|
New
Kevin has films in his 'Blood' By Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY
His
license plate says N2ISHN.
Kevin Williams always follows his intuition,
he says. "It's my religion."
Williams: Architect of his
own destiny. |
It's also what
led him from being an architect who designed Kevin Costner's South Dakota gambling
resort to becoming a filmmaker. His debut feature, Blood
Type, is a cutting-edge stylistic dramatic comedy.
"People have to keep
reminding me this is a major thing I've done," he says. But he says he's been
moving toward this all his life.
Born in New York City, he was raised in
Kentucky, studied architecture and then moved west. Costner didn't help his career,
except to remind him that he was drawn to movies and to writing scripts.
In less than four weeks, he wrote his first one, Mud
Flap Women!. "When I get into it, there's this aura around me. Don't
come near me," Williams says. "It comes to me or through me — not necessarily
from me."
He told his architecture boss he was moving from San
Francisco to Los Angeles, and he took on a producing partner. But he could never
quite get the project going. He decided to turn to another story he'd been mulling,
sat down and wrote Blood Type, a social satire, in record breaking time.
A friend
of his faxed it to George Lucas, who called the friend with some comments. "It
totally boosted me," says Williams. He wrote two more drafts and then made
100 phone calls to find an investor.
"I called my dentist back in Kentucky.
I called my uncle in Florida," Williams says. Finally the $350,000 came through,
and shooting began with a cast including Tom Hanks' brother, Jim, whom Williams
met when he auditioned for Mud Flap Women now slated to be Kevin's second feature film with a targeted release of 2018.
Hanks won't talk about
his famous brother. "I don't want this article to be about me or Tom. I want it
to be about Kevin. He has an incredible amount of energy, and it is all positive,
even during the shooting, which was under the gun, micro-budget. He just rides that
energy of his and says, 'I'm not going to wish I did it. I'm going to
do it.' "
Note: Don't confuse Williams with Kevin Williamson, who did the
Scream movies.
But Williams does remember how one day his intuition
led him to "drive in a weird direction, to a movie set. I get out. I run over.
I land myself right next to the director, and it turns out to be Kevin Williamson.
I was totally blown away."
|
