Worm - Interview with Dir. Richard Powell & Prod. Zach Green

Robert Nolan as Geoffrey Dodd in Richard Powell's WORM.

Schoolteacher Geoffrey Dodd (Robert Nolan) hardly stands out. He pulls into the school parking lot looking tired and weary. He sits quietly in the teachers' lounge and pays out for the school lottery. He's neither impressive nor incompetent. But Worm takes us inside Geoffrey's head, where every thought contains violence and hatred.

He looks at the faces of his students and savagely imagines their impoverished and lonely futures. He relishes giving low scores, even when undeserved. He mentally mocks their friendships, ideas and ambitions. It's hard to tell who Geoffrey's hatred is meant for, because everything he despises in his students is what he loathes about himself.

One Day, He Snapped
For writer/director Richard Powell, Worm is drawn from a vivid high school memory. In his last year of high school, Powell was sitting in a class where a usually pleasant English teacher discovered most of the class hadn't done the homework. The infuriated teacher threw a chair against a wall. Then he walked out.

"He had a mini-breakdown,” says Powell. “He didn't come back for 40 minutes. That always stuck with me because he was always a nice, cool guy. And then one day, he snapped. But I understand. He's trying to teach us and we're not doing our work. That would be pretty frustrating.”

Geoffrey Dodd isn't a portrait of the English teacher. Instead, Geoffrey represents the idea that there can be a very wide gulf between a person's outward conduct and internal nature. "You only know Geoffrey's insane,” says Powell, “because you can hear his thoughts. If you were sitting across from him, you couldn't tell.”

Without the monologue, Geoffrey appears to be just another man engaging a job he tolerates. With his internal thinking, Geoffrey is a monster, projecting his own failings and weaknesses onto everyone else. He thinks the principal is drunk on her own power, but he's guilty of the same in his classroom. He condemns his co-workers for talking about themselves, but his thoughts of his students reflect only his own anxieties.

“He thinks he's aware of the world,” says Powell, “but he just has assumptions.” The entire film is a process of narrowing the distance between Geoffrey the schoolteacher and Geoffrey the psychopath. “It's just a matter of time,” says Powell. “This character is a hollow exterior with something deep and dark festering inside of him, struggling to break free.”

Inside the Classroom
Worm is a short film from Richard Powell and Zach Green's Fatal Pictures. The two met in film school. They've been together ever since, with Powell writing and directing and Green serving in production and post production. Green's impressive work on Worm includes securing a high school location and populating it with students and teachers.

“I wanted to use an authentic high school,” Green explains, “so we didn't have to bring in props.” It's not a flashy locale, but this setting didn't come cheap. Worm cost $25,000 to make.

“I've been a good saver over the years,” says Green. When not in school or making movies, Green works at the Beer Store and Powell works in an office. They also gratefully accepted contributions from their families even as they put in their own money.

“It's not that we just had $25,000 lying around,” says Powell. “But I honestly believe that if you're not willing to invest in yourself, then no one else should.”

They had the option for shooting digitally with the Red camera; instead, they chose the more troublesome 16mm film. “We love the look of film,” says Green. “We feel nothing matches it.” The result is that Worm has the texture of a documentary. It's grainy-yet-sharp picture can seem like an 80's educational video, which gives Geoffrey's classroom and hallways a gritty sense of reality.

Significant Skill
Worm's best asset is that its moments are infused with significance. Each shot has a clear intent and purpose, something short films and early-stage filmmakers often struggle with. When Geoffrey Dodd sits at his desk, he's trapped in his psychological prison. When he hides behind his briefcase, he's retreating into his private world where he can think his terrible thoughts. When Geoffrey is filmed in a wide shot, he seems anonymous, suggesting his monstrosity could inhabit anybody. Worm could have easily been about violence in a high school and nothing more, but thanks to the skilled writing and direction, it's about the distinction between the external and internal.

Only one question remains. On the day in class that inspired this film, did Richard Powell turn in his homework?

"I was actually one of the ones who did," he says.

"Bullshit!" crows Green.

"No, I did," says Powell. “I wasn't always a great student but by then, I'd buckled down.”

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RELATED LINKS
http://www.fatalpictures.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/WORM/138469812965
http://http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1500273
http://www.myspace.com/wormthemovie

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