NB Mager, writer-director of Sundance US Dramatic Competition title Run Amok, sees her debut feature as offering a different perspective on the school shootings that blight American society.
“There’s something about the theatricality and heightened nature of it that allowed me to play in different ways,” said Mager at the film’s world premiere on Monday, January 26. “Had I stuck to exactly the way things are in reality, I wouldn’t have been able to make some of the bold decisions and risks.”
Mager’s debut feature Run Amok follows Meg, a 13-year-old girl who attempts to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a fatal shooting at her school, by directing a musical with her classmates. CAA handles world sales on the title.
Having read her feature script, producer Julie Christeas of Tandem Pictures set Mager up to make a short, “to show people that she could land the plane.”
“By the time NB finished making the short, the feature was a Nicholls [AMPAS’s screenwriting competition] quarterfinalist,” said Christeas, who said the traumatic event that prefaces the film posed no obstacle to funding. “We found people who wanted to be a part of supporting this unique voice, but also who felt strongly that a conversation around this difficult subject was the way to be most helpful to our community.”
Christeas also brought on Frank Hall Green of Greenmachine Film to produce with her. “NB has been extremely diligent about the process,” said Green. “She is an actor by trade; we knew after seeing the short that she knew what she was talking about.”
“Tonally, it walks a fine line,” Mager told Screen. “I wanted to make the short to show other people and myself that I could thread that needle. It was a helpful way to get a sense of the tone and how I would execute it visually.”
Conversation
The film mixes established US actors playing the adults, including Patrick Wilson, Molly Ringwald, Margaret Cho and Bill Camp; with younger newcomers as the schoolkids, led by Alyssa Marvin as Meg, Sophia Torres as her cousin Penny, and Pilot Bunch, Nuha Jes Izman, Grace Reiter, Allan Lopez, Jesus Del Orden and Jim Kaplan.
“We’re using art to heal,” said Torres of taking on a topic that has caused such pain in the US over several decades. “I grew up starting lockdown drills in pre-K [preschool year] and not knowing what they were for until elementary school. This film also explores the reality of what it is to be a teenager in this generation, specifically – how tragedies are normalised and shouldn’t be.”
Marvin was a point of continuity, having played the lead role in the short. “Meg is trying to make conversation, to make change through her art,” said the actress. “I hope other young artists can feel inspired by that.”
Ringwald, an icon of John Hughes’ high school films of the 1980s, joined the feature at a late stage after another actor dropped out, and had “less than 24 hours to decide whether or not I was going to do it.”
“I watched the short, read the script really fast, and thought it was a really interesting take on this issue that’s incredibly important to all of us,” said Ringwald. “It was an easy yes.”
Ringwald and her renowned co-stars were keen to lend their voices to support a first-time director in Mager. “It’s so hard to break into this business and get any film made,” said Ringwald. “There are so many elements that have to fall into place. So I really try to support first-time filmmakers, and particularly women.”
“It’s still important to ask a lot of questions, and to surround them with the most supportive group of people,” said Wilson of debut directors. “Not necessarily ‘yes’ people, but certainly supportive, collaborative people. Otherwise, how are we going to usher in a new generation of voices?”
Beacon
The film received a standing ovation at its Eccles Theatre premiere – far less de rigueur at Sundance than at Cannes and Venice. The cast also includes Wilson’s son Kai Wilson; at the premiere, Patrick said he wants to hear from the younger generation on the shooting topic. “I don’t want to hear adults talk any more about normalising this,” said Wilson. “I want to listen to people who are going through it.”
Although the shooting itself happens 10 years before the film, one key scene sees the youngsters reenact it in preparation for their show. Mager described the scene as “a beacon of light in the film.”
“It carried so much weight in terms of storytelling, but also of bringing these young actors into the reality,” said the filmmaker. Burch described the scene as “testament to NB’s incredible skill in directing. Not once did I feel unsafe or unable to do or express anything. We were in a place where we could do our best work.”
The young cast have the bug to continue in the business. “It’s what I want to do until I can’t do anything else,” said Burch; while like her character Meg, Marvin is going to direct, soon putting on Sophie Treadwell’s 1928 US play Machinal at her school.
At 17, the actress is a similar age to her co-star Ringwald when the latter starred in Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty In Pink. “I love the films I’ve made; they spoke to a specific time,” said Ringwald. “This generation of kids has different issues. We didn’t have school shootings and lockdowns from when we were in pre-school. That’s new and should not be normalised.”
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