Today we had a chance to sit down with Matt Hartle, who wrote and directed the short, Agent. The film, beautifully shot, is about a woman who struggles after experiencing a devastating personal loss. In addition to being a writer and director, Matt is also a VFX artist who’s worked on numerous films, including Van Helsing, The Last Witch Hunter, and The Great Wall, among others. His visual artistry is apparent in Agent. Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions.
Darida Rose, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): This film works very well as a short. Are there any plans to make this into a feature-length film?
Matt Hartle (MH): That’s kind of you to say; I am considering that! I’m intrigued by the idea of people leading multiple lives—of sharing their most intimate thoughts and moments but still having tremendous secrets—double lives hidden from those they’re closest to.
I’m working on a feature script for this now. The story/ scope is much larger, giving the expanded time frame of a feature and the possibilities that creates but the essence of duplicity in Laura’s role will be similar. I’m also excited to explore the husband’s character, of how a person so intelligent and capable could be duped by the one in his life with whom he is closest. I think it drives at the heart of who we are as humans and how so much of our perception of the world is based on what we want to see and the reality we manifest for ourselves. Laura’s success requires her to capitalize on this—the resulting emotional fallout is her journey.
(UM): Laura claims she is not sentimental, but she spends a lot of the film preparing an elaborate dinner for her husband. Is the dinner a way of showing just how difficult it really was for her to carry out her assignment?
(MH): Laura leads a double life as an undercover agent. She prides herself on being a consummate professional, highly skilled, and positioned within the organization she works for. Despite her best efforts and training, she has been unable to remain aloof during this assignment and has formed attachments with the man who is her husband. Her professionalism ultimately wins out, but we are witnessing the cost to her personally of having to sacrifice someone she loves in order to fulfill her assignment.
The dinner is a ritual she has shared previously with her husband in celebration of their marriage on their anniversary—a marriage built on lies. It was a real marriage for her husband but for Laura, it was an assignment and something she has done many times before. The difference with this assignment is the emotional engagement. She actually cares for this man and is deeply conflicted, knowing she had his trust and commitment and yet, still betrayed him. Her self-identity is wrapped up in her work as an agent—to not follow through would mean forsaking what defines her as a person, something she is unwilling to do no matter the cost. We are seeing the impact on her of this dedication. To remain true to one part of herself, she must sacrifice another and the person she loves. The cost is very high.
(UM): Were you trying to make a comment about the difference between women and men in the workplace?
(MH): Not specifically, but I do think it’s interesting to see a woman in a role that might typically belong to a man. As a storyteller, I am looking for opportunities to turn expectations around and present new, unexpected perspectives. Because of how our society is arranged, when a man shows deep emotion that isn’t manifested through anger or aggression, he runs the risk of being perceived as weak. Women have the upper hand in this regard, being able to participate in the full range of their emotional journey—ultimately, Laura is faced with confronting the consequences of her choices, and as viewers, we are watching her come to that reckoning. Her strength lies in her willingness to embrace her emotions and then return to her chosen life and profession.
(UM): Tell me about the woman who plays Laura.
(MH): I have known Kate Scott for a number of years. We have done several projects together, and as I was writing the script for Agent, I was thinking of her and hoping she would be interested!
Kate is very committed to the projects we have done together, always coming with thoughts and ideas about motivations and how we might build characters. As an actress, she is willing to dig in and explore scenes to find the best solutions. Kate has such a wonderful presence—I’ve told her the ‘close up’ is her superpower! She has so much authenticity in her delivery; I love to go in close and find the emotion, the subtle expression, or gesture.
I am grateful for the truth she brought to this performance. I think she’s convincing as a woman in conflict, and it helps the believability of the story immensely.
(UM): The film is beautifully shot. Could you tell us a bit about the production? Where was this filmed? Were there any challenges when shooting?
(MH): Thank you!
Everything was filmed in Kalispell, Montana—primarily in a house I was using for an office at the time and the surrounding areas. Some outdoor scenes did require coordination with park services and a bit of luck with the weather!
When I started filming this, I was at a place in my life where several projects had fallen through for various reasons. I wanted to make a film that I could approach with complete independence, and in locations I had access to as needed.
I decided at the outset that I would stay on a given shot until I was satisfied it was as good as I could make it. Often that meant trying a variety of lenses, camera angles, and lighting choices. Once the technical aspects of a shot were figured out, Kate and I would work on the performance until we were both happy—which is always a very enjoyable process. We have a level of trust, which helps us explore things quickly and find what we’re looking for. If we spent an entire session capturing only one shot or one scene, I was happy with that.
As far as the production goes, it was only her and I. There’s a certain simplicity to this in that it keeps time and money pressures to a minimum, so I was free to explore. It is enormously taxing to be shooting, directing, and gripping all the gear, but it’s necessary if you are going to work this way. I do love collaboration and have learned a lot working with larger crews while directing commercials and other projects, but it wasn’t in the cards for this piece.
For the camera, I shot in 6k on my Red Dragon. 6k is overkill for a short film like this, but Red cameras window the sensor when you lower resolution, so it’s necessary to shoot full resolution to take advantage of the entire sensor and get full lens coverage. For glass, I have a beautiful set of vintage Leica M primes that have been cini-vised by Duclos (longer focus throw and de-clicked aperture). The vintage lenses are a bit softer and have more character, helping to take the edge off the razor-sharp imagery that comes with a 6k sensor. Leicas have beautiful color rendition, contrast, and bokeh and are a wonderful compliment to the extraordinary Red Dragon color science. I also used pro-mist filters to help bloom highlights and soften edges as well as diopters in a few shots to get a little different look, especially around the dinner scene with all the in-frame candlelight.
I edited in Final Cut Pro, color graded in Davinci Resolve, and QC’d on a large OLED monitor.
(UM): Laura places a bullet shell on an old grave. Could you discuss the significance of this?
(MH): The inference is that Laura is the one who pulled the trigger on her husband. The bullet casing she places on the headstone is symbolic of that. The graveyard itself is also symbolic. She has a connection to this place, which within the context of the short film, we don’t have time to explore. Her husband’s body was taken by the agency she works for, so she doesn’t have a place to go to grieve him. She goes to this graveyard and places the shell as a way of confirming her involvement, if only to herself. It’s important to her that she explores all aspects of the emotional journey she’s on, including taking responsibility for the event itself.
(UM): There’s an expression, ‘catching falling knives,’ in investing circles, which means trying to judge when to buy a stock that is rapidly falling in price without losing all your money in the process. Laura catches a falling knife while preparing dinner and doesn’t cut herself. Is this meant to show us just how good she is at dealing with a very difficult situation?
(MH): It is! And it’s also for her. Playing the role of wife to her husband has meant assuming a certain mantle of domesticity—and she’s played that role for some time. When the knife falls, her training kicks in, and she is able to snatch it out of the air, easily, instinctually. She is pleased with this and is provided a brief respite from the heavy emotional journey she is on.
(UM): One of the wonderful things about this short is its ambiguity. We don’t know if Laura is working for the government or some nefarious organization, and we don’t know the nature of the pharmaceutical product her husband was working on. Was this ambiguity intentional?
(MH): The ambiguity was absolutely intentional. As a filmmaker, you hope with each project you become a bit more sophisticated and nuanced in your storytelling—a part of this for me has been realizing and trusting that the audience has a high level of sophistication. I think some stories are better told and can be more engaging when they don’t seek to answer every question, show every angle, light every shadow. The nature of this story does not require the audience to have a complete rendering of the backstory and motivations of the characters. Hopefully, viewers become engaged with the main character, Laura, and feel empathy for her regardless of how she arrived in her current situation. I believe a film can be far more engaging when the audience gets involved—to that end, not explaining every facet of the story allows the viewer to guess at what may have happened and, in this way, become part of the story themselves—essentially imprinting their own point of view on the unexplained.
The best-case example of this is the water cooler discussion. When people carry your story with them and discuss it with others, positing possible motivations and outcomes, then you’ve really done your job! This is definitely a high watermark and goal for me with all projects.
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this project—film making is inherently a social exercise, and it’s wonderful, as a filmmaker, to dialogue with others!
By: Darida Rose
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.