Lost in the Sun is the new independent drama written and directed by Trey Nelson. The story takes place across Texas where an estranged father has taken his son with him on a journey of discovery that leads to criminal activity and loss. The film stars Josh Duhamel, Josh Wiggins and Lynn Collins and is currently available on VOD and iTunes and is being shown in select theaters across the country.
The story of John, a small time crook, who finds an unlikely accomplice in Louis, a newly-orphaned teenage boy. As their open-road adventure progresses and John drags the kid on a string of robberies, the pair forge an unexpected and powerful bond. – Lost in the Sun
How was it writing and directing Lost in the Sun?
Trey Nelson: I started writing this in 2005 and it was a slow burn. By craftsman I’m a director, so I’m a little bit of a slower writer. It took me a while to write the script and I was lucky enough to get it into the hands of Josh Duhamel and since 2011 we hammered away at this and finally shot it last year.
This was your first feature-length film.
TN: It’s interesting. I really cut my teeth in television and I don’t know if I could have accomplished the logistics plus the overall challenges of making a film this ambitious based on the budget that we had. I’d been working with the DP Rob Barocci for ten years, so I had a little bit of experience at the pace we had to shoot this film. Without that shorthand I don’t think we would have been able to accomplish the film that we made. We had somewhere around 40 or 50 locations and over 100 scenes that we had to shoot in 21 days.
How were you able to schedule that kind of shoot?
TN: What I did was we shot it in Austin and knew that as far as having a modest budget, for me it was all about locations. I spent six weeks scouting locations in Austin prior to us shooting and we only shot for four weeks. Prep is everything to a film, if you’re not prepared you only have a Plan A and a lot of the time that doesn’t work out. You gotta have a Plan B and Plan C logistically and also for your actors as well. I try to keep it simple. What I really tried to focus in on really was Josh Duhamel and Josh Wiggins’ performance. That was the thing I was really trying to honor in the film and to their honor they were trying to honor the script. I think we all did a great job and tried to tell an honest story.
Did you have any influences that inspired the story?
TN: I’m a big Peter Bogdanovich fan, so I’m really inspired by his early filmmaking; Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show, and his films have really influenced me. He’s all over this and his films all have this midwestern tone. Paper Moon was shot in Texas and I’m from Dallas. This story is a very personal story, it took me a very long time to make and the core of the film to me really is about the tragedy of unrealized potential in this man, of him being a father. The real beauty of it is Louis realizing that he was his father and that his father sacrificed himself for him. It’s not a unique story. What I think is unique about is are the performances and the truth of the story.
How was it for you directing this type of drama?
TN: It’s sort of like navigating a ship. You can’t really turn your boat too quickly to the right or the left or else you’ll capsize. You’ve gotta take subtle turns here and there to get your performances in.
Will be expecting more films from you in the future?
TN: I am working on a script called Appetite which is about a female chef in New York City. It’s more of a genre film than a drama and it deals with murder and the hunger for more. After making a drama, that’s something I’m really looking forward to doing next is taking a bite out of a genre film.