You expect a first feature to show its stripes a bit. And be a little bit excusable. As in, well, this is my guest, Zoe Eisenberg’s first feature, so give her a little credit for just getting it done. Zoe said hell no — let’s just jump to fantastic filmmaking. The best way I’d describe CHAPERONE (2024) is a slow burn that builds into a bonfire. The film’s logline: “Alienated by friends and family for her lack of ambition, 29 year old Misha finds a dangerous acceptance in a bright 18 year old athlete who mistakes her for a fellow student.”
And the ending will shock you. This is an assured debut for a new talent.
In this conversation, Zoe and I talk about:
- All her various art forms and what she considers herself — filmmaker, writer, producer?;How she got involved in filmmaking;What constitutes a “bad” film — is it the writing?;How did CHAPERONE come about and what does she want people to think about when they watch it;Her insane casting story of just sliding into the lead’s DMs — and making it work through an insane level of preparation;What it was like making a feature film in Hawaii and its protective nature;Whether she’d do anything different in the rollout of the film since Slamdance 2024;The ending — it will shock you (no spoilers);What’s next for her.
Zoe’s Indie Filmmaker Highlight: Alika Tengan
Memorable Quotes:
“I got into filmmaking because I fell in love with a filmmaker.”
“Sometimes I’ll think they had to take a lot of notes. CHAPERONE is a completely independent film…very scrappy and that posed a ton of challenges.”
“I want [viewers] to trust me because the first 15 minutes, the first 20 minutes can even feel like a cheesy rom-com, which is intentional because then we go somewhere else.”
“Hawaii’s relationship with the world has been so extractive in the last 200 years.”
“Once MAY DECEMBER (2023) came out, we were like, okay, we’re Hawaii’s MAY DECEMBER or Hawaii’s BABYGIRL (2024).”
“Without giving anything away, the film is a tragedy.”
Links:
Watch CHAPERONE Now
Follow Zoe On Instagram
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/first-time-go/exclusive-content