Delusions of Love Trailer from Brandon Hall on Vimeo.
An interview with Brandon Hall, director and producer of Delusions of Love. This film will have its Mississippi premiere at Crossroads 2012.
Q: Besides your own work (of course!), what film(s) you always recommend to friends?
A: A lot of my favorite films are pretty well known and I feel like most people have already formed an opinion on them one way or another. When it comes to turning my peers on to films they may not have seen, I usually find myself pushing All That Jazz, Singing in the Rain, Punch Drunk Love, The Squid and the Whale, and It Happened One Night, the greatest romantic comedy of all time, by the way. Not that those films are all that esoteric. I just love them, and in talking about them ad nauseam, I seem to continue to run into people who haven't seen them. (At which point I schedule an emergency viewing at my apartment.)
Q: What books/music/ideas/ art/individuals have been most influential on your work?
A: William Faulkner and many of the American modern novelists of the early 20th Century are a big influence; also the plays of Arthur Miller and Suzan Lori Parks. I'm fascinated by untrustworthy narrators and the psychological machinations a person goes through to justify selfish or evil deeds. Also, how we can punish ourselves with an almost infinite consistency.
Q: What type of person do you imagine makes up the audience for your film screening at Crossroads?
A: Man, I don't know. Is this asking “who is my ideal audience,” or “who do I think comes to the Crossroads Film Festival?” As for the former, anyone who likes to laugh and can understand what it's like to be hurt by someone they love should be able to relate to my film, odd as it is. In regards to the latter, I don't know. I've never been to Jackson, Miss. But they're coming to a film festival, so I imagine they're my kind of people – thoughtful, curious, and bored.
Q: If you’re not from Mississippi and have never visited, what comes to mind when you think of Mississippi?
A: I think about the fact that my Grandfather, Herschel Hendrix, for whom my production company is named, attended and taught at Ole Miss and used to have afternoon coffee with William Faulkner, I think when his daughter was attending there...I'm not sure of the specifics of the story. It comes secondhand from my mother.
Q: Name the first three famous Mississippians that come to mind:
A: Should I go for the Faulkner trifecta? I really feel like this all sounds like pandering. I really do love the man's writing and that's what I think about when I think of Mississippi. Forgive me. The other Mississippians I think of off the top of my head are...Muddy Waters and Tennessee Williams. They were from Mississippi, right? Hold on. Let me check Wikipedia...yes. Mississippi. Nailed it. I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now.
Q: What Southern food are you most looking forward to eating while in Mississippi?
A: I don't know. What's on the menu?
Q: In 50 words or less: what is Delusions of Love about?
A: A young man with OCD is hilariously forced to deal with a slovenly roommate, his loser social life, and 19th century formal wear.
Actor Alem Brhan Sapp attended Tougaloo College. You can meet and chat with Brandon Hall after watching the Mississippi premiere of Delusions of Love in Shorts 10: Funny in Any Language at 4/15/2012 @ 3:45 PM (Screen A). Short Narrative (21 min.), Dir. Brandon Hall, prod. Brandon Hall, Natalie Baker Brooklyn, NY.
