STEELE INTERVIEWS: Director Jody Lambert

Before screening Of All the Things for IFFBoston, I sat down at The Joshua Tree bar in Davis Square with Director Jody Lambert and P.H. O’Brien, Director of Photography.

Amy Steele (AS): What did you think of what your father did as a kid and what did you think of his career later in life?

Jody Lambert (JL): When I was a kid, he was at the height of his success. He was a hitmaker. I grew up in L.A. so a lot of kids had parents doing similar things. It didn’t seem that unusual. When I was in college trying to be an actor and writer I realized how epic his career was.

AS: What were the greatest challenges and the best parts?

P.H. O’Brien (PO): I hadn’t filmed concerts before so the technical side of putting different shots together was a challenge. Especially the last concert [in Manila]. It was such a huge venue. We wanted to make it feel like a rock documentary but it is also a father and son and a band going on tour for the first time.

JL: When we got off the plane in Manila and there were reporters there. We didn’t realize the magnitude of my father’s popularity and the reality hit us. For challenges? There were language barriers and technical aspects to deal with. From venue to venue we didn’t know what to expect and how he would perform.

PO: Jody was also stage manager because there was no one else.

JL: We had 100 jobs each: making the movie; helping with the show; being the support team. It was also fun for that reason.

AS: What does your father think of the final product?

JL: He loves it. He still laughs at the same parts. He feels like he’s watching a film about someone else. He enjoys watching the story unfolding. He still gets so much joy out of re-living all this. It’s been great.

AS: Is he going to do any more touring?

JL: He played at the Viper Room in L.A., the Bluebird Café in Nashville and Joe’s Pub in New York and is being approached by people again. The movie has to go one more level of visibility. It has been successful on the festival circuit [writer’s note: Of All the Things has screened at 20 festivals]. We were chosen for AFI Project: 20/20. [writer’s note: according to AFI’s website: “AFI PROJECT: 20/20 is an American Film Institute (AFI) international initiative designed to enhance cultural exchange, understanding and collaboration through filmmakers and their films from the US and abroad. It is an unprecedented cultural diplomacy effort that is the only international filmmaker exchange supported by all of America’s cultural agencies–National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) — and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.”]

JL: What my dad feels is nothing good happens when you say no but so many good things happen when you say yes. Shake yourself out of your comfort zone. He did not have to prove anything to anyone but by doing it he added a few years to his life and feels energized.


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