Fast-Paced & Rhythmic: Austin Hall & Zach Visvikis On "Molly Robber"
Austin Hall and Zach Visvikis are a Los Angeles-based filmmaking duo who met late at night in the NYU editing lab, where they discovered their mutual passion for old martial arts films and how much their grandmas love them. Since then, they have been co-writing and co-directing together. Their latest effort is Molly Robber, a fast-paced crime comedy about the importance of family.
A high-school dropout (Chelsea Lopez) in desperate need of cash plans to rob her drug dealer (Tristan Ott), but when her anime-obsessed step-brother (Elim Uraimov) sneaks along for the ride, things get complicated.
The film won the Audience Choice Award at the Austin Film Festival, and it recently screened at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. We had the pleasure of chatting with Austin and Zach about the film, its origins, finding the energy and cast, and much much more!
How did the two of you discover your mutual love for martial arts films? Did you two bond over any film in particular?
Both of us have always loved a good action film. For Austin it all started when he would go over to his grandma’s house on weekends and the two of them would go to their local Blockbuster and rent (poorly dubbed) Jackie Chan films. Austin’s pretty sure he’s seen Drunken Master around 14 times. For Zach, it was when he watched Karate Kid, then Karate Kid 2, and 3, and then graduated to Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan films — they were his whole life. But we really connected when we both went to check out John Wick: Chapter 2 in theaters opening night. When Mr. Wick killed the dude with the pencil, let’s just say the crowd (us) erupted. We’ve been geeking over action films ever since.
How did the concept for Molly Robber originate?
The initial idea came from a story Zach heard about a botched robbery in his hometown. We took that initial kernel of an idea and ran with it. We got to talking about the other stories and legends from our experiences growing up and thus, the film was born. One of the most important things for us going into it was to create something fast-paced and crazy, but with a lot of heart. We carried this idea with us from our first idea all the way through to the final product.
What’s the collaboration process look like for you two?
For us, it usually starts with a crazy idea that we think could never work. Then we start riffing on it until it does. In terms of the script we’re very big into the pre-production phase (one-pagers, outlines, beat-sheets) so that we know exactly what the journey of the script is going to be. Then fast forward six-months later after the final draft is complete, we start talking about how we can make the darn thing. When we actually go into production on a project, the most important thing for us to do is to make sure that all of the pre-visualization is as tight as possible. This is so when we go on set we’re both on the same page on how things are going to be lit, shot, etc. So that we can have as little confusion on set as possible.
The film has a lovely energy to it. What’s your secret to giving each and every scene a strong pulse?
Thank you! We don’t know if there’s a secret — maybe lots of caffeine? We just went in knowing we wanted to make a fast-paced film that never missed a beat. In the editing room, we cut anything we felt wasn’t forwarding the story or wasn’t getting a laugh, so our final product was as lean as possible, or at least we think.
The film is full of excellent performances. How did you find your terrific cast?
Our amazing Casting Director, Juliet Brett, put in a lot of work finding our extremely multi-talented lead, Chelsea Lopez, and the crazy and creative supporting members, Tristan Ott (Braydon) and Jeff Tendall (Jim). Our Co-Producer, Cameron Penn, had made a film with Barry Bostwick the summer before we shot and graciously put us in contact with him. We hit it off instantly. Zach had known Camron Jones (Riley) for a few years thanks to his brother, Dylan Visvikis, who had written a film Camron starred in. As for Elim Uraimov (Trout), he was a diamond in the rough, we held open auditions for his role, and Elim was so so so amazing in his audition that we practically cast him on the spot. It was such a pleasure to work with all of them and this film wouldn’t be what it is without their visions.
The film is loaded with some really beautiful images. How did you guys work with cinematographer Morgan Gardiner to nail down the film’s final look?
The pre-visualization of everything played an integral process, but once we were both comfortable with our shot-list and lighting plan, we took it to Morgan to start the workshopping process. We showed up to her house and over the course of a few days went through each and every shot to see if there was a way we could make it better, not just in terms of technicalities but to be a hundred percent sure it worked for and supported the story.
Do you have a favorite scene or moment from the film?
Our favorite scene without a doubt is the moment when Trout gets the courage to burst out of the car to save his sister. A close second is when he gets shot.
What drew you to the visual arts? How did you get into directing?
As a kid, Austin started off wanting to be an actor, but as he spent the weekends renting kung-fu films with his grandma, he wanted to be on the other side of the camera so that he could learn “how the heck did they do that???” For Zach, he started making videos with his older brother, Dylan, at a young age. Dylan paved the path for Zach to pursue filmmaking, getting him jobs on sets at a young age and teaching him almost everything he knows about filmmaking.
What films or filmmakers have inspired you, your style, or your approach to telling a story?
We’re both huge fans of comedy, action, and of course, anime. The tone and style of anime is so eclectic you really can’t pin it down. There’s literally something for everyone. Our style is definitely fast-paced and rhythmic, and we think that type of filmmaking has inspired our storytelling as well.
What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
We hope that people have a good time! We like to think this is a 15-minute film with lots of fun and lots of heart. If you come out smiling, we’ll be happy!
Do you have any future projects in the works that you can share with us?
After months of quarantine, we decided we needed to make something, so we shot a pilot entirely on a green screen in Austin’s garage and remotely in our friend and collaborator Dan Novarro’s garage in New Jersey. It was our first bi-coastal shoot. We’re hoping it will be wrapped shortly! Other than that, we’ve been writing as much as we can!
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What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!