Prior to the world premiere of Fernando Andrés latest film, Rent Free, I got a chance to sit down with him and co-lead/producer Jacob Roberts to discuss the film. Andrés is one of the more exciting contemporary filmmakers to pop up on the scene recently. And the reason? Because he’s one of few who so perfectly captures the contemporary worries and anxieties of life. Through humor and honesty, Rent Free gets to the heart of modern society for young adults in ways that will make many viewers feel incredibly seen. That’s incredibly powerful, so to get to speak with the two regarding these topics and more was a true pleasure. Enjoy the conversation, check out my full review of the film right here, and most importantly, enjoy Rent Free!
Alex Papaioannou: So obviously, we spoke about your last feature, Three Headed Beast, when it premiered. What I admired so much about that film is that it’s very quiet and very slow moving. And your new film, Rent Free, is a pretty significant shift in style and tone. Can you talk about what encouraged you to make that shift? And how did you handle work on set differently, if at all?
Fernando Andrés: Well, I think that none of it is ever calculated. You know, I’m drawn to so many different kinds of movies, and I always trust that there will be some connective tissue. So, it just depends on the film. For this one, it was the comfort and reliability of a buddy comedy; A thing that I feel was very popular in the aughts. So I was thinking, what if there was a way to use that comfort and that simplicity of a buddy comedy, and use it to tackle some pretty complicated issues that I’m thinking about all the time: queer male friendship, or the incredible anxiety and insecurity of trying to make it work in cities that are becoming increasingly unlivable. And, yeah, that was just how I thought of it. Just thinking about films as concepts and ideas, and then following it as it goes. The first one was the first one, and this one is this one. But then, of course, there’s the reality of making it. All the cliches are true. Comedies are hard! They are really hard to make. They require incredible focus on tone and pacing. And when you have such a large cast, everyone has to be kind of on the same page. And if people are acting in different movies, you have to make sure that those different movie performances still gel together. Because I think it’s a little too much to expect everyone to be in the same movie. But I think that, in the end, we ended up with a pretty cohesive and complementary tapestry of actors, styles of acting, and comedy. So I think that was a big task. Just realizing that this is a comedy. Three Headed Beast was a lot about physicality and body language, and that stuff is still present in Rent Free. So we have to make sure that there’s a lot of intentional blocking and intentional visual language on top of all the dialogue.
AP: Speaking of going from project to project! Jacob, you worked with Fernando on his recent short film.
Jacob Roberts: Yeah!
AP: So can you talk about your relationship together, as well as if you pulled anything from that experience into working on a feature film with him?
JR: Well, Fernando and I met about two years ago… Even though it feels like it’s been longer. We met at a festival in Los Angeles where I had my short film, Half, playing, and he had Three Headed Beast there. We saw each other’s work. We hit it off. We were going to all these parties at the festival together. It was kind of like an instant friendship. We kept in shockingly close touch given the fact that I live in LA and he lives in Austin. And then I was coming to Austin for Austin Film Festival with Half, and Fernando texted me a week before the festival. I was going to come and crash on his couch. And he texted me, “Oh, I wish we were the kind of people who would make something while you were here in Austin.” And then I was like, “Well, why don’t we be those types of people?” So then we were throwing around ideas for a short. And I came up with this idea about a roommate who eavesdrops on his roommates therapy sessions, and becomes obsessed with one of the patients. So I wrote a first draft. Fernando rewrote it. And then that week we shot it. We wrote it and shot it in the span of 10 days. I mean, do you want to talk about that?
FA: Yeah! If you include the conception and the editing, I think you could condense it all to being a two or three week process. So I think we were like, “Okay. If we can dream up and finish a short in two weeks, we could do that for a feature.” So that definitely helped us. And it also unfortunately got me to make another film like Three Headed Beast… I mean fortunately! [Laughs.] I only say unfortunately because of how hard it is when gathering a small team of collaborators and making an ambitious film. I think once you finish a film like that, you’re like, “Never again.” And I think with this one, it was proof that we could do it again. And we could do it bigger, and in a much different style.
JR: And I think with Knowing Me, Knowing You, the collaboration of co-writing, co-directing, and co-producing led very naturally into my decision. When Fernando said “Hey, I’m writing this role for you, and do you also want to produce the film?”, it was so easy for me to say yes. It was also scary, of course, because I did know what I was coming onto. I knew that I was coming onto something that was going to be a lot of work. It was going to be very fast paced. It was going to be both very thought-out and very spontaneous. So it was scary. But I had the confidence from having worked with him on that short. And feeling so proud of what we made together so quickly with that film, I was ready to jump in.
AP: And how long was this shoot?
FA: 30 days.
JR: 27 shooting days in Austin and three shooting days in New York City.
FA: And I mean, everyone says it, but, yeah, it’s never enough. It could have been double that, and it wouldn’t have been enough.
JR: It was enough! [Laughs.]
FA: That’s the producer talking!
AP: [We all laugh.]
FA: It was 30 very full days. They say the thing about feature films is that they’re like summer camp. And this definitely felt like an extended filmmaking summer boot camp.
AP: Jacob, you mentioned you’re from LA. And Fernando, I know you’re Austin-based. I’m from New York City. These are the three seemingly most expensive and creative cities in the country. And a lot of this film talks about a major shift in Austin culture. Specifically, it addresses how a lot of creatives are either leaving, or are being forced out of Austin. So I’m curious. For both LA and Austin, can you talk about your feelings on what’s happening in these cities that, like you said, are now becoming unlivable due to price or a shift in culture?
FA: Of course. I feel a lot of things about that. And I think a lot of things about that. That’s a very complicated issue, and there are many people that are better at talking about it than me. What I will say is that you hit the nail on the head with there being a shift. I think the view of the culture in Austin is lagging a little bit with the days of what they used to call the velvet couch. Like it used to be, you could just get there, and there’s all the cheap beer, the cheap food, the cheap rent. And creatives could just go and relax, and it leads to movies like Slacker. You know, a masterpiece, but a movie about a bunch of creative, artsy people just roaming around… And of course, that’s just a very Gen X sentiment too, so it’s not just an Austin thing. But the shift now is that it’s becoming the same as a city like New York or LA, where there’s just an influx of tech money and people are moving in from those very cities. And they’re just kind of terraforming Austin into something that more closely resembles those cities. And it’s sad. So is Austin just another city now? It loses its culture. When it becomes that untenable and that anxiety-inducing, there’s a hope that something might be better in New York or LA and to just look for a fresh start. Those cities also have more of a defined identity. So I think that’s what Austin’s struggling with right now. It’s an identity crisis. There are just large swaths of Austin that are feeling like LA-lite. You know, I have a friend who put it nicely by saying that Austin has started to feel like an Austin-themed city.
AP: Jacob, with you being from LA, and your character wanting so desperately to be in his New York era; What would you say is the allure to New York?
JR: Well, I grew up in Washington, D.C. And New York was always, you know, a three and a half, maybe four hour drive away. Five hours if you hit the wrong traffic. I grew up seeing New York as this fundamentally more exciting, promising, glamorous, cultural sort of destination. I always envisioned myself living in New York City. I think that people’s reasons for that desire are different. I think some of the mythology of the city just comes from its density. The density of culture that comes with the density of people. And I think another part of it is present in this film. There’s this fantasy that the main characters have, where they think, “We’re going to be able to accomplish this New York on-the-cheap version of the city.” And that’s what the whole opening montage is. And I think that Ben [Jacob’s character] has this idea that he’s going to be able to live that same day over and over again in New York. And he sort of learns that’s not true towards the beginning of the film. But Ben is not a person who learns his lessons very well. So I think through to the end of the film, he still has that same fantasy. It’s this idea of New York being the haven for a kind of creative, restless soul, which is kind of shown as a lie by the realities of living there. Artists are being pushed out because it’s a very tough place to live without the safety net of wealth.
AP: If only every day here could be like that all-day free experience. [We all laugh.] So obviously, rent plays a large part in this film. And we all know what rent means in the very literal sense, but for both of you, how would you describe it symbolically in the film?
JR: Obviously, in the film, it comes to take on sort of an outsized significance. And there’s a reason that the rent is displayed on-screen in each setting. It allows the audience to orient themselves in this reality that is so controlled and so dictated by two questions: What does it cost? And can you pay that cost? And that question of money influences these characters: their interactions, their dynamics, their personalities. I think that’s one of the big significances that rent has in the film for me.
FA: Exactly. We present the context for each chapter of the film. They’re chapter headings, and they’re the inescapable confines of the settings the characters are in. As the viewer keeps watching, they’ll slowly realize that it softly dictates how the characters within those apartments or houses act towards the main characters. From how they treat each other, to how they discuss money and everything else. I think it just kind of defines everything. It’s an overarching thing, even if it’s never directly addressed. I want to make sure that the audience knows the film is presenting it to you, for you to make your own conclusions.
JR: And I think money plays a role in their friendship. Class and class privilege too. I think you start to see that come out more as the film goes along. And I would also say, from a symbolic stance, they’ve been trying to go through this relationship rent free with each other. And a lot of rent is due by the end of the film. [We all laugh.]
AP: Without giving away anything about the end of the film, there’s one sequence where somebody says, “You can’t live in one place forever.” And I thought that was really fascinating, especially having lived in one place my whole life. So do you think that’s true?
FA: It’s funny, because that line is in this drunken riffing. They’re just joking around with each other. And Ben is making a joke about how he just wants to live in one house like they did before the Depression.
JR: And he’s total bullshit, he doesn’t know anything about the Depression. [We all laugh.]
FA: But yeah, the whole movie is that. There’s Ben with his flighty and fanciful way of looking at the world, and his being met with reality. And as for that quote. I live in Austin, and I want to live there for the rest of my life. I know that my work will take me wherever it’ll take me, but I know that Austin will always be home.
JR: It’s very hot!
FA: Yes, it’s very hot and humid. But hey, the whole world is going that way. [We laugh.]
FA: But it just depends on the person. What ties you to your home, you know? If you’re like me, and you have family, and you have a partner and your own friends that keep you tied to a place, that’s one thing. But then there’s people that are seeking their own family, or they’re seeking their own meaning in life, and that can take them wherever. I think it’s just what defines home for you.
