FLMTQ: Pavilion was filmed with a cast of predominately non-professional actors. Can you discuss your casting process, as well as how you worked with the actors on set to bring their characters to life?
TS: Casting was completely homemade. I was not in the 'industry' so using a casting person never entered my mind. My mother's friend found me some kids in the town I grew up, and when I pointed to Max, who was just waiting for a friend who I was supposed to meet, she whispered to me, "you don't want to work with him. He's a bad kid.' So I cast everything around him. He had presence and a 'fuck you' attitude that could also soften, but not in an obvious way. He could be a jerk and then completely vulnerable a moment later. He didn't see a camera, he just could live in front of it.
We flew to Arizona with just Max and his dad, no plan other to go to a bike park and see who wanted to be in the film. I told Max's dad that he was going to be in the film when we were taking off on the plane. When we got to Arizona, we were so lucky to meet Cody and Levi and have them open up this strange, dark world to us, but also, that's why the film feels so light, so alive, because we were like Max—we got to town and didn't know anyone—and had to make our way like any new kid. It's a risk you can't take on bigger budgets with 'real' actors. That's a big reason why Pavilion is so pure.
As far as working with non-actors, the main point is not to expect them to be actors. Don't give them lines to read, don't dictate everything. Rather, I would ask how they would do it. I'd set a very disciplined frame, tell them what the scene entailed—almost always something simple, physical, or naturally conversational—and then between action and cut, it is entirely up to them. I trusted them. It doesn't always work, but all I was looking for in each scene was a moment of authenticity, or beauty, or curiosity. I was free to let them be them and build the story naturally, rather from something I had written a year before. It feels like a living document.
FLMTQ: Are you working on any new projects, and if so, can you tell us a bit about them?
TS: My latest film, Funny Face, recently had its World Premiere in competition at the Berlinale in February, right as the Covid shit began hitting the fan, and so now I'm writing something about a traumatized hypnotist in the post-pandemic world. It's a weird, weird time, so we shall see.