Writer/director Kyle Patrick Alvarez recently spoke with “Breakthrough Entertainment” about his new dramedy “C.O.G.”
In “C.O.G.,” which opened Friday, Sept. 20 exclusively at Harkins Valley Art, Jonathan Groff plays a cocky young man who travels to Oregon to work at an apple farm. Out of his element, his lifestyle and notions are picked apart by everyone who crosses his path.
Listen to “Breakthrough Entertainment’s” full interview with Alvarez by clicking HERE. The following is an excerpt from the interview in which the writer/director discusses what he hopes that audiences take away from watching “C.O.G.” as well as what he took away from making the movie.
“I wasn’t raised religiously but I grew up in a very religious community so I always felt a natural sense of being at odds with them – not with them as individuals but just with the belief systems and what was expected of me. I was also dealing with my sexuality. This was a story that handled my two greatest angsts and made it really funny but also kept it dark and left it accessible. And the story had just stayed with me over the years.”
“There is strength in humility. That is the broadest idea that the movie has. Learning self-awareness. Learning to see when you have made mistakes and when you have acted wrong. And realizing that in trying to move on from it. I think that is what the character is trying to do in the second half of the film. I just hope that it evokes questions of that and also questions of where do your spiritual beliefs and the way that you act as a human being intersect. Without ever saying that I wanted there to be a clear message of this movie, I just thought that that intersection would be an interesting setting for a film.
“It took about 3 and a half years to get the film made … so I learned a lot about being thrifty with a budget and making a film that I think still looks really impressive quality-wise. I also learned a lot about trying to stay tenacious and not take ‘no’ for an answer. I think that more than 250 producers or financiers passed on making this film before we finally found the right fit. So it was really just an effort of working hard at it and staying persistent to see it through the right way.” – Kyle Patrick Alvarez
