Interview [Written]: Martha Stephens (“Land Ho!”)

Indiewire interview with co-writer and co-director of the indie feature Land Ho!

W&H: How would you describe what the movie is about?

MS: Two ex-brothers-in-law take a holiday in Iceland in an attempt to forget their troubles, and also to connect with one another.

W&H: How did you come up with the story?

MS: I was planning a vacation to Iceland with my husband and I guess I had Iceland on the brain. Personally, I love natural landscapes, I love filming outdoors, I love pretty locations, and I was seeing photo after photo of these locations I was considering traveling to on my vacation, and I was just thinking, ‘‘Oh man, if I could film a scene here, I would just be so happy.’’ So, I knew I wanted to make a movie in Iceland immediately. And then, I had always wanted to make a movie where Earl Lynn Nelson, who plays Mitch, is the lead. He’s been in my other two movies in smaller parts, and I knew I wanted to do a comedy with him. So those two elements sort of came together.

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W&H: So, let’s talk about the process of you making the phone call to your co-director Aaron Katz and saying, ‘‘let’s collaborate.’’ How did that work? Did it start with the writing and then move into the directing also?

MS: Well, I was trying to make another movie and I wasn’t getting where I wanted with it. I was having a slow time with it and I was itching to do something creative. So when I thought of these things, I thought the more people involved, the faster we can put our heads together — and we can find money faster — so I was thinking of it in terms of a way to make something as soon as possible.

Aaron’s been my buddy since I was eighteen years-old in film school, so we have our own language and friendship, and we get each other and understand each other’s tastes, and I thought it would be a fun experiment to see what it would be like co-directing.

It’s not that I want to do this as a thing now. I always will be pretty individual, and I have my own tastes and Aaron has his own tastes, but because we were making a comedy — even though there are comedic elements in our movies — it was different than what either of us had done. So, we looked at the whole thing like a fun experiment, and if we drowned, we drowned together. If it didn’t go well, then we had each other. We were both to blame; there was more blame to be spread instead of it just being individual!

Here is a trailer for Land Ho!

For the rest of the interview, go here.

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