Chris Lowell Discusses His Directorial Debut of ‘Beside Still Waters’

Brianne Nemiroff

On April 30, 2014, Chris Lowell and Mo Narang’s film, “Beside Still Waters,” was funded on Kickstarter. Originally, Lowell’s goal was $63,021 solely for distribution costs as the film was already completed. However, due to overwhelming support of 2,281 backers, the majority being fans of “Veronica Mars,” he was able to raise $207,061. Because of that campaign, “Beside Still Waters” will be released in New York and Los Angeles on Nov. 14.

Chris Lowell is best known for his acting roles in films such as “The Help” and “Up in the Air” and television shows such as “Private Practice,” “Enlisted,” and “Veronica Mars.” With “Beside Still Waters,” he made his directorial debut. A film about friendship and nostalgia, the story is about seven friends who visit their childhood lake house for the weekend one last time before the house is sold. During the weekend, they have to face issues in marriage, heal broken friendships, grieve deceased loved ones, and, overall, face reality.

Upon the film’s release in Los Angeles, Chris Lowell sat down with Entertainment Voice to talk about the film’s inspiration, the overwhelming support via the Kickstarter campaign, and why he’ll never drink whiskey again.

This film was a love letter to your family’s lake house in Georgia. Why was that place so special to you?

For a number of reasons. It felt like an escape. It was a place where all of our friends would congregate when we were kids. It became even more of safe haven, as we got older. People were growing and changing so much, but it was nice to come back to a place that felt like home. It took on this bigger meaning for a lot of us. When my parents sold the house, it shook the foundation of our childhood and home.

Mo [Narang] and I were visiting the house. We were just talking about things that we wanted to write about, things that made us nervous and things we were afraid of. Among these things was what if we lost this place? What if we lost our friends, our family? Then it was a mere coincidence that within the year, my parents sold the house and moved away. Then suddenly it became a more important, very real story for us to want to tell.

You started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for distribution. This wasn’t too long after the “Veronica Mars” movie was released and it seems a lot of the same fans came out to support you. Do you find that that they were the majority of the backers? Were you shocked by the amount of support?

[I was] definitely shocked by the amount of support. Definitely. Even more so by the amount of “Veronica Mars” fans in particular. I knew there would be some run off, I was hoping there would be, but I never could have imagined that it would have been so overwhelming. A lot of that is a testament to how passionate those fans are, how giving. They were big pioneers for crowd-sourcing in general. “Veronica Mars” fans became an anthem of strength for sites like Kickstarter. They were more than willing to help support this film as well.

What was the most enjoyable part of the process of the Kickstarter campaign and what was the hardest part of it? Possibly doing 50 whiskey slaps as prizes or editing countless videos for backers?

I think the most fun thing of the campaign was the response. The overwhelming amount of positive reinforcement from all of the backers. It was really moving. Before we started the campaign, I was at a total low about the film. I felt terrible about it. I didn’t think it was any good. I didn’t think anyone was going to see it. I thought it was going to be a complete disaster. The amount of support that came took my breath away.

The most difficult thing…absolutely doing the whiskey slaps, bar none, that was the hardest. Doing 50 of those. I never want to drink whiskey again. I can’t feel the left side of my face. That was insane.

(Whiskey slap is a drinking game with two people. One drinks a shot of whiskey; the other slaps the drinker hard across the face.)

During the film, there are a few moments where still images are cut into the reel or when the camera focuses on a piece of art. As you are also a fine art photographer, what was the purpose or inspiration for adding in still images amongst the film as well as the theme of art in general?

There was a number of things. A big part of the film was the idea of art imitating life. It’s got a major autobiographical element for me. We put together a cast that very quickly became a very intimate group of friends. There’s always this kind of sense of what is actually real, what is part of the story. We wanted to have the meta-level, which is why you see drawings of the house, and then the house itself, and you see the film roll out, constantly reminding you that it’s a movie.

The film deals with nostalgia. I wanted to find ways to bring nostalgic elements into the project, probably the biggest one was on film, shooting super8 and super16, cutting these romantic black and white images when Daniel (the lead character played by Ryan Eggold) would start to daydream. I wanted to see where he was going and what he was thinking of. Those photos are from our house in Georgia.

There were also drawings on the underside of the kitchen drawers that the characters had supposedly created when they were younger. Did any of the images have any special meaning behind them? Did you have a similar drawer at your lake house?

We did [have drawings on our drawers].

[For the drawings in the film], the names drawn are the same, there are some of our friends’ names we throw in there, [but the pictures are not]. The drawings in the film, that was me, Mo, and our co-producer, Kenny, who drew those. We just happen to be 30-year-old men who have the illustrative capacity of five-year-olds. It just looks really perfect.

Throughout the film, there is an underlying theme of unconventional and broken relationships. Abby and Martin (played by Erin Darke and Will Brill) face issues in their marriage; exes Olivia (played by Britt Lower) and Daniel have a drunk one-night stand with Olivia’s boyfriend, Henry (played by Reid Scott) asleep in the house; and James and Tom (played by Brett Dalton and Beck Bennett) have a one-night stand as well, forcing James to face his homosexuality. Were those relationships inspired by anyone in particular? And why did you choose to have all of those storylines overlap at their climax?

What we really wanted to do was tell this story of people who have lost their path in a lot of ways, maybe start it off with ideals and positivity that has slowly broken down over the years by different disappointing experiences, whether it’s failed relationships, a lackluster marriage, and to help justify where these characters are when they first meet them, which is pretty much devoid of enthusiasm and nostalgia all except for Daniel who is caring more than everyone. Over the course of the film you see them regain their hope, and part of the way they regain it is by leaning on each other. Daniel, by that same token, is able to let go of nostalgic necessities that are keeping him afloat and accept reality as it is.

I think a lot of the relationships are inspired by ones in my life or my friends’ lives. I think it’s a classic writing technique. The more specific you are, the more universal it will become. I knew writing about relationship highs and lows that I understood very well and could write intimately could translate to a broader audience.

You used the drinking game, whiskey slap, in the film twice. The first time as a way to get the party started on Friday evening, the second as an excuse for Olivia to get slapped by Henry as an acceptable punishment for cheating. Why did you decide to use the game in such contrasting ways?

There’s two reasons for that. I always feel if you’re going to introduce a game into the story, it needs to somehow advance the plot. It can’t just be this fun thing that people do. We wanted it to be a foundational element of it, seeing these activities through two very different perspectives. The first time you see it on Friday night, it seems fun and carefree, youthful, edgy and exciting. Then the next day, to atone for their behavior for the night before, we see it as this violent alcohol-enabling, broken, sad experience. I really love that. There’s two sides to everything. Things that might seem fun in the moment have consequences later. I think the whiskey slap vantage point communicated that well.

‘Beside Still Waters’ will be released in theaters on Nov. 14.