The following is an interview with writer/director Eric Nazarian (The Blue Hour, Three Christs) regarding the upcoming of the film, Die Like a Man, through Gravitas Ventures. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Nazarian about his creative approach to bringing the story to life on the screen, what audiences may take away from the story’s themes, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the upcoming release of Die Like a Man! What can you share with us about the premise of this rite-of-passage story?
Eric Nazarian: Thank you so much. The premise of the film, in its most basic terms, is a rite-of-passage tale about a young man with a bike, a backpack, a gun, and a lot to prove to the world that goes horribly wrong. It is the story of a young deer who thinks he can be a wolf and learns a terrible lesson about self-deception and the long-term consequences of his actions driven by a misguided and tragically universal sense of machismo and violence.
BD: When tackling a project like this one, was there anything that specifically guided or propelled your visual or thematic approach to bringing the story to life on the screen?
EN: I come from a photojournalist background. I wanted to capture an underexposed and neglected side of the Los Angeles street culture that has been ignored or just not seen in cinema for years. The gritty street realism I wanted to photograph through a naturalist lens that captures Freddy’s rite of passage honestly and authentically to his character and environment. I focused more on the bluer pastel tones in general. Blue, like the sky, is the bridge between the darkness of the night and the bright orange light of day. It mirrors his “journey to the end of the night” of his actions, to quote Celine’s novel title. Blue is innocence. It is also the color of elegies like in the great African-American Blues music and a dawning of hope. All of these thematics were in my mind when I was writing and composing the images.
BD: Amidst the many challenges facing our community this year, Fanbase Press’ #StoriesMatter initiative endeavors to highlight the impact that stories can have on audiences of various mediums. How do you feel that this story’s honest depiction of the aftereffects of gun violence may connect with and impact audiences?
EN: That is a perceptive question. My hope was and is and will be to make an honest story about coming of age that is both a deeply cautionary tale about the dangers of misguided loyalty to a cause or a code that is driven by violence and machismo, as well as an inspiring story that can point to the deeper truth of regret being a catalyst for the main character’s conscience and road to atonement. Freddy’s gun is symbolic of all that is wrong in our world of choosing violence over dialogue and the codes patriarchal societies program in young boys to become men, be it gangs, the military, and geopolitics. The most emotional response I received so far about the film was from a mom who had lost her son to gun violence. She told me after the screening, “I wish the boy who had murdered my son had seen your film the night before he took my boy’s life. MAYBE HE WOULD HAVE CHANGED HIS MIND.” That “maybe” shot through my soul when she said that. It meant for me that the film has agency to possibly help change the minds of young people in seeing a deeper picture of hopefully putting down the gun and looking deep into the mirror like Freddy does. The tragedy is that he doesn’t see the potential he has yet he is surrounded by the tough love of his mom and the life-affirming love of his girlfriend who sees the chasm he is about to enter that is irreversible but cannot pull him from the precipice.
BD: In addition to your work in writing and directing the film, you also created a social impact audiovisual literacy program with the aim of combating gun violence in at-risk communities through grassroots filmmaking. What can you share with us about the genesis of the program, and how would you describe your experience in seeing its impact?
EN: My life’s passion is cinema. The making, writing, editing and the whole culture of world cinema is my religion. I am a first-generation immigrant filmmaker who was Soviet born and L.A. raised since I was four. I grew up in the most violent era that L.A. has known which was the ’80s and ’90s when gun and gang violence was just surreally omnipresent. One part of my work as a filmmaker has been driven by a need to tell the story of all that has been neglected and villainized about my city and its street cultures. Since I was at USC School of Cinematic Arts, I always wanted in some idealistic way to change that by being socially aware and perceptive as a film artist and image maker. The four corners of my passion is social change through cinema literacy and filmmaking that bridges academia and grassroots activism. Once I had defined this, I went to my dear brother Father Gregory Boyle who founded Homeboy Industries, the world’s largest gang intervention program, and discussed with him the power of cinema as a creative ecosystem for system-impacted youth and adults to learn how to tell stories audio-visually. Through the cinematic narrative act, I knew in my heart that they could be inspired to find healing and a road toward atonement. Seeing the over dozen supporting actors and my mentee Omar Castanena, actor Berenice Molina Valle, and the supporting actors really immerse themselves in the Stanislavsky workshops I curated in the garage and back alleys in Echo Park truly manifested in the film. Now they are working on different films and building nascent careers and have been featured on series on Hulu and Paramount Plus. Die Like a Man was my pilot project personal test to see if I could pull it off. I did this with zero resources. We made real granular change possible rather than think and talk big that yields nothing. My hope is now to do it district-wide and hopefully nationwide by designing a curriculum for cinema literacy that connects with social impact organizations for narrative change in our society that can also lead to jobs and growth.
BD: Are there any other projects – past or current – that you would like to highlight for our readers?
EN: My first feature film, The Blue Hour, that premiered at the 55th San Sebastian International Film Festival was made on a shoestring with less than 5 minutes of dialogue in a 93-minute film. I wanted to get back to the roots of cinema by telling a story that didn’t rely on dialogue to be understood. I am hoping to have a release of this film at some point. I am also now working on a few projects that I am very excited about including an adaptation of my dear friend T.J. English’s Born To Kill, a brilliant nonfiction true crime book about a young generation of Vietnam war survivors that had to go through their own rites of passage in the underworld of NYC’s Chinatown in the late ’80s and ’80s. It’s a street story with social and political overtones. Also my Nicholl Fellowship-winning script, Giants, that I am very passionate about making.
BD: Lastly, what is the best way for our readers to find more information about Die Like a Man and your other work?
EN: I post as much as I can about my works in progress on IG (@ericnazarian) and am in the process of building an online portal to connect with cinephiles and people who are interested in independent cinema and long-form audiovisual storytelling.
