Sundance's breakout documentary "Catfish" has been getting plenty of buzz, but not for all the right reasons.
A compelling portrait of Nev Schulman, a 24-year-old photographer who forms a relationship with a woman on Facebook before realizing that she's not the person she claims to be, the story presents a compelling portrait of the ways social networking can lead to serious miscommunication.
But while Nev’s saga turns him into a highly sympathetic character, some viewers suspect the documentary is a work of fiction, that the camera seems unusually lucky to be in the all the right places at all the right times.
TheWrap sat down exclusively with the fiommakers to talk about the reaction to the film … and the complaints. At an ice cream shop on Main Street Eric Kohn spoke to Schulman (left in photo) and the film’s co-directors -- his brother Ariel (right) and Henry Joost (center) – .
Did you expect the movie to get so much attention?
Joost: When we would tell the story to people while we were making the film, they would have a very strong reaction to it, so we knew it was good. We told it to a friend after we got back from Michigan [where they travel during the movie], and he was like, "This is yours to f--- up." Basically, we had the right story and just needed to figure out how to tell it.
Much of its success comes from the element of surprise. How do you expect to keep that under wraps as its visibility increases?
Nev: I think what's making the movie successful is that the first half builds up a great expectation for the second half, but the discovery that comes after that is really what makes the film stay with people. There's a love story that's resolved, but there's another layer that's so much deeper, and that's what makes people really respond. Whether they know what they're seeing going into it doesn't change the reaction.
What about the allegations that you made the whole thing up?
Joost: It was unbelievable when it was happening to us. But it did happen; it's all totally true. The only thing we re-created were the close-ups on the computer screen. None of the scenes were staged. People are responding to how the story is so streamlined like a narrative film. We actually considered having talking heads. Ultimately, we decided we had the footage to back up this straight narrative.
Ariel: The cut we submitted to Sundance was significantly longer. The more of the footage you see, the more convinced you are that it's real. The first conversation Nev has with Megan is probably two and a half hours long, but you see less than two minutes of it in the movie.
I stand by the old motto that truth is stranger than fiction. We're happy to admit that this is the result of a lot of chance and coincidence.
