Review Fix Exclusive: Patrick Stark Talks ‘Any Wednesday’

Review Fix chats with filmmaker Patrick Stark, who discusses the impact his latest film, had on him and how he’d like audiences to respond to it.

Review Fix: Why is the topic of this film important today?

Patrick Stark: The film, with its two protagonists, focuses on living and struggling with mental illness.

Octogenarian Agnes is in the early stages of dementia. C’Mo, an Iraq War vet, is living on the streets and dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Fear and misunderstanding often lead to prejudice against people with any psychiatric disorder.

I feel Any Wednesday subtly aides in addressing stigmas associated with mental illness by offering characters that an audience can relate to and care about.

Review Fix: What inspired this film?

Stark: Agnes was inspired by co-producer David Lundstedt’s mother. Screenwriter and Director Allie Light is David’s Mother-in-law.

One evening in Austin, Texas, Agnes failed to return from her weekly meditation.

She apparently took a wrong turn coming home and eventually had a flat tire.

A young African American man assisted her with her tire and asked for a ride.

The pair drove around Austin for three hours as her family waited and worried.

When Agnes finally returned home all she said was she had a flat tire and a nice man fixed it.

Allie Light’s daughter and co-producer Julia Hilder relayed the story to her mother who was inspired to write Any Wednesday, her imagined version of what could have transpired between the two.

Review Fix: How difficult was this film to put together?

Stark: One of the greatest difficulties in putting Any Wednesday together was caused by the physical distance between Allie and myself.

Allie Light, the writer and my co-director of Any Wednesday is based out of San Francisco and I suggested she bring the film to my city, Vancouver, where we have a solid infrastructure in place, the talent (both cast and crews) as well as a significant exchange rate on the US dollar.

While Allie prepped her shot list and notes in San Francisco, I assembled a cast and crew in Vancouver while doing my own prep as her co-director.

Allie had to travel four separate times to Vancouver to pull this off: one as a meet and greet with me and a preliminary look at locations, once for casting, again for principal photography and lastly, for re-shoots due to a faulty B camera.

Second, about one month after she was cast in the role of Agnes, Mary Black, then in her early eighties, slipped on some ice while shopping and fractured her pelvis. The main concern, of course, was for Mary’s well-being – pelvic fractures can result in prolonged hospitalization and disability. We held off on any thought of production for the time being and maintained constant communication with Mary as she healed – she was determined to do this film! Approximately 3 months after the fall, Mary was with us on set, putting in very lengthy hours in cold, wet and by the last day, snowy conditions.

A third difficulty was that what should have been a 7 day schedule was packed into 4 days due to budgetary constraints. Such a push through the scenes is never easy on cast and crew, who were really there for the love of making this film – not just for an extremely modest daily rate.

Review Fix: Tell me about the cast.

Stark: We were just so impressed by Mary, with what she endured – healing from the fracture, and delivering a brilliant performance despite the long hours and harsh conditions. We could all learn from that kind of passion and work ethic. Her being on our set was a miracle, really.

Shane Dean was an absolute professional. It was very evident that he was committed to giving the performance of his life in his willingness to research the role, create his own backstory for C’Mo and then show up to multiple meetings in pre-production to discuss his character.

Definitely, the hardest scene to shoot was where C’Mo has a PTSD episode, triggered by thunder and lightning.

This is the scene where actor Shane Dean had to take himself to a very difficult place in order to truly become C’Mo. The key was to allow the event to play out and let cameras roll – as long as the character required, from the initial shock of the flash and boom, to being in the throes of a flashback and return to calm. It was a lengthy process for Shane to get there and a lengthy process to come down from. We did have two cameras, but felt it was important to have one gunning through the windshield while having the other in a raking two shot. This meant we still needed coverage on the other profile – so Shane had to go twice, which was a difficult request to make knowing what he had to go through.

The remainder of the cast, even with just a scene or two each, came to set prepared and delivered with every take – I was in awe of their professionalism and that preparedness helped to make filming go as smoothly as it possibly could.

Review Fix: What was the feeling like on set?

Stark: The pace was fast, and the crew pushed through an extremely intense schedule – they were committed from prep onward and were well aware of what was needed to get through principal photography.

We were shooting in the midst of a busy production season when they easily could have jumped ship to work on one of the many Hollywood productions filming in Vancouver – but they committed fully to the project. The overall attitude was extremely positive.

Everyone seemed truly happy to participate in the making of Any Wednesday.

Review Fix: How have the audiences been reacting to Any Wednesday?

Stark: Allie and co-producers Julia Hilder and David Lundstedt represented the film in festivals around the world and the film seemed to make a powerful impression with each audience.

Allie recently sent me a document of the various responses she had received after various screenings and I am grateful for the very touching reviews the film has received over the course of its festival run.

Audiences appear to be genuinely moved by both the story and the performances. What more could a filmmaker ask for?

Review Fix: What have you learned about yourself through this entire process?

Stark: I understand now, more than ever, that no matter how many years I have been involved in the film industry (nearly 30), no one film will come together in the same way – every project is unique and has its unique challenges.

I know too, that I can never have enough experience to know everything about the filmmaking process – I will always be in a constant state of learning.

After all of this time, involving more struggle than success, I can say that I still love the art and business of making movies and every challenge it brings my way.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Stark: I am in post-production on a feature-length documentary entitled One Life No Regrets, a personal memoir of pushing past an intense fear of singing in public through ‘extreme exposure’ – from a first vocal lesson and singing with street musicians to one-on-one with rock stars and my efforts to sing in a stadium with Irish super-group, U2.

I call it my “coming of middle-age” story – a journey that has taken over ten years to produce. One Life No Regrets documents my attempt to live a life free of anxiety and fear, and ultimately, to set an example for my children.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Stark: I will be forever grateful to Allie, who has truly given me the opportunity of a lifetime with co-directing and producing Any Wednesday. Everything, against all odds, seemed to really come together to make this film.

I am also thankful to producers Julia Hilder and David Lundstedt who were the glue that held this production together during filming and who were instrumental in getting this film accepted and screened in festivals around the world.