Chatting Up THE STRONGEST MAN Director Kenny Riches

by Ryan Lewellen

On Friday, I had the distinct pleasure of catching up with Kenny Riches on the subject of his new film. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and as I prepared for the interview, I slowly realized I sold it short in my review last week. I mentioned a couple of the movie’s finer qualities, but the more I thought about it, the more I fathomed how clever it is. It’s not just entertaining and attractive, it’s one of the best truly independent movies I have seen in a very long time. Check out our insightful conversation on Miami, being in an immigrant family, and the hopeful application of meaningful form.

Ryan Lewellen (RL): Alright, Mr. Riches!

Kenny Riches (KR): Hey, Ryan

RL: How’s goin’, man?

KR: Doing good, thanks.

RL: Good. Thank you so much for taking some time to talk to me today!
 
 KR: Yeah, of course.

RL: I really enjoyed your movie.

KR: Yeah, reading the tail-end of your write-up right now, thank you.

RL: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Thanks for making it!

KR: Hahaha… it’s good to… you know, I can tell that you picked up on a lot of the stuff in the film. So, it’s nice to see that.

RL: I’d hoped I was at least on the right track. Like I mentioned in the review: there is a lot going on, so I was hoping I was picking up on, at least… most of it.

KR: Yeah, and uh… you’re a ‘Strongest Man’, yourself, it seems like.

RL: Hahaha… uh, ya know, yeah… aspiring.

KR: Hahaha… do what you can.

RL: Yeah, and so you have this very specific protagonist. He is sort of built like a strongman. He’s built like a freakin’ fridge. And he… is he of Cuban decent, I can’t remember…
 
 KR: Yeah, he’s Cuban-American, and the real-life ‘Beef’, who goes by ‘Meatball’, is also first generation Cuban living in Miami.

RL: Right… and he is a rather accomplished BMX rider.

KR: He is! He rips on a BMX bike!

RL: So was all of that on the page? Was that the specific guy you were looking for, or did that come out of meeting Robert Lorie (Beef).

KR: You know, a lot of that stuff I was able to write in there from my relationship with Rob. We became friends seven, or eight years ago. And, you know, you just kind of pick up on what he’s good at… you know… what makes people interesting. I was really able to write for him, as the character, so yeah…

RL: Very cool. So, you’ve known him for some time, then. You didn’t meet professionally.

KR: Yeah, we met seven or eight years ago, and then I moved to Miami about three years ago. He and his wife were kind of like me and my girlfriend’s connection to Miami. So we would come visit them during the winter time when, you know, in Utah, it’s quite unpleasant, during January and February, so we would escape to the sunny beaches of Miami, and then, yeah, he just kind of became my tour guide of the city, and showing me stuff that’s not just the South Beach touristy stuff. And, you know, it turns out that Miami is an extremely intriguing city.

RL: Yeah, it looked like you guys kind of got off the beaten path there. It’s definitely a side of Miami I had never seen before… at least, you know, not in a Will Smith music video…

KR: Hahaha.

RL: What was it like shooting there? It seemed like you were in a few… maybe… I don’t know… questionable neighborhoods, occasionally? There were quite a few locations.

KR: Yeah, shooting in Miami was really great. There’s kind of a sense of lawlessness here. You kind of feel like you can get away with a lot of stuff, you know… we didn’t pull any permits, or anything like that. We really kept everything pretty low-key, but there’s always airplanes overhead, which is a constant problem. They have the international airport here that feeds South American, and the Caribbean. Beyond that, it was really great. We shot before it got too hot in the summer. It’s also nice to introduce your friends to a city you enjoy. A lot of our crew, and our cast, was from Salt Lake City, where I’m from, or L.A., where they live now, so it was nice to give them the same kind of introduction to the city that I got from Rob.

RL: So had he acted before? I was poking around everybody’s IMDB and everything online, and it looked like he didn’t have any additional credits anywhere, at least.

KR: No, he’s an artist here. He’s a sculptor and metal worker. He’s done some performance art videos, but never a traditional, linear, narrative story, but there is just something about him, where I know it was going to be good. I mean, he’s just so interesting to watch, even, and in real life, he’s really quite charming and outgoing, and in my film he is more like me, maybe, where he’s kind of awkward and introverted, but yeah, he’s just one of those people… he’s really easy to fall in love with, and become pals with, and be really interested in, and just the way he interacts with people, so…

RL: Yeah, he’s really fun to watch. I think he’s kind of a natural screen-presence.
 
 KR: Yeah, I think so, too. And even though I wrote his character very dry, he still brings a little bit more in his quietness.

RL: Yeah… he’s very stoic.

KR: Haha

RL: So, there is also this theme of cultural identity that comes through the thoughts you hear in Beef’s head, as well as in Conan’s relationship with his family. Is any of that personal for you, or is it just something that interested you in writing the sreenplay?

KR: Well, you know, Miami is such a melting pot of so many different people from different places. You have such a strong Caribbean and South American influence here… a large Jewish community, a lot of New Yorkers, there is just kind of this… I mean it’s mostly Latin, but you have this kind of interesting situation where there are so many different cultures, that all you have to do is open your eyes, and kind of pay attention to the people around you and I think you can find interesting stuff to write about here.

KR (Cont’d): Conan’s relationship… it’s not really based on –I’m half-Japanese– it’s not necessarily based on my relationship with my parents, but you know, I was certainly raised with a mother who put education first, and so that aspect is definitely pulling from my life. The expectations of a first-generation — first of all, yeah, first-generation kids — there is always a bit more pressure to succeed, and then, on top of that, it’s definitely geared toward education, but my mom isn’t so brash…

RL: That’s probably good, for your sake.

KR: Ha, yeah.

RL: So, on top of all that, Beef is sort of um… he has this anxiety problem, and when his anxiety flares up, he is sort of haunted by this, I think, imaginary demon.
 
 KR: Right.

RL: It sort of looks like a humanoid bush with glowing red eyes, and I really loved the way that when it appears, it disappears as quickly as it comes up, but it’s this gradual progression of where it come from, and what it actually was, and where did that design come from? What inspired that image?

KR: So the actual suit is made up of palm fronds, palm leaves, you know? It’s so humid here, and they just kind of fall off, and everything is on hyper speed here, and as soon as mangos, or anything, hit the ground here, the earth takes them back really fast. The palm leaves, as soon as they fall off, they turn black, and so most people just put them on the side of the road to get picked up. But the idea was to create something that is part of where he comes from, but is also kind of a physical manifestation of his anxiety, and I tried to… you know, there is a lot of symbolism in the film, and I think there more times you watch the film, I think people catch more of that… but there is a chain of things that hold things together, like with the red eyes, and you know, the tail lights of the car, and stoplights and the [lights on the] hair dryer. That’s kind of a visual chain that I tried to create with a few elements in the film, including Gold. You have his gold bicycle, Illi’s gold porcupine, the gold trophies of Conan’s, so all these visual elements that go beyond the red eyes/palm frond guy, are peppered throughout the film.

RL: That is really interesting. I hadn’t really strung those things together.

KR: Haha… yeah, I think when you’re writing a film… I’m so inside my head: “Oh this totally makes sense.” And then, you make the film, and people take from it whatever they do, and so, you just never know, but in designing the film, I was really trying to think of a lot of that stuff. Just thinking of the design of the film, itself, and having a lot of matched cuts, and things like that, so it’s interesting where, as a filmmaker, really picking over these details that are, in the end, very subtle.

RL: Absolutely. It’s a very cinematic movie. You use film art to tell a lot of what’s going on throughout the film. I was really impressed by that. It’s really a very well made movie. I just watched the first ten minutes of it again while I was writing my review, just to get an idea of… I felt like there was sort of a book-ending element, or something about the sound of the ocean, and I was trying to remember how that went… and I noticed something that was really interesting, that I just totally overlooked when [beef] first introduces the idea of his anxiety, and then there is that demon in his room, and he looks out the window, and he see these car lights, and it cuts to the interior of that car, or some car, and it’s Illi.

KR: Mmhmm. Yeah.

RL: And I just didn’t even notice that before. It’s not like we follow her into another scene. She’s just there. So, it’s really kind of like its introducing their relationship before they even discuss it in the dialogue or anything like that.
 
 KR: Right. Yeah, that’s cool that you kind of noticed that kind of stuff, and the idea was that when they see each other in Mrs. Rosen’s (Illi’s Aunt), he begins having anxiety, and then it introduces the red eyes of the hair dryer, and the monster, and the tale light, and and Illi is sitting inside of there. So it is kind of trying to create sort of… not necessarily emotional links, but creating a situation where you’re seeing these two people in their own spot, even though they are within feet away from each other, and in films, the points of the movie that I get the most, that I really get a feel for the character and empathize with the characters and relate to the characters, is when they are by themselves. So, even though it’s just a very quick shot of Illi in the car, you kind of see her boredom and restlessness. She’s just come home from college and she doesn’t have a direction really, and you have this guy who is a laborer, and he is just kind of stuck in his own neurosis, and yeah, just things like that I am interested in.

RL: And so you have this little, artistic, independent movie, coming out in the middle of the one of the biggest sequel summers we have ever had…

KR: Yeah, hahaha…

RL: How do you feel about a summer release for this movie, and do you worry, especially this early in your career, about your movie making money theatrically?

KR: Well, for me, I’m not so worried about the release time, and the films that are coming out with it, just because, I don’t really watch those big films, really, so I think that my film applied to a different crowd, and I would hope that is a good amount of cross-over for people who do watch the big films… I think that Terminator is also coming out?

RL: Yep.

KR: I think that there is crossover in the audience of those big films, but there is also that indie film audience that’s interested in finding the little festival darlings and stuff like that, so I’m not too worried about that. As far as the money part goes… I made this film for very little money and I had no expectations for where it would go, and it’s gone so far, and in my mind, I don’t need to make a penny off of this movie. What it has already done for me, career-wise, has been outstanding, just a really amazing experience, so you know, I’ll just keep making movies and keep making the stuff I make and hopefully things will blossom in my career, but as for this film, I’m just happy it’s getting so much festival play, and now theatrical, and VOD release. So, my main goal is that their getting their money back so I can make another movie.

RL: Absolutely, yeah, and now that there are so many more outlets for filmmakers, and so many different types, I mean, hell, you could have released this thing on Youtube, or soemthing, for example.

KR: I know, right?

RL: I mean, I’m glad you didn’t. But, I just wondered, how much it matters for a filmmaker at your level, working independently, to attract the attention of production companies, and distributors, and everyone else with dollar signs, or if that even matters at all?

KR: I think, long term, career-wise, it really does matter. Short term, I’m 33 years old, and living in a small apartment in Miami. I’m willing to just do what I’m passionate about, which is making films, and you know, the opportunities this has brought, United Talent Agency, and things like this, each step is like a baby step. Doing this film is going to lead me to bigger oppertunities, and I did want to direct other people’s material — now that is an option for me, now that I have representation, so, you know, just sorting through it, kind of figuring out which way my career should go. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be sticking my foot in my mouth, and I’ll be directing the next big thing that would otherwise be THE STRONGEST MAN’s theatrical competition this summer.

RL: Yeah, I mean, hell, Colin Treverrow just directed Jurassic World, so…

KR: Yeah, you never know…

RL: Well, I wish you a lot of luck. I hope whatever you do hope for your future as a filmmaker… I hope it can happen for you. Do you have any upcoming projects after THE STRONGEST MAN? Is there anything you’ve got planned, yet?
 
 KR: Yeah, um, I’m working on some stuff right now, mostly just writing. Trying to get the next couple films off the ground and I would love to be shooting this fall or next spring. We’ll see. Hopefully, if all things go well, you know?

RL: Sure, well cool! Have you been doing a lot of interviews for this project?
 
 KR: During Sundance, I had a lot of press stuff going on then, and a few more since the release.

RL: That’s great. In all of those interviews, has there been anything you’ve wanted to talk about that know nobody’s asked about, when it comes to this movie?

KR: Actually, we’ve kind of touched on it in just this conversation. You know, usually, interviews are fairly surface? They’re just: “Where the idea came from… yadda-yadda” It’s nice to be able to talk a little more in-depth with you about the symbolism in the film, and the visual complexity of the film… I think a lot of the press just wants to write it off as a comedy and, it gets compared a lot to Napoleon Dynamite

RL: Oh, God…
 
 KR: You know… I couldn’t see it when I made the film, but now… I step back enough to be objective and I see where people are getting that from, but… hahaha…

RL: That’s really funny… I guess I can understand why, especially when you’re at Sundance, and you’re seeing so many movies, how easy it would be to just say, “Oh, I just saw this quirky indie comedy. It was funny! It was charming! Whatever!” But, man, I don’t know… Napoleon Dynamite? The other thing is… I was kind of expecting it to only be… you know, people just spouting a bunch of non sequiturs or whatever, and it would be funny, and it would be effective, but I was not expecting it to be rendered the way it was and really full of a lot of depth. So, again, kudos to you for making something I think is really special.
 
 KR: Wow, thank you. That’s nice of you to say.

RL: And I think that’s about all I had for you today, man.
 
 KR: Cool, awesome, well it was good talking to you. I am going to post your write-up on Facebook and the film’s
page right now.

RL: Well, great! Thank you very much!

https://youtu.be/tK20g6CNg-k

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