DEAD AND LOVING IT OUTFEST 2014
by chris carpenter
THE UNDEAD HAVE RISEN ALL OVER LARGE AND SMALL SCREENS NOWADAYS. ONE NEW MOVIE ABOUT A RESTLESS GHOST/ZOMBIE, JAMIE MARKS IS DEAD, CAUSED A HOMOEROTIC STIR AT JANUARY’S SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. IT WILL BE MAKING ITS L.A. PREMIERE ON FRIDAY, JULY 11 AS PART OF OUTFEST, WHICH RUNS THURSDAY, JULY 10 THROUGH SUNDAY, JULY 20.
Jamie is a bullied teenager whose body is found in the woods by a local girl,
Gracie. Soon after, Jamie begins appearing not only to Gracie but to Adam, her track star semi-boyfriend. Adam finds himself increasingly drawn to the underwear-clad specter. As he tries to discover how Jamie died, he must confront his emerging romantic feelings for his unusual friend. It is rare for a film to be creepy, sexy and deeply moving, all at the same time. Openly gay filmmaker Carter Smith (who previously helmed the horror movie The Ruins) walks an impressive high wire act with Jamie Marks is Dead and the result is one of the best entries at this year’s Outfest.
SMITH TALKED WITH THE RAGE MONTHLY IN ADVANCE OF THE EVENT:
What spoke to you about the novel One for Sorrow that made you want to film it? I randomly picked up the book in a bookstore. I was about halfway through
it and thought, “This would make a great film.” Christopher Barzak’s story was beautiful and I loved the honesty in the relationships between Jamie and Adam, as well as Adam and Gracie. It felt very real and not a fictionalized ver- sion of what adults think teenagers are. Did you relate to this story on a more personal level? I grew up in a very small town in rural Maine that was not all that dissimilar
from where the film takes place. I know what it is to live in an isolated way. I also responded to the relationship between Adam and Jamie as well as between
26 RAGE monthly | JULY 2014
Adam and Gracie, trying to figure out who they are. It isn’t really a coming out story but explores that more fluid time in a young person’s development. How has your film been received so far, any unusual or surprising reactions? It’s always interesting to see how a film like this with a very specific milieu
affects people outside it. I’ve had great conversations with middle-aged women and schoolteachers about some of the issues explored. Then, there’s the Sundance crowd that just loves a good story. What led you to cast Noah Silver (best known as Benito Sforza on The Borgias) as Jamie and Cameron Monaghan (who plays Shameless’s Ian Gallagher) as Adam? We spent a long time searching, looking at people with a lot of experience
and just a little experience. Noah actually put himself on tape two years ago playing both Adam and Jamie. It was when I put Noah and Cameron together that I noticed, “This is going to be an interesting contrast,” both physically and emotionally. How did out, Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, Skyfall) come on as a co-producer? I had met John and been friendly with him and at dinner one night he asked,
“So, what are you working on?” I told him about the script and he was really interested. He asked me to send it to him. I did, he read it and replied, saying he loved it and really wanted to do the film. He was passionate. He really wanted to stay true to the emotional aspect of it, as did I. We didn’t want it to become
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