Boston is proving a challenge for New York filmmaker, Casper Andreas. He takes my call on his mobile while navigating through the streets of the windy city.

Several times our conversation is interrupted while he asks for directions.
“My boyfriend lives here (Boston),” he says somewhat breathless. “So I’ve been doing a lot of work from here but I can’t find my way around yet.”

Andreas’ life seems to echo the characters in his latest film, A Four Letter Word where the pursuit of love and relationships overrides all else.

Andreas speaks with mild European accent. Born in Sweden in 1972 he lived in Paris before settling in New York in the early 1990’s to pursue acting. But a few bit parts in mainstream movies are nothing compared to the attention he’s attracted for his independently produced films. In his first film, Slutty Summer (2004) he takes on an acting role along with writing and directing credits. 

“I also did the casting, I was in charge of craft services and I did most of the location scouting, scheduling and wardrobe,” he said in an interview shortly after the film’s release.

In his latest effort, A Four Letter Word Andreas stays behind the camera and shares writing credits with actor Jesse Archer, who plays the lead role of Luke.

Co-writing with Archer, he says brought a greater depth to the story.
“He was more interested in the sluttier, party stuff and I was pushing for telling the love story – in the end we had a good mixture,” he says.

A Four Letter Word has the gay cliché (sex-obsessed, party animal, fashion queen) firmly in the sights. The story revolves around the character of Luke, whose fabulous gay life is affirmed by nightly escapes to the local bars in the gaybourhood for an endless list of sexual conquests. But the ‘r’ word (relationship) raises its ugly head and with the promptings of politically aware friend, Zeke (Cory Grant), Luke’s social priorities are reassessed.

A Four Letter Word’s love/relationship theme is fleshed out with a couple of subplots, the most interesting of which is the straight character of Marilyn (Virginia Bryan), herself planning a wedding while fighting an addiction to alcohol.
Andreas says the film is about going beyond the stereotypes.

“There are different sides to people and you shouldn’t really judge them too quickly by how they appear,” he says. “We wanted to explore what happens when you take a character like Luke who often seems to be just one way and then take him on a journey – how does he react.”
The reality check for Luke comes when he embarks on a serious fling with Steven, played by hunky Charlie David of Dante’s Cove fame. Describing himself as a ‘total top’ the cashed-up Steven seems like perfect husband material but lust and trust are not always part of the one package, as Luke is made all too aware.

As an independent filmmaker, Andreas is part of a new generation of gay performers who clearly find it more satisfying generating their own work rather than waiting for the good screen roles to come their way.

“For me writing was something that I always was attracted to and when I wrote my first screen play, that’s when I felt that I wanted to try directing because I felt I could see those characters in my head,” he says.

Both Slutty Summer and A Four Letter Word have proven a popular addition to the gay and lesbian film festival circuit. A Four Letter Word won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 2007 Fort Worth Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival and also picked up the Grand Jury Award for Best Screenplay at L.A Outfest.
Andreas is currently in post-production with his third gay themed film, Between Love and Goodbye.

“I don’t know that I will always make gay films but I still a have a few stories that I definitely want to tell and this is one of them – it’s more of a relationship drama, quite different from my first two films,” he says.

A Four Letter Word and Slutty Summer are available now on DVD.
Details: www.forceentertainment.com.au
 

by DAREN POPE