NAPLES INTERNATIONAL FF INTERVIEWS: Jonathan Wysocki talks about his film, DRAMARAMA
Jonathan Wysocki’s DRAMARAMA, which recently screened at the Naples International Film Festival and is currently screening at Cucalorus, takes us to a farewell murder mystery slumber party a group of high school friends are having before they are disperse to the next chapter of their lives. They all have their personal versions of teenage angst and drama swirling within, but Gene may have it worst of all. The theatrical hostess, Rose, will fly off to start college the next morning, followed by earnest Claire, magnetic Oscar, and sarcastic Ally. Yet Gene has bigger problems than being left behind by his best friends: he wants to come out of the closet – but is terrified of what his sheltered Christian best friends might think.
Infinity identifiable whether you were or even adjacent to being a thespian, a Christian school kid, or just chock full of neuroses, inner turmoil, and a performer bursting to get out, Wysocki’s film is both very familiar fun and loaded with moments of which almost everyone will remember having endured as they grew up. It would be wrong to easily categorize DRAMARAMA as a simple pleasure, because it has a sincerity and warmth deeply embedded within it, that makes the film stick with you a little bit more than it would otherwise.
In the interview, Wysocki and I talk about being the architect of a film that can be made without depending on extensive financing or support from others, and what the tipping point is to finally kick that into gear. He also gets into the realization of how much a filmmaker will be “living with their film” and how much that determines the film you choose to make. Wysocki also talks about what he did to make DRAMARAMA on a budget (SPOILER: production design depended a lot about old 90s furniture and knick knacks stored in his parents’ garage and house), as well as how utilizing personal stuff is important for the filmmaker, regardless of how striking it is for the audience, and his process to get his actors in the right place to play their roles with no rehearsal time to speak of.
