Review

Rapp Sheet — 9-8-10: earthwork film about using the ground as canvas premieres in Lawrence

Actor John Hawkes (left) with his character study and inspiration for the film, "earthworks," artist Stan Herd, on the Kansas set of the film, which opens at the Lawrence Arts Center September 10. Photo: courtesy of the director

Director Chris Ordal's feature film, earthwork, depicts crop artist Stan Herd, who, in 1994, traveled from Kansas to New York City to create a massive environmental artwork on land owned by Donald Trump. The media for this ambitious and ultimately life-altering project was soil, rocks, and vegetation, applied and arranged near an underground railway tunnel. In making his vision a reality, Herd recruited a several homeless people who were living in the tunnel as his assistants. The earthwork — perhaps an artist's most organic connection to his art and nature — took several months to complete, and it brought with it a series of challenges Herd had to endure in order to carry it out. The mission to show one's expressions to a larger audience always comes with a cost, but in this case, it also gifted a lesson to the artist — and the filmmaker — about life itself.

The story, as told in the film, earthwork, will see its local premiere on September 10, at 8 p.m. at the Lawrence Arts Center (and there is another special screening on September 11, which includes a reception and a Q&A session with the artist, director, and others, and regular showings on September 12; tickets are available on the Lawrence Arts Center site; scroll down on their homepage).

An earthwork of art by Stan Herd on the grounds of the Spencer Museum of Art (KU campus, Lawrence, Kansas). Photo: Jon Blumb, courtesy of the director and artist

"I wanted to write a narrative that explored the artist’s life truthfully," Ordal says. "There have been many films about artists made, but few about artists who aren’t household names. I grew tired of seeing a passionate person’s life reduced to two hours of a quick-rise-to-fame followed by the pains of celebrity. We see enough celebrity. I wanted the audience to discover a new artist and see things from a new perspective, one that I felt a much larger percentage of people could relate to."

Ordal knew at a very young age that he wanted to make movies and tell stories via the film medium. He chose the University of Kansas (KU) because at the time it was one of the few film schools in the Midwest that actually had a whole film department and program, as opposed to just a few classes. Also, Kansas, though not as balmy as Los Angeles, of course, was decidedly more forgiving climate-wise, compared to the harsh South Dakota winters he knew he would not miss.

"In school, I watched a whole bunch of people my age make $10,000-films," he says. "These films would be very limited as far as marketability and star the filmmakers friends and roommates. I really wanted to set myself apart. So, I choose to start out with a strong feature film and was considering a number of original screenplays to fulfill that desire. I also wanted a professional cast involved. Then, I came across the real story of Stan Herd. I noticed Stan Herd’s art. In it, I saw a moving story that says what I wanted to share with others; what I wanted them to truly see and feel. The further I dug into Stan's art, the closer I came to discovering my own. One day a friend of Stan's said, 'Have Stan tell you about the time he moved to New York City and made a huge piece of crop art on land owned by Donald Trump.' I didn't know what my own take of the story would be at first, but I became obsessed with looking for it. Then, I heard about his connection to the homeless guys and how he used them for his crew, and I knew I had my film."

Ordal is emphatic to emphasize that earthwork is not a traditional "biopic."

"It is one man’s true story of discovery told through a single episode of his life," he says. "It is a story that chooses to explore just one of his works in an attempt to understand why he has created so many over the years — and why he needs to keep doing so. Everyone has some kind of vision they want out of their head and materialized in front of them, but everyday life tends to be a pretty solid gatekeeper. Of those few who are able to truly follow their dream, an even smaller percentage are able to survive long enough to turn that passion into an honest living. This to me is the real, true struggle of the artist — survival."

Actor John Hawkes plays artist Stan Herd, shown in his studio on the set of "earthwork." Image: ©CO, ink 2008; photo by Simon Cordova, courtesy of the director

Ordal also also didn't choose a documentary format, keeping in mind it would not convey the complexities of Herd's life: "I knew right away I had no intention of making a talking-heads piece about something that had happened in the past. And generally I don't like biopics either, and I wouldn't want insult someone by trying to contain their whole life within two hours. Instead, I chose to focus on a particularly significant episode in Stan's journey."

Building the earthwork that Ordal dramatizes ultimately ended Herd's marriage and his financial stability.

"The only thing he had left at the end of the journey were the relationships that grew from it," says Ordal. "I knew I had succeeded in finding my story when I watched as Stan realized that what he once thought of as a failure, he now accepted as his greatest artistic achievement."

One obviously challenging aspect to telling the story of Herd's masterpiece was finding the drama inherent in a non-traditional story and effectively dramatizing those moments on film.

"I spent six months interviewing Stan searching for the core of the story," says Ordal. "There is plenty of drama in being in New York City alone, but when you figure in the very nature of this film — the growing of something on a gradual level — it creates and interesting and dramatic symmetry. There was plenty of good material to mine. But at the core, it comes down to being about a guy landscaping for nine months. It made me focus on characters, which ultimately spoke to the meaning of the story."

John Hawkes and Dragan Ilich on the set of "earthwork." Image: ©CO, ink 2008; photo by Simon Cordova, courtesy of the director

The production of earthwork was not just about making a film. Ordal's cast and crew had to actually build the multi-dimensional project that would become the centerpiece for the film, using real plants, dirt, and rocks.

"Between takes we were literally growing up and bringing up a recreation of the field Stan built in New York," Ordal explains. "What took him months to do we had to do through all of its stages in 29 days, from the unfinished plot of land to the finished earthwork. It was crazy — we had boom operators digging in dirt and recreating a two-acre field. We were building the earthwork as we were shooting the film."

John Hawkes, who is wowing critics and audiences with his portrayal of a meth-kingpin in Winter's Bone (Rapp Sheet 6-17-10) was Ordal's first choice to play Stan Herd.

"I vividly remember being in high school and going to a late show of From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and thinking how great the guy behind the counter was. He really stood out for me. Every time I saw the guy there was something about him. He's got such an interesting face and is a great, great actor. I dropped his name and no one knew who I was talking about — but I would list his resume:  American Gangster, Perfect Storm, Deadwood … and then they knew exactly who I was talking about."

Stan Herd, "Liberty" earthwork. Photo: Jon Blumb, courtesy of the director and artist

Ordal managed to get Hawkes a script, but was covering his tracks by also submitting it to a handful of other actors as well, just in case Hawkes was not available or uninterested in the role. Then, one day, Ordal got one of the most exciting calls of his life: "It was John on the phone saying, 'I really like your script.'"

"You had to believe Stan was a genuine guy," says Ordal. "So John was  perfect for it. He brought so much to the character it was ridiculous. John spent a lot of time researching with Stan. When we brought Stan to Kansas,  Stan rolled up in this big tractor to meet John. The men immediately took a liking to each other and got along great. They really both knew what they were there for."

Consensus is that Hawkes portrayed Stan so well in fact, that Herd's associates are blown away. Says Ordal: "So many of Stan's friends watch the movie and laugh hysterically because Hawkes is so perfect at being Stan. They just can't get over how great he is."

Ordal recognizes the gift of having a great talent like Hawkes as the lead in his film; as an independent filmmaker he is poised to get some additional notice of his work by featuring a potentially Oscar-nominated actor.

"First and foremost I'm glad that John is getting so many great reviews. He's been such a great actor for such a long time. People are now realizing it. Mostly, I hope John wins because he deserves it. I'm super excited that he's doing so well right now, and I'm especially proud that earthwork is really the only film out there where John is the full, honest-to-God lead. People are blown away by his performance."

But perhaps the most impressive achievement in this film — and also a testament to how shooting in this region is both economical and malleable — is the accomplishment of making a field in Kansas appear to be an urban park in New York City. Ordal took an open-air soundstage and created the illusion so vividly that even New York natives can't tell the difference.

Sam Greenlee and John Hawkes on the set of "earthwork." Image: ©CO, ink 2008; photo by Simon Cordova, courtesy of the director

"Shooting Kansas to look like New York was definitely a challenge, but I'm proud of the way we pulled it off," he says. "We were obviously working on a limited budget, not to mention that the land Stan actually created the piece on 1994 now is under a bunch of skyscrapers. Even though it's been less than 20 years, the region has changed drastically since that time.

"So we came up with a way in which we could take a plot of land literally in the middle of a field with nothing around. We built a massive 17-foot-high wall out of plywood and we painted it to look like a cement wall. We managed to find some graffiti artists who did research to see what graffiti looked like in 1994. We had some pictures of the real Stan in 1994 that had been taken by professional photographers at the site. We scanned images from when Stan was actually there and matted them above the wall. When we premiered at Austin Film Festival last October, Stan saw the final images for the first time and how they were matted. He literally took a step back but was blown away. He said, 'That doesn't just look similar to where I was, but that looks exactly like where I was!'"

John Hawkes as Stan Herd on the set of "earthwork." Image: ©CO, ink 2008; photo by Simon Cordova, courtesy of the director

"The key to recreating New York is not to show the icons like the Chrysler Building, the Statue of Liberty — not what TV shows show you when things are set in New York," Ordal adds. "It's to show you you're in New York, but not draw attention the fact that you're faking New York."

The crew did spend one day in New York City, shooting exteriors and subway scenes. But most the other Big Apple sets, from a Trump Tower conference room to a crappy New York hotel room, were all recreated in Kansas.

"One day in New York and 29 in Kansas," Ordal recounts with glee. "Thanks to careful planning and expert sound design, you really couldn't tell it wasn't filmed there. When we showed the film in Tribeca, the audience gasped when they found out that park was filmed in a field in Kansas. It's a great testament to what can be done in this region. To my knowledge I don't think anyone else is doing a trick like that in such a scale."

The Lawrence premiere is obviously very exciting for Ordal, who has been receiving "quite a few requests from people who want to see it."  This is coming off of acceptance by and even wins at major festivals, such as Santa Fe Film Festival and South By Southwest.

Crop artist Stan Herd in a field of sunflowers on the set of "earthwork." Image: ©CO, ink 2008; photo by Simon Cordova, courtesy of the director

"The film celebrates the spirit of entrepreneurship and the tenacity of Stan — a born-and-bred Kansan," says Ordal. "This one of the few films out there that portrays the Midwest sensibility in a non-cheesy or clichéd manner. To make a living via your passion, one must manage everything that the modern world has thrust upon us, then explore a passion long enough for someone to notice. We need to see through all the noise and networks we are kept so busy with these days to truly feel something."

-re-

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