Film Gecko

Exclusive: Interview with Paul Boyd, Director of "Vicious Circle"

by Jane Boursaw on September 27th, 2008

I recently had the opportunity to talk with filmmaker Paul Boyd, who called me from Los Angeles to talk about his film, Vicious Circle. The story follows 18-year-old RJ (Paul Rodriguez, Jr.), a gifted artist who dreams of moving to NYC and becoming a comic book creator. When he meets rebellious punk-singer Angel (Emily Rios), their love story becomes the stuff of legends.

Jane: Thanks so much for calling. I had a chance to watch the film, and I think it’s amazing. I know you have a 14-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter. Were they your inspiration for making the film?

More after the jump…

Paul: Yeah, I think so, because the film deals with a mixed race family. I’ve been married twice, and I have two kids from different women. One is Hispanic, and one is white. I still live with my daughter and my second wife. The dynamics in our family are really good, but the film shows what can happen if you don’t try to find harmony together. Ultimately, there’s a bigger message in the film about harmony and the father’s vicious circle that he’s created.

Jane: I love that you have all of that in there, because it appeals to all kinds of people. There are lots of different things going on.

Paul: Exactly. And that’s me – as an artist, I love music. I do collage. I did the sketchbook for the movie, out of which we created the animation. I’m a very physical, 2D artist, and I wanted that to translate into the film. I wanted the film to have a tactile quality about it that wasn’t super glossy. I wanted it to feel handmade.

Jane: I love the cool graphics in between the scenes, which really turns it into a modern fable. How did you get the idea to do that?

Paul: The film is a mythological hero’s journey. For example, the janitor is the wise sage who fixes his wounds and gives him a new skateboard, which is a new horse. All of the characters represent different mythological figures in the hero’s journey, like Odysseus when he returned from the Trojan War. I used animation in a way to put it into RJ’s head, so that when he’s running or being chased, he faces a moment of extreme drama and goes into this animated world that allows him to transcend his situation and do the right thing. Ultimately, that’s what the film is about — doing the right thing. Even if you do the right thing your whole life, you can be pushed to a place where you snap.

Jane: The opening scene with the chess set sets the tone for the entire film, but I didn’t feel like I was being knocked over the head with messages.

Paul: The characters represent chess pieces in a kind of metaphorical way. I wanted to bring that kind of strategic attitude that RJ has, where he’s a chess player and always trying to be one step ahead.

Jane: At the end of the film, I kind of got the feeling that the brothers, Fin and RJ, were going to make it and become real brothers. Is that what you had in mind?

Paul: Yeah, absolutely. There was a scene we filmed of the father getting out of jail and the two brothers picking him up. We filmed it, but it was too sweet for the end, so I left it with the reunification happening in the hospital — with Fin still kind of unconscious, but you see his hand closing around the piece. RJ has decided that this has to work out. He’s on a different path now, the path of healing rather than the path of hiding.

Jane: You said the film took 10 years to make. It must have been really close to your heart, to stick with it all those years.

Paul: Yeah, I had offers to direct other movies and make a lot of money. But, it’s like anything else — when you start something, you have to finish it. It’s so easy to go, oh screw it, it’s been five years, let’s try something else. I’ve been making films my whole life, since I was a little kid with my Super 8 camera. I was in bands and started making videos for our own bands, when we were fifteen, sixteen, then went to film school. It was a really natural progression for me.

Jane: What are you working on now?

Paul: There are two films, and I’m trying to decide which one to do next. One is “Pink Elvis,” a movie about a hypnotist who has a midlife crisis. The other is about a Mexican family in L.A., and the mother, going for her first job interview at 55, has a stroke and gets lost in the streets of L.A. and the family can’t find her. I think that’s what we’re going to do next. I want to follow up this film with another one about a Hispanic family, and then kind of move on. I don’t feel like I’ve exhausted the material with Vicious Circle. I want to dig a little deeper.

Jane: Is there a release date for Vicious Circle yet?

Paul: No, the film hasn’t been sold yet. We went to the [New York International Latino Film Festival] – it was our first festival, and we won Best Picture, which is amazing. We’re going to have a distributor screening in about two weeks in L.A., and we have a couple more festivals lined up. We’re just taking it day by day. To me, it doesn’t have to be in thousands of theaters. It just has to be out there, and I think the audience will pick up on it, and it will have a life of its own.

Jane: Tell me about Paul Rodriguez. Where did he come from, and what’s his history?

Paul: He’s a world champion skater, and he’s one of the few sponsored Nike athletes. He even has his own shoe. The character had to have this ray of light inside, and Paul has that. He worked really hard, and he’s been supporting the film incredibly, coming to festivals with his father and really getting behind the movie.

Jane: You would never know that he hadn’t acted before. He seems like such a natural.

Paul: He is. He’s one of those people that has the gift of confidence, and the other actors really connected with him because he’s so positive.

Jane: Anything else you want to add?

Paul: Just that it’s really a labor of love. My wife produced the film, and both my kids are in the movie, too.

Jane: Cool. Thanks so much for all your time. I really appreciate it.

Paul: Awesome. Thank you, and let’s keep in touch.

Images: Vicious Circle, Govan Team Films, 2008

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