‘Westhampton’ director, cast point out perks of making smaller films

Actors can be seen in a different light, directors can explore new issues and audiences can dissect more involved stories.

So it is with “Westhampton,” an independent film from Christian Nilsson, an Emmy-winning journalist and producer, who heard the question “Is it like ‘Garden State’?” more times than he could count.

In the film, he addresses the question immediately — and uses the same reference.

“I enjoyed ‘Garden State,’” Nilsson says of actor Zach Braff’s independent film. “It has a special place in my heart. I wondered, ‘How can I stop getting that comment?’”

So, he made it the first line of his movie, “and I never got that question again,” he says.

In “Westhampton,” an indie director played by Finn Wittrock gets the question when he shows his film in his hometown. Because it borrows heavily from his past, there’s a concern he’s trying to revise history. Instead of praising the local boy who made good, residents quiz him.

“I’ve been to screenings where people are challenging what they took from (a movie),” Nilsson says. “I can answer that with a smile and hopefully some grace, but it doesn’t bother me. I love hearing people’s reaction to things, positive or negative, and what they might take away.”

Wittrock, who has starred in several Ryan Murphy series and landed an Emmy nomination, says he often gets a different reaction: “Everyone lies to the actors and says it’s great, even if they don’t like it,” he says.

Starring in the upcoming “Hershey,” a look at the chocolate mogul, Wittrock says the independent and mainstream film worlds offer different benefits. On a big-budget affair, trailers are essential for the cast, and job descriptions are specific.

On an indie like “Westhampton,” “there was no trailer … there was no chairs. Doing a movie this size it’s like you are a tiny army every day going in to fight this beautiful fight together,” Wittrock says. “Everybody was necessary, and people were doing eight jobs for one person. It was just such a team effort … and that makes everyone feel like they are invested in the final effort. I went home exhausted every day. … That’s what makes it feel like you’ve really earned your paycheck.”

For RJ Mitte, who plays Wittrock’s longtime friend, Fitz, “Westhampton” was a way to show others what kinds of roles he could play. After years on “Breaking Bad,” viewers saw him as Walter White Jr., “so why would you put Walt Jr. in another show or movie?” he says.

Starring in a blockbuster can be limiting, Mitte says.

“That’s why I love doing projects like this,” he says. He gets seen in a different light and gets to be part of “that army working together.”

Interestingly, Mitte was the first person Nilsson thought of when casting. Mitte did an interview during the final season of “Breaking Bad” and showed so much life and energy, Nilsson thought he was “like a breath of fresh air. There are other antagonists (in ‘Westhampton’) but RJ is that foil in this town,” Nilsson says. To put him with Wittrock was “a perfect pairing.”

Now, as “Westhampton” opens at theaters across the country, there’s that part of art that Nilsson loves.

“Your authorship ends when you finish with it,” he says. “And then it gets passed on and has a life of its own.”