The great documentary Sick Mick and The Boys premieres Sunday, September 15 at the Fall 2013 New Jersey Film Festival!

Asunción: The reasons to follow Mike at first were simple: I like him, he’s photogenic, and he’s “doing something.” I’ll explain each, in reverse order. I just finished grad school and I wanted to make a classic verité doc. Sherman’s March, Dig!, Harlan County USA, Billy the Kid, Titicut Follies, Hoop Dreams, Position Among the Stars- if those filmmakers started a band, I wanted to be in it. I needed a character that was on the verge of “doing something” so the action and could unfold in front of the camera. Mike had just started his journey, his goals were clear and he had a deadline (great for budget and scheduling)! Sick Mick and The Boys did not end up as a pure verité doc but you can still see the influence. I know Mike ain’t George Clooney, but he looks great on camera. In general, I think there are too many models posing as actors. Mike’s face, posture and movement are downright cinematic. I can’t say specifically what makes Mike photogenic, maybe it has more to do with an internal conflict that manifests itself on screen, but I enjoy filming him and I think he is immensely watchable. I like Mike. I grew up with people like Mike. He’s a union blue-collar stiff from a major midwestern metropolitan area. Both of my parents were union baggage slingers for United Airlines in Chicago. The Charltons’ bawdy tough-guy exterior (even from the women) felt familiar and almost nostalgic. I did not expect anything in the film to happen the way it did. At first, the film would take place entirely at Bonneville with voiceover anecdotes about their childhood overlain as they worked on the motorcycle. My purpose for visiting Ohio was to collect those stories. On he first day of production, Mike’s wife of sixteen years walked out on him, and his life did not slow down for one minute. The more time I spent with Mike, the closer we became. And I realized that he was living through many troubles that I, a young filmmaker, feared. How long can you chase a dream? What is the emotional cost? Is it inevitable that in the pursuit of your dreams, you will lose the one you love? If I believe the American Dream is a con, why do I think Mike has a chance at this motorcycle record and by extension, why do I believe that I have a chance at being a filmmaker? Mike is everything I’ve always wanted in a fictional character of my creation, but I didn’t have to go through the trouble of writing shitty dialogue and formulaic plots. Mike gift-wrapped my dream.       

Nigrin: How long did it take you to complete the film. Did you run into any difficulties? Where there any memorable stories in getting the film in the can you can relay to us?

Asunción: I started filming Mike in 2009 and we still have to finalize some music. I can’t say there were any difficulties. Once we visited Ohio, the story was clear. Brian Golden Davis (the producer) and I have a ton of experience working together in documentary so production was smooth. I wish we could have spent more time in Ohio, but we couldn’t for budget reasons. I think the main difficulty was editing. Editing a documentary is a long, arduous process. I couldn’t afford to hire an editor so I tried to do it myself. I’m a pretty good editor, but I couldn’t edit 5 minutes of Sick Mick. I tried for months and have probably 20 versions of failed beginnings. Finally Christopher Makoto Yogi put me out of my misery at Ye Rustic Inn in Los Angeles. I wanted Chris to edit the movie but thought it would be an insult at that point in his career to ask him to do it for no money. I couldn’t ask, but that didn’t stop me from hinting! After several pitchers of beer, Christopher finally agreed, as if I’d been stupid not to ask him in the first place. Thank God for friends. I wouldn’t have a movie if not for Brian and Chris. As far as memorable stories, I guarantee we have one for every single day we filmed with the Charltons. I’ll give you a story to transition to the next question about funding though… This was a low budget documentary. We stayed in a motel near Mike’s house that was so dangerous, someone was murdered there the weekend before we visited. And we still stayed there- it was the cheapest in town. On the next trip to Ohio, to save even more money (and our lives), we asked Mike if we could stay in his attic. It actually was helpful for the documentary- being stuck to Mike was the only way we could keep up with him. But Brian and I are both asthmatic and Mike’s morning meditation routine consists of sitting in his recliner at the bottom of the steps that lead to the attic and smoking what seemed to be a pack of cigarettes. Every morning. Brian and I had air mattresses up there and like clockwork, at about 4am, I would wake up to Brian coughing and shivering because the temperature would drop so much at night, and after indulging in separate air mattresses we could never justify the extra expense for blankets.

Nigrin: Was it difficult to fund this type of documentary? Why would you ask that? It seems like you must know something about funding this type of documentary…

Asunción: The answer to your question is a resounding “Hell yes.” I don’t even know how to answer this question without revealing deep-seated insecurities about my place in society, but I’ll take a stab at it… In short, I didn’t find any major funders. I looked. I pitched. I have an MFA in Film Production from USC. I should have been able to find someone, right? Some of the budget came from Brian’s friends and family, some from my friends and family, and the rest from my credit cards.  I have not paid those credit cards since 2010. Not out of an artist’s cavalier attitude, but because I sincerely could not pay them. I slept on floors and couches and showered at the YMCA for seven months after the end of production. I had no cell phone, no car insurance. I have no relatives with enough money to ask for a loan- and especially not if they found out I just blew all my money on making a movie. Don't you fucking suggest kickstarter to me. I now live in a small town in Texas with my grandma that is 80 miles from the nearest city. Maybe it was my fault that it was unfundable. Maybe I should have crossed paths with an undocumented immigrant motorcycle racer. Maybe I should have interviewed Jay Leno, a celebrity motorcycle enthusiast, and pimped his image over every treatment and festival application I could. Maybe I could have done more to help Mike, so I would have a more commercial underdog-sports-story-contrived-piece-of-garbage. In the end, I have no regrets. Werner Herzog said it best, “no one asked you for your art.” So I can’t really complain. And to be honest, a large part of me romanticizes the stories of the struggling, destitute artist- so maybe I brought it on myself. I have the movie now and that’s all that matters. If this were the only way I could make Sick Mick, I would do it every time.  

Nigrin: Is there anything else you would like to add about your film?

Asunción: Because of everything I went through to get this movie made, I am so eternally grateful for every festival that selects it and every person that watches it. It means more to me than I could ever tell you.

Here is the trailer for Sick Mick and The Boys:
http://vimeo.com/58048519

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Donald Harrison and David Santamaria’s funny short film Slide Rail Superman will be screened prior to Sick Mick and The Boys. Here is more info on this screening:

Sunday-September 15-Voorhees Hall #105-7PM $10; $9; $8

Slide Rail Superman - Donald Harrison and David Santamaria (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
A very funny short film about one of the world's greatest slide railers. 2013; 19 min.

Sick Mick and the Boys - José Asunción (Chicago, Illinois)
Great storytelling, coupled with the magnetic personality of Mike Charlton, makes this documentary an enthralling journey of redemption and recovery.  Charlton is a man with a troubled past. Dozens of arrests, from drunk-driving to assault, would be enough to make any man live with a stigma. But Charlton is also a man with a vision. After spending his youth watching his father attempt to break the land speed record, he has now taken over the dream.  The film follows Charlton and his band of brothers as they scrape their way into the history books by building a jet-powered motorcycle in their garage. As the team reaches the famed Bonnevile Salt Flats in Utah, one can't help but root for men who have stopped running from the past and are now chasing their future. 2013; 80 min. With an introduction and Q+A session by Director José Asunción!

Sunday, September 15, 2013 at 7:00 p.m.
Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University,
71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, New Jersey
$10=General; $9=Students+Seniors; $8=Rutgers Film Co-op Friends
Information: (848) 932-8482; www.njfilmfest.com

Jimmy Johns of New Brunswick will be providing free food prior to this screening!