Tribeca Film Festival: ‘Jonathan’ Director Bill Oliver Talks Sci-Fi, Hiatuses, and Finding Financing

A lot of people don’t realize this, but making a movie can be an extremely difficult thing. It’s a constantly evolving organism that seems to live and breath on its own. From the dozens of people on the production crew and actors to the nervous producers and suit honchos, a film goes through many stages before it finally hits the silver screen for cinematic enjoyment. It’s a labor of love that filmmakers never blink their eyes at, ready to dive head first to make their artistic vision find its way onto screens everywhere (or more like anywhere).

After many years, it appears that Bill Oliver will finally be able to do just that with his first feature film, Jonathan. Starring Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver) in the titular role, the sci-fi mystery drama has turned heads at the Tribeca Film Festival, with many calling it a refreshing sci-fi festival entry that does not rely on special effects to draw audiences in. Coupled with the presence of the fan-favorite and budding actor Elgort, it seems that Jonathan may find its way past festival screens and indeed in commercial theaters and streaming services sooner rather than later. The Knockturnal was excited to talk to Bill Oliver to discuss his debut feature film, why he decided to go sci-fi, and how he got the film off the ground. Check out what the AFI graduate had to say below.

Bill Oliver: I wish I could say I was traveling the world or something. But sometimes it takes a while. I’ve had a couple other projects that were close to being made. There were a couple of features that were close to getting off the ground and for whatever reason just did not come through. In between, I would direct theater or direct shorts just to keep working. But this is the one that people really responded to—the actors, the financiers. It’s the one that just took hold.

Bill Oliver: I love the story of it. It wasn’t like I set out to do a sci-fi piece. The story just came to me and it happened to have a sci-fi, supernatural element to it. I do love sci-fi though. Some of my favorite movies are sci-fi like Blade Runner and 2001: Space Odyssey. I was excited by the challenge of doing something like that on a much lower budget. And the story allowed me to do that.

Bill Oliver: One of the biggest challenges is time. You always want more time. You have a limited amount of days and you always want more. We had to make compromises sometimes. But some really good things came out of that. It forces you to be more creative.

Bill Oliver: Yes, I think we deliberately wrote it to be like a chamber piece. It could be made on a very small budget if necessary, which is why the cast is so small.

Bill Oliver: There is indeed a bit of mystery to it, but you gradually figure it out towards the beginning of the movie. It’s not like there’s a big reveal at the end. But it’s still something that we wanted. I think part of the fun of watching the film is to figuring out what’s going on.

Jonathan premiered on April 21 at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film is still pursuing distribution.

Director Billy Oliver, Producer Randy Manis, and Actors Shunori Ramanathan and Soulèymanè Sy Savanè celebrated the 2018 Tribeca Film premiere of Jonathan at the official after-party on Saturday, April 21^st at 1Oak.