Oscar-nominated producer Bill Pohlad has a long history of aligning himself with auteurs on award-winning fare—from Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain to Terrence Malick on the Palme d’Or winning The Tree of Life to Steve McQueen’s Oscar Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave, and getting financially behind them with his River Road Entertainment banner. We talk with Pohlad on Crew Call today about his third career feature as director, Dreamin’ Wild, based on the New York Times Steven Kurutz article about the Fruitland, WA-based Emerson brothers whose dad literally bet the farm (mortgaging it to the tune of $100K) on the duo’s singing talents in the 1970s, and built them a studio. They didn’t make it initially — not until 2008 when the album they made some near 40 years prior, “Dreamin’ Wild,” was discovered by a record collector in Spokane, Jack Fleischer, and championed fervently. The record’s single “Baby” ultimately became a cult hit when it was covered by Ariel Pink in 2012. Casey Affleck plays Donnie Emerson, the aorta of the songwriting duo, who grapples with the mid-life crisis of finding some facet of fame, when all seemed forever lost.
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Pohlad tells us how he and Affleck were at first hesitant about the project, but came passionately around. Pohlad was pitched the project by producer Jim Burke, but didn’t jump on it since there wasn’t a script yet. Not to mention, the idea sounded too much like the Sony Pictures Classics documentary, Searching for Sugar Man. Pohlad became a fan after reading the New York Times article, listening to Donnie and Joe Emerson’s music and meeting the family; something Affleck did as well, “pitching a tent” in Donnie’s backyard. Roadside Attractions, which distributed the Pohlad directed Brian Wilson biopic, Love & Mercy, took North American on Dreamin’ Wild back in March following its Venice Film Festival world premiere last fall. Pohlad’s feature directorial debut was back in 1990 with the Jose Ferrer-James Whitmore movie, Old Explorers.
Dreamin’ Wild began its theatrical launch this past weekend in 402 locations, grossing $136K.
You can listen to our chat with Pohlad below:
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