TrianglE

(Directed by Michael O'Connell)

"Triangle" is a short film by Michael O'Connell. As a writer and director, O'Connell has a penchant for surrealism and striking surrealist imagery. "Triangle" is his first foray into absurdist film, so far as I know, and I keep waiting for the next.

It was the last thing we filmed together before Bird and I left for Maine, and probably the most fun I'd had shooting anything up to that point, Marlon excluded. As a creative person, you run into certain people who you just fall immediately into sync with: people on your wavelength. O'Connell is one of those people, for me.

He emailed me a script--good and loose, with lots of room for improvisation--and I'm pretty sure we shot "Triangle" just a few days later. O'Connell's sets are always so much fun to be on. He has a vision, and he's utterly professional if that's what you need, but he leaves everything on the table for his actors, with plenty of room to improvise. We came up with the absurdist pan/egg routine a few minutes before the shoot, and when I asked between shots if I could throw the music stand at him in a rage, Mike just laughed and moved the triangle to his other hand to protect his face if need be. I came up with the voice on the way to the shoot: O'Connell and I had been watching Killer Joe the night before, and, spitballing, decided it would be funny to do a bastardized McConaughey.... I wonder sometimes if he has always been so simpatico with improv, or if Ryan Sitzberger and I broke him.

The music stand, pan, butter, and actual egg are mine. Any and all excellence is Mike's.