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Interview: ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ director Michel Scott
Austin American-Statesman: So how do you shoot video from the back of a horse?
Michel Scott: I actually grew up riding horses. My father owns a ranch in Colorado, where I would spend summers. I started riding when I was three or four but I hadn’t ridden for five or six years. I started training and brought the camera with me to see how it worked out. Eventually I got more comfortable with it, but nothing could have prepared me for what was going to happen in Mongolia. There were a lot more hours in the saddle than I expected, and I pretty much wound up holding the camera the entire time.
AA-S: Once you got involved, how did the story change?
Scott: There were definitely some twists and turns in the story that I didn’t expect. When Rupert told me they were going to take their child and ride through Mongolia and visit shamen, it doesn’t get much wackier than that. From my perspective as a filmmaker I said, ‘This is going to be amazing. This is a fantastic story.’ I thought this was going to be a story about acceptance. And ultimately it is. But it ends up being something else.
AA-S: Isaacson is producer and also the lead character, and yet he and the family aren’t always shown at their best.
Scott: The great thing about Rupert is he’s very interested in being seen from all sides. He wants the story to be as real as possible. I wanted to be sure we weren’t showing something unreal, especially since the storyline is unreal. And luckily Rupert was OK with that. It can be quite a challenge to film subjects who are also involved in the production of the film. In fact, that’s one of the greatest no-nos of documentary film. That can get very complicated very quickly. But Rupert was very gracious and wanted to show all sides of him and the family.
AA-S: The backstory of their domestic life in Elgin is intercut into this incredible quest narrative. Why that approach?
Scott: “I have to give a lot of credit to our editor, Rita Sanders. She was very helpful putting the structure of the film together. I think the initial reason was that we have all of this backstory, but the audience is going to know Mongolia is coming. We didn’t want to spend 30 or 45 minutes before leaving for Mongolia. We know that’s what people were going to be anticipating, so we wanted to get to Mongolia as soon as possible. But the backstory was so important for the actual trip to Mongolia to make sense.
AA-S: Did you try the boiled lung?
Scott: Yes. Actually, I tried all of the organs that Rupert tried. I have to admit I didn’t think they were that bad, except for the heart — the heart was pretty gross. I was ready for the worst.”
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