Early this year I saw an audition notice for a short film called Paper Boy. It caught my eye because they were looking for dancers/movers to portray giant paper creatures (say no more) and the story sounded moving - a mother/son story with a lot of pain and gravity to it. I was about to start the festival circuit with my own film that coincidently explored some of the same themes. Paper Boy was a Thesis film for the
@americanfilminstitute and I adore doing student films. Anyway, everything kind of felt right about it. I made a strange, improvised audition tape (excerpt in the second slide) and two weeks later, I was on set, thanks to
@kristii_lynnn casting! (Oh, and between those two things, LA burned and the sky was dark and it was hard to breathe the air. This year, man.) It ended up being one of my favorite on-set experiences that I’ve ever had. The director,
@sauliusbaradinskas was/is incredible. Very collaborative and calm and possessing a clear and original vision. The production design of the set by
@oyster_liao was made entirely of paper, and was truly unbelievable. The costumes were fabricated to perfection by
@evanhtml 👹 All these elements were pulled together by producer
@willow_rose_studios 🤩 My fellow cast members were awesome and so talented
@kit_dezolt @derekdemko @_jettwilder 🤓 our movement director
@marygracemcnally was/is a dream 💭
@valbetancurmua did fantastic makeup 💄 I wish I could go on and tag everyone. I believe there were over two hundred people working on the project, and everyone I met was a gem. I’ve never gotten to play a paper monster before, so that was a career first! When we wrapped I wished it were a feature instead of a short. Paper Boy premieres at the prestigious AFI Fest tomorrow, and I’m so excited for it! I haven’t seen the film yet, so it’ll be a total surprise for me. I feel really lucky to have been involved with such a creative project that has so much heart. We need as many projects like this as we can get. Thank you, Saulius, and congratulations!
