Interview: Director Aaron Katz Gives a Shout Out to ‘Land Ho!’

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CHICAGO – There might not be a more unusual movie this year than “Land Ho!” The film follows two “golden boys,” sixtysomethings Mitch (Earl Lynn Nelson) and Colin (Paul Eenhoorn), as they take an Odd Couple-type trip to Iceland. Writer/director Aaron Katz (“Dance Party, USA”) breaks that ice between the two men.

Katz had both a co-director and co-writer on the film, Martha Stephens, and the one-of-a-kind line readings from lead actor Earl Lynn Nelson (“That’s me, baby!”). Nelson is a retired surgeon, as he is in the film, and he steals the show as a profane, pot-smoking senior who is looking for adventure, and takes Paul Eenhoorn’s Colin along for the ride. What is unique about this situation, beyond Nelson, is the vast and awe-inducing setting of Iceland, and the very human story of two disparate gentleman trying to figure out one of the more confusing times of life.

Aaron Katz, Martha Stephens
Co-Writers/Directors Aaron Katz (left) and Martha Stephens, with Earl Lynn Nelson on the Set in ‘Land Ho!’
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics

HollywoodChicago.com talked to Aaron Katz by phone, and he related his own adventures with the filming of this saga, and the buoyant and almost magical journey he has led by taking the steps toward being a filmmaker.

HollywoodChicago.com: What was the inspiration for this unusual story? What prompted you to pursue it?

Aaron Katz: I have a co-writer and co-director on the film, Martha Stephens, and it was she that proposed that we make the film. She called me in January of 2013, and said ‘why don’t we make a movie together.’ I said maybe, but what is the premise? She said, ‘what if we took Earl Lynn Nelson to Iceland’? I said that sounds like a good idea.

We had both been developing bigger projects that were moving slow, so the idea was to do something that would be energizing and adventurous. Right around the same time I saw a film called ‘This is Martin Bonner’ – a film by Chad Hartigan – that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival two years ago. It starred Paul Eenhoorn, who I thought was the perfect balance to Earl Lynn. Having those two guys and their voices in mind when we were writing the screenplay was essential.

HollywoodChicago.com: Isn’t it strange to be in your thirties writing a film about people in their late sixties?

Katz: It wasn’t about the age gap, it was about these two guys. That is the movie we wanted to make.

HollywoodChicago.com: How were Earl and Paul able to develop the chemistry between them once you got on set, both in the negative and positive scenes?

Katz: We shot all the Kentucky portions of the film in May of 2013, just to see what it was like when the two guys were together – it also helped in the co-director part of it, since Martha and I had never done that before. And we wanted to show people that this film was a good idea. So we shot a 12 minute segment, that was reduced to five minutes in the movie, to show off the chemistry between the two. Right from the first moment they met each other, they both loved and were irritated in their interactions. In real life, they sort of adopted what their characters do in the movie.

HollywoodChicago.com: How did you approach the destination of Iceland within your movie, and how did you want to communicate its character?

Katz: Iceland is an incredible place, so we were just responding to what was right in front of us. In the past, all of the films of Martha and I have done had taken place either in where we once lived or where we were currently living, so we were familiar with that kind of territory. In Iceland we were tourists, so we approached the film from that point of view.

It was two guys reading a guide book, seeing what they could see. Even the big ticket tourist traps in Iceland were incredible. It’s hard to describe, but there is a physical reaction to the sights of Iceland. It’s like something I’ve never experienced before. We wanted to capture that joy when you are at these places.

HollywoodChicago.com: What do you think you were communicating about the men in Earl and Paul’s generation. Besides what was happening to them on the surface, how did you include their past experiences and history?

Katz: I don’t think we were trying to say anything in particular regarding their generation. If anything, since we were writing with their voices in mind, we would later give them latitude in how they wanted to say particular things, or their opinions on some of the issues we were writing about – we wanted them to speak their way, because we hadn’t lived their lives. We just tried to get them into a place where they could speak for themselves.

HollywoodChicago.com: There were a couple of things that I found intriguing in the film – the marijuana use and the references to women that Earl would use. What was the context, when you both were putting together the screenplay, that had those bits of eccentricity come through?

Katz: Well, one of the things was about contrasting the beauty of Iceland with juvenile humor, like smoking weed. Also, that is Earl Lynn Nelson’s real personality. [laughs] He is the same in life as he is on screen. If you ask him how much of that character is you, he inevitably replies, ‘That’s me, baby!’ He means it, he is that guy. He loves life, and it may be rough around the edges, but that’s what makes him so human and so lovable.

HollywoodChicago.com: How the heck did he end up in a major motion picture, with only two other credits before him?

Katz: He is Martha’s real relative. His relationship with his female relative in the movie, that was Martha’s real relationship with him in life. He is a surgeon, for example, in real life. Any room that he’s in, everyone is drawn to him, and he has no background as a professional actor. He’s just so un-self conscious, he’s simply being himself.

HollywoodChicago.com: I saw your first credit was a short called ‘Hoopla.’ How did that credit get you to the next phase in your career?

Katz: Well, that didn’t get me anywhere. [laughs] That was my senior thesis in film school. I went to the University of North Carolina School for the Arts, and that is where Martha Stephens went, that is where my Director of Photography Andrew Reed went, and other folks on the film also went there.

Right after school my first feature was ‘Dance Party, USA’ and we made that film in Portland, Oregon – where I was from – for literally no money. We borrowed equipment and had about $2000, and we just did it anyway we could.

Earl Lynn Nelson, Paul Eenhoorn
The Two and Only: Earl Lynn Nelson and Paul Eenhoorn in ‘Land Ho!’
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics

HollywoodChicago.com: How did you get that film in the mainstream?

Katz: I had no idea about the business side of film. My school did a tremendous job teaching me production and film theory, but very little about being a recent film school graduate who wants to make the films that reflect what they want to make. The steps between those two points are almost impossible to conceive of – so we decided to make ‘Dance Party, USA’ on our own.

That was 2004, and ultimately it played at South by Southwest. That’s the transition point that helped me to move on. It was the head programmer at South by Southwest that year who made the difference. He was trying to find new filmmakers so he went through every submission and he was trying to find films that had a different point of view. We were accepted, and it was the first time I was able to show something I had made to the film community at large.

HollywoodChicago.com: Is there a director that you love so much, that you will oftentimes put a hidden tribute to them in one of your films?

Katz: No, not in particular. Generally speaking, I don’t ‘steal’ things. But there are little things, like when Earl Lynn is reading out of the Iceland Guide Book – that was inspired by the Chris Farley sketch on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in which he reads out of the Zagat Guide. The idea is that what is being read is so far apart from how it’s read, it’s just a funny bit.

HollywoodChicago.com: What did you learn on the set of ‘Land Ho!’ that you hadn’t thought of before, and how did that come out in the finished film?

Katz: It was more about something I had been learning, but it was solidified on this film. That lesson was embrace the unexpected and don’t be afraid to be adventurous. Because there were two directors on this film, it was a comedy and Earl Lynn has such a big personality, in a way it gave us license to be more adventurous. It reminded me to consider all the things that are crazy, because you just never know.

HollywoodChicago.com: Finally, at what point in your career did you turn around and think, how the hell did I get here?

Katz: Pretty much every step along the way, because filmmaking is so hard – especially the business part of it, in connecting with the audience. If I have to pick one moment, it was probably Sony Pictures Classics buying this movie. It happened at Sundance – just like when I was a teenager and read that deals go down at the Festival late at night – that’s what happened with ‘Land Ho!’ That was such a surreal moment. Here was a film that I’m incredibly proud of, and here are the best distributors in the business doing a deal for it. About 4am on that Sundance night, I had that realization.

“Land Ho!” continues its limited release in Chicago on August 22nd. See local listings for theaters and show times. Featuring Earl Lynn Nelson, Paul Eenhoorn, Karrie Crouse, Elizabeth McKee and Alice Olivia Clark. Written and directed by Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens. Rated “R”

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2014 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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