Interview: "More Beautiful For Having Been Broken" Director Nicole Conn
Would you be able to start anew after the loss of a parent and other private struggles? Nicole Conn drew inspiration for her touching indie film, More Beautiful For Having Been Broken, from her own son, Nicholas. In the original story, a mostly female cast finds their true selves in caring for a special needs child, coming together as they never thought they would.
Why did you make the decision to have a narrator instead of one of the women telling her own story? I was wondering the whole time because my choice would have been to have it from the woman moving into town in her diary.
Most people when they discover the older Freddie is the narrator love how it ties everything up at the end…and he’s really the one who puts the women together, so I felt like his information was the most critical from that vantage point.
Have you ever been in a scenario like the movie where everyone is linked and you didn’t know it?
Yes, I actually have been not just once, but twice!
I liked that you included a parent with a non-English language foreign accent. My family has lots of inter-national marriage as do many people I know, and we always talk about how people with non-UK/non-American accents are given roles as villains, and generally, die in the same films. What other positive things did you want to accomplish with your film that may not have jumped out at us viewers?
Mostly I wanted people to see “our kids” — I and many other mothers of kids with Special Needs always commiserate that people turn away from our kids - They don’t know how to handle the “otherness.” Once they realize that the “otherness” is truly special, then they get it. And that’s what I’m hoping to do with the film - To make our kids visible and not only that but for folks to understand that these kids are not a “burden” to us mothers. Having Nicholas and Cale in my life has added such extraordinary gifts I would otherwise not know.
The love scene in the movie is really PG-13 to me, artsy and respectful of the women. For people reading this article, the artsy word isn’t me being a film nerd. If I can explain it to readers, it is her dancing in her mind with the woman she is falling for as she in real life is in the love scene. We don’t really see anything that could push it to an R rating. So why did you make the decision to cut this scene for some releases of the film?
We never made the decision to cut the love scene… I actually created it to be PG-13 because I wanted this film to be seen by families. However there are TV platforms that simply cut ALL love scenes - whether they are gay or straight. They just don’t allow them. It has nothing to do with the women being women, in other words. Just a matter of platform policy.
The woman in the story the lead falls for talks about feeling undesirable because she has a disabled child. How much of this is based on reality?
Wow you are so perceptive. 100%. Having a child with special needs comes with a whole other list of things that a potential partner has to get on board with. And for so many people it just isn’t an attractive option because my number one focus will always be my son, Nicholas's well being.
The women in your movie get drunk, get angry and do lots of normal things that people do in real life. Generally, apart from things like Amy Adams in HBO’s Sharp Objects, female characters don’t get to do much. Outside of my fav blockbuster films such as Star Wars, Terminator and Alien, the women exist to enhance the male storylines as the men are personable, and the woman sit there. Can you name some mainstream movies you like that don’t do this to female characters?
I’m in absolute agreement about your assessment of women in stereotypical supporting roles. However, I do believe that the trend is FINALLY changing. I was in the biz in 1993 when Jodie Foster was on the cover of Premiere (way back when that slick mag still existed) and it was “The Year of the Woman” - No. It wasn’t actually. But I believe with women’s viewing on TV - it’s driving a lot of female character driven episodic TV - like “Little Fires Everywhere,” “Big Little Lies” “Handmaid’s Tale” “Good Girls” etc..I think this is changing. More female leads in films that I haven’t liked, such as “Annilihation” which I was totally excited about because of the heavy female cast - but only thought the movie was so-so. As far as films I actually like that have been female driven? Hmmm…”Molly” was excellent with Jessica Chastain. Okay, can’t think of any others! Ohh and Hulu has the best documentary on Margaret Atwood. Of course, she is my absolute NO 1 Favorite Writer.
With the film really having mostly female characters and a same sex storyline, have you heard anything from people who probably publicly pretend to support diversity in film but told you something negative or pressured you? A gentleman I interviewed last year told my readers how he turned down a business deal when the company wanted him to replace his South Asian characters with Hispanic people to be more marketable.
One of the great rewards of making micro-indie films is that you don’t have to listen to studio heads telling you what “Q” (salability) everyone has. The industry is all about packaging talent whether the actors belong together or not and that’s why there are so many awful films made because they are only casting for opening weekends and foreign sales, not the actual story or material or whether the cast fits the characters. So while I make very little money at what I do - I at least have absolute creative control.
Have you ever found peace in any form of art like one of the leads does in the film from dancing?
I find a great deal of peace and zen writing. But I absolute LOVE watching dance.
Speaking in terms of show *****business*****, what is your plan for marketing this movie? How can people watch it now? In the future?
In terms of the “biz” the greatest thing that could have happened for us has — which is that we got a mainstream distributor, Vision Films, to take the film as wide as it can go. Additionally they were willing to bifurcate our distribution deal and have Wolfe Video service the DVD as well as VOD so that we could get the film out to everyone in the community. To that end we’re also working with LesFlicks for our UK and European distribution of the DVD thanks to Lise Romanoff of Vision Films. She’s really gotten behind the film and she and Kristen Bedno, head of Marketing and Domestic Distribution have really put a lot of thought into how to make the film as successful as possible.
They can purchase the DVD here in US/Canada through Wolfe Video: http://bit.ly/2GaIRPN
VOD Here: Vimeo: https://bit.ly/3eFyUK9
And for our International Live Stream Premiere on May 8th — Here is the Info and a Graphic below that you can paste. The info is important because viewers have to follow the instructions to join the Live Stream:
Nicole provided the following additional info:
Dear Viewer/Participant https://www.cya.live/event/1148
VISION FILMS SETS INTERACTIVE LIVE STREAM EVENT FOR GLOBAL RELEASE OF NICOLE CONN'S FILM 'MORE BEAUTIFUL FOR HAVING BEEN
Due to C-19 we had to cancel our “Mother’s Day Red Carpet Premiere.” But we have found a way for all those who have been waiting to see the film to join us for a very special Interactive Event Screening through an awesome platform known as Cya.live. (https://www.cya.live)—
Through Cya.live, you will be able to chat/text with Writer/Director Nicole Conn and members of the cast with Q&A – Zoe Ventoura, Kayla Radomski, Cale Ferrin, Harley Jane Kozak, Gabrielle Baba-Conn, Producer Lissa Forehan
IMPORTANT REQUIREMENTS: 1) You MUST USE CHROME as your browser 2) Go to the CYA.LIVE platform and sign up PRIOR to the event date (If you don’t sign up before the event starts you will miss the beginning of the film.) 3) Date: May 8th- Time 10:45 AM (PST – Please look at www.morebeautifulmovie.com) to find the screening time in your country.
EVENT LINK: https://www.cya.live/event/1148
