Interview with Chandler Levack - Director of ‘I Like Movies’
The following is an interview of the director of the film ‘I Like Movies.’ For our review of the film please click here.
Canadian filmmaker, writer, and journalist, Chandler Levack, celebrated the world premiere of her debut feature film, "I Like Movies," at TIFF in 2022. Set against the backdrop of the early 2000s, the film follows the journey of 17-year-old cinephile Lawrence as he navigates the trials and triumphs of adolescence, grappling with loss, first jobs, and the bittersweet transition into adulthood.
In our exclusive conversation with Chandler, she graciously invited us behind the scenes to witness the magic of filmmaking. Reflecting on her creative process, Chandler shared, "I kind of like the idea of doing something that was hyperbolically Canadian. It's a really sentimental, nostalgic movie, evoking memories of my own high school years."
Her journey as a filmmaker mirrors Lawrence's own path, both fueled by a deep appreciation for cinema and a drive to tell compelling stories. As Chandler spoke about her experiences navigating the challenges of independent filmmaking, her determination was palpable. She spoke candidly about the creative process behind I Like Movies and the collaborative effort required to bring her vision to life on a limited budget. "It's just about what do I have access to?" she advised. "Maybe this isn't the time that you're gonna get to make your high concept space movie, but maybe your uncle has a really interesting furniture store with a great look and you know a really incredible comedian in town that you think would be good in a movie." Throughout our conversation, Chandler opened up about the personal experiences that inspired key moments in I Like Movies, drawing from her own vulnerabilities and strengths. "It's based on a real experience that happened to me," she confessed. "The first panic attack I ever had was in the back room of Blockbuster."
As Chandler continues to push boundaries in filmmaking, her journey serves as a testament to the transformative power of film. Coupled with the heartfelt storytelling of I Like Movies, which will be released in US theaters soon, we're reminded of the power of filmmaking, especially the power of the underappreciated indie cinema. Her words resonate with authenticity, reminding us the importance of every story — no matter how big or small.
Read the full interview with Chandler Levack below:
Catherine Gieck - It is undeniable the amount of Canadian culture that fills I Like Movies. How much of this would you say was intentional, and how much just wrote itself from your experience being Canadian?
Chandler Levack - I kind of like the idea of doing something that was hyperbolically Canadian. For me, it's a really sentimental, nostalgic movie. I wanted to bring back all of these memories of stuff that I remembered in high school as part of my adolescence. There was something fun about putting The Cash Man ad in, which is like a regional advertisement that I grew up watching TV or like, the Swollen Members soundtrack. I think a lot of times in Canadian movies, we don't get to like see ourselves on screen so there's sort of a delight in making something so specific, it just makes it more universal for audiences around the world.
CG - Tell me a bit about your journey as a filmmaker, when did the dream begin, when did you start getting gigs and when did you feel you were making the right moves?
CL - I think similarly to Lawrence's journey, I definitely fell in love with cinema as an early teenager, and I think I got a job at Blockbuster shortly after. So I was kind of binging on my 10 free rentals a week that I got as my perk for working there and it really just made me fall in love with film. I think that was really my original film school education, just renting movies and walking around the video store, looking at what covers DVDs and VHS tapes looked the most interesting to me. And then watching them and being like, holy shit the Trois Couleurs trilogy, or, Y tu mamá también, I mean, there's so many movies that were like seismic. I don't think teenagers maybe have the same relationship to movies that way on streaming because everything just sort of feels as ephemeral, you're not gonna take that movie home and have an incentive to watch it because it costs like $4 and returning it on Saturday before noon or you’ll get a late fee. I went to film school at U of T, University of Toronto, but it was very theoretical, so I never saw a camera. I think it kind of scared me off from thinking I could be a filmmaker, because my education was like ranking films, I put films on such a high pedestal. It was really only in my late 20s, when I started directing independent music videos that I felt kind of brought me back to my DIY roots of making movies with my friends in high school and it demystified the process a little bit for me.
CN - You made I Like Movies on a microbudget. Do you have any advice for younger people, or I guess anyone who wants to make a film who might have a smaller budget and how they can go about doing that?
CL - I think it's just about what do I have access to? Maybe this isn't the time that you're gonna get to make your like high concept space movie, but maybe your uncle has a really interesting furniture store with a great look and you know a really incredible comedian in town that you think would be good in a movie. That was sort of the inspiration for this movie: who do I know? What would be a good environment that could sustain a feature and how can I execute it with the resources that I have? I think a lot of times lower budgets and limitations can actually inspire a lot of creative ideas. You kind of have to make them your strengths, I think writing to locations or writing something for a person that you know. I think people sometimes think that like, any kind of movie has to cost like a million dollars and you need like 50 person crew and you need a celebrity to be in it. But then every year, there's six or seven movies that are made, that are really low budget, that launch a whole career or introduce a really great actor. And I think it's more about what are the four great scenes I'm going to have this or what's really a moment that's never been on screen before. What's a great contained script that I can write that maybe has an interesting concept or character, instead of thinking that you have to create like a million dollar blockbuster with your very first film.
CG - Lawrence and his best friend Matt have a weekly tradition called Reject’s Night where they watch SNL while their peers would be out partying on a Saturday night. Did you ever have your own Reject’s Night?
CL - I totally did have my rejects night with my friends from high school, and the rituals were very much the same. There was a lot of Nibs consumed, maybe some Miss Vickie's salt and vinegar chips, perhaps a screening of Can’t Hardly Wait or She’s All That. Then SNL we had a whole tradition where we'd watch Mad TV, then SNL, then my friends would fall asleep then I would watch a rerun of SNL, then I would go to bed at three in the morning. And that was the thing that I looked forward to every Saturday night. We called it Reject’s Night as kind of a joke, but also, I guess we're pretty self aware.
CG - Lawrence has some challenges to deal with throughout the film. The most stand out moment in my opinion was his panic attack at work, it felt so real. How were you able to bring that scene to life so well without being over the top or underwhelming? Was it a challenge?
CL - It's based on a real experience that happened to me, the first ever panic attack I ever had was in the back room of Blockbuster. It kind of happened very similarly, I was late for work and I was changing in my uniform and all of a sudden I just started hyperventilating and couldn't do my shift, and my mom was there at the time, and they wouldn't let her in the backroom to console me, so she did have to coach me through the door. They were afraid that maybe she's gonna steal some KitKats or something. I think I took a lot from remembering how that felt but I think a lot of it was also just a collaboration with Isaiah Lehtinen, who plays Lawrence and I remember it was hard because I really wanted to be in the room with him while we were shooting, it was like a tiny back room and my assistant director was really against it because of COVID bylaws, there were limits at the time of how many crew members could be in a room together, so she wanted me to watch it behind the monitor, but I was like, “No, I need to be close to this act. I need to be like feeling what he's feeling.” So I kind of advocated for that and then it was yeah, it was really heartbreaking. It's hard. Isaiah and I are really close, so it's kind of heartbreaking, even though you know he's an actor, watching someone having such an emotional experience, and I felt like I didn't know when to say cut so we just kind of rolled on him. He's such a committed, truthful actor that I was really blown away by him and then eventually I was just like, “Okay, cut.”
CG - What happens next for Lawrence? How do you think his college experience went? What do you think he would be getting up to in 2024?
CL - My dream is to make it kind of like a trilogy sort of like Before Sunrise or like the Antoine Doinel movies that Truffaut did with Jean-Pierre Léaud, like how they made 400 Blows and then think it's Small Change and then Stolen Kisses maybe, I could be totally wrong. So I love the idea of making another movie of Lawrence like in his 20s called I Like Films where he would have like a short film at Cannes, but it's like Cannes Short Film Corner which is actually like a scam and it just means that like, you throw your movie in a booth and like nobody comes and watches it. So he thinks he gets a movie into Cannes but, really, it's a total ripoff. Then he just has this time where he can't get into any movies and he doesn't have a hotel room and he has to sleep on the beach. But then maybe he meets a young woman, and they have sort of a Before Sunrise, like up all night, kind of very French. But I think he's chilled out a little bit by then, and hopefully he's a little bit more of an easier hang. Maybe we would see a few moments where he gets kind of like riled up and then sort of suppresses it. And then I like the idea of maybe at the end, he comes home his mom's like picking him up at the airport, and you see a little bit of their relationship again. The third movie would be called I Like TV and Lawrence just has like, two kids and he's so tired, and he just watches Netflix with his wife on the couch, and maybe he's living in Burlington again.
CG - In the movie, Lawrence was very against being known as a “Canadian” filmmaker. Are you proud to be a Canadian filmmaker?
CL - I am. I think we're at a really exciting time for Canadian cinema. There's so many movies I've watched by my peers that have completely blown me away and I think that idea of what a Canadian movie has to be is like, really, really changing. And we're seeing a lot of diversity of voices and styles of filmmaking and tone, modes of representation that are like, unlike anything we've ever seen before. So I'm really optimistic that we're really on the precipice of, like, a real generational sea change.
CG - What was the biggest inspiration for I Like Movies and what is your biggest inspiration as a filmmaker?
CL - I think my biggest inspiration is just weird times in my life that I need to get over by making the movie. I feel like all my films are really, really personal and kind of little snapshots of different times in my life and that was certainly both a portrait of me as a teenager, but because I was writing it from the vantage point of being a woman in my 30s, I think it accidentally kind of became, I feel like I really saw myself in both the Lawrence and the Alana character. It's like my 30 year old self being in dialogue with my teenage self, which is an interesting way to write something. My second film, which I'm hoping to shoot, this summer, it’s more of a portrait of my 20s. And it’s set in 2011, so slowly, but surely, I'm coming into present day. And then I have an idea of what I want to write for my 30s.
CG - Have you ever held any strong opinions against the film industry like Alana? Did it ever make you want to quit the industry? Where did that aspect of her character come from in the writing process?
CL - I mean, I'm just starting out, so I don't feel jaded or embittered. I definitely don't think it's an industry where you can sort of take your whole stock and sense of self from your success or career as a filmmaker, because it's really something you don't have any control over. And the only thing that can sort of propel you forward is just by the ability to generate work and make your own independent films. I really take a lot of pride in the success of the movie, and all the people I've been able to collaborate with, and just everyone's achievements on the film and everyone who worked on it. I don't know, I think originally the Alana character was a lot more passive, and she wasn't working in film. And she was just kind of a jaded, Cool Girl employee. And then I don't know, as I kept writing it I think the idea of her having had a similar experience, like actually doing the thing that Lawrence dreams of doing and knowing sort of the uglier side of it kind of became an idea that I was interested in exploring. And so that sort of was kind of a slow burn, and then I think when Romina D’Ugo got cast who plays Alana, I think that character just really snapped into place because she's just such a magnetic and terrific actor.
CG - What were your intentions when you began the process of making I Like Movies? What changed throughout the experience?
CL - I think my intention was: I just really, badly wanted to make a film, it really felt very primal to me. And I said, I have to make a movie, or I'm gonna die. You know, I'm tired of waiting, I'm tired of asking for permission, I'm tired of trying to navigate this the proper way. And here's access to like, $125,000 micro budget, and this is money that I could actually maybe get if I have a really great idea, so just write something and get it done. Through the process, I mean it's making a film is crazy, and it goes through so many iterations and there are so many times where it was really, really hard to figure things out and kind of execute what I wanted on screen. And because of budgetary limitations, or like, a pandemic, I think I really owe a lot to my producers that I worked with, who kept propelling me forward. I think what I really learned is the ability to remain true to your integrity and vision of what you want to achieve. But also, it's a collaboration between so many people that might have different ideas about what they think or how to execute what you want. It’s hard, but I'm really proud of the final product, and it's been an incredible experience getting to show it all over the world at so many different film festivals and have so many different audiences respond to it.
CG - How do you feel you have grown and changed since your short film, We Forgot to Break Up? Is there anything you learned from that experience that you consciously used when making I Like Movies?
CL - Yeah, for sure, that was my first time ever making a narrative film or directing something that I wrote or working with actors. So there are a million things, because I just came from music videos before that, and it was a pretty ambitious first short film, because there ares a lot of actors in it and a lot of big set pieces and the big concert at the end, which needed an original rock song. So I think just like the hard work and dedication I put into that, it was really a lot of creative work and ideation and labor went into that, and it was intense. So I think I was like, well, as long as I apply the same kind of completely psychotic work ethic to this movie, I think as long as you guarantee that you work as hard as humanly possible on something and never give up on it, at least you can sort of semi guarantee that maybe it will be watchable. So, I feel like that's what I'm always trying to do. I came from a really DIY background in music videos, where we were doing absolutely everything ourselves from location scouting, to stunt coordination to casting. I really liked the hard work and sort of the DIY guerilla aspects of filmmaking, I like the challenge of it. I feel like it's what comes from my journalism background of just like the research and so I'm hoping I can apply the same kind of work ethic to my next film.
CG - Is there any piece of advice you could give to an aspiring filmmaker like Lawrence, that you wish you had known in the beginning?
CL - I think for a long time I was really holding myself back from making movies because I was a perfectionist, and I didn't want to make a bad movie, and I wish I'd given myself permission to make really terrible films, because I think I would have been further along if I just kind of experimented and directed things that I wrote even if it were shot on like a cell phone or something. I think for a long time, it took me a long time to even admit that I wanted to be a filmmaker, and I liked the idea of it, but I was actually scared of doing it. I think Lawrence is sort of in that zone now, and I mean, he has all the right outfits. He's not actually doing the work. So I would say, just do the thing that scares you.
CG - Are there any projects on your mind you hope to make in the future, or anything you can tell us about the film you have coming up?
CL - I'll just say it's like a casual hangout movie that takes place in the early 2010s. But the Montreal music scene. It's like a rom com.