-Who is Michael Meyers?
I’m a playwright, screenwriter, musician, and former standup comedian raising a family in the northwest of the United States. I primarily write grounded, character-driven stories that find comedy in the dramatic and seek heart where there is suffering. I think the power of friendship is underrated and the satisfaction of affluence is overrated. And I think music is a universal tonic for pain.
-Do you remember the exact moment you fell in love with cinema?
Before I was a teenager I attended a Halloween screening of the 1925 silent classic Phantom of the Opera with Lon Chaney. It was a full house, and the picture was shown in a deteriorating movie palace built in 1928. Included was a live organ accompanist playing the original score. The dynamic combination of being in the dark with a community of strangers and sharing a story, its sight and sounds in a magical setting left a powerful impression and inspired my first “film studio,” LCII productions, where I created rudimentary short stop-motion productions.
-Tell us about your project “The Iditarod Band”.
The Iditarod Band is drawn from my experience in Alaska in the 1980’s. My friends and I were young and eager to discover our places in the world. I was a fish out of water, a man who neither fished nor hunted, a cheechako with a guitar. But through music I found my people, and they were not who I expected. My female friends were pioneers, members of an early generation of women untethering themselves from matrimonial expectations. And we were witnessing a sea change in the culture when, starting in 1985, for the first time a woman won the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. They won four years in a row, and it seemed to us anything was possible. The Iditarod Band captures the hope of youth, the magic of friendships and the faithful nurturing of dreams that define who we become.
-Which Director inspires you the most?
Tough question: I love films of the 50’s and 60’s and there are half a dozen directors in particular who coaxed extraordinary performance from their talent. But if I had to choose it would be Billy Wilder. His portfolio is an extraordinary compilation of comedies, histories and dramas, a range as rich as Shakespeare’s, assembled while collaborating with the greatest acting talents and their egos for over half a century.
-What do you dislike about the world and what would you change?
I dislike how cruelty, indifference to suffering and apathy have been normalized as a creed. I believe if folks simply asked themselves “Why?” about their choices, then drilled down on the values underlying their answers, they would become more thoughtful, considerate, generous, and understanding of other living things in this world.
-How do you imagine cinema in 100 years?
The ability to create and share visual stories will likely be easier as technology simplifies filmmaking and begets a hundred million auteurs. But I hope what is sustained is the experience of going to a place, a cinema, and sharing a compelling, emotionally engaging drama, or a hilarious misadventure. The collective experience of being in the dark and sharing an unfolding event with others is a core element of cinema. It is a place and an immersive experience with strangers brought together by a common hunger. It is a modern version of tribal storytelling shared around a fire. Conversely, what we watch on TV, laptops or our phones is not, in my opinion, cinema. It is its own thing.
-What is your impression of WILD FILMMAKER?
First, it’s such an honor to be invited to share my thoughts about my work and about cinema. WILD FILMMAKER seems to celebrate both the artistic giants of the cinema as well as the aspirants using film and storytelling to chronicle our modern lives and our desperate efforts to make emotional connections with anyone in an increasingly disconnected and shrinking world. It is a forum that invites discussion of how we can tell timeless, unfiltered stories without gatekeepers collecting tickets.
