Working with below-the-line crew members
Movie fans tend to hear a lot about the big names behind their favorite movies, from the directors to the screenwriters to the A-list actors. But what about the dozens of other crew members that quietly help make the movie a success?
Natalie was quick to name a series of people that made her life so much easier on the set of Greener Grass. “Take Lauren Oppelt, our costume designer. The costumes for this film are so intricate and so specific. It’s such a hyper-stylized film.” Natalie described how the movie uses a very intentional, bright color palette to give viewers a sense of its idyllic, surreal world. “Each character is color-blocked. [Lauren] went above and beyond, hand-sewing many of the dresses that these characters wear.”
Those handcrafted paper decorations from the rain incident? That’s thanks to Kristin Gibler, the film’s art director, and Leigh Poindexter, the production designer. The man with an eye for capturing every scene perfectly, even while the directors are busy doing the acting? That’s Lowell A. Meyer, the film’s cinematographer.
“It's such an amazing feeling to just know that those things are covered, they're being handled, and they're being handled in a really great way, that you can just focus on all the other things that you need to focus on. I'll always rehire the people that are amazing like that.”
When the creative process goes so well, Natalie says you keep going back to the same people, growing even more trust and comfort with your most frequent collaborators. “We’re slowly building up our family so we can continue working with the same people over and over again. It’s just lovely to create that rapport. When you’re on set, it feels like summer camp. You’re surrounded by these people you’ve grown to love and admire.”
Tying it all together
Both Thunder Road and Greener Grass began as short films and grew into full-length features. Natalie says this has made the experience of producing the features even more exciting. “I really like being a facilitator. You are helping facilitate the director’s vision, especially when that’s a really clear vision and a really unique vision. I often feel like a midwife where I’m helping this director, the mother of the film, bring their baby into the world.”
Greener Grass premieres at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, January 26th in the Egyptian Theatre.