As you may have guessed, our director Ken is a busy guy. When he’s not directing the film he’s likely editing it. And when he’s not doing either of those, he’s busy producing it. And that doesn’t even cover all of the fundraising he’s busy doing. So it’s pretty easy to see why it’s hard to sit him down and chat about Displacement. Luckily we found an opening during December’s filming.
Last month, as everyone was gearing up for the holidays, all of us here on the Displacement crew got to work on the most significant part of the film. Ten days of shooting, including finally getting the chance to shoot some scenes with actor Christopher Backus (Elevator, Three Days Gone), who was fresh off of shooting the pilot for the new Lifetime show Deliverance Creek. Backus had landed back in LA late Friday night and was on the Displacement set Saturday morning.
With a tight schedule like that, Ken, Christopher, and our lead actress Courtney Hope (Prowl, Mob Rules) didn’t get a chance to rehearse. That wasn’t a problem for our cast. “They literally dropped into it with no rehearsal,” says Ken. Though Courtney and Christopher had only briefly met at the launch party for Displacement’s Indiegogo campaign back in June, the two were able to build up a relationship quickly. Ken says that by the time the two were out of makeup, Christopher and Courtney had transformed into Brian and Cassie.
It’s clear on set that the two actors have an ease with each other, and when the camera starts rolling they have a chemistry and playfulness on set that brings the script to life. Ken saw the opportunity to sit back and see what happened, “I just let them play. I let them do their thing.” He says that sometimes you have to allow for that as the director, that there are certain plot points you always have to make sure are in the script so the movie makes sense in the end, “but the rest of it, for me, I like to let the actors make it their own. I am more interested in what is beneath the words, their intentions, than the words themselves.”
So what is next for Displacement? “Raising money,” Ken jokes. The block of filming in December successfully got Displacement to over 70% in the can, but it was an expensive block, due to the fact that an entire set had to be built. For Displacement this was absolutely necessary for the script because the hotel room had to be very specific; it required a bathroom directly across from the front door, and that is very hard to come by. Ken and the Displacement crew found a location, but decided it was easier and more cost effective to replicate the set on a sound stage. “We’ve been on location for everything,” Ken says, so being on set was a nice change of pace. “It’s still a lot of work, but it’s much more flexible.”
One of the great things about working on a sound stage was that the crew got to set up some complex shots that wouldn’t have been capable on location. We can’t say what they are, but we can tell you when you see them, you will be amazed.
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