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Acidman has neither the budget nor the inclination to “prove” alien contact à la Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). But the new Rogue Valley-shot indie does feel like one possible epilogue to the Spielberg classic, asking how an adult child might connect with a parent who picked the aliens over their family.
When Maggie (Dianna Agron) tracks her reclusive father Lloyd (Thomas Haden Church) to his unkempt double-wide near Azalea, Ore., she finds him trying to signal UFOs nightly and staring vacantly in ways that have inspired locals to spray-paint “Acidman” on his trailer. How can a daughter with a posh coat, rental car, and questions about generational reconciliation fit in?
Those are the human conundrums director Alex Lehmann (Bluejay, Paddleton) sought to explore in Acidman. The filmmaker spoke to WW about rural Oregon privacy, firework safety, and convincing Church to pitch up his distinct baritone for a father-daughter sock puppet scene.
WW: How’d you decide to set this movie in Oregon?
Alex Lehmann: The script was originally meant for the Pennsylvania woods where I grew up. But Oregon just makes sense. So many people go to Oregon to live freely and have their own beliefs. They want the privacy to do it. I learned that the hard way scouting locations. I would go down a private road I thought was public, and someone would come out and say, “Hey, we’ve been watching you on our cameras for the last mile; turn around right now.” I immediately was like, “I’m in the right place.” I mean, I was in the wrong place, but in the bigger sense, I was in the right place.
Did anything in the script change once you had the Azalea location?
The biggest one was [Galesville Reservoir] where [Lloyd and Maggie] go to make contact. Trees were growing out of the water. It felt like an old episode of Star Trek, where they find cool places to shoot and make it look like a different planet. That wasn’t originally scripted.
Lloyd tries to signal UFOs with fireworks in that scene. How’d you manage that safely?
That was another reason the reservoir made sense. Let’s shoot them over a big body of water. I was also nervous. We had three local fire trucks volunteer to be there. I guess it’s not that surprising that the guys working in the fire department are also kind of pyros. I was asking them for help designing a fireworks display that would be used to communicate with aliens. And this guy was like, “Oh, I know exactly what to do! The first shot crosses this way. And then you need to send a red one and blue one in this pattern!” He lit up like a kid…and he’s got the fire extinguisher.
How did you want to position aliens and questions of their existence in your script?
The original story didn’t have UFOs, but it was still a relationship between two people who don’t totally get each other. To connect with other people, you can’t just believe in being right or wrong. You have to believe in something bigger. Even if you don’t necessarily believe UFOs exist, you should understand why [Lloyd] wants them to exist.
Dianna has very poised energy; Thomas is often more subversive. How did you know they would play off each other interestingly?
I don’t usually operate this way—it’s usually a more heady thing—but the first time we got on a call, I was just hearing their deep, full voices. Dianna is this amazing jazz singer. And I found it really fun to ask Thomas to do a high-pitched voice for the sock puppet scene. It was so absurd, but I was in Oregon, man. I was feeling things, not thinking things.
How do you direct great sock puppet acting?
Thomas did all the work. I just had to convince him it was going to work. I think he wasn’t so sure. Good directing is casting talented people and constantly reminding them you have all the faith in the world they will do a fantastic job. Let’s be honest: Thomas is a sexy man. He’s got an even sexier voice. For me to say, put a sock puppet on your hand? He’s a cowboy! It took a little leap, and that’s a really generous moment.
SEE IT: Acidman is available on demand Friday, March 31.