American Golden Picture
International Film Festival
AN INTERVIEW WITH William R. A. Rush, DIRECTOR
As a filmmaker, please introduce yourself:
My name is Bill Rush. I’m originally from Syracuse, NY. I’ve lived in the Philadelphia area for 21 years.
I originally moved to the Philadelphia area to attend law school, and have been a practicing attorney for eighteen years.
I have three incredible and brilliant daughters and am married to the best producer in the world, Xxena N. Rush.
Why did you become a filmmaker as director and producer?
I always wanted to be a filmmaker. So many of the people that I admire are filmmakers; Ingmar Bergman,
Michael Haneke, Gaspar Noe’, Andrei Tarkovsky, John Cassavetes, Agnes Varda, the great Hitchcock and many others.
Like so many people, the global pandemic was a time for worry and refection. I’d suppressed my artistic interests for the majority of my life, if there was ever a time to try and create something out of pure love, this was the time.
Give some information about yourself and the films you have made so far, about your experience.
I have a long background in writing for an audience, but it had not been creative in nature for many years.
I have been a Stephen King fan since I was old enough to read a book. I was once threatened with suspension from school
for reading a copy of “Gerald’s Game”. So if I was going to make a film, it made sense to try and adapt a Stephen King story.
I pitched the idea to Mr. King and he granted me the rights to make a short “Dollar Baby” film adaptation of his short story
“One For The Road”, which was my first film. I did not release it but went to work immediately writing and ultimately
directing my own film, “Group”. I am tremendously proud of “Group”. I then shot the feature film “Immersion” as soon as
“Group” was completed, and we are finishing the editing of “Immersion” currently.
“Fetish” and “Sweetener”, both features, are in pre-production.
What are the films or people that had impacts on you and deeply inspired you to become a filmmaker?
“E.T.”, which is the first film I ever saw in a movie theater. To this day, I think it’s possibly the most honest film ever made.
It can make young children understand the complications of adulthood while simultaneously bringing adults
back to their childhoods. “Halloween”, by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the first movie that scared me
immensely and left me so shocked at the end that I could not stop thinking about it. “Casablanca”,
which was the film that showed the magic. As far as individuals, all those I have previously mentioned, plus Spielberg,
the Coen Brothers, Chaplin, Kurosawa, Jack Nicholson, and countless others.
You have made your film "Group" which is officially selected in the
"American Golden Picture International Film Festival".
As a filmmaker, why you decided to make it?
I wanted to make a real-time, uncomfortable film that truly showcased each actors’ abilities in a single location
that would manage to keep the audience’s attention and interest while also being claustrophobic and distressing.
And while the characters didn’t know, or possibly even care, about the internal thoughts of the other characters,
I wanted the audience to know the entire time without knowing what was going to happen to those characters.
The challenge I set for myself, and the goal of the film, was to present 13 developed and compelling characters.
I think that the entire cast and crew went above and beyond to make that happen.
What were some of the challenges you faced in making this specific film?
Due to the then-pending WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, getting everything scheduled and set up within
a certain timeframe was a tremendous challenge. This also meant a very tight window for principal photography.
Planning and meticulously shot-listing became more important than in almost any other production.
Our main producer, Xxena N. Rush, had to essentially take full charge of sets, locations, makeup and hair,
special makeup effects, and basically all big picture production items and the tiny production items so that
I could focus on directing and, in some instances, actually begin directing before we ever got to set.
The other incredible challenge was knowing that if everything went perfectly…which includes adjusting
to any and all unforeseen problems… and we wrapped right on schedule, we would have approximately
thirty hours before we started to shoot our next feature.
Let us know more about your experience in this film?
Professionally it was the most rewarding experience I have ever had. Personally, as challenging and exhausting as it was,
and how much work went into it before, during and after, despite all the stress and worry,
I desperately want to be back on that set every day. It was the time of my life.
The Crew work supports the story in an effective way. What was it like to work with them?
It was an absolute joy and I would not want to work with anyone else. This is true to the point where
I used the same crew for “Immersion”, I used most of the same crew for “One For The Road” and I intend to use
the same crew for “Sweetener” and “Fetish” and anything else that I can.
You see the flawless editing of Miranda Jean Larson and the sublime cinematography of Michael Joseph Murray
and you just want to entrust every project to them.
For you what was the biggest lesson you had to learn after making this film?
When you cast incredibly talented actors, the production will run smoothly, but it will make post production and
editing an extraordinarily difficult process. Everything cut is beautiful, but cuts must be made. And once you’ve
completed filming you need to stop thinking about the film for at least a couple of weeks, let it breathe.
After that, you need to stop thinking about the film for a couple of weeks after you see the final cut.
You have to give yourself distance to finalize the best possible final product.
What keeps you inspired to continue filmmaking?
It’s what I love most in the world. I get to work with my brilliant wife every day doing the work I love doing most.
And I am surrounded by these wonderful people, who I absolutely love, the entire time.
The most important part is distributing the film. What did you do for distributing your feature film “Group”?
We are still in the process of doing that through festivals, meetings, discussions, exploring our options, marketing, etc.
I want to make sure everyone involved has the biggest audience imaginable.
What are your filmmaking goals?
I want to tell the stories that interest me, the ones that have honesty and are free from manipulation.
I want to live a life where my only jobs are being a father and making films.
What is your next project?
“Immersion” is a feature we shot after “Group”, which is nearly finished with post production.
We are in preproduction on “Fetish” and “Sweetener” and there are several projects in development or some form of production.
Thank You and GOOD LUCK William
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IMdb Page:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13670022/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
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