The Best Woman at the Wheel: Gren Wells Interview.

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(WARNING: There is a spoiler below, question 3!)

This has taken me ages to post and I am so ashamed of myself since I feel so lucky to be able to say that I had a little conversation with Gren Wells via Twitter and she was lovely enough to answer some of my questions on her beautiful movie The Road Within (2014).

Taken From: digitalshortbread.files.wordpress.com
Gren Wells is a screenwriter, with her first Script being A Little Bit of Heaven (2011),  which starred great names including Kate Hudson and Whoopi Goldberg. It turns out three years later she would make her second script AND directional debut and break our hearts in all the best with her remake of the 2010 German movie Vincent Wants to Sea; The Road Within.

The movie stars Robert Sheehan, Dev Patel and Zoe Kravitz who truly play the heart, lungs and soul of this movie. The narrative follows this trio and their road trip to the sea in a stolen car from the Doctor of the behavourial facility they run out of. You see, each character has a specific condition; Sheehan's character Vincent suffers from Tourrettes, Kravitz's portrayal of Marie is that of a girl struggling with her recovery of an eating disorder and Patel's Alex suffers from severe OCD. Although their conditions are what brought them together and delay and piss them off, it's important to the story but it isn't the story. You can't help but have moments where you forget they have anything wrong with them at all, you are too busy smiling or sobbing as they argue with themselves and fall in love with each other.

It is the ultimate Indie teenage movie that will make you ignore all preconceptions of an Indie teenage movie, because the relationships between every single character, would make you far too lonely and unsatisfied if you missed it.

I know, it sounds like I'm being bias again and I guess yes I kind of am, but when it comes to the teenage, mental illness movies I usually watch; I enjoy darkness, drugs and sexuality that's quite obvious and highlighted in the movie. The Road Within has some of these things but in lightness, it radiates a love and longing and for me to accept that light and still be emotionally involved and entertained, usually means they captured not only the themes, but ME, very well.

Everyone is different but this movie certainly, somehow, successfully appeals to MY taste as well as an audience who take their movie coffee a little sweeter. It's definitely a film that can teach all demographics something different and it's interesting to learn about the specific conditions that are so obvious in our lifetime but not really brought up or explained.

I have rambled on for far too long and you came here to read an interview, not my sermon! So here it is, below are Gren Wells' questions on The Road Within:

 What was your inspiration for this movie?
I was inspired by the original film and thought it'd be a great remake because not a lot of people saw the film outside of Germany. The story is universal because everyone has issues. Everyone feels different in some way. So you don't have to have Tourettes, Anorexia or OCD to relate to these characters.

Was a good or bad experience also being the director?
The experience being a director was AMAZING! As a screenwriter in Hollywood, your job is essentially over when you finish the script. And it can be frustrating to see your script get changed into something you don't recognize during the filmmaking process. So the only way to guarantee that your vision and voice remain intact is to direct it yourself.

 What is your favourite memory on set?
Taken From: flickeringmyth.com
My favorite memory on set is during the last shot. It's when Robbie, Zoe and Dev are in bed together and Dev reaches out and touches Robbie's hand. It was incredibly emotional because of the actual scene - and it was the last shot so I was bawling throughout.

Do you have any advice for aspiring film makers?
My advice to any aspiring filmmakers is to find your voice - and hold onto it. Producers are looking for unique voices / points of view so keep striving to write / direct with that in mind.

Gren's name is one I really hope we see around more, as she has broken our hearts those two years ago and it needs to be put back together already!

Go check out The Road Within now and let me know what you think!


VF.

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