Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine for this Wednesday, January 29th, 2025.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff here.
And today we are welcoming into this new well on the phone line, I should say.
Nathan Deming, producer, director of the new film February.
We're going to have a preview of this film coming here to Roger Sinema this weekend.
A looking forward to that.
We'll talk more about that in a moment.
Nathan, thanks for being here with us.
Hi, James.
Thanks for having me on WFHR.
Appreciate the time, man.
And I want to journalistically get this out there right away.
I am an actor, so every once in a while, being that Nathan is a director, every once in
a while, I'm just going to throw a monologue in there and try to get some work.
Just every once in a while, I'm kidding.
In all seriousness, I don't have any journalistic integrity.
I love talking to directors.
I love talking about the arts.
And the only thing I love more than that is talking to locals and people that are from
this state, from the Midwest, from this area that are doing this kind of work.
I think it's really awesome, man.
And I think that we need more artists supporting artists.
It's something that we believe in very strongly around here.
And we're really happy to have you on and to be able to talk about this awesome independent
film.
Yeah.
Nathan, before we get going, I just, I was going to say I did my first winter back in
a while in the Midwest and I have just been sick the entire time.
I forgot that that's what it's like being back here.
Well, let's get into a little of that.
I mean, my voice goes, yeah.
Yeah, well, we'll work around it.
But when it comes to that, my fate is long, we'll get into the film in a minute.
But one of my favorite things to do is getting to know you, getting to know our guests.
So give us a little bit of your origin story, Nathan, where are you from?
How did you get into this world?
Well, I'm from down the road in Tomo Wisconsin and grew up making movies, I guess, with my
parents' camcorder and always loved doing that.
I think Wisconsin's a really fun place to grow up making movies because it's just like
one, you know, it's just kind of a naturally beautiful place, but also, you know, if you
want to make a western, you could make a western, you know, you easily know somebody
with a horse or a barn.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A lot of us.
And I'll go ahead.
Oh, no, no.
You go ahead.
Well, as we can say.
And like you were saying, I think there, I totally agree with how you open this and that.
I think there's also a lot of like amazing regional arts going on too.
And Wisconsin is a pretty like collaborative and creative state.
There's like a world of different filming years and in LA.
Yeah.
To your point, I spent a couple of years out in California and one of the things that
they were blown away by is when they would look at, get done, sing a movie and sing that
was filmed in Wisconsin or was filmed in Midwest.
And the ability that the backdrops we have around here are amazing.
They're second to none.
Yeah.
No, for sure.
When it comes to getting into this world, how did you get your foot in the door?
What is some of the studying and the schooling that you've done?
Well, I think it's different for everybody, obviously.
And I've always been a very DIY guy, you know, like I said, growing up, making movies
but I think the real thing that changed things for me was I went to the London Film School
which when I went there, it was headed by a British filmmaker named Mike Lee.
Are you familiar with him?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, great.
Yeah.
I love Mike Lee.
And I saw, I was graduating from college and I saw another year if you saw that film and
that was blown away by.
I went down the Mike Lee rabbit hole and realized this is the director closest to anything
I wanted to be or do.
You know what I mean?
Like I grew up lacking Spielberg and Lucas and, you know, kind of American filmmakers who
are all amazing.
But then I saw Mike Lee's stuff and I was like, oh, that's what I want to do.
You know, I want to do Westerns.
I want to do all that fun stuff.
But like his approach to life and filmmaking I think is so cool.
And so anyways, I applied, got in and then just had this incredible time of growing as an
artist and meeting people and hopefully eventually finding my goal.
And so my dream is to kind of carry that fire back with me to Wisconsin and kind of do
something similar to what he's done for the UK to do it for our state.
And I love that idea.
And I think that's noteworthy.
One of the things that we, especially in radio, noted a while back was, well, nowadays
everybody, if you want to hear a song, you can go online, find it.
You want to find information and go online, find it.
What's something we can do that nobody else can?
Well, we can talk about local.
We can do a report and talk about local things like nobody else can because we're living
here.
We're right here.
I think it's a similar thing with not only filmmaking, but with the arts and really
leaning into where you're from and what your vision is.
I think that that is very no worthy.
And your project here is all the things we've just said.
Before we dive into February itself, I want to just take a step back and talk about
the project and this year project, this 12-part series that began with January.
Yeah.
So, this is my current goal is to make a film for every month of the year.
I'll send it what's got to.
I say current, like it's going to be done soon, but the plan is easily going to take
me 10 or 15 years.
And I want to do it for all the kind of reasons we're talking about, which is one, I like concepts.
There's a film series by Keith Lausky called The Decalog Some Viewers Might Know, which
is a 10-part series based on the 10 Commandments.
So each episode kind of stands alone and meditates on a certain theme.
So, that's kind of a one inspiration for this.
But also, I just think there's so many Wisconsin stories to tell.
And also, our seasons and our months are so pronounced in different, anyways.
I'm just really excited about how this series can build and grow over time.
And hopefully, Wisconsin audiences will be into it, which is why I'm taking February
around now.
And just look forward to sharing the story with you over 10 years, but hopefully everybody
will look forward to it.
You know, you bring up some really great points there.
And I think one of them is one of the strongest ones is really highlighting this area and
the seasons and some of the things that come from that.
And while they're predictable, a little bit predictable at least, because right now we're
looking at 50s today.
So, it's all over the place right now, it's kind of, and to that, but on a serious point
to that, one of the things that I find that you're doing with this, I'm not sure if it's
intentional or not, but it's archiving.
You know, you're doing something here and you're getting snapshots of these of these
times, where 10, 20, 50 years from now, I think will be even more noteworthy in some ways.
Oh, thank you.
Yes, that's definitely like, that's what I love about Mike Lee's films is like, you put
them on and they're all very different, right?
Like, he's made such different films, but each time you put one on, you kind of feel like,
oh, that's definitely London in the 90s or that had a hero in the 80s or something like
that.
So, yeah, I definitely, that is a huge motivation for me as well.
And I will mention as Nathan mentioned, the movie Jan, or the film January was already
previously released and you can find that at Vinmo, we'll give you more information on
how to find that before we wrap up today.
Let's talk about the film February and again, we're going to have a free showing of this
coming up Sunday, 130 at Roger Cinema right here in Wisconsin Rapids at 220 East Grand
Avenue.
We'll tell you more about those details at the end of the show.
But when it comes to the movie February, what went into the making of this?
Well, February is about a Latino immigrant, so we shift perspective.
The first one, people check out January, it's about an older church volunteer at a small
church that they might find very familiar, very Wisconsin.
For February, I just wanted to start with the idea that our state is very diverse, despite
sometimes with the images and the media.
And so, focus on a Latino family and how they're fitting in.
And the lead Miguel, who's played by David as he yielded around, he's just arrived.
He's struggling to fit in, kind of hates his job and everything.
And also, coming from Mexico, it's his first winter.
You know, so he's adapted to that as well.
And the thing that kind of finally starts to open stuff up for him is ice fishing.
So, yeah, the movie, so there's a lot of ice fishing in the movie, there's a lot of
winter in the movie.
And that's the first thing I would say if you're asking about production, is it was fun
and difficult.
It's hard to film on the ice, luckily we got like a layer of snow.
Where we filmed, which in some ways I was disappointed by, because it's really beautiful
when there's no snow, but also I don't know how we could have filmed anything slipping and
sliding.
And they're like, if the whole crew, you know, like 20 people, like, falling on the ice.
And in general, like, I don't know if people understand what goes into filmmaking sometimes,
but you know, behind the camera, even though there's two people on screen ice fishing,
there's 20 people.
You know what I mean?
There's 15 or 20 people helping out.
And we have three production vehicles, that's three cars, and even though I was assured
over and over again, that the lake ice was two feet thick and safe, and there were plenty
of giant campers and trucks out in the ice, it still was really nerve-wracking.
It's a little nerve-wracking, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
How long did you fish?
I have, yeah, I haven't been in a little while here, but I have ice fishing a number of
times.
Enough to know exactly what you're talking about, for sure.
Oh, especially when you're in your, you know, you're just in your shack and you step
out of there after maybe an hour or two, and you look around, there's so many people
on the ice that weren't there before, and you start thinking about that, the weight of
that and everything.
How long did this take to film?
How long did it was this project?
Kind of a normal, yeah, normal film window a couple of weeks, and you know, especially
when you're filming for weather, it's like, it's kind of reliable, but also you need to
have days built in where like we, I don't know how this happened, but towards the end of
the shoot, there was like a couple like, just like now, there was a couple days in the
50s, and we started to lose snow, and the whole look of the film is, no, you know what
it means, then you kind of have to rush and replant things, and that's the joy and fun
of filming winter.
We're speaking with Nathan Deming, producer, director of the new film February, and we'll
be telling you how you can see that film in just a moment.
You know, one other thing that stands out about this, and we've touched on this a little
bit already with the telling stories that not are told every day, or maybe many might
not hear, I think there's also something in here that added representation as well,
because spending time out in California, there's I think a stereotype that happens when
it comes to the Midwest, and what the typical Midwesterner looks like, and what their life
is like, and having your lead actor be a Latino and being Miguel and being this particular
character, I think that stands out as well.
Those of us that have grown up on this area and the part of the world and everything
we get this, we're a bit more of a melting pot than I think people realize, but it still
is noteworthy to be able to have your lead in this being a Latino character.
Yeah, well, Latinos are the fastest growing demographic in our state, I believe, and
I, we're having another show, you know, Claire the day before, where we're talking with
a university professor who's told me that it's also estimated that Latinos make up 70%
of the dairy force in Wisconsin now, so like, there's huge part of our state's identity
and economy, and yeah, I just thought it'd be really fun to kind of focus on them and
include them, and then also, I think there's maybe two layers, hopefully, for what I'm
representing.
There's definitely that.
And then also, like you just kind of brought up, I think, commonly when we're looked at,
we're kind of looked at as the world of Fargo, even though that's Minnesota, you know what
I mean?
We're kind of a punch line or just that don't you know, or, you know, just kind of like,
you know, it's kind of joky.
So the other side of that is the ice fisherman character Carl, who is very much probably
a person, people know, or like it was recognized, who I cast off a Craigslist ad, so he is
the real deal.
He's pretty much his character.
And, but yeah, I also wanted to be kind of faithful and accurate to him and that because
like, yeah, I just, I don't like, I don't like us being a punch line.
I don't like being reduced to kind of stereotype.
So yeah.
You know, I, I'm glad you brought this up because I wanted to piggyback off of there
a representation of, of having a Latino lead character of, I mean, right now in production
and being filmed is a TV show or a movie about a New Yorker or a LAite or, or something
like that.
We have such representation when it comes to our bigger markets and our bigger cities
and all that.
We need more and more of these and, and on a representation level of certainly.
But just on a creative level also, I think that this is important for the, for, for
film in general, where we're, we're seeing more and more parody and more and more of the
same kind of things.
How many prequels can we get?
How many sequels can we get to so many of these things?
And I'll, I'll be, I'll admit that I watch some of those and, and everything.
So just as guilty of some of this as others.
But I, I think that like a lot of people, we sit back, whether we're in the industry
or just, you know, fans of it and like, well, where are the new stories?
Where are the, the different stories?
Give me something new, give me something a little unique.
And, and something that is, you know, one of the things that I think that you're able
to do here that is so cool is be able to find something relatable while also something
fresh and new to people.
Yeah, I was really, you know what I was blown away by is how few movies there have been
about ice fishing?
Like, you have grumpy old men and, I mean, just, just movies that might have scenes of
it.
And when you're preparing a movie, often one of the first conversations you have, like
the cinematographer is like, okay, what are our references or what other movies have
been made about this topic, just to kind of see how they tackled it creatively or anything
like that.
And there was just so few things.
And I was like, this is such a cool, interesting, aesthetic activity, very Wisconsin activity,
very Midwest.
I was just kind of blown away the lack of, the lack of films that I'd covered it.
And also, everything else you just said, I totally agree with.
And I think that there are so many stories to tell.
And I think, like, it's huge.
We're obviously very divided right now along many lines, but maybe an underappreciated
one is the urban rural divide, which doesn't just work on a state level, but on a country
level.
And I've been in LA for 10 years.
And I think I've just seen it really ramp up in that time as well, where people talk
about people from rural communities or smaller communities as if they're like exotic animals
that can't be understood or something like that, and it's like, we have normal lives.
We need to be in more conversation and maybe on the cinema level, yeah, that could mean
more stories that aren't just about the main characters and ad executive and Manhattan
or something like that.
Exactly.
Well, and there's another representation part of this and a relatability part of this
with that, where you're opening eyes with this one and telling stories and hopefully getting
people to realize, wow, it's something that I try to do all the time when it comes to
people from Illinois and Wisconsin, as much as they may not like this either side, you guys
have more in common than you realize and showing relatability and an empathy that can happen
from that.
And with this movie, with things like this, maybe creating a little bit more of this
understanding, a little more empathy with West Coast and Midwest and East Coast and Midwest
and some of these things and just reminding people that we're all like, we all have more
in common than not and that's never there's no downside to that.
Oh, that's definitely a major theme of the film, yeah, like I truly believe that too that
underneath kind of all the things, simmering in our culture right now, I think day to day
in person, right, like despite all the stuff buzzing around our heads on the radio waves
or the TV waves or the internet, I think we want to get along.
I think we want to help each other.
If you, if your car breaks down in Wisconsin, pretty sure most people will stop and help you
fix your tire and, and yeah, and actually that happened when we were filming, said we
were, we broke down on the highway 90 and yeah, a bunch of people immediately helped
us.
We've got a free showing of the movie February coming up right here in town Sunday, this
Sunday, February 2nd, 130, a Roger cinema here in Wisconsin's rabbits, 220 East Grand Avenue.
How much does it, what does it mean to you, Nathan, to be able to have some of these free
showings and some of these things going on with our local theaters?
I can't imagine how good that must feel.
Oh, it's so fun, yeah, so like I said, I grew up down the road, I should, I should also
note that at that screening and every screening as we kind of go around state, I'm going to
be there.
And for the first week of screening, including our show in Wisconsin Rapids, the lead
actor David's going to be there, he's flying up from LA.
So we're going to like present the film and do a Q&A afterwards and that should be really
fun.
And I, I love Wisconsin, I love the big cities, I love the small cities and I'm really
excited especially for the small town showings and like I've just found all these really cool
theaters that kind of maybe grew up going to once or twice and now it's really fun to
return show up over here.
And I want to remind everybody as well that while this is a fun one, we're looking forward
to it, Nathan's got some other great work out there that I cannot encourage you to check
out enough.
January's we mentioned before, but speaking in tongues is one I really wanted to make sure
we just touched not before we let you go.
Was that your first feature?
Oh, thanks.
Yeah, yeah, that was my first feature and yeah, I shot it a couple of years ago now and
yeah, very different than this this year series, but probably similar in keeping with the
themes that I'm interested in, I don't know if you checked it out, but it's about a young
man kind of struggling to, well, struggling in his newfound faith at a megachrome, there's
been a highs and lows and it's, yeah, I think it's an interesting movie.
It was, I did see it and it was something that while it was again, so many of the things
I've been touching on this, that movie did as well and I see a theme with your work
of relatability because it was something that it's not my wheelhouse, not my world, but
I found such a relatability to that character and other characters in it.
It's good work, man.
I'm joking around about being an actor and all that, but I would love to work with you
because you've got a vision and an idea that you're sticking to with these works that
I think is really exciting and fun, but also necessary.
We don't have enough of it and I appreciate that you're doing that kind of work.
I don't think a lot of people realize you could be taking this talent man and doing
a lot of other things with it.
The fact that you're taking it and putting so much into our state in this area, I commend
that, man.
I think that's very cool that you're with the work that you're doing.
Well, thank you.
That's so nice.
And yes, definitely.
Let's send me your head shot.
Let's chat.
I appreciate that.
Nathan, if people want to find out more about your work about this project in particular,
how can they do that?
We've got a couple of websites floating out there.
First of all, for February and all of our screening tour, which, if your listeners can't
make the Wisconsin Rapids one, we have plenty around the state the next month, so you can
find all that information at Februaryfilm.com slash screening.
And then also, I have a personal website, NathanDeming.com, which has all my work, including
speaking in tongues and a couple other shorts that made years ago that maybe people would
have fun checking out.
But yeah, be sure to check that out, everybody.
One of our favorite mantras around here is buying local supporting local.
That includes the arts.
I think it is.
We'll mention it every chance I get.
Wisconsin finished dead last in the union when it came to funding the arts.
So we have the people need to come around and support artists, artists supporting artists
is one of the more powerful things that we can do.
Not just for our economy, but for our souls and our mental health, encourage you to check
this film out.
It's going to be premiering right here in town, Sunday, February 2nd, 1 30th, Roger Cinema,
220 East Grand Avenue right here in Wisconsin Rapids.
Find out more about that and Nathan's great work at NathanDeming.com, NathanDeming.com.
Don't be a stranger, man.
Next time another one of these projects comes up, we'd love to have you come by.
Thank you so much.
Can I, you just reminded me, can I plug one more thing that I've been meaning to plug
on this one?
Yeah, definitely.
So I'm also working with this organization, it's nonprofit called Action with Wisconsin,
which is a five-partisan group of filmmakers and entrepreneurs and small business owners
that is doing exactly what you just described, which is lobbying the state to bring film
tax incentives back to Wisconsin, because we are dead last in arts funding, and we're
one of 13 states that don't offer film incentives.
So anyways, people can look up more at Action with Wisconsin.com, but I'm sure you know, too,
that's a huge reason why things don't get made here, and it's such a bummer.
So if we can get that law change, which it should be going through the house soon, yeah,
that'd be great.
You saw a part of the reason you saw, I brought this up, man.
See, we already got chemistry.
That's great.
That's awesome.
Nathan, again, thank you for the time, Nathan, and the work you're putting into all of
this.
We'll talk again real soon.
Thank you so much.
Again, check out this amazing film you guys this Sunday, February 2nd, at 130 at Roger
Cinema right here in Wisconsin Rapids and find out more at NathanDeming.com.
Well, a more midday magazine coming up for you right here at 975 FM, 1320 AM, WFHR.
We are locally grown radio.
