A League of their own...

Posted at 12:30 p.m. - Tuesday, January 13

In a previous post I told you about an on-line film that was created by a couple of local film makers called The League:

Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel, creators of this kick-ass on-line superhero movie, were gracious enough to answer a handful of questions for Geek To Me:

GEEK TO ME:  How long did production of The League take?

KYLE HIGGINS:  Too long.

ALEC SIEGEL: (laughs) It’s kind of weird to think that its finally done.

HIGGINS:  I know.  We started writing the film in the late spring of 2007, while we were in Chicago.  Alec was about to graduate from college, and, at summer’s end, I was about to go into my final year at Chapman.

SIEGEL: It was a pretty lengthy process. We started writing in May and continued to write and re-write until production began in November.

HIGGINS:  We filmed for two weekends in November, a night in December, two nights in early February, and then a day of pickups in late March.  Oh, and Michael Nie and I shot for two days in January, back in Chicago.  And when I say “for two days,” I literally mean it.  I think we got about two hours of sleep, in the back of a Suburban, parked outside the John Hancock building.  We rented an Arri SR-3, and just went guerrilla all over the city, grabbing establishing shots and effects plates wherever we could.  All in the snow, of course.

SIEGEL:  I missed out on that part.

HIGGINS: You would have only slowed us down (laughs).

G2M:  What made you decide to create a superhero movie?

SIEGEL: Well, it started with a short story Kyle wrote at Chapman.  The short story doesn’t resemble the film too much, but it really set the stage for things to come.  Sometime after, Kyle approached me to co-write the script for the short and we were off and running.

HIGGINS:  I’ve spent most of my life reading comics.  I’ve kind of said this before, but Richard Donner’s Superman is what got me into filmmaking.  So when I was deciding what kind of project to do for my thesis film, I naturally gravitated towards comics.  And when I came up with the concept, the market for superhero movies could not have been better.  Even now, after Dark Knight, the bubble hasn’t burst on comic book films.  So that played a factor, too.  Short films are tough.  Other then film festivals and the occasional European distribution deal, there isn’t much of a market for them.  So with The League, the idea that I could tell a story in a genre I love, and have there be an audience for it, made the decision an easy one.

G2M: Comic fans will see a lot of familiar archetypes in the film.  From where did you draw inspiration for the story and characters?

HIGGINS:  Well, the characters are obviously modeled after existing superheroes.  With it being a short film, and the amount of story we were trying to convey, we decided early on that using some of the existing superhero archetypes was a good starting point.  And for most people, they see “The Grey Raven and his kid sidekick Sparrow” on screen and they immediately get the Batman and Robin connotation.  There’s a general understanding of what the relationship and dynamic is between those two characters, just by saying they are “hero and sidekick.”

SIEGEL:  It does a lot of work for us and it gets the audience into the right mindset in a short amount of time.

G2M:  What comics have you read before?  And what are you guys reading now?

SIEGEL: To be honest, I’m new to the comic book world. As a kid, I remember reading some of Dark Horse's X-Wing series and I was a big follower of Batman: The Animated Series, but that's about it. I've always been a fan of comic book movies, however, so my comic book knowledge has formed in a sort of backwards way, I guess.  That being said, I just finished The Joker by Azzarello and Bermejo and Watchmen and I’m working through a big stack of books ranging from Batman, to Spider-man, to the Thunderbolts, and Justice League.

HIGGINS:  My taste has always been a bit mainstream when it comes to comics.  I grew up a Marvel and DC guy.  And it was really only a couple years ago that I started reading comics that didn’t have superheroes in them (laughs).  I grew up on Spider-Man and Batman, X-MEN and Daredevil.  Watchmen, obviously, and V for Vendetta.  Spawn was in there, too.  Lately I’ve been reading Daredevil, Captain America, Batman, Green Lantern, Nightwing, Action Comics, Criminal… the Joker hardcover was really, really good. 

G2M: Who has inspired your cinematic style?

HIGGINS:  That could be a long list (laughs).  I’ll try and keep it short.  I grew up watching Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Sydney Lumet, Francis Ford Coppolla… Sam Mendes had a big effect on me when I was in high school.  The way he and Conrad Hall shot Road to Perdition… it’s one of my all time favorite films.  I’d say it’s about as close to a perfect movie as you can get.  Bryan Singer’s earlier stuff—Usual Suspects and X-MEN 1, mostly. 

But I would say first and foremost (I’m sure this is a popular answer these days) is Christopher Nolan.  I saw Memento when I was a freshman or sophomore in high school.  I dabbled in “moviemaking” when I was really young, shooting things with my dad and sister on our Hi-8 camera.  But then I kind of got out of it in grade school and junior high.  I always loved watching movies, but when I saw Memento, that’s when I decided I had to be a director.  And Nolan hasn’t made a movie I didn’t like.  Insomnia is probably his weakest, but even that has some of the best acting Pacino has done in the last decade.  Nolan has such an interesting voice.  His work is so nuanced and layered…  It’s all very, very crafted.  I hope I can get to that point someday.    

And of course, I would have to say my dad.  He’s been a photographer for almost 40 years.  The landscapes and cityscapes that he shoots are just incredible.  He just got back from hiking the Grand Canyon, so I’m looking forward to going home in a few weeks, just to see the pictures. 

SIEGEL:  Yeah, Steven Spielberg is certainly a big influence and probably the earliest for me, but Robert Zemeckis, James Cameron, William Monahan, and Joss Whedon have all had a big impact on me, certainly where writing is concerned. I'd also count Ridley Scott, David Fincher, and Ron Howard as some of my favorite filmmakers.  And as far as truly crafting a film, I think Kyle is totally right with Christopher Nolan. The Prestige is probably one of my favorite movies of all time, both in story and visuals.

G2M:  You have an impressive cast in The League.  How difficult was it to get all the acting talent for the film?

HIGGINS:  It wasn’t that tough, actually.

SIEGEL:  That might have been the easiest part of making the film.

HIGGINS:  You’re right.  Definitely.  We had a really fantastic casting director named Jackie Sollitto who had graduated a year before me at Chapman.  Originally I figured I was going to have to deal with casting, too, but Michael Campbell (one of our producers) knew Jackie really well.  Jackie sent out a casting notice on LA Casting and Breakdown Express.  With the logline, the size of the project, and the fact we were shooting film, we had a lot of interest.  Hundreds and hundreds of actors submitted themselves.  I think there were 200 or 300 for Grey Raven alone.  Jackie, Michael, Alec and I saw a lot of very good actors over the course of two days in LA.  And then I went through the tapes and decided on a handful of people, who we brought down to Chapman the following weekend to do chemistry readings. 

G2M:  You guys have really pulled off something special which I’m sure is going to inspire other aspiring filmmakers.  What advice would you give them?

HIGGINS:  Attack it.  Just go for it.  I see a lot of people, especially while I was at Chapman, who start making contingency plans, and start thinking about what else they can do if film doesn’t work out for them—except they haven’t even tried yet!  I mean, look—it’s a super, super hard industry to break into.  You have to have a plan.  And I’m obviously still hoping and praying things work out for me.  But at the same time, you have to be hungry for it.  If you don’t have that killer mentality, you won’t make it.  You can never settle.  The second you settle at a comfortable job that you’re making decent money at, you’ll lose a bit of that hunger and that drive.  You’ll take longer to finish that script you’ve wanted to write, or you’ll tell yourself you’re just going to work for a year two get on your feet—then you’ll tackle that short film or that feature outline.  But that year turns into two years, and then three years, and pretty soon you’re in your mid 30’s and you have nothing to show.  That’s what I’m terrified of.  I see a lot of people falling into that trap.

SIEGEL: The greatest successes are gained by taking the greatest risks. Give it all you have, or you’ll find yourself wondering what might have been.

HIGGINS:  So yeah.  You can’t be scared of failing.  If I had a dime for every person that told me not to make The League, or for every person at Chapman that wasn’t into the film… well, I would have a lot of dimes (laughs).  And we’ll see what happens.  They may still be right.  But you have to believe in yourself, and you have to have confidence in your own talent (without being cocky).  If you don’t believe in yourself, no studio exec in the world is going to believe in you. 

And above all else, you have to decide how important it is to you.  If you can think of other things that you would be happy doing with your life—truly happy—then maybe film really isn’t worth the pain and suffering.  But if it’s truly what you want (or you’re just masochistic), then turn it into a mission.  Attack it.

G2M:  Any thing on the horizon that fans should be on the lookout for?

HIGGINS:  Well, there’s nothing definite yet.  We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, some things that we’re writing together and some that we’re writing separate.  I obviously want to direct, too, and I just finalized my agent/manager.  I do have a script that I’m attached to direct, which was written by a friend of mine.  It’d be pretty low budget, but very, very cool.  Comic fans would definitely be into it.  We’ll see if we can get it set up somewhere.  I’m trying to start writing comics, too. 

SIEGEL:  Yeah. There’s a list of thing we both want to do, both together and separately. We’ll see how things pan out.  And then there’s The League.

HIGGINS:  Ah yes.  We have big plans for the world of The League.  We’re not sure where yet (laughs), but there are a couple interesting options, including, of course, possibly doing it as a graphic novel.

G2M:  And finally, do you consider yourself to be a geek or a nerd?

HIGGINS:  Probably more a geek. 

SIEGEL: You sure about that?

HIGGINS: I think so…

SIEGEL: I’d have to go with geek as well. My movie collection is a pretty good indication of that. I have things that are more mainstream like Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, or Se7en, but there’s plenty of room for things like Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings.

HIGGINS: Not that there’s anything wrong with being a nerd (laughs).  You know, I’m a huge comic book fan, but actually, I’ve always had a really diverse set of interests… everything from sports to music.  I play basketball, I snowboard, I’ve been a jazz trumpet player since I was 13… and I’m addicted to football.  My entire week is structured around what time the Bears play on Sunday. 

At the same time, I couldn’t be happier that comics might be responsible for helping start my career.

G2M: Thanks guys for taking the time to share this with me!