Interview: Robert David Duncan - Director of "Art Tunnels" and Author of "The Mansion"

ROFFEKE: I asked Marni Sullivan, screenwriter of Syvertsen's Complex why she set her story in 2050 and not, say, in 2150. As mentioned in your microfilm, the protagonist is a street artist, so why a tunnel and not the street (as is usually the setting of your other microfilms)?

ROBERT David Duncan: I wanted there to be a secret that only Liam and Alec knew about, in part to show the strength of Alec's friendship in keeping the secret for years, but also to have a cool art thing that was sort of hiding in plain sight. It also created an urgency for Liam to want to reveal the tunnel to someone, ultimately Gwen, though his powers to do so were limited by his circumstances. I thought a tunnel would be a neat device. Also, when I was a kid there were apparently tunnels under our city. Though we never found them, a friend and I did like to venture down into the storm sewer system and go exploring under the city. The things our parents never knew about...

ROFFEKE: Yes, we who grew up before the Internet and social media recall our childhood adventures fondly! Also, "The things our parents never knew about" is a great title for a movie, novel or short story! Second question: I also asked Marni Sullivan about her process of creating characters. What was your process of creating Liam and the other characters in "The Mansion"?

ROBERT: For Liam, I wanted to have a ghost character because I thought that would be interesting to play around with. It also helped me consider ideas about afterlives, and what those might actually be like. For the other characters, they are of course mostly entirely made-up but also based somewhat on people I have known and crossed paths with. As an indie filmmaker, I wanted to have a limited-sized cast of characters with a bit of an ensemble feel to them. I also wanted a fun, friendly vibe between all the main characters, even though they are all a little unusual in their individual intensities.

ROFFEKE: Again, I asked Marni Sullivan: "If you were given the choice, which three actors would you pick to play the protagonist?" Which actors from your previous film projects would you pick to audition for the role of Liam and why them?

ROBERT: Wow, I'm going to dream a bit here, and say that I think that Colin Farrell, Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan would each bring something fascinating to the role of Liam. Imagine if one of them optioned The Mansion and wanted to see it made into a film. That would be amazing!

ROFFEKE: Indeed, that would be great! Third question: I asked Ajay Dev Dinesh, director of Neena: Signing off: "What challenges, if any, do you face in making (and marketing) films that are not the norm?" What challenges did you face making and marketing Art Tunnels?

ROBERT: One of the things I like is that simple films like the Art Tunnels can be made very quickly and affordably by me alone. This takes a lot of pressure off. The Art Tunnels films are really intended as an adjunct to the novel. As tiny digital collectibles, I can mint them as NFTs and basically give them away. This might help build a little awareness of the overall story world of the novel. Mostly, though, it's fun to make them and put them out there. I also of course like to submit them to cool festivals like ROFFEKE!

ROFFEKE: Thanks for the vote of confidence! Fourth question: In one of my questions to Catarina de Cèzanne, director of After Link, I asked her: Like in Portugal, the horror genre is still misunderstood here in Kenya. Catarina said in an interview: "We all have darkness, and horror cinema is a form of liberation from what we cannot explain otherwise." Similarly, I asked Trixstart regarding "Merry Christmas Mithras": "Why risk censorship when you could pick "safer" subject matters that do not venture into mine-field domains...". While Art Tunnel is not exactly horror, it does have a rather dark ending, no light at the end of the tunnel (pardon the pun!). Why did you not choose a happy ending for it, a "safer" ending?

ROBERT: Well, I think a secret lies in the idea that the film is being narrated by the protagonist, Liam, and so he is around in some form to tell the story, even of his own demise. This is explored more in the novel. So having that knowledge, as the author, I see the part explored in the Art Tunnels as only a part of Liam's overall arc, more like backstory!

ROFFEKE: Speaking of backstory, it's been said that a writer keeps coming back to one theme or one story, just told in different ways. I see two main similarities between the Spinoza Hotel series and The Mansion: both house found families and both touch on the supernatural. In what ways did the Spinoza Hotel series, and your other films, influence The Mansion?

ROBERT: Great observation! I love stories that are framed in buildings or neighborhoods, and with The Mansion I got to enjoy both. I also like the idea of a sanctuary for eccentric people, people who may see beyond the ordinary, and a supportive community like a found family can be such a help for people.

Another fun story is that I was interviewed for a book about a building I used to live in here in Vancouver that was home to a number of people who went on to do artistic and creative things, and as I was recounting my time there, I suddenly realized that I wanted to write another story about a building and its residents!  

ROFFEKE: Any advice for filmmakers wanting to venture into novel writing and authors wanting to venture into screenwriting/filmmaking?

ROBERT: Well, of course I'm going to say: do it! The biggest thing that helped me finally try writing a novel was coming across some math, which was along these lines: if you want to write a 50,000 word novel, divide it up into 20 chapters. Each chapter then is around 2,500 words, so if you can commit to writing 500 words a day, 5 days a week, you could have your novel drafted in less than 6 months. I loved that math. The 500 words a day thing struck me as being very realistic, so I went after it. It works!

I also think indie filmmakers may have an edge, because we are used to working with what is available, and we often learn to get the most out of a smaller number of moving pieces and characters. I found the idea of writing the novel around a ensemble-style cast of characters that I would find fun to film, was a real boost to my self-confidence.

Going the other direction - from fiction to screenplay - as an encouragement I would say film writing is so much easier! You get to leave out a lot of visual-type details because you know you will be showing them with the camera. There is also less written interior life needed for each character, since the actor will be bringing that to the role and it will be readable visually on-screen to the extent required.

Of course, the corollary to all that is true too, I found. I had a great time writing about the interior lives of the novel's characters. I tend to spend quite a lot of time living in my head, so it was fun to put the interior life down in writing.