With no crew and a group of actors he barely knew, Ross traveled to Phoenix and made his most joyous film

Frank V. Ross found himself in a rough spot following the release of Quietly on By (2005). His third feature film was a major creative breakthrough, but Quietly on By struggled to find audiences and was, in Ross’ words, “dead on arrival.” During this time, Ross came down with a bad case of shingles and began reflecting on aspects of his life that he wasn’t too happy with. He then happened upon a television program about Phoenix, Arizona, and the ancient civilizations that thrived and vanished in the area. The seeds for Hohokam (2007) were planted.

In the second installment of Split Tooth’s Frank V. Ross video interview series, Ross discusses how the Arizona-based production of Hohokam revitalized his creative spirit. He details his experience of working with Tony Baker and a new cast of collaborators like Allison Latta, Danny Rhodes, and Joe Swanberg. Featuring rare footage, shot by Ross, of Happy Apple’s recording session for the Hohokam soundtrack, this interview is a definitive making-of chronicle of Ross’ most joyous film.

Watch the interview here:

Read an excerpt from the interview:

Split Tooth Media: During Quietly On By there was, not a revolt, but there came a point where the crew had to talk to you about how things were going on set. What was the atmosphere like on this film both on and off camera?

Frank V. Ross: Quietly On By doesn’t look like much, but there’s a lot of speaking parts, a lot of locations, no money, and a tight schedule. It led to a meltdown and a firm talking to from people with better perspective than me. One of the biggest things about the production of Hohokam is that I was kind of revolting against Quietly On By, so, look at Hohokam: Let’s cast people I don’t even know, don’t even know if they can act. Take them to Arizona and we’ll run-and-gun shoot all over the place, and it’ll be fun. There was no crew on Hohokam because the crew got mad at me on the last movie. So no more crew! Everybody’s wearing lavalier microphones and the packs were bolted to the camera. It would have been the best time I ever had making a movie if I didn’t have food poisoning while making the movie. That’s the only black mark on Hohokam.

Read Brett Wright’s complete series on The Films of Frank V. Ross here

How did you cast Allison Latta?

The casting for Hohokam was just as fun as some of the shooting of Hohokam. I had written the part for Danielle Ostrowski from Quietly and she didn’t want to do it. My friend Kurt Naebig was the first real actor that I worked with. I had stopped doing auditions and I would just call Kurt, tell him about the script, and he would give me a very short list of names. He would vouch for me ahead of time.

When it came to [casting the role of Lori in Hohokam], Kurt said, ‘Not only do you need somebody that can act and is in the right age bracket, but you need somebody who’s gonna think it’s a fun idea to go to Arizona with you and Tony for a week, and be like, “yeah, this isn’t weird.”’ [He sent me] a list of three good actors who were down to do something like that.

Allison just impressed right away. I remember I met her at a cafe. We were gonna have coffee and she was locking up her bike outside and she had a great resting face. Then she took off her helmet and she has short hair and I thought that was awesome. And within minutes she rocked one of those huge burps that she does in the movie. If you want to impress a 25-year-old guy, do something like that. (laughs)

Looking back at Hohokam now, what stands out to you in regard to what you accomplished with it?

If I came into Hohokam with anything, it was having made three movies and not feeling like I had done what I wanted to do yet. If I started somewhere with Hohokam it was being depressed, and having to go to work, and then having to get up the next day, and then just rinse and repeat again and again and again. It was just getting tired of the slog and then trying to find humor in the slog, trying to find a partner in the slog, and getting that down on paper was not easy to do.

The script was such a bummer to write, but I went into making the movie with so much energy that I don’t even recognize it anymore. Tony was in Arizona so I had a place to stay, and these fun people — Allison and Danny — came. All this joy just started getting invited into my life and I didn’t even realize what was happening because I also had nine days to make a movie — seven days in Arizona, then one day back here [in Chicago.] I watch Hohokam and I am kind of in awe of that guy. I can honestly say I don’t feel like that person anymore, the person that made Hohokam.

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