Interview with Cast and Crew of Tribeca Winning Feature "Charliebird"

This year's Tribeca Film Festival has been one for the underdogs. Out of thousands of submissions for the festival's US Narrative Feature category, only twelve lucky crews were able to see their work showcased at one of the country's biggest film events. One of those astronomically fortunate films was the independent feature, Charliebird. A deeply emotional film about music therapist, Alyse, and her relationship with her teenaged patient, Charlie, which mere hours ago took home the festival's top prize. This week, fellow writer, Eric Hardman and I were fortunate enough to sit down and chat with some of the amazing minds who worked on this incredible film. Including director, Libby Ewing, screenwriter, producer, and actor, Samantha Smart, actor, Gaby Ochoa Perez, production designer, Emily Mingyue Li, and cinematographer, Lcca Del Puppo.

Credit: Rua Fay

Eric: "Alright, well first off, congratulations to you all on the film. It’s incredible, I absolutely loved it. Sam, my first question is for you, I thought the screenplay was wonderful, it feels so real, and raw, and intimate, and you have such a deep knowledge of this subject matter. I noticed a lot of dedications in the credits, so I was wondering if you could speak about where your inspiration for this story came from. I know you made a joke about Patch Adams in the film, but it is so much different from even something like that. I haven’t seen this kind of portrayal before, so I was wondering if you could elaborate on that?"

Smart: "That’s really kind of you to say, and thank you for noticing that joke. I was really inspired by this vocation. I was really inspired by the work of music therapists. I come from a music background. I studied music in college, and even though I veered away from that, I really think I hear screenplays first. I mean, this is my first, but I just I start with music. During COVID I started feeling a lot of feelings about Texas, this place that I had been leaving for a really long time. I needed to go back there, and live there in my mind. And so when I was working with Libby, and her writers collective, and just sort of bouncing ideas off each other, I was like 'I think I have this story. I think I know this arc, I know how it ends.' And she was like 'you need to write it,' and I was like 'okay!' Then over the next couple of years, I ended up losing quite a few people in my life very close to me from illness, very suddenly. So then I unfortunately felt very equipped to write it. I had the idea, went through some shit, and then sort of put all of those feelings into this. And we did our best efforts to talk to music therapists, talk to people who worked in hospitals, really trying to understand the auditory trauma of Alyse and how what happened to her in her childhood led her to be doing this work, and then how Charlie reminds her of all of that. Then it was just bouncing ideas continuously off of Libby."

Ewing: "And if I can jump in on doing research about that. What is so powerful about what music therapists often do, was the capturing of a patient’s heartbeat. So, not only are they engaging with patients and families on this level day to day, but they’re essentially acting in often cases as death doulas. So they record the heartbeat, and then what often happens is then if a patient, a child, passes, they’ll have a raw heartbeat file for the parents, and sometimes they create a song, a lullaby song, which you see Al doing with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. That would then be placed over their heartbeat, and given to the parents after the child passes."

Smart: "So the film is really: grief, Texas, and music if you needed three words."

Set photographs courtesy of: Emily Mingyue Li

Rua: "I have a question for our fabulous actress, Gaby! So Charlie, the titular character is such a complex one because at first you have to be... unlikable and irritable, because that’s the reality of people who are in the hospital for a long time. I know as a teenager, I was in the hospital for a while, and I just didn’t want to talk to anybody. So I know you mentioned taking time with the character to understand her, so can you name a moment where you sort of found Charlie, flaws and all?"

Perez: "My goodness, yes! Charlie is so complex by herself. Not only is she a teenager and everything, but she’s just going through such a pivotal moment in her life. I think the moment that I found Charlie was the dancing scene, specifically. This is her introduction to the public, and the first thing you see is her dancing, and then she turns around and she just has this like anger because she’s in her moment, she’s enjoying herself. She’s having this moment of being able to do something with her body that she normally doesn’t get to do, or try to see what she can push herself to do. And seeing that specific moment in the script was kind of what made me want to tap into everything else. I know the experience of knowing what your body was able to do at some point and then not being able to. I’m not saying that this is in any way at all similar to having cancer, but I got sick in 2020, and I unfortunately lost half of my lung capacity. I operate at only 60% capacity. And I was a very athletic person, I was a dancer, and I went from waking up every morning at like 6 AM and dancing, and going to classes, to not being able to do it and just being in bed, absolutely pissed off that I can barely even lift myself up. So I could understand the frustration with that and I saw myself in her, and it just helped connect everything together."

Ewing: "I would also like to add that I saw no other actors for the role. We did a reading, and the gravitas, the life, everything was there."

Smart: "We went for a coffee, and I was like 'Libby I know this is your decision, but like I’ve found this really great girl!'"

Ewing: "And I was like 'we’ll see.' (laughs) Then we did a reading, and the experience came through immediately, and I was like 'I literally don’t have to search for anybody else.'"

Smart: "I’d just like to mention the specificity of like, I wrote this purposely for a person who comes from a Hispanic background and needed to be able to read as very young, but not be as young in real life, and then have the life experience of someone like it, and it’s just so rare, you know? Gaby is so special. We were just like 'we’re never gonna find someone,' I thought it was gonna be the hardest thing."

Set photographs courtesy of: Emily Mingyue Li

Rua: "And I know it must be a unique situation Libby, being an actor as well as a director, how important was it for you to find the right cast for this film?"

Ewing: "Well, it was hugely important because I knew that we were going to have a very limited shoot schedule. I knew the gravity of what the characters needed to embody because I had been with Sam as she was finding these characters, the whole way."

Smart: "She would physically hold me after the more emotional scenes."

Ewing: "I would come up, and put ice cubes in her hand, because I’ve been there. So what I needed to do was find people who knew how to do the work, and who could come to me, ask the questions, but also take it, you know? I give out songs, or moodboards for makeup, and then they make it their own. They all did it in spades, because we just didn’t have a lot of time. And then on top of it, trying to create an environment that as an actor I would want. So when I say we only gave them two takes of stuff, but also then taking the pressure off, and being like 'we’ll do it as many times as we need' They only needed two takes because they were so great."

Eric: "Amazing. Now, Emily I'd really like your perspective on this as the production designer. I was really drawn to Luca, your DP last night, talking about the decision to flip the Anamorphic lens and shoot that way, kind of creating a bit more narrow version of 4:3. Like he said, it does a brilliant thing where you notice it right away, but then within 10 minutes it’s gone. It feels very precise, but not over-analytical, and so what I was wondering was how does that affect your production design?"

Li: "So basically, before principal, I wasn’t sure about what camera or lenses we would be using, so we tried to prepare with a 360 view. So I would just stand outside the frame and help adjust as needed. So when you see the film, you can see Luca doing a lot of freestyle, a lot of handheld, so I couldn’t really control that. Whatever you see in the frame is what you’re gonna get. We just wanted to build a world that makes sense for the story and for the characters, because it’s such a character driven story. I’m much more focused on set than when I’m reading the script. I remember the third day we were shooting Al’s apartment scene where she’s hitting herself, and I was watching behind the monitor, and at first I was really focused on what was in the frame, or what I needed to change, but I suddenly got so touched by Sam’s acting, and I was just crying behind the monitor. And from right there on I knew that we were creating a real world, and I felt so connected with the characters that I no longer felt like a designer, I felt like a real audience that was a part of this story.

We just wanted the actors to feel like they had the space to live in the room, and do whatever feels right."

Set photographs courtesy of: Emily Mingyue Li

Ewing: "She worked some miracles! And her personal touches: notes, the kids’ drawings, the book, the atlas, everything Emily touched. She’s such a storyteller in her work, and it helped us in such a meaningful way. Every decision she made, everything was connected to the story. She gave everyone little gifts, which helped back to the question to the acting, it helped everybody drop in."

Li: "Everything from the production design to the characters, I think to me, the beauty of the film is the people. The cast, the crew, everyone feels like they belong."

Smart: "And you’re right, there was something about that third day. That scene was so raw, and emotional, and Libby was giving me the ice cubes, Luca was dancing with me, and Emily was sort of resetting. We did like three or four takes of that, and it was very choreographed, where we went in the room. And you have to have a crew that’s ready. Even our sound mixer, Andrew Pitts was leveling me so that I could scream, or cry or be silent. He would pick up the hitting, and I was held by these incredible people. And the same thing with the actors when they came in, the next week."

Rua: "Now, Sam you said something both today and after the premiere that really resonated with me. You said that you had the idea for this film bottled up in your head for the longest time and didn't really know how to get it out until Libby told you: 'just write!' So I was just wondering if there's any advice you'd give to aspiring screenwriters?"

Smart: "That's a really great question. I would say that if you feel that instinct you should probably do it. And if you need to read a book on how screenplays are written to get it out, do that. I definitely think that most actors can write even if they think they can't. But like, everyone has a voice and a story, and we need to see more of that. This was definitely a risk but I would say, just fucking do it!"

Rua: "Exactly. I mean, you always hear that story about Mario Puzo after writing The Godfather he wanted to get better at writing, so he picked up a screenwriting book and the first words just said 'study The Godfather.'"

Smart: "Yeah, there's all these books with all these rules, but I just thought 'let's break them!'"

Rua: "Now, Luca I am so beyond curious to hear your answer. As the film's Director of Photography, what was the thought process behind the unorthodox aspect ratio?"

Del Puppo: "At the time we were looking at a lot of photographs, mostly portraiture. It was an idea that I hatched with Sam and Libby after looking at the works of medium format photographers like Robert Adams and large format photographers like Andreas Gursky. But it really just came from a need to portray Al's world. It was like creating a portrait of someone, this world is her's, it's not one with massive horizons, it's a world that's under tremendous pressure. So we worked on that together and it just really made sense."

Ewing: "I would argue that every character is in their own way boxed-in, so the aspect ratio felt supported by that."

Rua: "That's a very prudent way of looking at things, I think you're absolutely right. My last question is just what's it like to have a film this small being honored in the main competition of Tribeca?"

Ewing: "I still don't believe it. It's such an honor to be here, especially with this slate of films. This film was truly a labor of love from everybody."

Rua: "Well thank you all so much for meeting with us today it was such an honor to chat with all of you, I cannot wait to see what you all do next!"

Set photographs courtesy of: Emily Mingyue Li

We'd like to extend not only our gratitude to the cast and crew of Charliebird for speaking with us, but a million congratulations on their big win. For a film this small and this personal to take home a top prize at Tribeca is truly an incredible feat, they should all be extremely proud of the work they were able to do. I for one, feel remarkably grateful to have been at the premiere. We'd also like to additionally thank production designer, Emily Mingyue Li for generously providing exclusive set photographs. Thank you for tuning into Cinemasters.net and remember to never stop watching!