Anthem Magazine

In Mark Webber’s second directorial feature The End of Love, Mark (played by Webber) is a struggling actor who’s stuck between the life he once knew and the one that’s waiting for him. When the mother of his two-year-old son suddenly passes away, he is forced to confront his shortcomings. Their fates, now intertwined, hang in the balance as Mark grapples with his ability to grow up. When he meets Lydia (Shannyn Sossamon), a young mother, he is no longer able to live in the comfort of denial. Having cast Isaac, his real life son, opposite himself in this stark, yet intimate film, we can’t help but bear witness to the most private moments between father and son. Endowed with a raw but vibrant truth, The End of Love is a story about the universal pain of loss and the courage it takes to change. The film features cameos by Michael Cera, Jocelin Donahue, Frankie Shaw, Jake Johnson and Amanda Seyfried.

Anthem sat down with Mark Webber, Jocelin Donahue and Frankie Shaw at the Bing Lounge to share some funny stories about a little boy who made this all possible.

There was a lot of buzz surrounding The End of Love even before the festival kicked off. Did that make you nervous, Mark?

Mark Webber: Of course. People picked it up and just started talking about it. We had a couple of little screenings here and there prior to the festival, and I think people really responded to the film. It was really exciting to come to the festival having already gotten that kind of warm response. It was also overwhelming because you’re obviously trying to meet certain expectations. You just want to live up to that as a filmmaker. I’m glad the film is resonating with audiences.

What was the genesis of this project?

MW: I’m always fascinated by the dynamics between lovers and family members. I wanted to create the ultimate environment for me, as an actor, to strip away all the traditional elements of fear that comes along with making a movie. It’s really hard to ignore all the people around on a given set. There’s something really amazing and liberating about creating a space to kind of live in character and completely inhabit a role. It was really challenging, but I think it worked.

Jocelin, could you talk about working with Mark from a co-star’s perspective?

Jocelin Donahue: It might have been a little different for me than the other actors involved because I didn’t know Mark prior to signing onto do this movie. We had to create this relationship very quickly on the spot. Mark is such an honest and open person. It’s great having another actor as your director because they really understand what you’re going through. I just really trusted what he wanted to do and I was very intrigued by how he was planning on executing the movie. It’s so unconventional the way Mark decided to work.

Mark, you mentioned in a previous interview that your son Isaac doesn’t have the ability to be false because he’s in the present all the time. How did you use that to your advantage while shooting this film?

MW: It was nine parts really hard work and one part crazy magic. As his dad, I understand his rhythms throughout the day and I know his moods. Early on during production, I let my producers know that we had to build this whole movie around my son. If he’s feeling a little cranky one day, it would be a good idea to utilize that for a certain scene. Everything had to be scheduled around Isaac. It was so exhilarating. The conversation that I have with my son at the end of the film about life and death, I had been saving that conversation. I only had that one opportunity and we could never repeat it. If the cameras didn’t work or something went wrong, we simply wouldn’t have it. There’s something about doing things like that, which creates this magical energy.

You give so much of yourself and your life to this movie.

MW: At this point in my life as an artist, that’s the most important thing to me. It’s about putting yourself out there. You have to dig deep and attempt to convey true human emotions. You have to strip away any sense of vanity or awareness that some actors bring to a performance, which really allows the audience to relate and connect to your character.

Jocelin, how did you get involved?

JD: I got involved through the traditional casting process. Actually, the casting part wasn’t so traditional because Mark just wanted to sit down and chat. He wanted to get a sense of my vibe and see whether our relationship could work for the movie. We sat down at a vegan restaurant and talked about how he would make this movie and where I would have to go as an actor. For our scene, there was a specific goal for my character and what she represented for Mark. He turns to me as a way to try and escape his life for a quick minute. It’s like a flashback to the past when things get tough.

Mark, do you plan on pursuing a directing career in tandem with your acting work?

MW: I want to do both. When I act in someone else’s movie, it makes me want to go and make my own film. If I direct a film, it makes me want to act in someone else’s movie. I love all the different aspects of filmmaking. I enjoy the production side of things and I also like producing where you get to assemble an amazing team of people. I want to continue doing it all.

Jocelin, how do you like to navigate your career as an actress?

JD: It has a lot to do with luck. You just see what opportunities come along. I’m so grateful to be a part of something like this. When you do an indie film, you don’t really know where it’ll end up, but I knew this would be wonderful right away and I’m sure a lot of people will have a chance to see it. I’ve only really done indie films so far and I’m really proud of the ones that I’ve done.

MW: Sorry to interrupt, but this is Frankie and she’s also in the film. She’s Isaac’s mother.

Frankie Shaw: Nice to meet you.

MW: Isaac’s not here because I don’t want this to be the beginning of his career. We want to protect him. Since we were able to make the movie in a way that’s noninvasive, he didn’t know that we were making a movie while we were shooting it, let alone that it would end up at Sundance.

FS: He was too young at the time to really be conscious of it whereas if you filmed him now, just a year later, he would have that awareness. It was a really key time in his life, the only time when he was verbal, yet unable to process what was going on.

MW: That being said, I had some trouble on the day I received the call about getting accepted into Sundance. I had been through the process enough where I knew when you’re supposed to get the call. It’s six o’clock and I’m basically losing my mind. I get a call from a Beverly Hills 310 number and it was like, “Oh shit.” [laughs] I answer the call and hear, ‘Hello. This is Trevor.’ I just wanted to cry. My ears were ringing. But Isaac was around so I had to go into the back office and restrain my excitement. I had to walk out and contain myself, but in reality, I wanted to grab Isaac and go, “Thank you! You’re amazing!”

You must have a lot of funny stories involving Isaac.

FS: Someone called me to tell me a funny story about Isaac. Before doing a take or a certain scene, he would apparently hold out his hand and say, ‘I need a minute!’ to collect himself. I don’t know if this actually happened, but he said it without knowing what it meant.

MW: [laughs] No, it’s true.

FS: There’s another funny story with the tow scene.

MW: Let me tell this one. Basically, we rarely ever curse around our son. Even when we have friends over, we’re really good about it. We very rarely had someone say ‘fuck’ or ‘shit’ when Isaac was around. In the tow yard scene in the movie, I’m there trying to get my car back and he asks me why we got towed. I say, “I don’t know why we got fucking towed.” It was the one time that I cursed. Months later, he asks, ‘Dad? What’s fucking towed?’ [laughs] I couldn’t believe it.

FS: He tried to use that around me when he’s mad. He’d be like, ‘Fucking towed!’ [laughs]

If Isaac really wants to pursue acting, would you guys be open to that?

MW: I think we’re split on it. I’m open to it. When he’s of age and it’s something that he really wants to do, I would be supportive.

FS: He can do whatever he wants after college.

MW: [laughs] So, we’ll see!