Two by Four
Brothers and Quinceañera directing duos meet face to face
FULTON: But we’re not sharing it, in the case of me and Lou. We have different skills. I probably have more of a tendency toward spontaneous inspiration than Lou. He’s very focused on maintaining the structure we’ve established, whereas I get on location and want to change everything.
PEPE: You asked how I know that he’s not going to respond differently than I am, but when that question comes up, you think back, and you’re okay, because you have this trail of experience between you — the same stimuli — that led up to that moment. There are times on the set when something happens and you turn to each other and this odd, organic kind of synchronicity happens. It’s part of the union or the collaborative essence between us. We trust it.
GLATZER: It happens regularly on the set, where I’m about to say something and Wash says it first, out of the blue, as if we’re having the same thought at the same moment. It doesn’t happen so much at home, but it happens when we’re working.
WESTMORELAND: It’s very John and Yoko.
Gay directing teams may be a new phenomenon, but for a while now there’ve been movies directed by two brothers, and by straight couples directing together too. Has getting a movie made become so complicated that it takes two?
WESTMORELAND: Well, for one thing, if you’re making an independent film, the economics are quite difficult. How do you support yourself in the years it takes to get a script written and produced? It’s hard. If there’s two of you, you can kind of trade off.
GLATZER: I was working full time, 50 hours a week, when we were editing Quinceañera.
PEPE: But of course, economically speaking, there is a downside to being a team . . .
FULTON: You mean the thing about how two directors get paid as if they’re one?
Really? They don’t pay you each your own salary?
PEPE, GLATZER, WESTMORELAND: [shaking their heads] No. No. No.
FULTON: It’s really irritating. But the industry doesn’t like to recognize two directors as separate people.
PEPE: Marital bliss is not a prerequisite for directorial gain. [to Glatzer and Westmoreland] You know, this may just be my paranoia, but do you find that being a couple directing together affects how people perceive you? It didn’t happen with our actors, not at all, but you sense that the crew assumes that no matter how close their working relationship is with you as a director, there’s always a relationship that trumps it. Do you feel that?
WESTMORELAND: We didn’t have a particular problem with that on Quinceañera, but I can see what you’re saying. I suppose it does distance you slightly from the crew, which can actually work to your advantage sometimes.
GLATZER: I guess I never thought of it that way. When I made my first film [Grief], I had $40,000 and no time and needed the crew to reassure me that I was doing the right thing. I don’t feel that way anymore. Codirecting just gives me another layer of security.
FULTON: It definitely makes me feel secure, I can say that. But I think it’s true. The dynamic of a film set is that the crew wants an intimate relationship with the director. A pairing like ours betrays that relationship. You’ve got someone to turn to, so all of a sudden, your cinematographer isn’t your closest ally. It can be complex.
Your movies are opening on the same day, and to a certain extent you’re chasing the same audience. So, if only for this weekend, are you guys box-office rivals?
WESTMORELAND: I say go see Brothers of the Head on Friday night and Quinceañera on Saturday night.
FULTON: Or vice versa.
WESTMORELAND: And that Will Ferrell movie, well, hey, see that on Netflix.
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