Cinematic Ziehl

Wednesday, May 6, 1998

Cinematic Ziehl

FILM: Filmmaker, UCLA alumnus Scott Ziehl pumps adrenaline into
the indie film circuit with ‘Broken Vessels’

By Sandy Yang

Daily Bruin Contributor

At first glance, the mayhem and the in-your-face camera work in
"Broken Vessels" are parallel to a big studio action flick. But the
winner of this year’s Los Angeles Independent Film Festival also
offers the expected independent film fare in a thoughtful
exploration of the unexpected vulnerability in the paramedic
profession.

Writer, producer, director and 1990 UCLA grad Scott Ziehl’s
directorial debut is a dark and humorous story about a rookie
paramedic, Tom, played by Jason London ("The Man in the Moon") who
teams up with paramedic vet Jimmy (played by Todd Field of "Eyes
Wide Shut"). Together, they are saviors to the people who entrust
their lives to these men in uniform. Meanwhile, Tom learns the
ropes of the job from Jimmy, but that’s not the only thing – the
rookie soon gets sucked into the crazy world of drugs and chaos
that consumes his new partner.

"There’s a symbolic reason and feeling behind an ambulance,"
Ziehl explains. "You feel, ‘There’s an ambulance here, so it’s OK.’
So you want to take that feeling and turn it upside down."

Much more than just a film with the usual frenetic camera work
that captures the skill and speed of the adrenaline-propelled work
required of a paramedic, "Broken Vessels" delves into the lives of
these professionals as imperfect people who are, above all, human.
In the film, drug use, casual sex and emotional detachment plague
the lead characters. Although their flaws may seem extreme, the
setup isn’t very farfetched according to Ziehl.

"When I started doing research, I realized that’s more and more
realistic for these guys," Ziehl says. "You work long hours, do
drugs to stay awake … It’s all over with people who you would
expect to be more responsible."

With no prior experience or any extensive knowledge in the
paramedic field, Ziehl’s sole image of an ambulance fueled the
ideas for the film.

"I always liked a movie with a vehicle, some sort of backdrop,"
Ziehl says. "I was really trying to think of something, and when an
ambulance popped into my head, I knew there were endless
possibilities storywise."

From there, Ziehl approached old friend and actress Roxana Zal
to be in the film. Together, they organized a team of creative and
technical talent who in turn recruited more talent for the film,
assuring that Ziehl’s vision would be translated on screen.

"The film really took a life of its own," Ziehl says. "More
great people just kept coming aboard, and the (film kept getting)
more momentum."

Formerly a producer of studio action films, Ziehl meant for his
film to appeal to the foreign market. "Broken Vessels" is his
attempt to "make something a little more for the film festival
circuit." For the first-time director, that meant striving for
originality while creating a character study many could relate
to.

"We both really wanted to make a movie about the destruction of
heroin," says Zal, who also serves as a producer for "Broken
Vessels." "We’d seen movies where it was … not really glamorized,
but painted in a way that doesn’t show what we thought we could
do."

Ziehl adds, "I didn’t only want to show people doing drugs. And
how you can do drugs and the lures of falling into someone else’s
lifestyle. But (I wanted to) shed a little light on why we’re
vulnerable sometimes and the fact that sometimes we’re running away
from something and we’re trying to hide in some way. I think that a
lot of people who are abusing things have that problem."

The film questions the trust people instinctively put into the
person behind the uniform. The idea becomes clearer as the film
depicts the characters in their drug-induced state.

"When (the audience) watches it, they’ll think it’s shocking,"
Zal says. "I think people will get to thinking, ‘Wow, this is
probably out there.’"

Whatever feeling the film evokes, something certainly struck a
chord with the audience who awarded the film with the highest honor
at the L.A. Festival. The film also garnered a positive review in
Variety that described the work as "a vivid, embracing tale of life
on the edge."

"There’s no better feeling than knowing you’ve moved people,"
Zal says. "That’s all we wanted to do – for people to be moved by
it and to be touched and shocked and outraged, to have laughed and
cried … It is an emotional roller-coaster."

Even actor Todd Field, who also co-produces "Broken Vessels,"
couldn’t pinpoint why the project moved him as it did.

"In as much as I had an impulse that attracted me to this piece,
I don’t know why or where this necessarily comes from," Field
admits "It’s like food. You take a bite and you like how it tastes,
and I responded to it not in a cerebral way, but more in a gut
way."

Ziehl attributes the huge audience response not only to the
film’s content, but also to its style. While "Broken Vessels" was
certainly embraced by the independent film circuit, the film isn’t
the usual art-house fare. Though a focus on characters and dialogue
mark a good indie, Ziehl pulls all stops in making it a visual
treat as well.

"The film has all that character stuff," Ziehl says, "but due to
the fact that it’s got that action-adventure aspect of it because
of the ambulance, the character development and the plot plays out
throughout movement and action, which makes it a really unique
film."

But the independent film wasn’t an exception when it came to
budget. Though the end product is powerful and visually stunning,
"it was a tough shoot for everyone because it was very ambitious,"
Field recalls, "and we had only about 18 days to shoot."

Ziehl owes his success and ability to organize an elaborate
shoot – with a limited budget and limited time – to his experience
as an action movie producer and a hands-on filmmaker.

Ziehl unknowingly began his venture into filmmaking as a
seventh-grader who played around with his neighbor who had a video
camera. His neighbor eventually went on to film school, and Ziehl
to Santa Barbara City College and then to UCLA to major in
political science and psychology.

But Ziehl never strayed too far from the camera, continuing to
help his neighbor with projects and working on a number of short
films at UCLA, including a Student Academy Award-winning film.

Ziehl values the experience he acquired on the sets of these
films as a springboard to being a filmmaker. Although his majors
suggest an unlikely film career, Ziehl feels that some things can’t
be learned in the classroom.

"It’s a really hands-on business," Ziehl explains. "You can’t
learn the pressures and stress and shortcuts and the secrets of
making a movie (in school). There’s no better way to learn it than
do it. Live life just like that line in ‘Good Will Hunting’ when
(Robin Williams) says, ‘You think I know about being an orphan by
reading "Oliver Twist?"’ I can relate to that."

With that idea, Ziehl encouraged input from the cast and crew,
further enriching the power of the story.

"The best thing was to have a collaborative environment," Zal
says. "Scott was really open and really encouraged us to have
input. Making this movie was like a bunch of artists getting
together and doing the best they could in each area. I think that’s
part of why the movie’s so strong – because he took his own ideas
and other people’s ideas and built on that."

In the coming months, "Broken Vessels" will continue reaching
audiences through film festivals, including the Seattle Film
Festival and the Toronto Film Festival in September. For Ziehl and
Zal, making "Broken Vessels" was a new realm of filmmaking for the
producers who plan to continue directing and producing,
respectively.

"It’s only been a few weeks since we won the award, and we’re
both like, ‘Wow, did this happen, or are we in a daydream?’" Zal
says.

Photos courtesy of Scott Ziehl

Jason London (left) and Todd Field star in the L.A. Independent
Film Festival-winning film "Broken Vessels."

Jason London (left) and Todd Field star in "Broken
Vessels,"which is like both a fast-paced action flick and an
intense psychological drama.