Chainsaws, Slackers and Spy Kids; inside the Austin Film Industry

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Slacker, Red Headed Stranger, Dazed and Confused, El Mariachi, Office Space…There’s a long, long list of classic movies made in Austin by Austinites. Something about this city’s culture has convinced a growing number of film-making mavericks to work at home. In her new book Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids: 30 Years of Filmmaking in Austin, Texas, Alison Macor, former film critic for the Chronicle,  uses her painstaking research and interviews with Richard Linklater, Tobe Hooper, Robert Rodriguez (and many others) to joyfully retrace Austin’s cinematic history and remember the people that made it happen.

Alison Macor will be at BookPeople this Sunday, March 7th at 3PM to discuss Austin movies and sign copies of the new book.  Check out more info about the event here. Alison graciously answered a few questions for the blog.

What made/makes Austin so appealing to independent film-makers? Does our physical distance from New York and LA play a part in that?

In the 1960s and 1970s many of the filmmakers and would-be crew were either students at UT (in the newly created RTF department or in other, humanities-type departments) or had been drawn to Austin because of its music scene (the Armadillo World Headquarters, etc.). I don’t think those “early” filmmakers really thought of Austin as a great place to make movies. They were here, and they wanted to make movies, so they did. That changed a little as films were made here and went on to some acclaim, like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Eagle Pennell’s films. Richard Linklater, who came to Austin in 1983, was attracted by the UT film program and by hearing about local filmmakers like David Boone (Invasion of the Aluminum People) and Brian Hansen (Speed of Light). Austin’s distance from the coasts has played more of a role in attracting filmmakers since the late 1980s, I think. And in the last 15 years or so, its list of “known” filmmakers (Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, Mike Judge, Tim McCanlies, etc.) and growing infrastructure (Austin Film Society, numerous film festivals, a lively film culture) have increased Austin’s profile among independent filmmakers looking for a film-friendly home.

Do you think there is a common spirit/flavor to the movies produced in Austin?

Perhaps many of these films share a similar sense of humor (dry, quick, even goofy), but overall I see so much variety in the kinds of films that have been made here (or by filmmakers based here). Just look at the differences among movies like Sin City, Office Space, and Before Sunrise, for instance.

How did the Austin Chronicle/ local press help independent cinema in Austin?

The Austin Chronicle has helped local cinema tremendously. Many of its earliest writers were film-school trained, so they had not just an enthusiasm for movies but a knowledge of film history. Not only have they given coverage to local filmmakers and films, but they’ve also cultivated and promoted national independent cinema by reaching out to filmmakers like John Sayles and Jonathan Demme. Demme became so enamored of Austin film in the 1980s, in fact, that he sponsored a couple of screenings/programs of Austin work in New York. The Statesman has also carried coverage of local films and filmmakers and, because it’s a daily, often was able to cover more films and film-related events. Even in the early days of moviemaking, the Statesman (then the Austin American) covered film. In 1915 during the filming of a local production company’s feature called A Political Touchdown, the daily paper covered the filming and eventual premiere on an almost obsessive basis. It was that much of a novelty at the time to have a feature being made in town. The Daily Texan has been important, too, in covering campus visits by film legends like Jean-Luc Godard (late 1960s) and announcing film programs and screenings of series like CinemaTexas and Cinema 40 (1970s-1980s).

Did you have a hard time interviewing/getting access to the filmmakers in your book, or were most eager to discuss their history?

Most were accommodating and even encouraging. I had the most difficulty with the bigger names, primarily because they have layers of gatekeepers to navigate through (agents, managers, publicists, assistants) and busy schedules. But usually once someone committed to participating, things moved pretty smoothly. It took more than a year to get the Matthew McConaughey interview, for instance, but once we were talking, he was very generous with his time. Although I never interviewed Dwight Yoakam (he was in Richard Linklater’s The Newton Boys, which I write about in the book) because he was touring most of the year I tried to reach him, he left me a series of very funny phone messages apologizing for not being able to participate.

Who are some of the most promising/ your personal favorite new Austin film-makers?

Some might not consider these people new filmmakers, but they are filmmakers whose new work I always look forward to. They include Kat Candler, David and Nathan Zellner, and Robert Byington, just to name a few. Great documentaries are always coming out of the UT program and elsewhere around town. But I also get excited these days when I hear about someone I don’t know, a younger filmmaker who’s found a way to make a good movie locally.

Do you think there is a definitive ‘Austin Independent Movie’?

I think people associate Slacker most with Austin’s independent film scene, but I don’t necessarily see one film as representative. Again, I see such differences among filmmakers here, and that’s refreshing to me. I like that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre brought together (ca. production in 1973) so many of Austin’s “scenes”: politics, film, music, UT’s RTF department. TCM represents for me the quintessential Austin film even though I think the majority of its fans and audience probably wouldn’t call it that.