Q&A: Comic Artist Jeffrey Brown on New Film ‘Save the Date’

Most people work their whole lives towards a career of their dreams; a job that makes them happy and content while ideally making them enough money to live. Thanks to Confucius, this seemingly impossible pipe dream of a venture is always coupled with the sickeningly sweet saying, “Choose a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.” With all of the various careers that he has collected over the years, Jeffrey Brown has never worked a day in his life…at a lot of jobs.

While the Michigan native is considered a graphic novelist first, Brown’s creative touch—full of wit and honesty—has been seen through various types of these “dream careers” everyone keeps talking about. From writing and illustrating his books and teaching art classes at the School of Art Institute of Chicago to music video direction and writing and illustrating for a little magazine called FILTER, Brown’s artistic repertoire continues to grow.

Brown’s latest project, Save the Date, brings his writing talents to the big screen. Following the tangled story of relationships, independence and emotions running high, Brown’s semi-autobiographical writing style shines through the descriptions of each fragile character. FILTER caught up with Brown on his way to Sundance to discuss the lengthy transition from pen and paper to film, and expanding his sphere of influence to the next generation…or really, could it be the other way around?

Could you tell us about the inspiration for Save the Date?

Jeffrey Brown: Back in 2006 I got an email from Jordan Horowitz, one of the producers, asking if I’d ever thought about working with film. He liked how my autobiographical comics handled simple, intimate moments but I didn’t want to do any adaptation for film, or do anything autobiographical for a screenplay. I used my current relationship at the time as a kind of jumping off point, and began building the story from there – girl dumping boyfriend of a couple years, starts dating new guy…

How was writing a screenplay different from writing graphic novels? Were there similarities to both processes?

It’s very different, and one of the reasons for having co-writers was that the way I structure and write my comics doesn’t necessarily translate directly for film. I did collect ideas and things I wanted to include—various scenes, jokes and general tone—which is how I begin writing my comics. From there, though, to make this story into a film required building a more skeletal framework that would sustain the story for the length of the film.

You co-wrote Save the Date with Egan Reich and the film’s director, Michael Mohan. Was it easy to adapt your creative styles to each other?

It worked really well. I think Egan and I have similar attitudes, and Egan’s really smart and funny so we hit it off well pretty quickly. Mike was already a fan of my comics, and the films he’s made himself share a similar feel to that of my comics. All in all our styles all seemed to mesh pretty seamlessly, to the point where it’s hard to tell which part came from who exactly.

Do you have any certain expectations for this film and its premiere at Sundance? Have you ever been to Sundance before?

I’ve never been, and I’m setting my expectations low, so that I won’t be disappointed. I’m just going to try and enjoy myself, soak it all in, and not make too much of a fool of myself. Hopefully San Diego Comic Con has prepared me somewhat, even if this is bound to be an entirely different kind of crazy. I hope the film is well received, and I feel pretty confident it will be, after seeing one of the first few cuts.

You have a new book about fatherhood coming out later this year entitled A Matter of Life. Does your son know that he is now a part of your creative process? How is he as an inspiration?

I don’t think he quite understands yet. He recognizes when I draw him, and we’ll draw together. Lately he draws these amazing dinosaurs. These drawings aren’t based on what I teach him, or even watching how I draw dinosaurs; he’s just come up with his own way of translating what he sees, and that’s very inspiring. He’s also just funny in general.

Keeping on the subject of father/son relationships, what motivated you to make Darth Vader and Son [Brown’s new comic reimagining the Star Wars figures’ relationship, out in April from Chronicle Books]?

It started out when Ryan Germick from Google got in touch with me about pitching some sketches for the Father’s Day Google homepage image; his initial thought was something building on the idea of Darth Vader and Luke having an awkward holiday dinner. Since my son was four at the time, I decided to draw up some sketches with Luke as a four year old and Vader going through various dad things I was going through, like making breakfast and having Luke not like it, or whatever. Google ended up using something else for the homepage, but it worked out where I could develop the idea into its own book.

Finally, and probably the most important question of this whole interview: Which is your favorite films of the Star Wars series and why?

The Empire Strikes Back. It has everything: [a] love story, the best action, humor, emotion, family drama, and it’s done the best of any of the films. It’s filmed beautifully and there’s not a moment wasted in it.  F