Alden Ehrenreich Q&A: “Shadow Brother Sunday” at the 31st Annual Hamptons International Film Festival
Alden Ehrenreich speaks on teamwork on a film set and writing, directing and acting in his first short film.
Alden Ehrenreich appeared at the 31st Annual Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) on October 7 on behalf of his short film, Shadow Brother Sunday.
Scaling down from taking on prominent roles in films like Solo: A Star Wars Story, Oppenheimer and Hail, Caeser!, Ehrenreich’s 15-minute domestic drama, which made its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in June, is his first effort behind the camera. The short follows a jealous, struggling musician who has to cope with the demonstrative success of his younger filmmaker brother and it premiered at HIFF on October 6.
Ehrenreich spoke on what motivated him to pivot to the director’s chair while still playing the lead, as well as his process of working with other actors.
How did you get acquainted with the team you worked with on this film?
Alden Ehrenreich: “I have a big group of creative friends who work in film. I reached out to them to find the right producer and we found a really wonderful person who was right for this film, and we all went out and put together our team. I also had a great casting director.”
Are there any obstacles in making a short on an independent level as opposed to a studio production?
AE: “You do a lot of the heavy lifting, especially when you’re starting out and making smaller things. You’re asking for a lot of favors, you’re writing letters to people, you’re trying to inspire people to understand that this is something worth doing.”
As an actor in the director’s chair, how did you prepare so as not to step on the toes of the other actors?
AE: “I think rehearsals are a really great time to work out things before everybody’s on set. Every time you’re on set with lots of people, you’re bleeding money. With rehearsal periods, it’s an added cost but it saves you a lot of money in the form of time on the shoot day.”
Especially for independent filmmakers who may be making shorts similar to yours, how do you think they should go about learning more about the behind-the-scenes process?
AE: “I think an important thing is finding an environment or group of people who share your passion for film or television or whatever it is and having those dialogues with them. And sometimes you can have a great teacher who helps instruct you to make work… And getting feedback [on your work] is really important. I think it’s really valuable, it’s good to go into any educational environment with some degree of skepticism, it doesn’t mean you resist what they’re teaching, but it means that you cross-reference it with what your instincts and intuitions are. You can use other people’s ideas to help refine your vision of what you want to do.”
What made you want to take on the role of a director?
AE: “I love being behind the camera. You’re so much more responsible. There’s a way in which a big movie star or the number one person in a movie has to take on the leadership position, but it’s secondary to the director. Directing is an art in and of itself and it’s something I take very seriously, and you have to have mastery over lots of different crafts and mediums, so I find it extraordinarily satisfying on a creative level. When I was younger, [directing] was always of equal interest to me as acting, and then I was around enough filmmakers and I would find myself very drawn to them.”
Shadow Brother Sunday has been selected by over a dozen festivals in the U.S. and it won Best Drama Short Film at Cordillera International Film Festival; Directorial Debut Award, Indy Short at Heartland Film Festival; and Best Narrative Short Film at Charlotte Film Festival. Ehrenreich mentioned that the film’s team is planning on securing distribution through streaming.
10/20/23