WILL THE REAL LUKE PLEASE STAND UP? An Interview With Filmmaker Luke Asa Guidici By Kendrick Daye
Growing up in a home without a TV would make any child have an overactive imagination. One look at anything by filmmaker Luke Asa Guidici and this is more than apparent. His quirky films are a mix of film noir, surrealism, and found art with a tinge of vintage science fiction. After graduating Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Cinema from SFSU in 2003 and moving from his hometown of Bremerton, Washington to Los Angeles Guidici worked as an extra, grip, PA, AD, camera operator, producer, and for the most part, as an editor. He talks to Art Nouveau Magazine about the growing up without a TV, how he fell in love with filmmaking and who the Real Luke is.
"I like movies that give people something extra to think about"
ANM: Growing up in a home without a TV how did you get interested in Filmmaking?
LA: When I was six or so, I broke our TV. And our parents decided it would be better not to get [another] one. We'd go to see movies every now and then. But, I didn't get super interested in filmmaking until I was in a TV production class in the 10th grade. I felt the most comfortable when I was shooting, when I was making stuff.
Art Nouveau Magazine: You list film noir, Surrealism, found art, and vintage Sci-fi among other things as your influences how does this translate into your films?
Luke Asa: I think one of the things with the found art is, it's kind of an eclectic way of looking at stuff. Found art and street art are not necessarily something you would expect to be interesting or beautiful at first, they're off the beaten path sort of stuff. I like to try to approach the stuff I do from a different perspective that require a closer inspection. [In] The Rotten Apples video, he's riding that coin operated horse [and] as the narrative progresses the band interacts more and more with the background. It's kind of subversive stuff. It appears to be one thing at the start, then slowly changes.
ANM: You write a lot about your experiences freelancing directing in your blogs. Could you tell me a bit about the pros and cons of being a freelancer?
LA: I have a day job [as an online editor] and then the night job directing. I used to do freelance editorial for my day job. The pros to freelancing are that you get to set your own schedule. Whatever you wanna do you can do it. But, there are times where you have to take the job. You get that call on Friday night to work all weekend and you can't turn it down. On one hand it's very liberating because you have the freedom to do whatever you like, but with that freedom comes the lack of stability, it's not for the faint of heart. You have to be really able to roll with it and work incredibly long hours. Then at other times know that work isn't going to come and be fine with it.
ANM: How do you deal with difficult clients? Specifically clients who want something that goes against what you as a filmmaker represent.
LA: I haven't had really very many projects that I haven't taken because I haven't agreed creatively. If it's a job strictly for money, I'll give my opinion but I'll do what the client wants. If I don't really respond to the project creatively, if it doesn't inspire me, I won't take on a creative project. For my personal work I only do what I want to do, I don't make stuff that I don't enjoy making.
ANM: How important is it for you as an independent filmmaker to stay connected through your fans through blogs on MySpace?
LA: I really like it honestly. It's one of my favorite things about these social networking websites and something I'm actively trying to do. I want to give people an inside look into the creative process because sometimes it can seem overly glamorized by the media. There is a lot of blood, sweat and tears that go into even low budget videos [so] I like to share that with people. I think a blog is a great way to do that.
LA: It started out as a joke between a friend and I. I was teasing her from being in the south. And she was teasing me about being in the woods all the time. So I came up with this silly storyline and my sister and I made a video. And it's something I've continued to do. It's fun it's simple it's easy to do. I think I spent [only] a 100 dollars on the last one, buying people lunch. It's just a funny alter ego, an alter persona of this guy who thinks he knows the woods but doesn't.
ANM: I notice in a lot of your videos you have a shot of a subject and then you have close-ups of specific parts, is this a stylistic choice?
LA: I think having insert spots of specific traits are great because you can kind of direct the audiences' eyes on the object on the close-up. My style goes across genres. I haven't stuck with one genre, it's kinda of a tone, it runs across stuff almost [with] a kind of tongue and cheek kind of humor, that spans the different works. I don't know if there is a actual shot that I have to use, I suit the shot to the genre I'm working in.
ANM: You dabble in photography and short story writing, and on your site you mention looking past mediums and genres. Can you elaborate on that?
I think we should eliminate this question. What I say on my site is "if you [the viewer] look past the medium and genre..." but when the question was asked it wasn't you "third" person, you asked how "I" look past genres...hence the confusion.
LA: I think with the genre there is a set of rules. And those are things the audience already knows, so because people already have that knowledge you can play with that and subvert and set up a character to be a good guy in a Western and give him a flaw and change it so he's actually the villain, because audiences are fairly sophisticated because of motion pictures [and] they have a knowledge of the archetypes. That really interests me playing with the assumptions people that have in the movies.
ANM: On your site you say, "If it weren't for filmmaking I'd be doing something with politics or cooking." What in politics or cooking would you be doing?
LA: The best job I've had was when I was a pizza chef. I think about that job all the time. There is something really rewarding about giving people food [because] you're providing them sustenance and enjoyment. There is so much creativity that can go into creating and cooking. There [are] so many options, but you can make something that tastes bad so it's also skill to it. When you cook a dinner for someone, it doesn't last, it's very temporal. That's one of the things about filmmaking you miss, the immediacy that you get from live music. And politics just really fascinate me, because it's the ultimate game, it's the highest level of game play, it's the most at stake. Because the world is at stake. I think it's an important part of being a citizen. It's important to vote [and] to be involved. I'm interested in economics and world trade and really there are many different parts that go into politics that interest me. I think filmmaking is a place where you can affect change, after filmmaking I think politics is probably the next the level, or maybe it's above [but] it's a place of influence.
ANM: What's the last film you saw in the theatres?
LA: Doomsday. Which was pretty fun. It's just a great sci-fi action movie didn't take itself too seriously, everything you want from that type of film.
ANM: What's next for you? Anything upcoming projects you'd like to mention?
LA: The next Real Luke thing is coming out pretty soon. I'm doing pre-production on a sci-fi film that I'm going to shoot this summer. [It's about] Two guys trapped in a space capsule and they have to decide how they will die. It will be more of a serious work. I'm excited about shooting a sci-fi. I'm [also] finishing up a short memoir on my first year in Los Angeles.
