Face to Face with... Matt Aselton

Director Matt Aselton recently up and left his directing position at Epoch Films to launch new production company Arts & Sciences, with executive producer, Marc Marrie, and managing director, Mal Ward.

Having already begun signing directorial talent to the bicoastal outfit, as well as completing jobs for Carl's Jr and ESPN, they aren’t looking back. Here, Aselton talks about why the time was right for a new venture, literature that inspires him and not having a five year plan.

Tell us about the idea and thinking behind Arts & Sciences...

The idea was to be autonomous and free to do whatever projects we wanted to do.  I was at Epoch Films for eight years or so and couldn’t have asked for a more supportive group of people, but it wasn’t my company.  I started Arts and Sciences with my long time line producer, Marc Marrie, and Mal Ward, who was my sales rep at Epoch.  

And the inspiration for the name...

It’s kind of a tongue in cheek reference to an ivory tower think tank organisation called the Academy of Arts and Sciences, which was an organisation founded by John Hancock in the late 18th century.  I read their charter statement one day and loved how earnest it seemed.  I also just kind of like the way it sounds.

Why did you decide now was the right time to launch?

To be honest, my contract expired and I was ready to try something new, a bit more challenging.  I talked to Doug Halbert and Stacy Wall, who had started Imperial Woodpecker a year or so before and they encouraged me.  It just seemed like the natural order of things.  

You’ve already produced your first few jobs, what are your plans and hopes for the company over the next couple of years?

I guess to continue to take on projects we have heart for, and to work with reasonable people.  I wish we had a fleshed out five year plan, we don’t.  The hope is to sign some like-minded directors and create a collaborative atmosphere.  

And what type of scripts/content are you on the lookout for?

Generally, I think we look for things with a point of view.  A lot of the work I’ve done in the past has been comedy based and I’m sure we’ll continue on that track, but really whatever seems interesting.  

You’ve also signed Azazel Jacobs, what attracted you to his directing style?

I really loved his movie, Momma’s Man and he’s got another called Terri that just came off of Sundance and the festival circuit with John C. Reilly. It comes out this summer. He’s a very particular filmmaker with a truly unique take on things. The directors I’m interested in are those that have greater ambitions than just making commercials.  

Gigantic, your first feature film, debuted in 2008 – any plans for more?

I optioned a book called Rodeo in Joliet a few years ago and we finally have a script. I’m doing it with Mindy Goldberg and Anne Carey at Epoch Films, we’re putting it together this fall. It’s a very funny cancer movie based on a memoir.  

Have you seen any films or commercials recently, or read any books, that have impressed or inspired you?

A bunch.  I really loved this documentary called Marwencol about a man who gets beaten into a coma by five guys. He emerges and creates a wildly detailed fictional world out of dolls. It’s quite a story. A Vincent Cassel film called Killer Instinct. I’ve also been watching old Dick Cavett interviews from his retrospective box set. There’s a round table discussion with Robert Altman, Mel Brooks, Peter Bogdanovich and Frank Capra that was incredible. The fashion alone is worth it. 

I really love Wells Tower’s book, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, and a short story in the American Anthology of shorts for 2010 that he wrote called Raw Water. He’s an extraordinary talent.  The anthology was edited by Richard Russo and the whole thing is pretty damn good.