The Saddest Boy In The World

The Saddest Boy In The World is a short film by Vancouver filmmaker, Jamie Travis of Modern Family Productions. "Saddest Boy" is a perfect double rainbow of dark humor and a vintage nabes-esque aesthetic. On Modern Family Production's site, there is a Q&A section with the director that gives some insite to how they made the movie. Here is a selection from the Q&A ...

Did the making of the film go smoothly?

The Saddest Boy in the World was the Lawrence of Arabia of short films. I had never worked with such a large cast and crew, countless locations and August sun. Of course, as there was at one of my birthday parties when I was young, there was a bee attack—and of course, the lead actor got stung. He was a trooper, though—he performed some pivotal scenes with a giant welt on his thigh. This was the same day we found our crew Port-O-Potty melted into a puddle of blue, liquor bottles scattered like chocolate chips in a cookie. (We learned later there was a disreputable halfway house down the street from our location.)

The first day of shooting found me in front of a row of kids in a school gymnasium. Once they were all in place, maybe a second went by and then they all cried and whined about their legs being sore. They were standing for mere minutes! Two hours later, I am sure all twenty kids resolved themselves to discussing the torture I made them endure with their future high school counsellors.