True Fiction Director Q&A

September 29, 2019 at 2:54am
By Jason Stettner

During the Calgary International Film Festival 2019, I was able to attend a screening of True Fiction. This movie had the director Braden Croft on hand, and he answered questions after the credits rolled. This was a unique experience, and it’s always great to see this sort of situation during the event. These are some of the questions and answers from the screening.

Opening: A joke was made about how certain regions find different things funny whereas our city seems to get everything. He noted that after his movie Hemorrhage released, he needed another idea. He wanted to hone an idea for a one room, minimal people sort of shoot.

He was writing True Fiction starting in 2012 and working through 2013/14. It took a while, and he kept trying to get it into screenplay contests. This was low budget, but in his opinion looks way better than the typical indie film


Q:With this having a misery overtone, Clockwork Orange and Saw esque, who are your major influences?
-Hitchcock, Scorsese, Jeremy Saulnier and the 70’s brats such as Coppola.

Q:What’s your next project?
-Techno thriller in mind, True Fiction was his first female led film, which was out of his comfort zone. It was a blessing in disguise as his next two films will be female led.

Q:The contract scene which was intense, was there a deep focus there to setup the characters?
-The first seed to be planted, talked about reshooting it, but its different so it’s different. It was meant to be the first of many things to become unraveled.

Q:What was the casting process like?
-This was handled by someone out East, through self-tape auditions. A couple people prescreened, with a specific look in mind that was altered due to them finding a great lead in Sara Garcia.

Q:Any key sets door wise or key spots in the cabin?
-The director always wanted to shoot Kubrick type shots. Those key shots, wanted those included here. To differentiate these doors, each was symbolic with colors. There’s a context for the doors, should hopefully be clear to those viewing.

Q:With Sara Garcia being covered in blood during some scenes, was it challenging continuity wise?
-Yes, the director had a great time, but Sarah was great. The blood continuity is hard to match. In post, things were more noticeable and mentioned raccoon eyes being something that was very visible when editing. There was a sequence where smudging happens, which makes it easier.

Q:Where was the cabin located?
-It was located in Bragg Creek, the Riverside Chateau from which an AirBnB is run out of.

You can read our review of the movie below, or check out the festival hub for additional coverage from the event.

Read our True Fiction Review
Calgary Film Festival 2019 Hub