good at things he certainly is not. He hopes to use the most pointlessly long words in his articles so you have to Google the meanings of words.
