Writers: Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Easterly
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Probably the most celebrated indie of the first half of 2012, Beasts Of The Southern Wild won the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival and the Camera D’Or in Cannes last month. Not bad for a project with a director making his feature debut and a cast that sported non-pros across the board. The film did have some friends along the way. The San Francisco Film Society awarded the movie two grants that helped the filmmakers in withr post-production, according to producer Michael Gottwald. Grants organization Cinereach also got involved throughout the process. “With our film, it’s not like there were expectations things would go smoothly,” Gottwald said. “During the development period, the challenge was getting things down on paper. The financing partners were aware of this going in.” Court 13, the creative team behind Beasts was a hodgepodge of filmmakers with some to no experience but a keen interest in getting the film done. “They had an interest that lent itself to the film, but not necessarily a skill set,” Gottwald said.
Casting also took a less conventional route although initially the project had some interest in professional actors for the role of Wink who plays the troubled father to young Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis). But then they decided to go with a local in the Louisiana Bayou where the film is set. “I loved the challenge of working with Dwight (Henry) and I thought he could do it and he could give something to the role because of what he’s been through,” said Gottwald. “We knew it would be a challenge. He was running a bakery at the time, so we had to get around his schedule. I’m sure we could have made our days [much easier] if we had two trained actors in the father/daughter roles. It can be exhausting but I think we came out with something that had value.”
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