Set in Brooklyn in the very near future, Benjamin Dickinson’s Creative Control, filmed in glorious black-and-white, shines a spotlight on our addictive and complex relationship with technology. Turns out the glorious technological advances and communication devices of the near future that are meant to increase connectivity and alleviate boredom are only increasing the anxiety level of the insecure New Yorkers who’ve inherited them. David (writer/director Benjamin Dickinson) is an overworked, tech-addled advertising executive developing a high-profile marketing campaign featuring musician and comedian Reggie Watts for a new generation of Augmented Reality glasses. Feeling stuck in his relationship with yoga teacher Juliette (Nora Zehetner), he envies the charmed life of his best friend, fashion photographer Wim (Dan Gill) and his entrancing girlfriend Sophie (Alexia Rasmussen) — so he uses the glasses to develop a life-like avatar of her. Unwittingly, fantasy and reality begin to blur. As passions escalate and things get increasingly out of hand, the friends are forced to deal with the impending collision between their public, private, and imaginary lives. I sat down with Benjamin Dickinson and Reggie Watts to discuss this fun, creative, and possibly prescient film.
Danny Miller: Benjamin, I admire the restraint you used in telling this story — it could have so easily lapsed into parody.
Benjamin Dickinson: I don’t think my mind works in a way that could produce parody — I’m just too serious a person! I always thought of this film as being grounded in an emotional reality for the characters and I felt the humor would come from stepping back and seeing how absurd they are.
And, of course, the reality of how some people interact with technology has already reached a certain level of ridiculousness.
Exactly, that’s what I mean! You don’t even need to exaggerate it much. I’ve had the experience of sitting in pre-production meetings for commercials I was working on and thinking that if someone filmed what was going on during the meeting no one would believe it. They would think you’re making it up, it’s too surreal and absurd.
Reggie, your contributions to the film as “yourself” are brilliant. I assume Benjamin gave you fairly free rein to come up with your piece?
Reggie Watts: Yeah, definitely. It was such a pleasure working on this film with him — I’ve been in a few other films but this is the the first movie I’ve been a real part of where what my character does affects other characters so it was such an honor to be asked. And the content was so up my alley — issues of using technology in some kind of obtuse artistic way is definitely in my wheelhouse. Ben knows how I like to work so I knew it was going to be a lot of fun. And yes, I was allowed to interpret what the character (who has my name, after all) was going to do.
I loved what you did because there was a balance of crazy stuff that makes you go, “Huh?!” with things that are very interesting. If your whole piece was just insane, it would have been very different.
I think it really captured what my character and other people in my position tend to experience, especially in places like New York — this idea of “taste makers” or people who get hired to do stuff just because other people are talking about them or they have some kind of social media presence even though they’re not really the best person for the gig.
It made me start thinking that maybe true innovation always includes a little bit of what we normally consider “crazy” behavior or ideas. It’s an interesting balance.
Yes. And there’s a realization that I’m having right now that within the idea of “creative control” that Ben’s character is seeking is the idea that he grants an almost irresponsible level of creative control to my character. And the result of that act completely mirrors his own downward spiral.
Benjamin Dickinson: That’s exactly right! When my character has to sit in that conference room watching this nightmare thing that Reggie made, it’s literally the moment where he realizes exactly what he’s been doing and how bad his decisions were.
I felt a weird dichotomy of feelings — thinking that these people needed to let go of this technology that was taking over their lives while at the same time wanting those cool clear phones and computers you have in the film more than anything in the world — not to mention those amazing Augmenta glasses!
I know! That’s the tension of it — we wanted to make the technology in the movie sexy because technology IS awesome. And, you know, I think augmented reality glasses will be here sooner than we think. Reggie and I just got to see a prototype last Saturday.
I can’t even imagine the appeal of wearing glasses that automatically give you info about anyone you see on the street — their name, bio, net worth, IMDB credits—
Yeah. We already look at each other through this kind of social status feudalism, that kind of technology will just magnify it.
Reggie Watts: It’s almost like we want to overdose on the technology.
Benjamin Dickinson: Right. Like we want to overuse it until we hit rock bottom because once you’re at rock bottom you can finally start to make a change.
And then we may find that some things, like this virtual woman your character creates, are ultimately empty and unsatisfying.
Exactly. That’s what the movie is about — this guy just turning up the volume on his addiction to technology, to drugs, to isolating himself from people, and even to his addiction to creativity. He’s turning it up so that he can crash, destroy everything, and then realize who he is.
Reggie Watts: At a terrible cost to everyone around him, of course!
Part of me was so relieved when David seemed to come to his senses and I was so happy that he was just going to go off with Juliette and be in nature, but then when the company calls him, I’m thinking, “Ooh, what a great opportunity! Go back to the corporation!” It kind of tormented me that I had that immediate reaction.
Benjamin Dickinson: Good, then it worked! I wanted to make the audience complicit in David’s plight.
Thanks for making me so uncomfortable with myself!
(Laughs.) It’s good to be uncomfortable. Hopefully it’s also cathartic and gives people a sense of agency to make different choices. And I hope it will let them see that some of the conflicts they’re going through in their lives are not just happening to them, that everyone is dealing with these questions.
Speaking of “creative control,” I loved the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography and kept thinking that if this had been a studio film you would have had everyone at the studio trying to talk you out of that.
Oh, they absolutely would have!
Can you imagine working within that world?
I do think about what it would be like to be in the studio system and have that kind of access. But I know myself well enough to know that if I’m not expressing what’s important to me, I’m going to be very unhappy and I’ll be unable to contribute anything to anyone’s life including my own. So I think some of the “shininess” of that is dulled for me as I get older.
Some of the Holy Grails start to seem less holy.
Reggie Watts: When I’m involved in something, I try to set expectations of how I like to work early on. But I also know that when I’m in the actual situation, I will have a lot of alarms going off if it starts to go in a direction that I can’t work in. I love to collaborate, but if something is really going against my sensibilities, I’d rather bow out. Part of my job is to protect my intuitive connection to my creativity.
I remember talking to Brit Marling once and she said her secret was to keep her overhead really low so she never feels like she has to do anything she doesn’t want to do.
Benjamin Dickinson: That’s very smart! She’s thinking of what her actual needs are rather than projecting someone else’s vision of “success.” Our needs as mammals are really pretty simple: You need to eat some good food, get laid, and have some shelter.
Reggie Watts: You can live a pretty rich life with very little.
Benjamin Dickinson: I agree. If I feel like my basic values are being respected then I feel comfortable collaborating. I love getting notes — I don’t have a thing where I think I’m always right. I love getting notes from producers, I love fighting with my cinematographer and editor.
Do you think you could do all that on a $300 million Marvel film?
It’s possible but I would have to be established as a director at a much higher level than I am now to have that kind of influence. It’s about being in service of something that I feel ethically works for me.