Interview: Sean Baker

Writer-director of the outstanding indie film ‘The Florida Project’.

Sean Baker writing-directing credits include Take Out (2004), Prince of Broadway (2008,) Starlet (2012), and Tangerine (2015). His latest, written with longtime screenwriting partner Chris Bergoch, is The Florida Project.

Here is an excerpt from Baker’s conversation with The Playlist’s Jessica Kiang:

So tell me about how “The Florida Project” has come to be part of the Oscar machine. Was it always a strategy of A24’s?
 That’s the weird thing: They organically let it play out and now that they’re seeing that it has that buzz, that it’s a real thing coming from the industry, now they’re saying “We’re gonna roll with this.” But they’re smart, they’re not trying to push something that isn’t there. They’re waiting to see if it’s real.

And actually it’s only just as of yesterday, that it really feels like the wheels are turning. Brooklynn [Prince, the film’s star] is in LA for 2 1/2 weeks now doing press and just kicking butt. Willem [Dafoe, hotly tipped for Supporting Actor nod] is taking time off from his shoot with Julian Schnabel — he’s playing Van Gogh in the South of France — to come and do some promotional stuff. But this is something that wasn’t ever a part of my thinking. Yes, I admit, I was thinking Gothams, [Independent] Spirits, but the fact that it’s in that conversation — it’s part of a world that I’m not really familiar with.

I think that’s because, and I don’t want to embarrass you, but you struck me back when we met as, how can I put it, a genuine filmmaker, someone doing it for the right reasons…
 [duly embarrassed] Haha, well, that’s good. Thank you.

..and it also seems to me emblematic of a sea change in the industry, obviously highlighted by the biggest thing going on right now which is the ignominious end of the Harvey Weinstein era.
 It does seem to be changing to a more inclusive way of working. And that, I think, is a very positive change to the way Hollywood and independents have been for the last 75 years. It’s part of a new generation that’s on the right side of history — there’s a real push and a real need and a real desire to see diversity in front of and behind the camera. I feel A24 are part of that sensibility. Even though, I dunno if you know but the people who make up A24, yes, there’s a great young team there, but the principal staff have been in the industry for a while.

And I’m actually older than people think, I’m actually ten years older than most of my peers who are breaking through right now — I’m ten years older that the Safdies and [David] Lowery and … name some others. So I’m really happy that this change is happening in my lifetime. I mean, looking back in hindsight at the ’50s and ’60s in Hollywood and it always seemed so prehistoric but then you realize actually even for the last 20 years, when we thought we were so progressive thinking, it was the same.

For the rest of The Playlist interview, go here.

I love The Florida Project so much, I’ve featured it twice before: here and here. Seriously, you do NOT want to miss this film. It’s beautifully done and deeply human with some incredible acting performances by the entire cast including Willem Dafoe, Brooklynn Prince, Valeria Cotto and Bria Vinaite.

Movie website.