“Play It Cool” is the first feature film written and directed by Tommy Anderson. The film is a road movie reminiscent of the 1970s’ independent movies that launched a whole new generation like Easy Rider, Badlands, and Five Easy Pieces. The film centers around a young man traveling across the country to meet his mother for the first time when he gets mistaken for a wanted fugitive.
“Play It Cool” also pays homage to films from the French New Wave era like the work by JL Godard and François Truffaut, to name a few. The resourcefulness back when film was bought by the foot and was extremely expensive inspired the filmmaker to take risks on a small scale. “We shot in the desert on 100+ degree days. We got flat tires, our prop car overheated and leaked power steering fluid; one of our crew got bit by a mysterious creature. That’s the joy of making movies with no money. What you see is what you get: there are no green screens or filming inside of air conditioned studios.” The crew shot in and around San Diego and Los Angeles for a total of 25 arduous production days.
While the scope of the film feels expansive, it sure packs a punch where others might wander astray in useless b-story plot lines or characters. A fiery retro-indie soundtrack sets the tone for a film that’s as filled with heart as it is fun and quirky. “I yearn for a time when movies were shot on location and weren’t afraid of taking risks,” says the writer/director. “[Indie cinema] used to not be afraid to have a dance sequence in a cafe followed by a casual shootout in the parking lot where they drink coffee and laugh in the midst of the mayhem. As viewers we forgave blunders in production quality because we understood that the filmmakers were taking risks shooting in live locations with no budget.” The director mentioned how he wants to encourage other filmmakers to stop asking for permission or worrying about the fear of judgment. “Go make your movie! What I found was the outpouring of support by people that read my script and wanted nothing more than to see it come to fruition.” Anderson talked about how making an indie movie is a lot like building a car while driving it. But despite all of the hurdles, the film surely succeeds in its aim: the amount of fun had while making the film can definitely be felt by the audience.
The film delivers on expectations while telling a thoughtful and fun narrative. In an ideal world, this movie would have gotten a ballooned budget so that the director could have pulled off ideas that were simply too expensive to film. “There are moments in the script that simply didn’t get filmed because we couldn’t afford them. It hurts, it hurts a lot, but I wrote them knowing that could happen. But I knew that if I could compete on story and character, that would be the centerpiece of my film.” They sure don’t make films like this anymore, as nowadays they would shoot this film on a soundstage with air conditioning and comfy couches to sit on between takes. There is definitely something to be said about movies shot on location despite all of the challenges that it brings.
The film is set to release later this year, and will premiere at a private location for the cast and crew prior to its final distribution.
Rating: N/A
Runtime: 1hr 42 minutes
