The sun is just beginning to set as the twenty-something characters in Jessica’s Barr’s mesmerizing new film, “The Plan,” start to congregate in an East LA apartment. The calmness of the setting gradually proves to be deceptive, as the mounting tension within these friends—particularly Evan (Ryan Simpkins)—threatens to erupt. With the helicopter blades of an unseen authoritarian regime whirring overhead, the characters’ titular goal, as overseen by the deadly serious Mads (An-Li Bogan), gradually becomes clear. Something must be done to stop America’s evil administration, and these young people are willing to sacrifice their lives to ensure this happens—as long as their nagging hormones and fluctuating moral compasses don’t get in the way.
By turns galvanizing, suspenseful, darkly funny and haunting, “The Plan” is guaranteed to be among the highlights at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival, kicking off this Thursday, February 19th, and running through Friday, March 6th, in Los Angeles. It marks the feature debut of Barr, who has proven herself to be one of the most promising talents of her generation both in front of and behind the camera. Rounding out her film’s magnetic ensemble of characters are Emily (Eve Lindley), Taylor (Jordan Hull), Sasha (Arkira Chantaratananond), Liam (Percy Hynes White), Toby (Logan Miller), and the outlier, Lucas (Frank Mosley), whose sudden appearance instantly throws a wrench in their plan.
Equally dangerous is the emotional spiral threatening to consume Evan, which Simpkins portrays brilliantly. It’s the latest triumph in the actor’s remarkable career that has spanned such diverse titles as “Please Baby Please,” the “Fear Street” trilogy, “Brigsby Bear,” the under-seen indie “Anguish,” “A Single Man,” “Revolutionary Road,” Jennifer Lynch’s “Surveillance” and the first movie I ever Netflixed, “Sherrybaby.” It was a privilege getting to speak with Barr and Simpkins via Zoom last week for Cinema Femme about their endlessly provocative picture, which is shot in a single, jaw-dropping 73-minute take.
Before we get into “The Plan,” I have to ask Ryan about filming their unforgettable scene with Colin Firth in Tom Ford’s “A Single Man,” which I just revisited on the Criterion Channel.
Ryan Simpkins (RS): Oh my god, that was the best experience! I remember that when I went into the audition, I didn’t know what it was for. I guess I hadn’t read the email and my mom didn’t either, so I was wearing a T-shirt and my hair was a mess. When we arrived, there were all of these beautiful men and women in these suits and gowns. We were like, “What’s happening?”, and then somebody was like, “It’s Tom Ford!” So my mom quickly put my hair in braids, and then I went in. Tom was the sweetest, nicest, most wonderful man in the world. Throughout that whole process, he remained so thoughtful and generous.
Obviously, all of the costumes in that were handmade and designed, so if he was ever adjusting them, he would be like, “Is it okay if I touch you?”, and then he would make an adjustment on my shoulder. My shoes were handmade with imported Italian leather, and they were the most beautiful pair of shoes I’ve ever worn. But my feet grew when we were making it, and they bled all through those shoes. I am such a major fan of that movie, and I thought his next film, “Nocturnal Animals,” was incredible as well. I’m just so lucky to have been a part of that because I was 11 at the time and didn’t know what was going on.
How did you both come together on this project?
Jessica Barr (JB): We met at SXSW when my short “Tight” was playing there because Ryan was in a short directed by Haley Z. Boston, who, like me, is from Portland, Oregon. Ryan was so good in it, and I’ve actually seen a lot of Ryan’s films. I thought the “Fear Street” trilogy was really fun. In my mind, Ryan has a similar vibe to Lindsay from “Freaks and Geeks.” I wanted to cast people in this film who are just really interesting to look at and are relatable. Ryan looks like how I wanted the character of Evan to look. Because of what happens in the film, I wanted someone who initially appeared unassuming when you look at them, and then there’s a turn.
I have long admired Jessica Barr as an actor as well as a director. Her short, “Private Moments,” which explores the experience of an auditioning actor, was my favorite of last year’s Cinema Femme Short Film Festival. To what extent do you feel Jessica’s experience in front of and behind the camera informs the atmosphere she creates on set?
RS: It was really fun and really freeing. Sometimes you get a director who has done acting and they’re kind of overbearing and doing too much. But it was never like that at all with Jess. There was a script, and it was very short. Jess sent it to me and everyone else, and was like, “This is really just an outline. We’re going to do a table read as scripted, and then do it again improvised.” Having that as a starting point made me feel so free and open to voice my opinions and stretch myself by trying out weird and different things.
I think because Jessica has a background as an actor as well, she has a trust of actors and an ability to communicate, so we improvised the script. Then it was rewritten from there, but every time we rehearsed and then shot it, we found that we were able to explore some new facet of it and take it further, though without getting too crazy. I had never done so much improv in a way that still felt structured, and I really enjoyed it.
JB: Everyone I cast is also a filmmaker or probably will also be a filmmaker at some point in their lives, and I think that was important. Ryan is a director/writer, as is Logan, and everyone has so much creativity that they are bringing to their lives outside of acting. I think a lot of the time, actors are so limited in what they’re able to bring to the table because the team is very controlling.
In anything I do, I like that everyone who is a part of it—even the lighting people who might not give a fuck about the script at all—is given the option of expressing an idea they have, because that is what collaborative, independent, low-budget filmmaking should be. Obviously, someone is ultimately in charge of guiding the tone and the vision of the piece, but in order to get there sometimes, I think the more the merrier in terms of ideas, especially when you have a core team and it’s an ensemble piece.
In what ways did “The Plan” grow organically out of the turbulent times in which we live?
JB: I was upset when I made the film, and I still am. I developed the story with my cinematographer Sarah Whelden and production designer Kelly Wilcox, both of whom also helped me produce this. Sarah’s trans, and there were times when we’d be like, “Am I going to have to leave the country?” I still very much feel that way, but it was a really good distraction for us to pour ourselves into this project. I would send them the outlines and the treatments for what was going to happen in the film, and then I’d be like, “Well, what if this happens instead?”
Sarah was approaching it from a film oner standpoint and figuring out how we could make it more dynamic. The character of Lucas was her idea in order to unexpectedly bring another person into this. It was nice for us to play off of each other. At the time I was writing it, I thought, ‘What if LA becomes militarized?’, which I sought to express through the sound design, which incorporates helicopters and sirens. The film was meant to be set slightly in future, but now, I feel like we’re already there.
Oh we are. All I could hear last fall were the sounds of helicopters hovering over my neighborhood in Lincoln Park.
RS: Jess and I are the same age, and what I liked about her script was that it just felt so true to what our generation feels right now—this absolute desperation and total hopelessness, two polar opposite feelings existing at once. Someone has to do something, but it feels like there’s nothing we can do. The fact these characters are low-key the worst people for this job was funny to me, but I liked how they sort of come to terms with their desperation meeting that sort of hopelessness. In my character, I felt a rise of this ultimate nihilism, for better or for worse, and I was really excited to see that feeling captured.
I cannot stop thinking about the film’s final moments. Was the decision to have Evan’s head turn toward her friend, Taylor, in the very last frames spontaneous or planned?
RS: We shot it three times after one tech rehearsal and a handful of other rehearsals. Every single time, the film ended with me looking out the car window. That’s how it was written in the script, with the final shot ending on my reflection. That’s how I remembered it, so when I watched the movie for the first time and I saw my head turn, I gasped. I couldn’t believe it, and I was obviously there when we filmed it. [laughs] That take we used was the last one we shot, and turning my head was just an in-the-moment decision.
JB: The night before, my boyfriend [Greyfaen Eastland], who is the gaffer, was like, “What if she turns and looks?”, so actually, that idea is credited to him. To me, it’s kind of like the last moment in “Inception,” in how it leaves you wondering, “What is she going to say? Will she be on Taylor’s side, and say, ‘Yeah, let’s get the fuck out of here.’ Or is she about to tattle on her?” Leaving that open-ended was really interesting to me.
I personally don’t know what she’s going to say, but when we were developing the feature, we had talked about the possibility of Evan killing Taylor at the end. She gives her water and Taylor starts choking. That would’ve been so insane and not the right move, but we definitely wanted to end with something that would make the audience go, “Oh shit, what’s going to happen?”
RS: In the cast and crew screening we had, some people were filled with so much hope and were like, “She’s going to say, ‘Stop the car, let’s get out!’” And then there were people, maybe even Percy, who were like, “Are you going to kill Jordan?” [laughs] And I’m like, “I don’t know!” So it’s ultimately left up to the audience, which is really cool.
What made you want to tell this story in an unbroken take?
JB: It was always supposed to be one take because I honestly didn’t have that much money. I wanted to have good actors, and because they are all SAG, there are fees you have to pay, and I thought it would just be easier if I do it as a oner. It’s funny when I say that because everyone is like, “That’s insane!” [laughs] But I’m a producer, so I’m always thinking about what is available to me. We shot in my apartment at the time, and for Sarah, it had always been on her bucket list to shoot a oner. Similarly when she shot “Tight,” she was like, “I’ve always wanted to shoot on film.” So this project was enticing for her to get behind as well as a big challenge for her.
It was cool for her to figure out how to go about shooting it, and for a month, she, Kelly and I blocked it. We wanted to figure out the characters’ movements through the house and who would go through what hallway. If we went into one hallway for a given shot, we’d see if we could exit through another corner. Even though the apartment was very limited in space, we wanted it to feel very dynamic, so it was important to find all of the shots that were the most appealing in such a small amount of space.
I once interviewed Franz Rogowski about shooting Sebastian Schipper’s two-hour, 18-minute film “Victoria” in one take.
JB: That film was my North Star! Franz is also one of my favorite actors. He’s just so good in everything. What I learned from that movie—which my boyfriend introduced to me, so thank you, Grey—is the extent to which the director really trusted his actors. That whole movie is improvised. He had maybe a ten-page treatment of what was going to happen, but all the dialogue is pretty much improvised, and the amount of locations that they had to utilize was way more complex.
There’s a video on YouTube that some guy recorded of the shootout moment, which is so crazy. The fact someone could make this film in such a short amount of time gave me a confidence boost that I could do it. What we did was, I felt, so much more approachable in every way than “Victoria,” where you had people speaking multiple different languages. I love that movie.
I’ll ask Ryan the question I gave to Franz, which is, “What do you do as an actor for the moments in a single-take film where the camera isn’t on you?”
RS: It depends on the moment. There would be times where the actors would have to be like the stage crew in a play. We’d have to move pieces of furniture around to clear the walking path for the next scene. There was a moment where Arkira’s mic pack fell, and I had to dive in and put it back in her shirt. Then there were moments where we would be talking to each other, goofing off and making jokes. Towards the end, there’s a moment where the camera leaves, and when it comes back, I’m very escalated emotionally. The time between these moments where I wasn’t on camera was not for long, so that would be a time where I would sort of get in place and lock in.
Normally, in a movie, you know that a certain scene is coming up, and you’ve got an hour of setup to prepare. But with that, I only had a minute or two, so I had to get all of my energy in the right place to arrive at where I needed to be. I would literally just stand at my mark, stare at the ceiling and think about whatever the hell I’m thinking about, while everyone else would be goofing off around me. You felt confident enough to have those silly moments in between, but you also had to find the space to bring what’s needed in the moment, which was really fun.
I had always wanted to do a oner. I mean, Jess and Kelly and Sarah were a big part of why I wanted to make the film, and I liked the script. But the idea of being able to do a film in one unbroken take is such a technical feat, and it is the technical side of making movies that interests me the most. You have to put so much trust in everyone around you, and it was so clear to me that everyone was going to be prepared for it. It’s really fun to get to live in the moment and respond to what’s thrown at you. Our dialogue changed every single time we did it, and Sarah was never exactly in the same place. The movements were the same, but the timing would be different because our timing was always different. It just felt like we all were a part of a machine, which was really exciting.
Was it important for the actors to have time together before production began?
JB: Everyone started hanging out together. A lot of people already knew each other. Logan and Ryan are very good friends, Jordan is one of my good friends, Arkira’s from Portland—the only person I didn’t really know was Eve, but she blended in super-well. I had met An-Li just once before, but she kind of did her own thing, which I think was necessary. Literally everyone who worked on the film were such nice, kind individuals, and when you have that energy, it’s going to be a good time.
RS: Also the nature of rehearsing something like this requires you to spend so much time together in such a short amount of time, so we all got close and became friendly pretty quickly. We would go out for drinks after because we wanted to keep spending time with each other. We got lucky with having a really good group.
What excites you about premiering this film at Slamdance?
RS: The festival really has that true indie feeling to it. Some of my favorite movies of recent years, but also from ten years ago, premiered at Slamdance. Matt Johnson’s “The Dirties” is one of the coolest, most real movies I’ve ever seen, and for me, was a big inspiration for this movie too. I loved “The Civil Dead,” which premiered there a couple of years ago. And there are some other filmmakers who are premiering their first features at the festival this year, including two people whose shorts I’ve seen at other festivals.
I feel like Slamdance is very tapped into the cool, true, indie, DIY world, and I think the fact it is happening in LA is really exciting because the city doesn’t really have a festival, which is ridiculous. We used to have the LA Film Fest, but that no longer exists. I don’t know what’s happening with OutFest, and though there still is AFI Fest, that’s way more focused on studio-level projects. Slamdance has an opportunity to be a real annual hub for cool filmmakers, so I think it makes total sense for us to be there.
JB: It’s obviously hard when you’re screening in different cities where you don’t know anyone, and you’re trying to sell out the shows. But with Slamdance, we’ve already sold out one screening, and we’re about to sell out the other one. I’m just excited for our friends and community to come see it, and basically everyone who worked on this film is located here. Ryan literally lives four blocks away from me. I honestly made this film specifically for Slamdance. It was my top choice because they’ve rejected me for ten years, so I was like, “That’s the one I really want!” I’m really happy that we’re playing there.
“The Plan” screens at 8pm PT at the DGA Theater on Sunday, February 22nd, and at 2:45pm PT at the Landmark Sunset Hollywood Theater on Wednesday, February 25th, as part of the Slamdance Film Festival. For more information, visit the film’s official site.
