THE INTERVIEW
November, 2024
TOM MICHAELS
DIRECTORS OF OLDER SELF
BEST SCI-FI
Tom, tell us a bit more about yourself. Where does your desire to be a director come from?
I was born in Poland and eventually moved to America in the mid 1980’s. I remember the day my father bought a TV, the first movie I watched in the U.S. was the 1968 sci-fi feature Planet of the Apes and then came on Fist of Fury followed by what would change my life forever and confirm my ambitions to pursue a career in movies. That film was Magnum Force. It gave me my first glimpse at Clint Eastwood. I was mesmerized and frozen in time seeing this iconic legend in front of my eyes. That was all I needed to see. The desire to be a director came when I was in acting class. I witnessed other actors complaining how difficult it was to get work in this ever changing business of tv & movie entertainment, so I decided to focus my energies not only on acting but learning the business of behind the camera like writing,directing and production. After I received my degree in Acting, I applied and was accepted into the USC Cinematic Arts program in Los Angeles, California for Filmmaking & Production. I graduated in 2019, formed my own Independent Production Company Orzel Films and here we are now.
What is your background?
I am Polish. Born in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Lubuskie, Poland, and moved to America as a baby in the mid 1980’s.
Tom you won Best Sci-Fi at the RED Movie Awards, what does that mean to you?
What I find interesting is when I submitted my film Older Self to multiple festivals, one of the award festivals that I had my eye on and wanted very much to be part of was in fact the Red Movie Awards. Everything about this award festival attracted me right from the start. It’s a prestiges festival that is well respected among the filmmaking community. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s located in REIMS, France which is the champagne capital of the world. I’ve always wanted to be at the live event and now I will get the opportunity
What was the biggest challenge in this shooting?
I would say the biggest challenge for Older Self was TIME. We had to get alot of shooting in especially for the interior scenes adding to the fact that I had to play a younger and older version of myself added to the challenge. Everything had to flow accordingly and takes had to be minimised. There was no room for error and I thought the crew did a wonderful job. Everyone from top to bottom that was a part of this wonderful experience, my hats off to them. Very talented bunch of professionals.
You are both a director and an actor, how do these two hats help you in your projects?
It helps me tremendously when I am also a writer as well. This gives me a clearer vision and a better understanding of what I need to get done. When you write a script and plan on directing it, you envision in your mind how you want the story to play out. As far as the acting aspect of it, when you have a clear understanding of the script, especially if you are the writer, I feel the pressure of the performance eazes tremendously.
Do you have an anecdote to share with us in particular?
There is something that happened on one of the locations when we were shooting Older Self. During the set up prior to shooting there was a eagle flying overhead and circling us as we were prepping. Now the reason why I mention this is because the name of my production company is Orzel Films. The word Orzel translated into Polish is EAGLE. Since I was born in Poland and the symbol of my country is an eagle, I decided to name my company Orzel Films. So when you look at it, it;s almost like there was some spiritual element at work that day.
Can you tell us about the production methods, is a film produced in a classic way? Or self-production?
I’ve always loved vintage retro style filmmaking. After I shot Older Self, I wanted to give it a grainy 1980’s film style look, so during post production, I had a talk with my brilliant editor Ned Thorne about adding what we call certain film luts to give it that old retro look. That type of look has a rich texture to it that feels you are watching something special and unique
What is your next project?
I just finished a new project that I shot on 16mm film titled Come the Nightfall. This is the last short film that I will be doing. It’s currently in post production and from here on out focused on full features and TV shows. Also I am prepping in pre-production to shoot a full feature after the 2025 new year along with a TV series that is being developed as well.
