PRODUCTION NOTES

Black and white. The sun beams down on a man reading a newspaper while sitting on a bench. The occasional pedestrian passes by, as does a car. After a moment, a sharp-looking salesman enters and sits down on the bench. Looking around after a moment, he notices a man sitting on a bench on the other side of the street. The man is quite motionless, his visage troubling. In his hand is a flower. As the salesman watches curiously, a lovely, young girl enters and sits next to the strange-looking man. Noticing him, she tries several methods to get his attention. No response. She tries something different. No response. After getting no reaction, the girl quickly leaves. After she leaves, we notice that the man’s flower is a deep shade of blue amidst the black and white setting. Puzzled, the salesman soon notices a pretty, young passerby and exits frame. On top of that, the events mentioned take place with opera playing in the background.

“Strange, isn’t it?” asks writer/director John Herzog. “Most people find it strange. We even find it strange sometimes. That’s the point, really. It’s strange for a reason. And the reason for it being strange is that there is no reason.” Brother, and writer/producer Matthew, interjects. “The only way for me to describe the script, and the film for that matter, is ‘interesting.’ John came up with the general idea, and then we just went from there. But the end result, in my book, is simply ‘interesting.’”

At first glance, True Blue Beauty might seem a bit odd. With no explanations, and no dialogue, it can be bewildering to watch. “That’s really how we designed it. We wanted no dialogue, we wanted to have it be in black and white with an element of color in it, and we wanted it to take place in the 1950’s,” John says. “It’s basically a tribute to both that time-period and silent film.” Matthew notes, “It’s something that a lot of filmmakers our age aren’t making or are very interested in, which appealed to us. We’re really not big on the fast car, hunk hero, shoot-em-up, action-fests that most young filmmakers make today.” John agrees: “It fits other filmmakers, but not us. We wanted to do something different, something unique.”

“A lot of what we try to achieve, cinematically, comes from music. Both of us are avid listeners of all types of music, although we tend to lean toward the classics,” remarks John. “Music is where most of our stories start,” adds Matthew. “When we listen to something, and the two of us are really moved by it, we’re able to see images that go along with that particular piece of music. We don’t necessarily use that music in the film, but we use it as a reference for how we want a particular scene to look and feel.”

Music, however, was not the only inspiration for this bizarre tale. Matthew recalls, “Both of us are interested in meaning in film. Many times, people think that directors and writers have this secret agenda - that they have this secret meaning behind everything in a movie, which is not always the case. Sometimes filmmakers do things just to do them, and that’s that.” John concurs: “Our goal with this film was to completely confuse the people that watched it, and then to see if they found a meaning in it. There seems to be some psychological need for us as humans to somehow see the meaning in something, even though, ultimately, there is no meaning.” Matthew adds, “In the case of True Blue Beauty, there is no secret meaning, yet people swear there is. People still come up with ideas as to what they think we’re trying to get across.”

In preparation for filming, the Herzog brothers watched several films to refer back to. “We love the old Frank Capra movies, especially Arsenic and Old Lace,” John remarks. “Although our film, while quirky like Arsenic is, is very toned down. Extreme zaniness, or mild zaniness for that matter, wouldn’t have worked in this film, I don’t think. Although it would have been interesting to see what the endresult would have been.” Newer, more modern films also helped guide the Herzogs in bringing True Blue Beauty to life, namely Pleasantville, Schindler’s List and The Man Who Wasn’t There.

Matthew chimes in: “Pleasantville was a big reference in that we were mixing both black and white with color. Of course, Schindler’s List used it, too. But Pleasantville was a biggie. Both of us love the idea of black and white and color being mixed together in an image. I can’t explain the attraction, but that just appeals to us. Plus it made for some pretty interesting interpretations by people watching our film.”

Teaming up with long-time friends and co-producers Mike, Steve, and Marc Bagley, True Blue Beauty was on its way into production. But it was up to director of photography Joel Remke to give the film its look, feel, and tone. “Joel was a godsend,” John explains. “Without Joel, our film would have suffered greatly. The amazing thing is that he was brought in on extremely little notice. We had, maybe, one or two meetings before we shot. That’s it. If you come away from this film thinking how good it looked, you can thank Joel Remke for that. Matt and I had nothing to do with it, and we refuse to take credit for it.”

Another godsend for the filmmakers was the cast. Among the cast is Mindy Lind, a seasoned actor and director of stage productions; Jeff Hofmann, an improvisational comedian and comedy writer; and Brady Flygare, one of John’s former roommates. “It’s kind of funny,” remarks John. “We had Mindy, who is a tremendous stage talent. We had Jeff, who is one of the funniest people we know. And then there’s Brady.” Having promised Brady a role in one of his films, John stayed true to his promise. “He didn’t have a whole lot of experience as an actor, so when he did so well when we shot the film, we were very pleased and very surprised at the same time. He really holds his own with the other actors.”

Another amusing aspect was the role of Jeff Hofmann as the dead-or-not-dead man. “We didn’t catch it at the time, but we cast Jeff, a guy who is used to spontaneously breaking out into song or dance, in this role where, basically, he just sits there and does nothing,” Matthew admits. “Jeff became sort of a living oxymoron, but it’s really a testament as to how versatile he is. To us, he’s funny just sitting there, even without being put on the spot and asked to pull weasels out of his ears with two seconds notice.”

The young girl vying for the attentions and affections of the dead gentleman is played by Melinda Lind. “Mindy came in and met with us about a month before we shot the film. We liked her instantly,” John recalls. “We knew then and there that she was the girl.” To guide her performance, John referred Mindy to Sarah Morton’s performance as a mute in Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown. “Since this is essentially a silent film, and since Mindy would have the most active screen time, we wanted her to understand what it was that we were looking for in her performance. Sarah Morton really captures what it was that we were looking for,” John explains. “Mindy, in the best of ways, captured what we wanted. She performed beautifully.”

“The members of the cast were real troopers,” John continues. “Our budget, being as small as it was, didn’t allow for much in the department of costumes. So, the actors were informed of this, and did what they could.” The result was better than expected. “To be honest, they found some of the best costumes that I’ve seen. Camille and Lezlie-Anne Elkins, who play the mother and daughter respectively at the end of the film, actually went and rented their costumes from a costume store. Everyone was so dedicated and willing. We would have been hard-pressed to try and find a better group of actors.”

Unfortunately, the original score written by composer Robert Ullery was unable to be used. Matthew explains: “As John mentioned before, we were working with a shoestring budget, mostly relying on others to help for practically nothing. Bob composed this beautiful score for the film. We both loved it. However, we were never able to get it produced and recorded. So an alternative had to be used, and we found that in Bizet’s Seguidilla. It doesn’t compare to Bob’s score, though. We really wanted to use it. We owe Bob a huge amount of thanks and respect for what he did. He is truly masterful with music, and our collaboration with him will definitely continue.”

“Ultimately, True Blue Beauty is a tribute to the 1950’s and silent film,” John concludes. “We must not forget where we have come from in our cinematic history so far because it affects cinema in the future and for future generations of filmmakers.” Matthew agrees: “The history of film is such an influential part of our lives that we felt that we should pay our respects to it. That is our hope with this film.”

John interjects: "Well, that and confusing everyone."