Filmmaker David Lee Rawlings pulled off a coup with his low-budget, independent drama "This Bitter Earth," rounding up a trio of established actors: Billy Dee Williams ("The Empire Strikes Back"), Richard Roundtree ("Shaft") and Nichelle Nichols from the "Star Trek" TV and movie series.
Set and shot mostly in Phoenix, the $90,000 film tells the story of a young, talented pianist who struggles with the death of her father. Rawlings, 49, who wrote, directed and produced, finished the three-week shoot in late February.
An Arizona State University graduate, Rawlings, moved to Tucson in the early 1990s and runs the personal training business Fitbods Arizona. He hopes to finish his movie by the summer and get it into film festivals later this year and early 2009.
How are you able to make a film while running your own business?
People are also reading…
"Luckily it's my own business, so I can take the time off I need to do principal photography. I'll work on it an hour here or there or late at night. You find time to get it done. Just like anybody with a hobby they're very passionate about, you find the time to do it. I don't consider filmmaking a hobby. I basically consider it a career I have outside of my other career."
What's your dream as a filmmaker?
"I've always had just one dream as a filmmaker — to just simply make stories that affect people. I've always liked telling stories, whether writing short stories or telling stories on film. People ask writers, 'Where do you get your story ideas?' When you're a writer or storyteller, the ideas just come to you, and you don't even know where they come from. They're just running in your mind.
"In film, you develop ideas and have actors interpret the piece and see the words coming out of their mouths. It's pretty amazing. My goal as a filmmaker is to make a film I can watch and forget the words were written by me. Just watch the actors and listen and get involved in the story. If I can do that, I'd feel I've done a pretty good job."
Was it tough to round up your cast?
"I was very fortunate to have Richard Roundtree, Billy Dee Williams and Nichelle Nichols in the cast — three people with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. You just contact a manager, make an offer and go from there. The biggest thing with working on a low-budget film is quality. The stars have to like the material, and I was really very fortunate (that) all these stars I contacted, to a person, really liked the material and thought it was an important story to tell."
Any parting thoughts?
"Working as a small guy in the film business, you're going against not only other independent filmmakers but independent film companies . . . with multi-multi-million dollars. When you're just the little guy trying to make films, rather than throw your film into the lump of all the other independent films being made — everybody can make one now because digital is so affordable and you can edit on your computer — you need to find your niche, something that separates you from the other mass of films out there. One of the reasons I chose this film is it speaks to the African-American community."
If you're involved in filmmaking and would like to be featured in a Q&A, write to pvillarreal@azstarnet.com.
