A wannabe actor in LA goes under the microscope in this new mockumentary by director Nicolas Curcio. We asked Curcio 5 Questions about “Brian,” concerning the origins of the project, allowing for improvisation, and twist endings…

1) How did it happen? The origination of it, and how it came together.

So, I'm a big fan of the “Creep” series by Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice. I wanted to do something similar; a character piece about a bizarre subject with a sort of twist horror ending. My short is sort of based on an exaggeration of the "real" Brian's personality. He originally came to LA to be an actor, and we ended up meeting in film school at USC. For this particular project, I don't think he understood what my vision was until he saw the final product. Up until then, I would tell him what to do, and he'd be like: "This is pretty weird, man." 

2) Can you talk about the script writing process and if there’s any improvisation. There’s some great bits in there, the line about being typecast as a sheriff, I got a huge kick out of that.

I didn't write a script for this. I had a loose outline in my head, but I mostly just know by now that Brian is a naturally hilarious person and also great with improv. As for the sheriff bit, that's 100 percent legit. Brian has this great uniform and he always finds a way to wear it. He even played the sheriff in a feature film that USC made that was based on Tom Sawyer. 

3) What about the editing process? This very well could have been longer, but I think you wisely trimmed it down to the essentials. Were there bits you had to lose to keep things moving?

Editing was sort of my secondary track at USC, and while I know a lot of people think its a bad idea, I LOVE editing my own stuff. Initially, we had a cut that was about 9-10 minutes, I think, and it had a few scenes that blatantly tipped off that Brian was a psycho. So we cut those, and then from there, it was just a matter of trimming until it was as lean as possible! The fast cuts were definitely inspired by Youtubers and vlogs. 

4) What’s your favorite twist ending? Or a movie you wish had a twist ending?

Hmm... I'm gonna have to go with “The Usual Suspects". Total classic. ”Sleepaway Camp” is pretty nuts, too. 

5) Not to attack you, but are you where you want to be in your career as a filmmaker? / What else ya got going on, or coming up?

You know, I'm feeling good. Since I've been out of school, I have been working on stuff pretty consistently. I wrote this script last year called “The Adventures of Rat Girl” that was a Nicholl semifinalist and we are now in the process of sending that out to production companies, which I'm excited about. Other than that, just writing a lot and filming more shorts with Brian.  

Email: niccurcio@gmail.com

Instagram: @nicolascurcio

Twitter: @niccurcio