Interview: Kevin Desmond

This article is a formula. The movie you are probably going to see this weekend is a formula. If you have a newborn baby, you will probably feed him or her some formula. That Top 40 song you just heard on the radio? Yep, it is probably a formula too. Did you order a tall latte from Starbucks this morning? You certainly do not think that caffeinated beverage was made specifically for you just because it had your name on the cup, did you?

Oh wait, in the wise words of Shrek, “Hold the phone!” Okay, that was a figure of speech; you did not really have to hold the phone –- especially if Kevin Desmond is on the line. In fact, if that really is Kevin who just rang, be sure to talk to him, for he is quite the refreshing conversationalist, not to mention a filmmaker who shies away from anything formulaic. So I guess he will not be reading this article just before he leaves his Hollywood apartment to go watch that movie starring Justin Timberlake.

All joking aside, the aspiring Indian-American producer and filmmaker is back in Hollywood after a brief absence and hopes to plant seeds of change in the way American cinema is made. He is tired of the everyday formula, thinking all films are just mass-produced like a Toyota Camry off an assembly line in Kentucky. Sure, the Camry is affordable, reliable and now made in factories throughout the United States, providing key jobs in the Deep South. Yet Desmond wants to aim for that Porsche or Lamborghini, and he wants everyone to hop in for a ride.

“American filmmaking is very straight arrow. Everyone follows a formula,” Desmond told Buzzine in an exclusive interview during a recent film festival. “Bollywood kind of follows that same idea, but it’s in a different league. They are much more into fantasy. Every time Bollywood tries to do something different, no one watches it.”

Okay, so Desmond watches both Hollywood and Bollywood movies. After all, he was born in India and spent the first 12 years of his life there. As he was growing up, he would regularly catch the latest movies or stage shows with his grandfather, who himself has a bit of an acting career. While he came to New York City just in time for his teen years, Desmond has made several return trips to his homeland, so he definitely has something to say about the way films are made in the world’s two largest movie industries.

“Everything here is formulaic,” Desmond said, alluding to the fact that American studios rarely take risks nowadays, unlike their counterparts across the Atlantic Pond. “Sometimes you have to do that. But in Europe, for example, most of the movies are challenging. They don’t do the formulaic thing. They go the extra step or the extra mile and say something extra with the film. They give the actor a little more leeway to work.”

It is that same leeway Desmond wants as a filmmaker, hoping to use his creative freedom to challenge moviegoers and break away from the norms of modern cinematic production.

“I’m trying to get away from (exclusively) Indian projects altogether,” he said. “What I’m trying to do is mix Indian culture into American culture. Every time you see an Indian movie, you always say, ‘It’s too Indian,’ or ‘It’s too this,’ or ‘It’s too that.’ It’s the same jokes over and over again.

“What I want to do is make a movie where you cannot differentiate between an Indian movie or an American movie. We’re all one.”

Visions of unity abound; Desmond sees such a unitary message essential to challenge stereotypes American movies have about the cultures represented both here at home and abroad, especially for Indian-Americans in light of the recent success of Slumdog Millionaire.

“We (as Indian-Americans) have become so integrated into the culture now, but when we make just an Indian movie, it’s like we haven’t been fully immersed,” Desmond candidly told Buzzine. “We’re a part of this (American) culture so much, people just don’t realize it. The ignorance is too much. You can mix the boat -– it doesn’t always have to be one or the other.”

To that end, he is currently working on a project where a married man, played by an Indian lead, falls in love again with another woman and is forced to figure out how to deal with it and confront the moral and ethical issues.

“It’s universal. It’s a social thing,” the producer of Film 101 said of the issues dealt with in his upcoming project, adding that many ethical and moral questions transcend cultural boundaries. “We live in an environment where people say, ‘This is the way it’s supposed to be.’ But I’m asking ‘Why?’ Just because people tell you something, don’t always take it at face value. Don’t do things just because people say something. That’s the point of this movie.

“I’m trying to respond and drive social issues at the same time.”

Both driving and responding to social issues is exactly the direction Desmond hopes American cinema will eventually take. Sure, moviegoers need to be entertained and there must be a character people can root for, all while getting lost in the film. Yet, for Desmond, there is still a way to balance both entertainment and purpose.

“Here, you’ve got to give everyone both,” the filmmaker candidly said. “You have to make a good movie, but you have to bring that depth.”

A few films have brought that depth, Desmond believes, including a few international projects. Yet, what worries the Indian-American producer is whether moviegoers here will actually break past the stereotypes and instead seek out cultural enlightenment on their own terms.

“I don’t think Americans have got to the point where it can embrace other cultures without being spoon-fed,” he said. “Like Pan’s Labyrinth, it was made out as a work of genius, and people must watch it. It was a great movie, but Spain has so many other good movies, but people only saw it because of the marketing, not because they necessarily sought out a great movie.”

Ultimately, while following the formula appears to be the norm right now, Desmond does believe a great film is ultimately determined by those working on set, not by the studio suits sitting in some luxury high-rise building or some modern chic loft in downtown Los Angeles’s Fashion District.

“You never know what’s going to hit, but if directors, filmmakers and actors are true to what they are doing and they believe in the story, that’s what works.”

For now, Desmond hopes he continues to work as a producer. With three films –- Film 101, Shadow Phantom, and Anything for You -– already under his belt, Desmond certainly hopes to continue pushing the envelope and challenging moviegoers both in the United States and abroad.