Video: How Geremy Jasper Created the Post-Apocalyptic World of O'DESSA

Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge

My guest is one of the most sought-after writer-directors. His breakout film was Patty Cakes

His latest is Odessa, which is a post-apocalyptic rock opera featuring a stellar cast led by Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Mary Bartlett, and Regina Hall

It will start streaming on Hulu, on. March 20th. Please welcome Jeremy Jasper. Hello. Well, first of all, thank you for joining me

I love your backdrop. Where are you? I'm in a hotel on 56th Street. Yes, this is not my normal

digs. Well, it looks great. First of all, thank you for joining me and congratulations on Odessa

Thank you. How special was this film for you to make, Jeremy

It was as special as it gets. This was a, this was a, this. This one was a true labor of love

This one was like a long, long, painful. Seven years of labor to, I was in labor to birth this thing

So, yeah, it's very, very close to my heart. It's kind of a combination of all the things that I love about music and art and film

I tried to kind of collage them together into one, you know

The hour and 50 minute experience. Oh, yes. It was a doozy

It was a doozy. But yeah, I'm thrilled that it's done. Well, take me back to the beginning

How did the idea come about for you to make Odessa? Like, what was the beginnings

I was almost 20 years ago or so that I had this idea

Oh, I want to make, it was going to be for the stage

I wanted to do a sci-fi. folk adventure. It was like this combination of things that I'd never seen

really put together before. Sort of Americana Dust Bowl era mixed with some sort of

retro futuristic dystopian, you know Mad Max with a guitar. And the first image that I had was

like a young woman with a pompadour, kind of a grease-back pompadour

sort of Elvis-style rockabilly, waif of the wasteland, uh, kind of bumbling and stumbling through this world

And it was a, and I did, she didn't have a name

She just said like, she had a haircut and a guitar and, and a

and a kind of dreamlike landscape that she was moving through. And I just filed that away

And then, uh, years later, it was right before I started writing paddy cakes

I kind of came back to this idea and this character. I brought it to a producer. And he said

you're insane. like this this is this is way too ambitious this is way too bizarre uh you know put it on the shelf

and we'll see what happens and then i made patty and it was a beautiful experience and and afterwards

you know people because they what do you want to make next what do you want make next and i i was

i was so uh discombobulated i just i didn't i didn't know and then odessa kind of

popped out and and uh and reminded me like this this was kind of my dream project

And in a strange way, Paddy Case was very autobiographical, but in the same, in a very similar way, Odessa is very autobiographical

It's like, it's, it's this imaginary world. I feel like I've been building for like the last 20, 25 years

So it was really personal to go in there and like actually make it real

Yeah. Hope that. Tell me about the heart of the film. As a director and write, like what is the same

the heart of the film of Odessa? So many wonderful messages in this film. Yeah, I mean, it's about a

it's about a hopeless, perverted, polluted, toxic world without any kind of love or just a little

shred of humanity. And it's about this young woman. It's kind of a mythological story of a young

woman that has a that has a heart and soul and is a really powerful musician that's not trying

to get famous that's not trying to be a superstar it's just she she's like a you know from the

soil from the earth and and is slowly waking people up to their humanity uh and it's just about

It's about the power of creativity and art and music in a world of commodification

Beautiful. I mean, what an incredible cast you have put together. I mean, let's talk about Sadie Singh

Did she send a self-tape with one of your soul? Tell me

Yeah. Yeah. You know, I was a fan of hers. I thought she was spectacular and, like, love her on stranger things

and I think this was right before the whale came out. I can't quite remember, but, you know, she's a special human being

And I met with her, and I thought she was lovely, but we didn't talk about Odessa because I thought

I just, I thought stranger things was going to be what she was going to be locked to

And I didn't, I didn't want to, I didn't want to fall in love. You know what I mean? Like, I just wanted to keep, and I didn't know it

but she had gotten her hands on the script, and she got her hands on some of the demos that

that myself and my music part. Jason had had recorded and one day I was in a pretty dark place because it didn't seem like

this movie was going to get made and uh I got a text and I opened it up and it was 80 you know

just a video of Sadie just in a hotel room I think she was in Berlin or somewhere got her hands

on a guitar she learned the song and she sang it and it just floored me it floored me you know I've

been I've been you have a character in your head for for decades and you you have you have

a they have a shape and they have an atmosphere and like a vibe but

they're never real you know and then suddenly on this demented that it was a phone

but I'm watching there's the character she exists she they're like she's beautiful and vibrant

and alive and she sounded incredible and like yeah it floored me

and then it was just like okay how do we make this a reality and um from that moment on

there was no There was no turning back. Like she was Odessa

And luckily for me she really related to the character She got it She got the insanity of the world She got what a kind of otherworldly weird surreal experience this was going to we were going to make

And she was down, you know, she was adventurous. She knew we were going to kind of walk on the edge on this one

See, that's what I love. When I speak to writers and directors, they're like, you have this vision, but you just know when you see that person saying, oh, my gosh

You said, that's Odessa. Now I have to get her to say, make it all work out

But you just know, it's that instinct. Like, that's who I wrote. That's her coming to life

There's only one human being that could really portray this person. And the thing that I got so lucky about was that I didn't know she could sing

I didn't know that she was Annie when she was 11 on Broadway, you know

And I think that was such a tough experience for her when she was a young girl that she

withdrew from singing. You know, singing was going to be something that was going to be

like a secret that she kept. And she sings with her family and they harmonize and they're like

all pretty incredible musicians. But I didn't know this. And my experience was doing paddy cakes where Danielle

who's brilliant in it, had never rapped before. So like we spent a year and a half just training her to rap

This was the opposite. This was like Sadie coming in and like I could use the first take of any song she sang on

She's just like that musically gifted. So to have someone who's an amazing actor and is that strong musically

like she could be an artist. She could be, she can make records

Like she has that much talent. So yeah, I got lucky. Well, that's what we're all waiting for

Next is Sadie Singh, songs by, you know, it's like. Yeah. Totally

Yeah, Sadie Sing, sings, fabulous. You know, but Kelvin and Regina and Murray, what incredible cast you put together for this

Yeah, it's a rose gallery of, yeah, they're all, they're all wonderful weirdos

You know, they've all like, there was something about them that it's a really interesting motley crew of people that that excites me, that they, they saw something in the material

They were excited about it. I was excited about them. I mean, I'm a huge fan. All of them

And the fact that, you know, we all sort of came together

to build this world and to build these characters. You know, it's a, it's a cool, strange little group of freaks

Well, you hope that's what you get when you're working on a project. You hope that everybody is on the same page

And it's like, wow, and this is what comes out. Everything I've seen for the film looks incredible

I love that this is a rock opera. I was brought up on Tommy and David Bowie and all this incredible stuff

So I want to ask you, talk about your writing partner. Is it Jason, Ben

Nick is who you, your long friend and collaborator. Talk about creating songs with him and how the songs unlock the characters in this film

Yeah, it's great question. You know, we've been working together for 15 years now

Like, we came up playing in bands in the New York scene in early 2000s

and then I started composing for stuff that I would direct. And we have a really, really tight, almost telepathic musical relationship

And we both play very different roles. And it's a joy for me because I write the tunes and they're very

in a very like primal state. You know, get the chords together

I get the melody and I get the lyrics. And then I bring it to Jason and we go into his studio

And he's the most brilliant musician. Like he can play anything and everything

So at my disposal, I have like, I have like 50 musicians in one room just in one person

And he's also like an actor where he can morph and shape shift

And like, let's play it like George Harrison. No, let's play it like Mark Rubot

Let's do it like, you know, let's, we can just change the genre at any time

And he can adapt to that. So the fact that we're like a two-headed monster and really recorded this stuff just in his basement studio

and I was being released by Hollywood Records and it's a really big deal

It's a really big dream of ours that's come true. And like, you know, we, I'm a big Pink Floyd fan

And so the fact that we had like a gospel choir come in and sing on these psychedelic songs

and like it feels like big and expressive. And yeah, yeah, there's a lot of

a lot of dreams came true on this one. So it was like, you know, a combination of being

very handmade, very DIY. This was not a big, but then we were able to do, like, we got an orchestra to play on it

We got, you know, horns and choirs. And so it was like an interesting combination of approaches

But yeah, writing the songs is elemental to my storytelling. Like, I come at character through song, usually

And I get to know them through the music they make and the songs that they sing and the lyrics

the way that they sing them. And I usually, I think on all of them, I do a demo

I sing the initial version. So I get to kind of dress up like the character

And I get in their skin a little bit and feel what it feels like to perform as them

That's the first stage in the process. Yeah. See, that's what I love about

I've listened to all your songs from the album already. I was part of on show tunes, as you can see

Broadway is my real house. like when a character can no longer express themselves, they sing

And I think it's so perfect with what you've constructed, because when you listen to the songs only, you know these characters

You know everything about them, which I think is phenomenal. So cool

Oh, that's really nice, Richie. I love you have the magic show behind you because these were all the records that I grew up with

My mom is like a huge Broadway freak. And so, yeah, so many

I used to stare at that magic, the magic home cover as a kid

Like, yeah, that was, that was a. David Edward Byrd, one of the greatest designers, designed this and follies

the Godspell and everything else. Yes, I got his book. I got his book this year. I'll have it right here, too

It's the best book. It's awesome. You know, what's really great about this film, too, it's so big and epic

And I love, I read somewhere, you're a really wonderful collaborator as a writer-director

Orrin you with everybody who working on your films specifically this one Yeah Well I like to I very cautious and I don let a lot of people in

So when I do, when they do enter the inner circle, I put a lot of trust into those people

And collaboration is what it's all about. And so if you trust that person, then it's, then we're going hard

Like, then we're going to bleed for this thing. and we're going to, we're going to dig in

But it's a process. Just like with the cast, you need to find the people that believe in it

that understand it, that trust me as a director, and like, we're going to go at this thing

And we're going to, you know, the ideal, because it's such hard work

and it's really tough on your nervous system, but the ideal is like, let's let everybody express themselves

This is like, you know, this is, this should be a joy

It's going to be hard. It's going to be emotionally really hard, but it should be a joy

This is like why we're doing this. You know, the reason we made Odessa was because, like, it's the film I wish existed

It's like it has a spirit that doesn't, is hard to come by now

And maybe because it's insane, I don't know. But it's, yeah, there were these films that I fell in love with in my late teens, early 20s

that just don't really exist anymore. There's a certain spirit. And so I think all my collaborators too, like got on that wavelength and we all pushed ourselves

So, yeah. You know, it's funny because all the directors I spoke to said it's the hardest thing to get a film made from the beginning to when it's released

You never know in between if a film gets shut down or whatever happens

It's just the birthing process is gigantic even when you get the green light

I'm going to ask you, growing up, who are some of your big directors who are influences on your

career in your life. My favorite directors two are Bob Fawse and Federico Fulini. So those guys who are like

they're kind of really related. And they both have a sense of the grotesque and a sense of

color and caricature and play. And there's a darkness, but it's all kind of always masked with a

sense with the playfulness, with the boldness, with the, they experiment, they usually have

characters that are misfits. So like that is always really attractive to me. I was a cartoonist

as a kid and I feel like that has led to where I am. The storytelling, there's something

Felini was a cartoonist. Obviously, Fawesi as a choreographer, like there's something

exaggerated about what he does. So there's like a combination of the exaggeration of the

exaggeration, color, expressiveness, but also humanity, you know. So those things, those are those two guys were the, when I found their work in my early to

mid-20s, that's when I was like, I think I want to make films

I wasn't one of those people that was like, oh, I knew when I was eight years old that

I wanted to be a filmmaker. I was a musician first. And then making music led to telling stories and then it evolved

but I found their work around the same time and it just blew me away

But other directors like Terry Gilliam and Alhandro Giroowski and

yeah, those those those guys are big in my book. What a great group of directors

I mean, wow. I mean, same thing here. We're huge Fellini fans. Bob Fawsey, I've known from stagework first

than cabarets on favorite film, Star 80, everything he's done. So, I mean, what a great mix you have

You know, I want to go back to something that sort of set you on your path

and was life-changing for you. The Sundance Writing Lab and Quentin Tarantino

how life-changing was that time period for you as a creative and an artist

and a person? It was insane. Because, like I said, I didn't go to film school

I didn't come up as, you know, taking screenwriting classes. maybe I should now, but I just sort of figured it out myself how to do it

I sort of taught myself, just like with music and just like with director, you just kind of learn to do it and do it a lot so that

And then I was really, really, it was the, it was the fork in the road

It was the crossroads. It was whatever. Getting into that labs and suddenly being there with peers who I had so much respectful

or like the people that were there as writers. And then to have advisors that were like all of my heroes

it was insane. I felt like my brain was going to explode

And so sitting down with, with Quentin, like talking about Patty Giggs was my first script that I've ever written

And the version that he read, I had like been thinking about it for years

but it was a draft that I had kind of barfed out. I was like a little embarrassed by it had so much work

But he, and he, God bless him, man. I mean, he sat and he, you know, he had read it

He had notes. He had, he had, he had thoughts. He had advice

He was just, he was a sage, you know? He was a screenwriting sage that gave me some advice that I, I, I still used to this day

And especially for the patty cake script, like, was very influential on, on where it went

He really understands, like, here you need to give the audience this. Here, you know, don't do that

You should do it like this. Like, he just, you know, he knows what he's doing, obviously

So, yeah, that was, that was some, it was a heady moment. That was a heady, heady moment

It was very humbling because I was kind of embarrassed about my work

But I also learned so much. And it was really, yeah, kind of validating

That's amazing. That's a master class of just going to Sundance. and then have those people tell you

you know, do this and do that and then set you on your path. So I was like, try this

You know what? Maybe you don't want her to do that. Like maybe she should get a win here

Yeah, that was a member of the big thing. He was like, she should, don't let her suffer more

Like give her something good here. And it was so right. It was like the perfect, perfect thing

Yeah. Now, you are a young filmmaker. But for the young insu maybe a little younger than you

what advice would you have for someone really wanting to start out to be a filmmaker like you were and trying to get a project done What advice would you offer that Well I think the big thing is to you got to try to make stuff every day You got to try to write You got to make collages You got to do drawings

You got to like be creative because it takes so many years to make a film and they fall apart

They come back together. Like, it's, it's an emotional roller coaster. So the more that you're like

expressing yourself every day. and finding some sort of joy in that

Like, that's the way to do it. I should take my own advice sometimes

But, like, that's the thing. And then the other thing is to find other filmmakers

like surround yourself with people that are making these things. That's why I came to filmmaking so late

because I didn't know any filmmakers. Like, I wasn't around people that were really doing it

And so it always seemed like this really impossible dream. I loved cinema

I loved watching movies. I loved the experience of it. But I didn't see anybody that was actually making it until I met this

these guys, and two of them are my producers now. And I saw them

I was in one of their short films. And it was an adventure. And it was totally lawless and dangerous

And it felt like a garage band. It felt like, you know, a bunch of people with very little experience

getting together and like just making something like, you know, three chords and a camera

And from being around that and seeing that energy, I realize, oh, yeah, it's not like

you don't need, like, a doctorate to go and make a film. Like, you just need to have a vision and surround yourself with people that can get in line

with that dream. So, yeah, surrounding yourself with people that are making things and shooting things

And I think now, this was a while ago when I did that, that was like 15, 16 years ago

now because of technology it's like it's so much more tangible which is exciting but probably

overwhelming but you can you can you can do it you can if you have something that you got to get

out you can you can do it yeah great sage advice finally what are you the proudest of like

when you sat and saw odessa for the first time completed on that what are you the proudest of

with this film with odessa um i'm proud that i'm proud that

we made it like that we got there it you know it took seven years it took a lot of nose it took a lot of

we were just about to and then it fell apart and i it felt a lot like first love you know where

you're so deeply enamored with this person that like any little slight or anything like just

crushes you you know and it that's what the process of making this thing felt like so the fact that

like we found Sadie and Kelton and Murray and Regina and got these incredible people together

And we like flew to Eastern Europe and we like my hooker by crook like actually made this thing and it exists

Like that's just completing the journey that that that's the most, it's the most satisfied

It's the thing that I'm proud that you have to be kind of insane to do this

Like you really had there's got to be something wrong with you. through and we did it

And I hope we can go make something else. Yeah. Well, everybody who I spoke to

to said, you have to love what you do because we're all in this crazy business

that there's yeses and knows, and it's more knows than yeses. But when you get a big yes

and you have something tangible in front of you that gets done, you know

I've been watching these movies like winter kills and all this stuff from like the 70s

and they're all like, oh my gosh, the movie was pulled. You know, it's just like all directors say

if you actually get to the finish line. It's the best thing. But like I said, there's nose along the way and everything else and

there's so many things. You should be so proud of everything you've done already. And like I said

it starts streaming on Hulu, which means millions of people can watch out of the world

What that means to you that people can watch this on any device, a big device, a screen in their

house, they can watch it on their phone. What that means to that people can watch Odessa anywhere in

the world on Hulu. I mean, it's pretty thrilling. It's a strange sensation to be honest with you because I'm old-fashioned

You know, this thing was built for the screen and for an awesome sound system

And it was supposed to be like going to a concert and be this very visceral experience

So there's a part of me that like I lose control by doing that

You know what I mean? Like I lose like sitting in the church of cinema

But the other, you know, being able to have people stream it from their homes, like, it just means that more people can engage with it, which is really exciting

So I'm trying to, I'm trying to become a modern guy. I'm trying to let go of my hangups and, like, embrace this is a world that we're in

And the fact that, like, you know, anyone could just come home and just turn it on and there it is

like it just exists. It's just, it kind of blows my mind. So yeah, I'm thrilled and I hope

I hope people check it out. Listen, I have people all around the world who have movie theaters

They built their own movie theater like many movie theater in their house. A lot of people have these gigantic screens and these incredible sound systems and these comfortable chairs

They, are my people. Those are my people. We made a film for them. Oh, trust me

So once again, Jeremy Jasper's new film, Odessa, starts streaming on who

Hulu on March 20th. Jeremy, thank you so much for joining me at Broadway World today

Absolute pleasure. I really, really love talking to you. Congratulations with everything

I can't wait for your next project, too. Thank you. I think people want this bold cards, this talks

whomewomeness, I love the do beyond the same. I believe I'm the one

Who do you think you are? Here comes the one

I believe I'm the one