By Kilian Melloy

A once-esteemed, now-disgraced film director named Evan Quick (Silas Kade) sets up a somewhat makeshift film set in a warehouse, using minimal equipment and worrying that his talent might not show up for the shoot. The twist? He’s making a porno movie, and a lack of running water threatens to make the necessary preparations problematic. He’s also waiting for his producer to arrive, his main star is on some kind of powder, and he seems to be getting trolled by too-good-to-be-true offers to work with a major name in queer cinema. In short, everything has gone to hell, and Silas is just scraping by. But that doesn’t mean things sink even deeper into chaos…

Mark Schwab’s film Cutaways takes its title from a filmmaking term of art. In general, a “cutaway” is a quick look at something or someone else — a reaction shot, an illustrative image, or perhaps a brief gag to underscore the absurdity of a scenario. In porn — at least, for the movie Evan is making — it seems mainly to be a closeup.

When circumstances require that Evan carry on filming his cutaways with a different actor than either of his main stars, Andy (Fernando) and Ryan (Diogo Hausen), he luckily finds an eager thesp in the form of Trace (Jason Caceres), the boyfriend of his producer, Sammy (James Duval). But will the hot, flirtatious energy between them ignite the movie… or burn down Evan’s flimsy house of cards?

Writer-director Mark Schwab (Exteriors, Shadows in Mind, Brotherly Lies, Crisis Hotline) opened up about how he turned to collaborators from previous projects to round out his cast, getting to work with the star of Gregg Araki’s “Teen Apocalypse” films, James Duval, giving his cast the agency they need to do their best work, and putting an edge back on queer cinema.

Kilian Melloy: This comedy feels in some ways like a stage play more than a film.

Mark Schwab: It was always considered as a film, and definitely the one-setting location is specific to the film. I did work with my amazing DP, Jessica Gallant, to open up the space and use it in a cinematic way, and I was very, very pleased with how we worked together on that.

Kilian Melloy: You’ve said that the down-on-his-luck central character, indie filmmaker Evan Quick, played by Silas Kade, is “a bizarro Mirror Universe version” of yourself. That must have been both amusing and cathartic to write.

Mark Schwab: What Evan represents is the dark version of me in that no matter what it takes, I keep making films. I think even if it was in a roach-infested warehouse with an iPhone, I’d figure out some way to do it.

Kilian Melloy: What’s behind your love of making movies?

Mark Schwab: I’ve always been a fan of movies, and especially kind of alternative cinema. I grew up on the films of Gregg Araki and Todd Haynes, and John Waters and Bruce LaBruce. These were the filmmakers that I was very, very excited by, going to those movie theaters all by myself, hoping no one would see me there sitting in the back row. I don’t think those filmmakers would have gotten anywhere today. In today’s culture, if they had tried to make those films they would have been shut down instantly!

I want queer cinema to be edgy again. Don’t be afraid! It doesn’t all have to be a Hallmark card. That’s kind of what Cutaways is poking at, that I think queer cinema has gone really soft. Two film festivals were afraid to program this film, even though they liked it.

Kilian Melloy: Cutaways certainly is edgy. Were there things that you considered putting in and then you thought, “Maybe that’s a little too much”?

Mark Schwab: No, I put in pretty much everything I shot. James said, “Gregg is the same way his films. He puts everything he shoots in the movie. He doesn’t cut anything out.”

Kilian Melloy: You guys, and Hitchcock. He would never film anything extra because he didn’t want the censors or the studios messing with his stuff. They had to use what he gave them.

Mark Schwab: Yeah, mine’s a little different. I use everything because I have to, because I’m an independent filmmaker.

[Laughter]

Kilian Melloy: Boy Culture fans will be happy to see Jason Caceres in this movie. He does a hilarious job as someone both naive and ambitious, and he’s effortlessly seductive.

Mark Schwab: When I was trying to cast that role, it was one of the few roles that I had done an open casting for, accepting headshots and things like that. I pretty much cast everyone else right away; they didn’t have to read for it or audition for it. When Jason’s name popped up, I went, “Oh, wow, here we go.” I talked to him, and it was just a fit. I was excited because this is different than what he’s done before. He shows a lot of different layers, and, compared to some of his other work, you get to see a darker side of him. I think his fans will really like seeing a different Jason Caceres. He can do a lot more, maybe, than some people think, as an actor.

Kilian Melloy: Caceres seems completely at ease and natural acting in the buff. Was that something you were looking for when casting the role? 

Mark Schwab: Jason has always been comfortable with his body. He has said in interviews, “As an actor, my body is an instrument. Why wouldn’t I use it? It’s part of the toolkit.” He’s exactly right. All of my actors were very, very brave, but at the same time I had always told the actors — and they know this about me — that if there’s any scene that they’re absolutely uncomfortable with, I will let them see the shot through the monitor so that they can approve it or not. If they don’t approve it, I will come up with something else. I will not force them to do anything that they don’t want to do. There turned out to be no issues; I thought the actors were all very brave and uninhibited and terrific.

Kilian Melloy: Silas Kade also shows a lot of layers — bitterness, acerbity, and yet humor and a wonderful sense of theatricality.

Mark Schwab: It’s a way for him to mask insecurities and pain, and it’s a way for him to hold on to a little bit of power and authority. Silas had acted in two of my previous films, and he’s a wonderful actor. He does incredible preparation. I wrote the part for him specifically because I thought, “Yeah, he can embody all of that and pull it off.” And it was also completely different than the characters he plays in Brotherly Lies and Exteriors, the previous two films. He jumped right into this and absolutely knew what he wanted to do. I had to give Silas very little direction, because I wanted him to create this. He was able to create something unique and beautiful.

Kilian Melloy: Was it his quality of humor and acidic humor that made him the ideal choice for the role of Evan Quick?

Mark Schwab: He can be very funny. If you see his YouTube channel, he does these hilarious videos. The character did need an element of humor, because otherwise you wouldn’t want to be in the same room with him. It was important that Evan be genuinely interesting and not just a complainer. There’s got to be more to him, and that’s what Silas brings. All of these characters, to me, are interesting people. I might not date any of them, necessarily, but I would certainly enjoy spending time with them.

Kilian Melloy: We should talk about Fernando Jose, who in the credits for this just goes by Fernando. He’s also very naturalistic and comfortable in his body, and he’s also got a lot of layers going on. He’s sexy, but there’s also, maybe, a little calculating..

Mark Schwab: Like Silas, he worked with me on my two previous films, which was one of the reasons I was always going to cast Fernando in the movie. He and Silas know each other well, they get along very well, and also, Fernando is incredibly talented. He was wonderful to work with on the previous two films, and this is a complete departure. I was talking to him about which role would be interesting to him without telling him what I wanted, and he said, “Oh, I have to play Andy. And I want to dye my hair blue. Is that okay?” And I went, “That is fantastic. Yes! I never would have thought of that.” That’s something Fernando is very good at — coming out with stuff that’s way out of the box that just fits perfectly. And this is totally different than what he played in Exteriors and Brotherly Lies. Andy wants to be there, and that was the key thing Fernando got about the character. He said, “Andy is not a victim. Andy is liking what he’s doing.” Would he rather be working in bigger stuff? Sure, but if he’s here, he’s going to enjoy it. Fernando really got that.

Kilian Melloy: It’s hilarious his backstory is as a former child Disney child factor.

Mark Schwab: He went through Disney training as an actor, so that’s why I wrote that specifically for him. He does have a Disney background.

Kilian Melloy: We need to also talk about Diogo Hausen. His character, Ryan, is a bit of a himbo, a bit of a stereotype of a dumb porno star.

Mark Schwab: Ryan was a tricky part to cast because I didn’t want him to be a two-dimensional himbo; he had to be more than that. I was looking at a couple people, and I kept coming back to Diogo. But would he do it? This is out of what he normally does. Finally, I said, “Diogo, I’m in town. Let’s go out to dinner.” I had given Diogo the script, and when I met with him I said, “Diogo, here’s the thing. I really want you for the part.” And he said, “Oh my God, thank you. I thought you were taking me out to dinner to tell me I couldn’t have the part!” He brought the funny; a lot of the things Diogo comes up with were his ideas. He knows I trust him to come up with good stuff, so he came up with all these little subtle things just to bring more dimension to that character.

Kilian Melloy: Our readers are going to love a certain scene involving Diogo and a sock. Did that also involve a prosthetic?

Mark Schwab: Well, I will say it actually was a sock.

“Cutaways” premieres February 3 on Amazon Prime and Vimeo on Demand.

Watch the trailer: