Method: An Interview with Sherif Mohamed Mattar

Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘Method’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make films?

Method was the 2nd film project I ever made. My first was a pilot for a tv series titled Check The Gates, also upcoming and soon to be released. I started off as an actor and once I got my first few roles my interests quickly expanded into directing, producing and screenwriting. Being a huge film buff since my early years, I always knew I would eventually make my own. I learned how to make movies from being on set everyday. I was 100 percent self-taught. My strategy has always been to learn as much as possible from every department and person I come across and just keep evolving as I go. Martin Scorsese said he’s still learning new things at age 82 and that’s inspiring to me. Also having a strong background in music, being a songwriter and recording artist my entire life, that experience also helped shape my cinematic vision and influenced my filmmaking greatly. Whenever I have a story I want to tell, there’s always a symphony playing in my head. To me shooting and editing a film is very similar to recording and sequencing an album. You ever try watching a movie without music? The two share a cyclical relationship and it’s beautiful to see the way they feed off of each other.

Tell us about ‘Method’. How do you describe it?

Method was inspired by a real life relationship. I was dating an actress at the time and we ended up having several roles together in multiple projects in such a short span of time where we were dating in each one, and the lines between reality and fiction started to feel a little blurry. I wrote the entire script in one day. When ideas strike me I try to move on them fast. When you get the call from the sky and the universe transmits its signal, it’s your duty to put it out in the world. The collective consciousness needs it, there’s no telling the effect it will have on the next artist that will create the next thing that shifts the entire culture. The film follows Damian and Stella, a young couple rehearsing for their upcoming play. As tension arises from their on stage relationship bleeding into real life, their lives begin to completely unravel as it becomes increasingly difficult to tell the two apart. Method is a darkly comic exploration on method acting that attempts to answer this question: At what lengths will a method actor go to deliver a realistic performance?

As artists relentlessly dedicated to our craft, we often take ourselves too seriously. This was an attempt to poke fun at the very artform we all know and love and hold so dearly to our hearts. As art imitates life, and life imitates art, do the two not become one in the same?

Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.

Wong Kar-wai is a personal hero. I’ve seen every one of his movies and In the Mood for Love is a personal favorite. I love his use of claustrophobic angles and color saturation. Stanley Kubrick has always been a huge inspiration. I’ve seen 2001: Space Odyssey and Clockwork Orange at least 10 times each. Being a huge science-fiction fan, I put Ridley Scott in there for Blade Runner and Alien alone. Blade Runner is my favorite film of all time. Fourth on my mount rushmore would be Martin Scorsese. My personal favorites by him are Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and The Departed. There are many others but these are the first that come to mind.

If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?

If I had 100 million dollars I would produce Rain Man. It’s an original comic book franchise I created and it’s my baby I’ve been holding onto for a while. A sci-fi action drama about a group of astronauts that fly to the moon to investigate recent shifts in the tides having catastrophic consequences on the earth’s ecosystem, leading to the discovery of an alien life form that grants the protagonist the ability to manipulate water. A third film takes place in outer space, a third at NASA headquarters and the other third in the Pyramids of Egypt so obviously it requires a pretty significant budget. Sci-fi has always been my favorite genre so this is a big dream of mine, my other two dream projects would be a boxing movie and a music biopic.

Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?

To run a tight ship the AD is vital. Sacrifices always have to be made on set and unexpected challenges arise. Guillermo del Toro said directing is the art of orchestrating accidents and that quote really stuck with me. You have to be able to make quick decisions and stay on your toes. I also think it’s important to work with close friends, people you love, people you build chemistry with and really trust. There’s a reason why you see all the big filmmakers hiring the same people for score, cinematography, cast, etc.

What was the hardest part of making ‘Method’.

The hardest part of making Methods was learning on the fly. I wrote it in one day and then

immediately began pre-production which lasted only two weeks until we shot it. It was also my first time directing and acting in the same film so there was definitely a learning curve there with so many different things to think about simultaneously. I really enjoyed the calculated chaos and challenge of this film and look forward to even bigger challenges in the future.

If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?

I have a new short film I just finished called Eggs that is about to begin its festival run. Eggs is a social satire on the recent egg shortage, taking a hilariously darkly comic look at how the crisis affects two different people on varying ends of socio-economic class. Stacey and Nox meet at a single's dating event in Hollywood and while she initially appears to have little interest in his corny advances, the tables quickly turn as she learns of his abundance of baby chickens. With themes of necessity vs. luxury, culture appropriation and white privilege, this layered satire is sure to draw just as many questions as it does laughs. After Eggs I am going to begin pre-production for a horror comedy feature film that will be filmed this Fall, written, directed, produced and scored by me. I can’t give away too many details about this one yet but I also have an upcoming television series currently in post-production titled Check The Gates which tells the story of two best friends navigating their life in Los Angeles as background actors. They are the neutral lens through which the audience observes the wild nature of Hollywood. Combining surrealist humor with weighty, emotional depth, CTG is an exploration into a lesser documented side of the industry, offering a fresh perspective on the film world.I believe the most important aspect of art is relatability, and I am proud to share this project as an honest yet hilarious depiction of Hollywood, the film industry, and the everyday life of artists around the world.