I think it's a combination of things. Myself and my partner, [producer] Chapin Wilson, we're both pretty easygoing. We meet everyone in the eye; we're pretty respectful of people, no matter where they are in their lives or the positions they hold. I grew up in the town, and people knew that immediately, and that put them at ease. And we were using really small cameras; they were probably better than the people had even seen, but they were basically home video cameras -- cameras that people were used to being around and using themselves, so I don't think they were intimidated. And these were people who had signed up for a pretty crazy contest, so these weren't shy people. But the biggest factor, I think, was that when the contest started, they were too damn tired to put up any false walls, they just sort of got annihilated by exhaustion. They were just left bare, and I think that's why we got some very honest answers.

After watching the contestants for so long and getting to know them, it was agonizing to see them drop out. Was it difficult to interview them after they had just lost?

It was terribly difficult for me; in fact I missed a couple of post-[contest] interviews because I just couldn't bring myself to approach the contestants. I didn't talk to Russell Welch, the rancher -- my intention was to give him a few minutes to gather himself, to compose himself with his family, but as I started to walk toward him, he caught my eye and intimated in a subtle fashion that it wasn't a good time and to just respect that. Benny was also very difficult. I think Benny would have been great to talk to after, and one of the other cameramen, who was also a director, wanted me to approach him. I was just like, "I can't do it, I think we're getting it anyway." It was tough.

There was really a palpable energy around the contestants -- when they were willing to talk, you felt it, and when they weren't, you could feel it as well. We were very conscious of that during the contest, we didn't want to distract them [and make them] make a mistake.

Did the film screen in Longview?

We showed it and we had a big benefit; the whole town came out, it was a lot of fun. I had trouble finding all of the contestants -- I found about half of them -- and they all loved it. I sat in the back of the theater next to Benny and J.D. [another contestant], and I never took my eyes off them during the whole thing.

Were you surprised that the film was rejected from major film festivals, like Berlin, Sundance and the New York Film Festival?

It surprised me, but also, it doesn't surprise me. The [documentary] category in festivals is reserved for traditional fare, very socially aware issues, personal diary-type issues. "Hands on a Hard Body," although I think it is a very socially aware film, [is] a comedy -- and a tragedy. I just think the documentary awards across the country are very traditional.

Documentaries have become very PC -- there aren't many documentaries made by young, white males, nor are there many made by young, white males about Middle America.

I think it's a certain snobbery: The documentary establishment has become a very intellectualized area, and I think it's become more so because of groups like Sundance and the Academy Awards.

The filmmakers and the filmmaking public have become so commercialized that they're reserving that documentary category as the last bastion of importance, because they're very afraid of something that is entertaining ... but I think as the technology is changing, and more people become aware of the craft, I think you'll see more documentaries coming out of middle America.

Looking back now, is this the documentary that you originally envisioned?

I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to shoot, and how I wanted to shoot it. And I planned for that, and shot a lot of stuff beforehand. But the reality is that it's a documentary -- you just show up and you're given what you're given. You can ask for a certain amount of it, i.e., the questions that you ask, but you're basically at the mercy of the moment.

I over-planned, so that when things happened, we were ready to capture it. In all honesty, we were just there to capture the experience, and it's a different film than what I had expected. But that's the double-edged sword of a documentary. We were very prepared, but still [the central character] Benny might not have been there, three or four other characters might not have been there. You either get something beautiful or you don't. You're either given a lot of gifts or you're not.
salon.com | April 22, 1999

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