Santa Barbara

GOODBYE BUTTERFLY

Interview with Director Tyler Wayne and lead actor: Adam Donshik by Emmanuel ITIER for filmfestivals.com 

Q: How did this project come together?

Tyler: I had put together some financing for another project and it all fell apart. But I still had a third of that financing and I had to make a very low budget. I then decided to come up with this story of 3 people in a room. This is how our film was born and how it came to be. I was just trying to create a story that could work with the various limitations I was facing.

Q: What were the various other challenges you had to face?

Tyler: The resources were limited and therefore our schedule was very tight to film this picture. The more money you have the more time you can have. But this was not our case. We shot everything in 17 days. It was also challenging to complete this film without a distributor in place. It was a leap of faith to make this endeavor and then find a company to release it. So, each step to make this film was a huge challenge.

Adam: As an actor and because of the lack of time you don’t get the luxury with lots of takes so you have to make it right quickly. We all came very prepared. It was an adjustment as I usually like to do rehearsals and take our time to figure things out. At the end you learn to trust your instinct and you hope it will work out. And I think it did since we got distributed.

Q: What is this movie truly about and what are the themes?

Adam: I’m a father and I have two children. I don’t know what I would do if this would happen to me in real life, losing your child and not knowing what happened and having suspicions on a neighbor like my character has in this movie. What would I do? Given the opportunity to look at that was a great challenge and quite an eye-opening experience. My character, Ryan, is all about trying to do right and find the right solution considering the desperate situation he is facing.

Tyler: For me it’s about the “moral” of violence. For Ryan it’s totally justified what he is doing but is this really morally right? Also, it shows that this doesn’t help him dealing with his loss, in any case. So, it’s the eternal question that violence can’t probably be solved by violence. What is ultimately the human cost of all this?

Q: What do you hope this movie creates with the audience and is it a perfect movie for this strange time at home and disconnected with each other?

Tyler: This is my first movie so it’s a strange experience to release a movie during a pandemic and when, most people, are looking at movies on their own device. In any case, I hope this movie help dealing with the notion of loss, whether it’s the connection with each other or some other more dramatic situations.

Adam: It’s a hard movie, especially for parents. Movies like this are helpful in a time when all our emotional and psychological lives are pent-up because there a catharsis at the end and I feel we all need it. We are pent-up, we aren’t really able to go everywhere in the world, we feel like we have lost something, we never going to get that back, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And like with Ryan’s character, there is a sense of satisfaction at the end. So, it’s about dealing with the events that happens to you and how do you keep going with your life.