INTERVIEW with John DiMarco

 

First of all thank you for trusting war of films. It is an honor for us to have you here and we want to know more about you. Who is John DiMarco?

 I, John DiMarco, am a cinematographer first and foremost, and an editor second but recently I have started going down the path of writer and producer as well. I am also a cinephile and I love my collection of 300 plus blu rays. 

 

How many years have you been making movies and how did you end up making movies?

Non-professionally I have been making movies since I was 14. Once of the first movies I ever created was about Newtons Law's Of Motion for my science class in 8th grade. Professionally, I have been in film production since 2012. I ended up making movies becuase of my love for watching them. I remember as a child going to the local video rental store "Easy Video" in New Jersey, where I grew up, and picking out movies like Ghostbusters, Back To The Future Part II, Heavyweights and 3 Ninjas and just being in love with the magic.

 

We see that apart from being a producer you have also edited, written and directed photography. Tell us a little more about this. How did you learn to do all this?

I have always been in love with being behind the camera and fascinated with creating moving images. I learned from watching movies and watching the same ones over and over again, dissecting them in my head, and seeing what worked. When I was in college in my visual arts video class, we were responsible for editing our own projects and that is how I began to dabble in editing. Writing is fairly new to me and I am still learning about it and I love it so far. 

 

Let's talk about your project. Normally we interview directors but having a producer we are very interested in knowing your point of view, since many people do not know the work behind this figure.

As the producer and writer of Kevin and Winnie, it all came about when I bought myself a new light (shout out to Nanlite's Forza 200). I put the light outside of my dining room window and the textures in the house were just incredible to me. It immediately looked like a somber early moring scene and something clicked in my brain that said, "What if a man had to tell his wife he was dying?" And from there Kevin and Winnie was formed. The first draft was 2 pages. I sent it to the director George Elias and he told me there needs to be more. When he told me that I just started expanding the story and trying to make it as real as possible. I have learned to have goals and objectives in making movies now. For Kevin and Winnie it was 2 things, one making a compelling story and letting the actors find the voices of the characters to really make it their own, and two, to harken back to the cinematography of the 70's/80's ie Gordon Willis. I think we accomplished both of those things and all the pieces just came together beautifully.

 

Can you tell us a bit about the process you've had with Kevin and Winnie? Is it self-financing or were you able to get financing?

So Kevin and Winnie was totally self-financed by me. I had no outside help. I believed in this project fully and wanted to do whatever it took to make it as amazing as possible.

 

No spoilers, but what will the public find in Kevin and Winnie?

I think the public will find a story about love and loss; the power of soulmates and what happens when your world is taken from you in an instant.

 

There are many creators who seek inspiration from other artists, literature, music, painting, etc. To create this work have you used references from other arts? If so, what are they?

When we had our first produciton meeting I showed everyone stills from movies like Manhattan, (500) Days of Summer, Blood Simple, and Gone Girl. I even made a spotify playlist of songs that inspired me when thinking about shots and themes of the film. A HUGE influence on that was The Cure's "Disintegration" album.

 

We would also like to know more about your film preferences. We would love to know which directors you like and which are your favorite movies.

Oh this is a tough one. If I have to go top six directors, it would be in no particular order, Steven Spielberg, Terrence Malik, Robert Zemeckis, Andrei Tarkovsky, Steven Soderbergh and David Fincher. Asking me my favorite movies is like asking a grandparent who is their favorite grandchild. My favorite movies are always rotating, but right now the movies I recently watched that I really enjoyed are, Wings of Desire, The Lighthouse, In The Mood For Love, and Ikiru.

 

There are great classics of cinema considered masterpieces, but for us cinema is subjective and we also love films that critics may consider bad. Do you have movies that are not considered masterpieces but that you could watch over and over again without stopping? Which are?

Like you said this is totally subjective, and I just love movies in general, so I have seen my share of movies that aren't masterpieces to the critics. If I had to pick one it would be Blockers. I saw that in theaters and I had not laughed that hard in a theater for a long time. I just really love going to the movies and watching movies for the escapism. If you're going to the movies or watching a movie at home, and you're dissecting it on your first viewing, please stop. At that time you shouldn't be looking at it in the sense of camera angles and all that other stuff, just enjoy it as a person, as a viewer, and thats where the real learning begins. 

 

Your favorite black and white movie? and in color?

My favorite black and white movie is "Wings of Desire". My favorite movie in color at the movment is "In The Mood For Love".

 

How would you define Tarantino in one word?

Auteur

 

Your favorite movie or series of the last 20 years? 2000-2020?

Harry Potter because that series was my whole adolescence.

 

Your favorite actor or actress?

Bradley Cooper

 

A very personal question, but how do you consider yourself as a producer? What are your strong points and your weak points?

As a producer I feel I still have a lot to learn.  I think one of my strong points on this film was the casting.  It was a blind casting and the actors had never met before, but I just had a feeling it was going to work and it did.  My goal as a producer is to take every project I work on be able to reflect on it and figure out what I can do better in my next project. 

 

Do you have experience on the festival circuit? As a producer, how do you see film festivals? Where do you think they should improve?

I do have some experience in the festival circuit. My first short film "Oh No" made the rounds to about 7 festivals and that was pretty awesome. Kevin and Winnie has been doing great and has been selected to 15, and have been awarded a winner 7 times and hopefully more (Fingers crossed)!

I see festivals as a great way of getting out there and exposing your work and making connections. Where I would like to see them improve is hopefully, in a post-pandemic world, the online festivals can turn into in person. 

 

Do you have any other project in mind? Can you advance us something?

At this moment I am currently brainstorming two ideas. One is Kevin and Winnie as a feature, and the other is a horror feature tenatively titled "Weekend". I am still in the process of working out the storyline for that one.