Chris Esper is a filmmaker based in Foxboro, Massachusetts, known for his visually distinct, tense, and at times darkly comedic style. Growing up in New Jersey, Esper developed a passion for cinema from a young age. After receiving his first camera as a teenager, he started making his own films and hasn’t looked back since. Esper graduated from the New England Institute of Technology with a degree in Digital Recording Arts and has gone on to direct award-winning short films, such as Imposter, Undertaker, Distant Memories, and The Deja Vuers – which have screened at festivals around the globe. In addition, Esper owns and operates his own production company, Stories in Motion. Esper’s most recent film, Michael Solace, follows a neurotic writer who desperately tries to protect his script from malicious studio executives. The film has been selected for several festivals and will screen at the Dead of Winter Horror Film Festival, Spring Lane Film Festival, New Bedford Film Festival, and Jersey Shore Film Festival.
How would you describe your childhood, growing up in New Jersey?
I had a loving and fun upbringing in New Jersey with my family and friends. I look back on it with great nostalgia. I did have my share of challenges with allergies, which could leave me sick in one way or another. I was also a somewhat sensitive and nervous child, which came with anxiety. So, movies, in a way, were my safe place. I was escaping reality for two hours, and wanted to remain in the world of the story. My fondest memories include going to the video store and renting movies that captured my imagination. I miss that communal aspect of being at a video store, conversing with the staff, or seeing what others were renting. I was also the kind of kid who loved exploring everything, especially if I saw it in a movie. For example, I had a knack for movies that involved science or scientists. I was fascinated by seeing big laboratories, test tubes, the flowing chemicals, and the like. There was a time I thought I wanted to be a scientist. I had a little science kit where I would use food coloring and water to make “formulas.” In other instances, I was also kind of a ham and loved making people laugh. So, there was a time I thought I wanted to be an actor and comedian. I did an acting class at age 10 and used to tell jokes at family parties. What I was actually reacting to, I believe, was not those careers, but rather the fantasy that was created within the movies I loved.
Were there any formative experiences as a child that shaped your passion for film?
There were several formative experiences. The one major event was when I was 10, and I wrote a screenplay. At least the best a 10-year-old could do. This was at a time when DVD’s were just becoming a household thing. The first DVD I ever got was Ghostbusters. Because it was both a comedy and a science fiction movie, I felt as if it was made for me. That was also the first time I had seen special features, which included behind-the-scenes featurettes and the like. I came to understand the process of filmmaking, what directors do, writers, etc. I had also become familiar with IMDb. Upon looking up Ghostbusters, I noticed that Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis also co-wrote the movie in addition to starring in it. I had no idea one could do both jobs. So, I thought that was both fascinating and interesting. Given this inspiration, I read a producer’s name off the credits of the movie, wrote it down, and mailed my script to Columbia Pictures. Of course, I had no idea this wasn’t how the business worked. While the script was sent back to me (I think I had the wrong information), it was fun to fulfill the idea of getting a movie made at a young age. From then on, I was hooked.
When I was in my teens, I was in the drama club in high school. I also tried my hand at stand-up comedy at age 17. So, I was on the path to wanting to be in front of the camera or on stage. At the same time, I was becoming a movie buff and seeing anything I could get my hands on. One such film was Raging Bull. I saw that one at age 16, I believe. I recall wanting to see it because I had seen Rocky not long before and became a big fan. Raging Bull was different, though. It was the first movie to teach me that filmmaking was an art. I loved the cinematography, editing, and acting. I was also fascinated by hearing Scorsese talk about his intentions with the film and his choices. It was from that point on that I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker.
You started making films from a young age. Do you have any memories of what those early films were, or any lessons you took away from them?
I started making films at around age 17/18. Those early films were not good, but they also shaped my voice as a filmmaker. I was very interested in experimental films, films with little to no dialogue, and films that had a message of some kind. I essentially had what I jokingly call my pretentious phase, where I made films about subjects I cared about, but also high concepts that an 18-year-old wasn’t developed enough to understand. For example, I made a film about the 2008 economic crash, in which a character goes into the shower and the water stops running. Suddenly, money starts raining down in the shower, and the character continues showering without paying attention. It was an attempt to show how the crash was affecting people, yet we kept going about our daily lives. It was certainly very obvious symbolism, but my family and friends were impressed that I made it. Keep in mind that I was also making these films myself. I was the director, actor, and editor. Essentially, I would set up the camera, step in front, and perform the action, then cut and keep going. I then edited in Windows Movie Maker. It’s very laughable to think about it now, but I also see how lessons were learned.
I also made a Charlie Chaplin-inspired film. I played a character who couldn’t get into his home and tried many ridiculous ways to get his door open. This one was a favorite among my family and friends. These films were posted to YouTube. This was when YouTube was in its infancy in 2006/7. I ended up getting to know a few filmmakers, like myself, through doing that. It was a great time of learning the basics while also learning what was important to me as a filmmaker. I also learned the importance of why doing everything yourself doesn’t work.
How did attending the New England Institute of Technology shape your individual voice and process as a director?
The great thing about New England Institute of Technology was that I was using a camera from day one. The first assignment was making a commercial for the school. That one commercial taught me more in a day than I knew about making my films in high school. I learned about the basics of setting your camera’s color temperature, focusing, framing, shooting, editing, etc. I would say my education was more technical than artistic. Although I did have a few classes that really influenced me. I took a film studies class where we watched movies and analyzed them. I also took a documentary filmmaking class where we saw some great cinema verite films, which were really inspiring. I think, however, that my best education came from being on set.
While I was in school, I took every opportunity I could to find internships or to be on set. One such internship was working on an independent feature film where I was assisting with camera, recording sound for some scenes, helping in post-production, etc. I learned a ton from that one experience. That experience also gained me a good friend, Rich Camp. He was the first person to give me true constructive feedback on my work while also giving me opportunities to try my hand at directing comedy sketches he wrote.
While this was all happening, I was finding my voice as a filmmaker. I grew to love surreal filmmaking, absurd humor, and using visuals to say more than what dialogue could.
Who are some of your artistic influences, and how have you balanced incorporating their styles with your own distinctive voice?
As mentioned, upon seeing Raging Bull, I grew to be influenced heavily by Martin Scorsese. I love how he moves the camera, his editing style, and how he works with actors. He’s the total package. What’s even more influential about him is his work in preserving the cinema of the past. So, he’s a student of film through and through, and his influences are seen loud and clear in his work. I can greatly identify with that. He often watches movies and assigns movies to his cast and crew to watch before he makes one. I do the same thing. I find it’s important to know what came before and how to put my own spin on it. For example, in making Michael Solace, the team and I watched Barton Fink, Naked Lunch, and Nosferatu (1922). By watching those, I was able to determine the tone of the film I was making, conceptualize colors, cinematography, editing style, acting, etc.
I’ve also found myself constantly drawn to Francois Truffaut. What I love about him is, like Scorsese, he was a student of cinema as a child and became a film critic before becoming a filmmaker. Yet, despite that, he developed a voice. I find his films very humanistic and warm while also being smartly crafted. His use of freeze frames, while not something I use, taught me to be unafraid of doing something unconventional. Perhaps, though, my favorite movie of his is Day for Night. I find myself watching it before I direct any film as a means of good luck. It’s almost like a filmmaker’s bible, for me. It’s not so much how it’s made, but the story. Truffaut has a great monologue about what it means to be a director that hits to the core.
I also mentioned earlier that I love surreal filmmaking and absurd humor. So, Yorgos Lanthimos, Ari Aster, Darren Aronofsky, and David Cronenberg are also among those influences. I really enjoy how they use visuals, subtextual dialogue, and imagery that says one thing but means something else. Or in some cases, giving commentary on a subject by making the world and setting completely off-kilter. As of late, I would also say movies like The Substance, and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You have made an impact on me as well. Both fall into that same category and were so beautifully made.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention Hitchcock and Kubrick. Both of them also gave me different lessons to admire. I also have to mention Jim Henson, whose work touched me a great deal, not just with The Muppets, but also in movies like The Dark Crystal and his early experimental short films in the 1960’s. Those early films used live action, puppetry, animation, and the like, to tell stories. He was an incredible artist, and I love the mixture of mediums and experimentation.
It took me a while to find my own voice, but I aim for my work to balance visuals and humanistic storytelling, while also creating a world distinct to the story. More importantly, I still feel like a child when I think about or talk about movies. So, I also try to retain the child in me that keeps me passionate and excited. Part of that comes from being very nostalgic about media such as VHS, film, etc. I sometimes will use them in my work. I find it fun to mix those with digital tools.
What kinds of stories do you find yourself drawn to directing, and what specifically attracted you to your most recent short film, Michael Solace?
I find myself drawn to stories that ask questions about individuality and identity. I’m also attracted to stories that have unique ways of asking those questions. Michael Solace hit close to home not only because it was a story about a screenwriter, but also because it was a thrilling commentary about the business today. On top of that, the story wasn’t only relatable to the film business but to any industry, creative or otherwise. I also appreciated the idea that once you create something and release it to the powers that be or the world, is it still yours? Where does the creation end, and the creator begin? To me, the things we create are part of who we are. Michael Solace, I thought, asked that question well.
Kris Salvi is the writer of Michael Solace. You previously directed his scripts for your films Undertaker and Bent. What about Kris’ writing is compelling to you, and how would you describe your collaborative relationship?
Kris is extremely versatile. He acts, writes, and directs. I first worked with him on The Deja Vuers, in which he acted. From there, I started working with him as a director of photography and/or editor on his films. He also taught me to be unafraid of going outside the box. In the case of Bent, it was a chance for me to make a film that was outside my comfort zone. It was a police crime drama. I knew nothing about that world. By that point, I was also making a lot of quirky comedies and light-hearted dramas, so I wanted to flex outside of that and do something gritty. I love film noir, so I was excited to explore that genre. Kris showed me a lot about that world, which did help me. I don’t know how successful I was, but it was a good learning experience. Undertaker spoke to me in volumes. It had the surrealism I loved, the unusual world, and characters. What I loved about it was that it was a story about identity, in a sense. I found I could do a lot with it, both with the actors and visually.
So, Kris’ writing, to me, is reality-based in concept but otherworldly in execution. He can have a dialogue scene between two characters, then suddenly a random character appears and speaks unusually. On the surface, it may not make sense, but when you look at the whole package, it suddenly has meaning. It’s also how I like to write from time to time.
Michael Solace was actually going to be directed by somebody else before I came along. That director was in pre-production and had to shelve it. So, Kris asked me if I would be interested in making it. Upon reading it, I knew I had to. It felt like something I would write, and also would want to watch. Kris is good about working together and taking feedback. So, he and I talked a lot about the aim of the story and what certain scenes mean to each other. Kris and I sometimes drive each other crazy and don’t always agree, but that’s a good thing. We challenge each other.
What experiences or lessons did you take from directing your previous short films – such as Distant Memories or The Deja Vuers – that you applied to Michael Solace?
I take away loads of lessons from each film. In the case of The Deja Vuers, I learned a lot about working with actors and what they need from a director. In the case of Distant Memories, I learned a lot, or at least was reminded, about the importance of collaboration with the crew. My two co-producers on that film, Lisa Wynn and Tom Mariano, were instrumental in making that film more powerful. My first rough cut had moments, but it was lacking the punch it needed. So, they lobbied strongly to get more shots. That suggestion elevated the film to be much stronger. We spent an extra day getting more material that truly made it more impactful.
So in the case of Michael Solace, I had a great team. It was probably one of the largest crews I ever had, which is scary at first. However, everyone is in support of what you’re doing, and they have ideas like everyone else. So, being a director is not living in a vacuum where you have to have all the amazing ideas. So, I encourage filmmakers to listen to every idea. You can always say no, but if you don’t hear it out, you may be missing out on a great idea. I would say I applied that a lot to making this film.
What was the most rewarding and challenging part of directing Michael Solace?
The most rewarding part of making Michael Solace was seeing roughly 95% percent of my vision coming to life. Often, as an independent filmmaker, you’re forced to make sacrifices or compromises, but it was amazing to see that I was able to get the majority of my vision. The most challenging part of making the film was all the curveballs thrown our way. In pre-production, some crew members had to back out due to scheduling conflicts, and new locations had to be locked down. During the cemetery scene, we were shooting at night in a location that was tricky. We battled draining batteries and light rain. On top of that, I had come down with COVID after two days of shooting. Naturally, we stopped production until I was well again. Thankfully, no one else got sick, but it certainly was a challenge. That being said, that time off allowed me to view footage, start editing, and evaluate what could be done next. So, it was actually a blessing in disguise to take my time and think about what I was making.
The world of Michael Solace feels very unique. What conversations did you have with your crew – such as your Director of Photography, John Westcott – to craft this distinctive style?
As I mentioned, I had assigned the cast and crew movies to watch as homework. We used these films as inspiration for how to approach the acting, production design, cinematography, and editing style. I also designed a lookbook which had all this information. I think every new project has its own vocabulary and can’t be the same as the last. So, I try to see what I can do to fall within my style while also not repeating myself. One of the things we took away from our conversations was that while the story was set in a contemporary time, I wanted the main characters and overall setting to feel like they were outside of reality and maybe even stuck in another period. For example, my production designer, Gabrielle Rosson, and I made the characters dress in formal outfits, and also just a touch vintage. Likewise, we kept the colors of our sets in the realm of reds, golds, browns, and blacks for the most part to give it a touch of the 1940’s and 1950’s.
Likewise, in talking with John about the cinematography, I knew I wanted the camera to express Michael’s headspace. So, I was anxious to have the camera move, whip pan, and track to get that across. Likewise, we talked about the lighting design being naturalistic in daylight scenes, but aiming for high contrast, low-key lighting in night scenes, as well as the hotel scene at the end.
One of the key ideas I had was the demon masks. In the script, it didn’t specify what the masks looked like. So, I had the idea to make the masks out of screenplays and pieced them together as papier mache. I also wanted each mask to represent different genres, such as drama, comedy, period piece, sci-fi, etc. So, I worked closely with Gabby and also our art director, Christian Sherman, on the colors and what they should look like. Christian designed and built them. If you look closely, you can actually see little pieces of paper on the masks that say, “Written by Kris Salvi” and “Written by Chris Esper.” So, Kris and I used pieces of our own screenplays to make the masks.
Justin Thibault’s performance as Michael Solace feels in tune with the larger sense of anxiety and neurosis throughout the film. What were the conversations you two had – or the directions you gave him – to craft this performance?
Justin is an extremely talented guy. He’s always very prepared and always has surprises during takes. I always find myself marveling at his performance on set. He wrote a biography of Michael, which showed a lot of where his anxiety and neurosis came from. He also tried his hand at writing a screenplay to get into the mindset of a writer. We talked a lot about who Michael is, what he’s anxious about, and why. Justin and I also thought of Nicholas Cage’s performance in Adaptation. So, we used that as a basis as well in crafting his performance.
You own and operate your own production company, Stories in Motion. What was the inspiration for creating the company, and what kind of projects do you see in the company’s future?
The inspiration for creating Stories in Motion was that I wanted to have a brand associated with the films I make. Outside of making films, I also produce content for businesses, corporate videos, music videos, and the like. Before that, I was only using my name to brand myself, but after a while, I felt that I needed something that said exactly what I do. I love storytelling and movies, so the name felt appropriate. The name also came from the idea that storytelling has been around for thousands, if not millions, of years. Stories were always around, but the medium in which they’re told was, and is, ever evolving. Cinema also began with still images moving in devices like zoetropes and nickelodeons. So, I was fascinated by that idea of using motion to create emotion.
I see myself continuing to make short films, but very anxious to dive into feature films. I have shot a feature and produced one, but have yet to direct one. I do have a few features I wrote that I am endeavoring to make. So, I’m hoping that is the next step.
Now an experienced director with several short films under his belt, what advice would you give to your younger self, who has just received his first camera?
I love that question. I would tell my younger self not to be afraid to fail and to fail with a smile. I would also say to have fun and not take filmmaking so seriously. One should be serious about it, but have fun doing so. Making films is one of the greatest joys in the world, so by being overly serious, you take away the core passion that started it. I still have to remind myself of this even at my age. Still, learning never stops. I’m always going to be a student of film before anything else. That’s what keeps me growing.
