INTERVIEW | Katie Aselton: On quietly shooting a film in Bangor
From "The Puffy Chair" to "Their Town," premiering at MIFF July 10
Katie Aselton and her cast and crew had already packed up and returned to Los Angeles before almost anybody knew they’d spent two weeks shooting a film in Bangor in November 2024.
Aselton, a director and actor known for her roles in shows like “The League” and “Legion” and for directing films like “Mack & Rita” and “Black Rock,” quietly filmed her latest directorial effort, “Their Town,” in Bangor, with small, highly focused crew and cast, including lead actors Chosen Jacobs and Ora Duplass - Aselton’s own 18-year-old daughter, in her film debut. “Their Town” tells the intimate, deeply personal story of two teenagers finding connection through big emotional and philosophical questions, over the course of one chilly fall night. It will have its Maine premiere this Friday, July 10, at the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville.
Almost nobody knew Aselton and company were shooting a movie on location in recognizable Bangor places like Broadway Park, 2 Feet Brewing, the Bangor Waterfront and others. Some may know, though, that Aselton is herself a Mainer - she grew up in Milbridge, and graduated from Narraguagus High School in 1996. She and her husband, Mark Duplass - known for his Emmy-nominated role in “The Morning Show” and producing films and TV series with his brother, Jay, including the acclaimed “Wild, Wild Country” and “Somebody, Somewhere” - shot their first feature film, the delightful micro-budget comedy “The Puffy Chair,” in Maine more than 20 years ago. “Their Town,” also written by Duplass, is the third film the pair have shot in Maine, and is a love letter to teenage yearning - and, in many ways, to Maine, and to Bangor in particular.
Aselton sat down last week for a chat about filming in Maine, her youth Down East, and the family business of moviemaking.
Did you and Mark always have Bangor in mind as the setting for this story, and as the place you’d shoot the film? Why here?
Mark wrote the script with Bangor in mind, because there’s this great quality of Bangor where it feels - and I mean this with the most respect and love - it feels a little time-stopped. Like, the downtown area feels very untouched by big box stores and whatnot, and it’s very separated from the area of town that does have that. Although I do have to say, the Bangor Mall was my mecca as a kid. We drove there all the time. An hour and 20 minutes just to go to the Bangor Mall! It was such a destination. And now it’s kind of run down and deteriorating. It’s kind of a graveyard. And then downtown is on the upswing, and it’s so charming. I think the look and feel of it really ended up being a big part of the story of the film.
It was also so great to shoot it in November, when it’s kind of chilly and cold and you can see your breath. It just felt kind of romantic. Everywhere we pointed our camera was beautiful. Nothing beats Maine in fall. There’s something so crisp about the light. Everything feels and looks crackly and crisp. And we only shot for two weeks, and in that time, the leaves fell. The film is supposed to be one day, so we had to kind of contend with that.
So, by all accounts, “Their Town” is an incredibly intimate film. Mark wrote the script, and you directed it, so it’s also obviously very personal. What made this film in particular the next project you wanted to take on?
I just loved the dignity that Mark treated these characters with. And I think in my experience of having two teenage daughters… there’s so much depth there, and they’re so thoughtful. They’re almost, like, too thoughtful, right? They’re in their heads all the time. And I think we do them a disservice by being like, ‘Ugh, kids, am I right?’ These kids are so incredibly thoughtful and deep, and they have big takes on the world. I still remember that feeling of being discounted because I was a teenager or a kid or whatever, but their feelings are incredibly valid and should be considered. I think very often in teen movies they get sort of stereotyped as like, mean girls, or catty, or whatever, and it’s like, no, they’re really weighing their life decisions. Their loves are big, and their feelings are tumultuous. I think there’s so much there to explore, and I also think they hold a lot, and their insecurities are so big, and they’re taking the pressure that we put on them as adults very seriously. It’s a scary world to be growing up in. I think it’s a very different world than what you and I were growing up in.
And I really just loved the way Mark wrote these two kids. I loved the way Chosen and Ora brought these two characters so sensitively to life. I think there’s so much to be said for the rare moments that we as people, regardless of what age, feel truly seen and to have that sort of be the crux of the story was so cool, and, like, that can happen at any age, but I think it’s very rare that we allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to be truly seen by someone else. Those are those nights that are so magical, you know?
I saw somewhere else someone very aptly compared it to like the sort of teen version of Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy [“Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight,” all starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy and set over the course of one day in Vienna, Paris and Greece, respectively - required viewing!].
Definitely. Without question, that’s a direct influence. Those are some of our favorite movies.
And, you know, Bangor and Paris are very similar, obviously.
Oh yes, they get compared every day. They say Bangor is the Paris of New England.
Truly, nothing says romance like a giant Paul Bunyan statue. Anyway, speaking of being a kid, you grew up in Milbridge, in Washington County. Were you an artsy kid? Were you a theater kid? Where did your path to where you are now begin?
I was all of those things. My mom was the high school art teacher at Narraguagus, so art was definitely always very much a part of my childhood and creativity. She was very great about going down to Boston, and taking me to the theater. I remember she took me to see “Les Miserables” when I was 9, and I, like, looked up and saw Cosette, who was the same age as me, and had the same, like, long blonde hair, and I was like, wait a second. We loved watching movies together, and we loved “Saturday Night Live,” We had the box set from Time Life, so that was major. I was a member of the drama club at Narraguagus all four years but we didn’t put on one play. I got my picture in the yearbook though. My parents had us in ballet, at the Libitski School of Dance in Ellsworth. I was also the youngest by far - my closest sibling is 6 years older than me - and so I was sort of on my own a lot to go out in the woods and my imagination would just run rampant. I grew up right on the ocean, and so, the rocks were my playground. I was always creating these fantasy worlds. My imagination was wild.
That is definitely a specific kind of Maine thing. The imaginative little girl out in the woods or on the shore, all alone, making up her own fantasy world. I speak from experience!
I should also mention, however, that my sister Mary directed a lot of plays in our home. She was the director, and I would often get cast as, like, the deer running through the scene. So those were my first roles.
You’ve come back to Maine a lot, not just to visit family, obviously, but to film - you’re one of the rare filmmakers that actually films in Maine! Three movies now, including “The Puffy Chair” and “Black Rock.” The conventional wisdom about filming in Maine is that it’s basically impossible, and super expensive and complicated because there’s not a lot of film infrastructure, and there’s no real tax breaks, and on and on. How do you make it work?
I will say it’s easier now than it was when we shot “Black Rock.” When we shot that, the closest rental house for cameras and whatnot was Boston. For “Their Town,” we were able to work with a company out of Portland, which was definitely more convenient, but we still had to drive it all up from Portland to Bangor. It is definitely tricky when it comes to the logistics of shooting.
That being said, what you get production value-wise is unbeatable. Like, you turn the camera on, and you have a gorgeous shot. It is a real gift. And, truthfully, the communities we’ve shot in are incredibly supportive. You make a movie in Los Angeles, everyone wants to make a buck. In Maine, people just want to show how beautiful their town is. ‘Oh, you’re from here? How can I help?’ It makes the technical trade-off so worth it.
You and Mark have such a family business going on, between Mark and Jay [Duplass, Mark’s brother and producing partner), you and your sister Mary [a producer on “Their Town”], and your daughter Ora now. What are the best parts of having this close-knit family relationship in both your personal and professional lives?
I think there’s a couple answers to that. One is that there’s something really nice about knowing what the people you’re working with are truly capable of. I know what Mary is capable of. Mark knows everything I am capable of. We know when you push and when to pull back, and it’s so much easier to calibrate a working relationship if you have such intimate knowledge about the people you’re working with.
The second level is that we have a very strict no-asshole policy. I won’t do it. I won’t work with someone that makes my life difficult. We’re so lucky. We’re not tasked with curing cancer. Our job at the end of the day is entertainment, and that is such a privilege. If you don’t show up every day acknowledging that, I have no time for you.
[A beat]
Can I tell you a great story about my sister?
Please do!
So, the climax scene in “Their Town” is shot in a park at night, with a swingset and everything. We found the perfect park in Bangor [Broadway Park], and we scouted it in October. Come November, however, there was all this construction on 95, over by TJ Maxx and that area, and it was all happening at night, and we’re shooting at night, and it’s actually our last night of shooting. They are just dismantling that bridge. Constant bang, bang, bang. Our sound guy was like, ‘This is gonna be an issue.’ We’re praying it’ll shop, or that maybe we can fade it out in the mix. And then all of a sudden, Mary just disappears. And then within like 30 minutes, the banging stops. This is a federal construction project, a multi-million dollar multi-year project. I don’t want to know what Mary said to them, but the rest of the night it was pin drop quiet. Isn’t that so Maine?
That is a powerful woman. If I need to stop traffic some time, I know who to call.
Maine International Film Festival passes are now on sale. Tickets for the 6:30 p.m., July 10 screening of “Their Town” at the Waterville Opera House are available online at miff.org.