Lean in Closely with Tim Nathan
Tim Nathan is a young Australian director with a background in photography. His short film, Chucky Boy Blue, won an award for Best Byron Film at the Byron Bay International Film Festival in 2020. Shot on 16mm film, Chucky Boy Blue’s narrative explores the kaleidoscope of human emotions from a raw, honest and deeply touching perspective. Tim Nathan himself is incredibly soulful – he is candid in a way that is both refreshing and intoxicating. He chatted with Leana Rack about Australian filmmaking, the catharsis of risk-taking and the freedom to explore different styles.
Words by:
Leana Josie @leana.josie
Photography by:
Jordan Kirk
Tell me a bit about being an independent film maker in Australia.
It’s a roller coaster. You don’t know when big opportunities are going to come up or you might get a project and be like holy shit, I’m set now. This is it. Then you make it and it’s great but then the phone doesn’t ring for months afterwards. It’s hard to tap into.
Is it hard to get the recognition?
I think with the narrative film pieces it is. It can be quite niche and hard to secure funding. I’d love to see a wider range of films produced and funded here (in Australia), particularly short films. I’d love to see people taking more risks. I’m still learning about how the whole narrative industry works within Australia, but I feel as though you have to get into Cannes or Sundance and then people will be like “Oh, he’s good. He must be good.” A lot of the films we are making are Australian culture based which would maybe prevent us from being understood overseas. I recently watched Babyteeth, an Australian film, which I thought was amazing. I was like “Bang, there is an amazing Aussie film.”
What was the creative motivation to make Chucky Boy Blue?
Initially I had this idea about a father. I wanted to make a film about a father and son dynamic. There’s so often a disparity between male relationships, particularly in father and son relationships, where they don’t talk about their feelings at all. They bottle things up. They get bigger and bigger. I was like ‘Okay. The father should have something that he’s basically put in the place of his son,’ which in this film was his car. He’s obsessed with his car and everything’s about that. Meanwhile, his son is begging for communication and becoming an adult, his father just has no idea. I just wanted to delve into how people would act in certain situations and also explore feelings that I’ve been obsessed with. I tend to write on grief – how grief feels, how it is to fall in love for the first time, how it feels to feel heartbroken for the first time, exploring young people getting hit with big emotions. Lately I’ve tended to circle back to those feelings.
Are there any personal influences in this film?
Yes. It was a weird realisation. It wasn’t until after the film was made I acknowledged that their relationship is very similar to a relationship I had with someone when I was younger. I’d subconsciously projected it into the film. There’s no direct rite of passage into manhood. This blokey culture that is age-old here. Men don’t talk about their feelings, you just toughen-up-and-get-on-with-it type of attitude. The first draft came through very quickly. Parts of it were topics that I wanted to delve into that I hadn’t personally experienced. The feelings and energies in the film might be similar to stuff I’ve personally experienced, but Vinny (the son, played by Otis Pavlovic) is experiencing them through different events. A real coming into manhood. It definitely reflects the father and son disparity that I have witnessed with so many of my friends as well.
You had a pretty impressive team of people working with you. Tell me about the collective effort behind the film ...
Chucky Boy Blue was by far the biggest project I’ve done. In the initial stages of development, it was just the co-producer Poppy Jones and myself working together, finessing the script. I wrote the first draft in a week. Poppy really helped drive the project. I said to her “You need to give me a date to get a first draft in.” She was like, “All right, I want it in a week.” We brought on another co-producer, Emelyne Palmer, and it was just the three of us for about a month leading up to when we officially shot. We were all huge fans of Adric Watson’s work, a Director of Photography from London who just happened to be in Sydney for two weeks. So we approached Adric, it was pretty cool. “Man you’ve got to read this script. Can we please get this script over to you?” Adric was like, “Sick. I like it, I’ll do it.” Adrian shoots a lot of work on film. He has his own 16 mm camera and a lens kit. We also got Kodak on board as a partner so this supported the film aspect in both product and processing. Otherwise, Chucky Boy Blue was basically self-funded.
What does using film add to the feel of the work?
I actually found shooting on film quite difficult from a directing point of view. You only have a couple of takes on each shot to get it right so you rehearse scenes more and you feel more pressure. The digital split you have on the monitor is usually terrible quality. Think of the first video mobile phones that came out … it’s basically like that. Unless you’re looking through the viewfinder of the camera, you really don’t know what the shot looks like. We actually lost the split on one of the scenes we shot, so we ended up just kind of freestyling that one with Adric taking the reins – which he did a damn good job of! But it certainly adds an aesthetic that you don’t get with digital. Actors and crew behave differently on set and really respect the fact that time is limited – it feels a little more real. I’m not sure if that’s just from growing up watching movies shot on film but I do love the look of it and the feeling of seeing it for the first time is wonderful.
You make both narrative films and music videos – do you prefer one over the other? Where did the passion for making films come from?
I always wanted to shoot narrative and shoot stories based on different human emotions. I’m just fascinated with people and things that people do and how they act in certain situations – I think people are fucking crazy. Ever since film school, I’ve wanted to make music videos. They are super fun and I love trying totally different effects. I didn’t want to have just one style. I don’t think a director should have just one style. I think you should try and shoot in different ways, try to do completely different colors and narratives. I want to be free to ask “Okay, what suits this project? How should it be shot?” But film moves me the most. Even when I was really little I’d watch movies and just always cry!
Tell me a bit about yourself, where did you grow up and what makes your day complete?
I grew up in Margaret River, West Australia. Lots of surfing with mates. My dad’s actually a dentist, but he would do all kinds of crazy stuff! He was a race-car driver and a surfer. I grew up watching my dad race his car. I also love scaring the hell out of myself doing really risky things. I’ve always been into surfing big waves, spear fishing, doing stuff that really gets me going.
Do you get back to Western Australia often?
All the big waves are over there. I need that catharsis every year. It’s like an emotional cleansing. After doing that, you just feel completely empty and ready to be filled up again. Your whole body and brain is just done, there’s so much serotonin and adrenaline that just needs to be brought back.
Do you think that that risk-taking and that wildness in you comes out in your directing? Is there a bit of a parallel there?
It’s become part of my identity. I’ve thrived on doing wild stuff since being young--to be confronted with experiences that bring me closer to danger. You feel like you’re living more because you could die. It makes you more confident, it feels like you could do anything. It gives you a bit of an adrenalin high that I bring into directing. I like to think spontaneously and take risks. I love when people just put out all completely different stuff that’s not trying to be a certain thing. I think that’s raw and cool. You feel different all the time. If you feel like a different person one day, whatever! Go and be that. Go and wear some weird shit or act different, whatever you’re feeling, just get it out. Your energy changes all the time and your emotions change all the time, just go with it.
To get a taste of Tim Nathan’s incredible work and preview Chucky Boy Blue visit www.timnathan.work