26 Mar An interview with Tom Michaels, director of “Older Self”
BIO
I enjoy watching the 1960’s Twilight Zone TV shows. Then they came out with new episodes during the 1980’s and since Sci-Fi is one of my favorite genres, I decided to make something that had that 1980’s Twilight Zone feel. I wrote a touching script and combined all those elements together and the rest is history as they say.
I remember watching a story on YouTube some years back about about an individual who after coming from a long days worth of work noticed that his kitchen sink was leaking, so he proceeded to fix the leak under the sink and when he crawled inside he noticed that the space underneath the sink kept expanding as he was moving further in until he suddenly ended up on a beach meeting his older self, some years into the future. To make a long story short, that planted the seed for the evolution of Older Self.
It’s always a little bit easier when you write, direct and act in your own project. Being so familiar with the script and writing something that comes from the heart, there is that emotional bond or attachment as they say from within, which makes it a smoother transition on set that one is not acting anymore but simply living in the moment.
The visual aesthetics of Older Self are highly evocative. What were your main cinematic inspirations?
Well for myself, I’ve also been a big admirer of retro and vintage style filmmaking. The 1970’s were my favorite decade for films, tv and music. Movies were shot on film during that time period as others. There was no digital. The grittiness and film damage look of a movie always captivated me. It’s a beautiful aesthetic look. For Older Self, I gave it a vintage mid 1980’s look to it. It looks so beautiful on the big screen.
