One Fast Move, interview with director of movie Kelly Blatz: 'A grounded, gritty feel'

One Fast Move is the name of the upcoming film. A young man seeks out his estranged father to pursue his dream of becoming a professional motorcycle racer. The cast includes K.J. Apa, Eric Dane and Maia Reficco. It is directed by Kelly Blatz.

Your first directed film was 2019’s Senior Love Triangle, a well received, unique story. One Fast Move feels like a very different picture in many ways to both write and direct. What did it take to shift gears for One Fast Move, although nicely understated, a film with a bit more of an accelerated pace?

 I like small character pieces, films with about three to four people who are thrown together in each other's lives and help each other change. Senior Love Triangle, you know, was that. It was three senior citizens in a love triangle who came together in East L.A. So, for me, the character aspect of One Fast Move, I approached the same way, which is, this is four characters who are coming into each other's lives, and I really wanted to keep the same approach of just a grounded character drama.

But this was set in a particular arena, which was motorcycle racing. Now, I'm an avid motorcyclist. I love motorcycles. The world of racing was so intriguing to me, and it hadn't been done before. It was a great challenge. So, the gear shifting was quite literal. (laughter)

It was a much bigger scale, obviously. There's a lot of moving parts. There's a lot of action. You know, working with stunt teams and second units, and just a much bigger crew on that stuff was a huge learning curve for me and a great challenge. But to me, I approached it in the same way, which is I didn't want it to feel like you got Fast and the Furious or something with a super, you know, action level on one side, and you have this character drama on this side. And I really wanted to meld the two worlds in this sort of grounded, gritty feel. I didn't want the racing to be too slick. I wanted it to feel in the same world. So, that was at least the attempt for One Fast Move. 

Look at the Gallery: Geneva International MotorShow 2019

It was about three years overall, roughly, that you had been working on this film. Was there any motivating factor or factors that led to this meticulousness about this particular picture? 

I mean, the story kind of started floating around more as this father-son motorcycle racing drama, right? And I realized that when you're coming into a world, especially if it's a world… I'm a motorcyclist, but not a motorcycle racer, you know, and you want to make sure that first, it's about respect. You got to respect that world. And that goes with like wanting to be as authentic as you can in every minute detail, just out of respect for these racers and these people who live in that world. You don't want to misrepresent them in any way. So, what I did was, I wanted to bring on a lot of people from that world from the beginning, so they were a part of the process. And we did that, I did that in the script with the consultants on the script, who are racers, through prep and production and even post to be able to make sure that I'm not stretching too far, you know, because when you're doing a dramatic story, it's a condensed piece. So, I made sure I'm not stretching too far within that realm, and hopefully they feel that they were represented in an authentic way, both as characters and as racers. 

We see the racing as filling a void, or maybe even multiple voids, for Wes (K.J. Apa, Riverdale), our protagonist, along with the mentorship from his father, Dean (Eric Dane, Euphoria), and his love interest Camila (Maia Reffico, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin), as well as the dedication he's putting into the racing. As a viewer, you really grasp that he needs this bad, you feel for him, you're in his corner. What did you do to bring the character of Wes and his sense of emptiness and longing to life to make it so tangible for the audience?

Oh, thank you. There are many layers to motorcycles for Wes. I think first was this connection to his father. He never knew his father, but his mom told him that he was off racing motorcycles and that he gave him this little red motorcycle that became this token for him and this connection to his father. So, I think he started riding motorcycles because it was a connection to this father that he longed for essentially, this void in his life. And so then, you know, when he gets kicked out of the military, he doesn't have many options at that point. But I think most importantly, he decided like “I need to go find this guy because I need some guidance in my life, and maybe this guy can give it to me.” So, yes, there's a desperate need, but I think underneath, there's a desperate need he has from his father to be accepted and validated as his son. And, for him to teach him not only about racing, but about, about life. Obviously, Dean is a very complicated character, and there's a lot of conflict in that. There are a lot of things that aren't said that I think ultimately come to a boiling point, and that there's a point of a potential healing for them and moving forward with change in their lives.

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