"Stationary" Explores What's Left Unsaid: An interview with Director Louis Chan and Actor Aaron Thomas Ward
Interview conducted by Kurt Santana
The following interview was conducted online on behalf of Hooligan Mag, for the short film “Stationary” released on July 9, 2020. It is the story of two individuals whose fraught relationship is conditioned by their social indicators. Jimmy, played by Aaron Thomas Ward, decides to reunite with his old friend, Che, played by Rebekah Murrell, with whom he was a drug runner, after years of no contact. The reunion quickly turns into a confrontation once Jimmy acknowledges that Che is using her younger brother to push drugs.
While the audience learns about the context of this relationship from the dialogue between Jimmy and Che, the tension between them is demonstrated almost immediately through close-ups of these characters in Jimmy’s car, where the film almost entirely takes place. In conversation with writer/director Louis Chan, a London based British filmmaker, and actor Aaron Thomas Ward, we discussed the influences that coalesce the main drive of the film and the potential impact of a story that is tied closely to a clear and present danger to underprivileged youth.
Hooligan Mag (HM): Louis, I was hoping you could fill in the gaps. I know that you started Fresh Look Films (FLF) in 2014, producing branding content up until 2016, when you wrapped production on your short film Ilia. What was the deciding factor in focusing solely on writing and directing narrative?
Louis Chan (LC): It was a personal choice for me. Narrative was always the focus and it was always the main goal, but FLF was a vehicle for me to work on larger productions than my own. At the time, people wouldn’t have trusted me to be a director of fiction and that was how I parlayed myself into having a career. Then as the years progressed, I became aware that my career was going in a different trajectory. I suppose I had that conversation with that voice in my head that asks, “Is this what you want to be doing?”
That was the moment that Ilia was born out of, when I felt really proud of the documentary I made and that it was for a good cause. It was something I was emotionally attached to and it is what gets me up in the morning. It became a conscious decision after that and resulted in my putting myself forth in all sorts of talent labs to learn as much as I can about storytelling and narrative.
H.M.: For a first film, there is a lot of mastery of exposition using body language and action, which is credit not only to your directing but also to the facial expressions and body language used by the actors, particularly with you, Aaron. Can you tell me about your first impression of the film and what brought you on board?
Aaron Thomas Ward (A.W.) When I had gotten the script the night before the audition that’s when I sort of felt butterflies in my stomach, where’s it’s like, I don’t just want to do this, this isn’t just a project that can help me career wise. You start thinking of things that are possible in this moment.
The writing and the characters are something that is very present in the world. People in underprivileged areas are not only expected to act three times older than they actually are but also to live exactly as their elders did. It sets up a very low glass ceiling and this film shows you that you can get past that, so, I knew that I wanted to work on it.
I remember when I went into the audition my agency had told me that Louis had seen me in a previous project, so I thought I might fit the character. But, when I was in the waiting room, nobody looked like me, some were taller and they all had different demeanors. I thought to myself, “Am I in the right place?” But once I was in the room with Louis I immediately knew I could work with him.
H.M.: Louis, what was the inspiration for this film and tells us about the cultural climate in which this story takes place?
L.C.: I think what Aaron said about kids from a certain background having to be adults way before their years to be very true. I personally have friends that have been arrested at a point when they were turning into adults, at just 18. They are thrown into this situation [prison] as a kid, with fully developed individuals who are considered “hardened” or “violent criminals.”
I grew up in an area that has been highly gentrified in recent years, so, the area I saw was very different from what people are seeing now. And in my friend’s instance, when I asked him how getting arrested made him feel, he said that it was like he sort of threw his life down the drain, that this one thing can define the rest of your life. I was surprised and sad that I hadn’t known this before and it goes to show that there’s a lot going on below the surface.
One’s background, whether it be socioeconomic or racial, all plays into this and I’m not saying that this is the main driving force behind Stationary, but, these were definitely the layers that we were trying to peel away. All of this played into the fabric of what we wanted this film to be. One should get the impression that this is an actual place and that these are stories inspired by real people.
H.M.: Aaron, what inspiration did you draw from your own experience in playing Jimmy?
A.W.: With any project I’ll do, I try to balance between dissociating myself and indicating where I disagree or how I sympathize with the character, and with Jimmy, there are quite a few things with which I can sympathize. For instance, I only learned recently that there was an effort to close the school that I had attended as a child while I was attending it. Some of the kids I went to school with were from privileged backgrounds, whose lives were virtually set for them, but are now earning money in ways that aren’t endearing to the law.
Getting sucked into that life at a younger age is easy when you’re in school. There’s so much distraction and if you are in the mindset that because of your background you are going in a certain direction there’s no drive to pick up something that can lead to a better future. If there are things at home that aren’t being dealt with, that’s going to affect one’s education. And nowadays, you don’t even have to commit a crime to be considered a criminal.
H.M.: Louis, you wrote in a comment on the Stationary’s youtube page, “Friendship is a complicated thing with what's most important often being left unsaid.” What type of friendship is this film depicting and what is being left unsaid?
L.C.: I think everybody has had friendships where they have fallen by the wayside, things have ended on bad terms, ways in which they didn’t necessarily have to go. Some of these things happen before you’re a fully formed adult and you don’t know how to deal with these things. And in this case, when something eats away at you because of something have done or left undone you’ve done or haven’t, you feel the need to go back.
It’s too simple to say that it’s to right your wrongs, because there is definitely an ego with the way the Jimmy character was written. In helping the character Gino, he is sort of exonerating himself, trying to absolve himself of guilt because he knows he was the initial influence in getting Che involved. He is also intimidated by how much smarter and stronger she is in a lot of ways -- that is the subtext of these characters. With that sort of intimacy, you know what ticks each other off, and they begin to do it purposely.
In terms of what is left unsaid, I think Jimmy comes to it at the end. But first, we have to go through this charade or scene that he has constructed to make himself feel like he is in control. Che is quick to pick up on his mind games and remarks that Jimmy hasn’t changed at all. In the end, it’s Jimmy being honest with Che that finally gets through to her.
A.W.: That was one of my disagreements or dislikes with Jimmy. It was my focus to find out why he does that and how his ego works. He’s changed his life for the better but there’s still that drive inside that he’s not the top guy anymore. And his approach may have good intentions, but his motivation is tainted in the sense that saving Che’s brother will make up for everything he has done to her.
L.C.: That’s lovely to hear, because it is something that is complex. People have different motives. There are ones that are noble and those which are self-serving. And they can be both.
A.W.: Especially nowadays, people can do something nice, but will expect something back. And if something nice is done to someone, they’ll ask what is expected and think there’s an ulterior motive. These days it’s really hard to…
L.C.: Cut through the bullshit?
A.W.: Yeah, and to be nice. I think it’s hard to be nice, nowadays. It hardens people up and makes it hard for anyone to course towards an open dialogue.
L.C.: That goes back to your original question, of what is left unsaid. I think it’s the text to Gino at the end of the film. Che isn’t the sort of person to say it to Jimmy’s face, but the fact that she sends that text means a lot.
Rebekah Murrell as Che
H.M.: I’m curious to hear from both of you what your hopes are for the cultural impact of this film will be and how it being online will affect that impact.
A.W.: I think it’s good for all sorts of people whether they relate to it or not. Everyone should learn where different people come from and to understand that their community isn’t always how it’s going in other places. I think it will offer a better understanding of the world we live in.
L.C.: The thing for me is communication, which I think is paramount. Whether it’s meeting with a best friend or going into an interview, being able to express yourself and going beyond that, being comfortable to express yourself in an honest way. And I hope that people who watch this film will see that these characters do care about each other, but that they struggle to communicate because of their own hangups.
There comes a time when you have to let that go. It’s difficult to carry around that type of baggage. No matter what social background you come from, these things are difficult to feel regardless. So, hopefully people come out of their watching being reflective and start a discussion.
A.W.: We were talking about this yesterday, but I hope that people come to realize that these two characters are battling sides of the same conscience. I hope that people stand in the middle to understand the point that they should both be getting at is a mix of both of what they’re talking about. The character of Gino, shows us that someone who is younger can show us older people how we’ve been wrong.
L.C.: Hope is what Gino is supposed to represent. The film ends on a specific frame of him thinking. Whether the friendship between Che and Jimmy continues after this film, isn’t really important, it’s whether they’ve grown or that they have learned something. Maybe audiences are in a similar position and learn that it is okay to talk about these things.