In a modern culture where over over-sharing every intimate detail of your personal life has become the standard norm for most people, as they determinedly strive to prove their worth, others choose to remain protective of their background. The need for some people to remain mysterious to the outside world not only means it’s possible to remain control over how others view them, but also protects them from having to form meaningful relationships. The new romantic drama, ‘Long Nights Short Mornings,’ follows an alluring protagonist as he strives to remain emotionally unattached from the multiple women he dates.
The film’s writer-director, Chadd Harbold, powerfully created a cryptic main character, for who few clues about his background are ever explicitly revealed. In the romantic drama, which had its World Premiere during SXSW’s Narrative Spotlight Section on Saturday, March 12 at the Alamo Lamar A theater in Austin, the protagonist craves emotional intimacy, but is unable to fully commit to any one of the women he feels somewhat of a romantic interest in. So he purposefully remains somewhat cryptic to them, so that he can justify the reasons why they never become completely devoted to each other.
‘Long Nights Short Mornings’ follows the seemingly charming James (Shiloh Fernandez), who’s searching for a meaningful romantic connection. But he’s also struggling to find a woman he truly bonds with, and would be willing to truly commit to in a serious relationship. He initially doesn’t seem to care about the various women who regularly enter and leave his life, as he apathetically leaves them in his determined search to find his next superficially engaging connection. The drama sets up each of the short-lived relationships James engages in in the anthology-style, and each section is names for the woman the protagonist is involved with, including Katie (Ella Rae Peck), Monica (Paten Hughes) and Natalie (Christine Evangelista).
After James ends his faux relationship with Katie, he feels somewhat bad about his decision, as he doesn’t like hurting people. Despite his regret, he’s anticipating seeing Monica, with whom he made plans with tonight, as she’s always fun to be around. However, he doesn’t truly connect with her, and he isn’t as close with her as he was with Natalie, until she moved to LA. While James knows that he shouldn’t string the woman he interacts with along, he can’t seem to stop his cunning ways around them.
Harbold generously took the time to talk about writing, directing and producing ‘Long Nights Short Mornings’ during an exclusive phone interview the day after the drama premiered at SXSW. Among other things, the filmmaker discussed that he decided to pen the script for the film because he wanted to craft a realistic story about modern romantic encounters that showcases how some people want to form meaningful connections, but they ultimately don’t know how to maintain the relationship. He also noted that the casting was one of the more difficult processes of the movie, as he was looking for an actor who could play James in a nuanced and vulnerable way, and who also truly understood the script.
ShockYa (SY): You wrote the new romantic drama, ‘Long Nights Short Mornings,’ which examines of the romantic life of James, a young man in New York City who has both fleeting and profound experiences with the women he encounters. What was your inspiration in penning the script for the film?
Chadd Harbold (CH): I wanted to tell a modern, real and raw story about relationships, specifically about one young man’s relationships with several different women. I wanted to make the story emotional, while also keeping it real and unsentimental. So the film’s story was born out of that desire.
So the film has an anthology-type structure, where we spend this time with him and a female character. We see their fighting and all the drama of their relationship. then we move onto the next woman, and we never see the last woman again. So it has a harsh structure around very emotional themes.
SY: Besides writing the script, you also directed the movie, like you did with several of your previous films. How does penning a screenplay influence the way you approach your helming efforts, both creatively and linguistically?
CH: Yes, I wrote the script so that I could also direct it, which is what I’ve done with pretty much every project I have worked on. I have directed other people’s scripts, but there haven’t been any other directors who have worked on one of my scripts that I have written.
I would say the approach that I took to the script was trying to write from as real, emotional and vulnerable of a moment as I could. I knew that a lot of the heart of the movie would come from the looks and pauses that the characters would give, as well as the camera lingering on the actors’ faces. But writing those moments can be hard to convey in words. I was lucky enough to have three producing partners who understood that those moments would be there, even if they weren’t necessarily in the script.
SY: Speaking of your producing partners, besides writing and directing ‘Long Nights Short Mornings,’ you also served as one of the executive producers on the film. Why did you decide to also produce the film? Did your responsibilities as a producer influence the way you approached directing the drama?
CH: I think so, to a certain degree. Part of the process of being a director is also being a producer. You have to fulfill your vision while working with the actors. My contribution as a producer on this film was to influence the production approach that we were going to take, which was being able to shoot over more days. That way we could do these scenes right, and capture all the moments we wanted. If we did make a mistake, however, we could correct it during those extra days. Having a pretty stripped-down crew, and still being able to spend the time we needed to work on the big scenes we had, was great. If we were filming a big scene, that would be the only one we would shoot that day. So I would figure out scheduling and those types of details as a producer.
SY: The cast in ‘Long Nights Short Mornings’ features a diverse cast, which is led by Shiloh Fernandez, who portrays James. What was the casting process like on the drama?
CH: The casting was one of the more difficult processes of the movie, and it definitely one of the longest. It took such a long time because I was looking for specific actors. I wanted the actor who played James to have this movie star charm and look to him, so that this lifestyle would be believable. He also needed to be complex, nuanced, emotional and vulnerable, and not just be a good-looking jock. I wanted him to have these unique qualities that Shiloh has.
I also wanted to cast an actor who truly and deeply understood the script and what we were going for. I wanted to make sure that this wasn’t just a movie about a good looking guy who was constantly with different women. The actor had to understand the character’s true core and his relationships.
SY: Since James has both short-lived and meaningful experiences with women in his love life, were you able to have any rehearsal time with Shiloh and the rest of the actors in order to examine the protagonist’s emotions and motivations?
CH: Shiloh was incredible. He stuck with the project through the financing woes we had for a long time. The first time we spoke over Skype after he read the script, we talked about it for about two hours. We then did that again a couple of weeks later, as we had a lot to say and talk about. For certain scenes in the script, he sent me books about modern masculinity. We really dove deep into this world and character.
When Shiloh came to New York for the shoot, we were lucky enough to have time to rehearse together. We rehearsed every scene of the movie with the actors very briefly for a couple of days before we began shooting.
SY: Speaking of Shiloh meeting you at New York City, what was the experience of shooting ‘Long Nights Short Mornings’ on location there, especially since you shot the drama independently?
CH: Anyone who shoots in New York on a low budget will tell you that it’s not easy. This movie was shot in a lot of locations. I think we shot for 22 days, and there were 25 locations. So we were never in the same place two days in a row. So that process was very difficult, because we were trying to find bars, apartments to shoot in. There was some exterior work that was easier in that regard, but there wasn’t very much of it. So being able to secure the locations was tough.
Also, there was a certain amount of scouting that we did during pre-production. We mainly had to do it at night, since we were going to mainly be shooting at at that time. So when we started the pre-production, I would work a certain amount of hours during the day in the production office. I would then have to meet the DP (Director of Photography, David Feeney-Mosier) at night, and we’d scout for six more hours. So that part of the process was tough. But I really wanted the film to feel like real New York, and show diverse places, both in neighborhood and style.
SY: The drama (had) its World Premiere during the Narrative Spotlight Section during (last) month’s SXSW. What does it mean to you that the film (premiered) at the festival?
CH: The experience (was) great. I’ve been to SXSW a few times, and it’s such a great festival. Everyone (there) is so great, and meeting the other filmmakers (was) amazing. So it (was) just great company. I’ve always loved this festival, and everything about it is cool, so it’s good to be a part of it.
Written by: Karen Benardello