It takes more than the luck of the Irish to become a
successful filmmaker. I first met Owen Dara when we both volunteered for the
Citywide Reads project sponsored by the Santa Monica Public Library. But this
congenial Irishman had bigger aspirations than leading Santa Monicans in
literary give-and-take. An actor, singer, and comedian, Owen was out to take
Hollywood by storm. Now, some years later, his first directorial effort is
making its official debut at indie film events on both coasts. Choosing Signs has already won the Best
Feature Film award at Tribecca’s Golden Egg Festival, and an appearance at
Monrovia, California’s AOF International Film Festival is slated for August 21.
It’s not exactly a premiere at Graumann’s Chinese, but maybe that will come.
Choosing Signs is
sweet, slight, and endearing. Fans of Silver
Linings Playbook will recognize the quirky but ultimately heartfelt world
these characters inhabit. There is, first and foremost, a love story, between a
down-to-earth Irish boy and an up-in-the-air American girl who makes life-choices
by consulting the powers of the universe. Eamon’s all blarney and puppy-dog
affability; Jennifer is tightly
wound. That’s partly because of the other two males in her life: a brother with
serious mental issues and a fiancé caught up in a mad scheme to provide
low-cost immigrant housing by designing tiny “hallway apartments” in which
furniture is suspended from the ceiling when not in use. Eamon, for all his
good cheer, turns out to be fighting his own demons. The final major character
is an acerbic young Russian housekeeper, played by the award-winning Betsy
Douds. It is she who triggers the crisis that ultimately helps the others get
their lives in order. This is a story about various kinds of failure to
communicate, but there’s hope for them all in the end.
Since Choosing Signs
was a shoestring production, no surprise that Owen Dara wore many hats. Aside
from directing, he also wrote the script, edited the footage, composed the
music, and played a leading role. (If you study the end credits, you’ll also
see that a certain Arad Newo was responsible for several technical jobs.) Opposite
Owen was Jessica Lancaster, both his real-life romantic partner and his
producing partner on this film. I’m told that she also oversaw makeup and
costumes, and that cast members obligingly filled in on the crew when not
needed in front of the cameras.
Though this small story could have been set anywhere, Owen
quickly realized he would save money by moving his locale from L.A. (where
outdoor shooting would have required expensive permits) to his native Cork. Yes,
key members of the team had to pay their own airfare to the Emerald Isle, but Owen’s
family and friends welcomed them warmly, and were always helpful when it came
to securing locations and key props. The famously changeable Irish climate
smiled on the effort. (On Owen’s next filmmaking venture he would not be so
lucky.) The catch-as-catch-can nature of indie filmmaking is suggested by one
wee tidbit. By the time the film was finally shot, Betsy Douds was visibly
pregnant. Since no one wanted to recast her role, Owen incorporated her
pregnancy into the script. For me it made perfect sense in context: just
another of those happy accidents that indie filmmaking sometimes inspires.
About prospects for future success, Owen is philosophical: “I
don’t know what will happen with Choosing
Signs, but I can say that if its creation yields nothing more than my
having been part of creating it, then as an artist I will consider it to have
been a valuable journey.”
