Cinema Scholars interviews Tim Sutton, writer/director of the new drama Taurus. The film stars Colson Baker, Maddie Hasson, and Megan Fox. Taurus will be in Theaters, On Demand, and Digital on November 18, 2022.
Introduction
Nearly everyone has heard of the unfortunate “27 Club.” The macabre moniker refers to an ever-growing list of entertainers who met their untimely death at the tender age of 27. Musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and later members like Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse have sadly perpetuated the awful coincidence for decades. In the case of the above performers, substance abuse was the cause of their early demise. And as the annals of pop culture have continuously proven, people are naturally fascinated by these kinds of tragic tales, even when the antihero is fictional. A Star Is Born didn’t get remade for the umpteenth time for no reason.
Is it because these kinds of stories provide a cautionary warning? Or is it simply the train-wreck effect when onlookers can’t help but rubberneck such a spectacle? Perhaps it has more to do with the romanticism of the sex, drugs, and rock and roll lifestyle where artists live big and flame out in a blaze of glory. If only that last part were actually true. As most films about this subject painfully elaborate, the final spark is usually extinguished after an agonizing battle with unrelenting demons. Whatever the reasons, it is apparent that the public fascination with such tragedy, whether fiction or not, remains a constant.
In the new drama Taurus, writer/director Tim Sutton (Donnybrook, Funny Face) breathes new life into the well-worn theme with a millennial take on the tragic artist trope. The film introduces famed musician Cole Taurus (Colson Baker, AKA real-life rocker/rapper Machine Gun Kelly) as he is in the midst of a wicked downward spiral. Completely dependent on his abuse-weary assistant Ilana (Maddie Hasson), Cole is surrounded by yes people who want to bask in the glow of his megawatt star power.
In addition to professional challenges Cole also struggles with the end of his marriage and the fact that he is an absentee parent. As the story meanders through a couple of raucous days in the life of the troubled protagonist, it becomes clear that, despite some eleventh-hour redemption, Cole is his own worst antagonist.
Rather than simmering in the dire, Sutton employs a variety of cool creative audio/visual choices that hoist the film above the potential blahs of the subject matter. The result is a gorgeous and often scary trip through the dark times of a hopelessly unhinged brat. And speaking of that brat…While Colson handily nails the spoiled pop star vibe, he thankfully imbues his character with just enough complex authenticity to save such a cliche character from remaining one-note.
In a stroke of meta-genius, Sutton also cast Baker’s real-life love, the always-awesome Megan Fox, as Cole’s estranged wife. Though her appearance is brief, their onscreen dynamic hits a little harder knowing that they have likely faced their own challenges with the dark side of fame and invasion of privacy as a celebrity couple.
And what would a film about a musician be without a meaningful musical thread? In addition to starring and co-producing, Baker also takes on the role of Taurus’ composer. Starting with only a few notes (inspired by Blue Foundation’s haunting “Eyes On Fire”), the main theme of the film grows and evolves along with the story, providing a dramatic form of continuity as the story and music weave around one another.
Cinema Scholars recently had the opportunity to speak with Taurus writer/director Tim Sutton. We discuss his collaboration with Baker, maintaining momentum in a story about a downward spiral, and why tragedy is so compelling.
Interview
Rebecca Elliott:
Thank you so much for joining me today. I’m really excited to talk about Taurus. I’ll tell you, when I watched it, it was all I dreamed about that night. The film is almost hypnotic in a way. It’s like the millennial take on the classic tragic rockstar trope. What do you think is so fascinating about watching a train wreck like that?
Tim Sutton:
It’s interesting because it is a train wreck, and I’m fascinated by that. I’m super interested in musicians. Not just the music, but just the musicians’ lives. Especially the damaged ones. There are people with extreme talent and the ability to connect so many things at once through music. But they’re the same people who can’t walk down the street without getting into trouble or buying drugs or not knowing how to go to the supermarket. These people who aren’t made for the world, in a way. I’m fascinated with, let’s say, musicians like Thelonious Monk or Amy Winehouse. These people who are just so talented, but they just can’t make it. They can make it in the world of music, but they can’t make it in life. I was 24 when Kurt Cobain died and it has been a void in my life to this day.
I’m fascinated with that story, but I’m also mortified that the 27 Club is still going on. It’s not just Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Takeoff died last week. There are people dying who should be living and who the industry should be caring for better. We should not be in their faces so much on social media or trolling them. They just want to make music. Some of them want fame and fortune, good for them. But it’s just a really difficult thing to watch all these people go by the wayside when they should be living.
Colson was one of those guys when I met him, he was going to be the biggest rockstar in the world or he was going to be the next casualty. Luckily, he chose the right path. But he also chose the other path through performance to explore that other path. I don’t love train wrecks as much as I love tragedy, because I feel deeply about tragedy. But I wanted to sit in the room while a tragedy was happening.
Rebecca Elliott:
Right. You can’t look away. Is it because it’s a cautionary tale or is it just because it’s so fascinating to see? But yeah, you definitely nailed the tragedy part. Speaking of working with Colson Baker, aka Machine Gun Kelly. He not only stars in Taurus, with an incredible performance, I must add. But he also co-produced and did all of the music. How did that collaboration come about? Did you develop it together? Was it something you had already written and then he came on board? How did you guys team up?
Tim Sutton:
We met because we were making a Western together up in Montana. I inherited the cast when I came on later as the director because of some COVID issues. We met and we hung out, and we’re an odd couple, but we just really connected. You don’t know who you’re going to connect with in this world and who you’re going to clash with.
We just had a really, really deep connection right away and a deep trust. I could tell he wanted to do more. He was in this role as a Billy the Kid-type character, but he played it like a little hurt, lost boy. I knew he wanted to be vulnerable. He didn’t just want to be a star because he was an artist. Immediately, I said to him, “If you ever want to make a movie about a music-damaged musician, aka you, let me make it.”
He said, “Yeah, let’s do it.” I wrote a script and then we started collaborating from there. He was always going to do the music. It was important that Colson Baker was the performer, was the actor. But it was always going to be Machine Gun Kelly doing the music. That was always part of it because the movie is about a musician finding a song. We knew we were going to have a song by the end that was Machine Gun Kelly. That’s great for the life of the movie and the marketing, but what’s important is that it developed organically. He found that song for this moment and this movie and developed it along the way. It was just a joy to watch happen.
Rebecca Elliott:
That was actually one of the questions or points I wanted to make. I love how there’s one musical theme that starts off very small in the beginning. Then it grows throughout the film and follows the character through all of his progressions from simple to raging. I just love that. It was really cool.
Tim Sutton:
I’m glad you noticed that. That music is always around us. It’s just being developed. In one moment it sounds like a car engine. The next moment it sounds like a strip club. But it’s always there and it’s always being made. When you hear the final thing, you’ve heard almost all of what you’re listening to, but you just haven’t heard it together.
Rebecca Elliott:
Yeah, it’s fully coalesced by the end. It’s really powerful. You also cast Megan Fox, who aside from being awesome on her own, happens to be Baker’s real-life fiancé. A pretty famous celebrity couple, I might add. Of course, the themes in the film are more focused on the destructive sides of fame, but can you talk about the meta quality of working with them on the film, and how what they deal with in real life may have informed the context of the fictional story?
Tim Sutton:
Yes. I love the gray area between fact and fiction. And I love that in this movie, the fact that the documentary feeds the fiction, which feeds back the documentary. You never know exactly if you’re seeing Megan Fox or if you’re seeing a character, if this is real or if it’s fake. I love that fertile ground. We always knew we had to get Megan. I pitched Megan, and I begged her to be in the movie. Because as a couple, she doesn’t want to step on his projects. And he doesn’t want to step on her projects. They respect each other as artists as well. It was important for her to know why she was in this movie and to understand the meta aspects of it. And to understand that you can’t just hire any actor to play this role.
There had to be this hook to make you think, oh my God, I’m seeing it real. This is real-time. It’s really happening. The thing that impressed me most… Megan gets a bad rap because she’s a sex symbol. She’s probably one of the biggest sex symbols in the world. They get a bad rap as a couple because they’re on Us Weekly all the time or they’re a celebrity couple. But they’re also artists, and you can’t forget that. Megan came to set for her scene in the music studio, the argument scene. Which, by the way, was always going to be silent. It was never going to be recorded.
We don’t know what they said to each other in there. I gave them basic ideas. You have to go from this mood to this mood. Then from this mood to that mood. She said, “How long have they been broken up and how long do you want this scene?” And then she just delivered. Megan’s a pro. She came in and lifted the movie up to a whole other level while adding that next layer of onion skin of, is this real? Oh my God, this is Megan Fox. They’re fighting. It’s something that, I feel, gives a very unique and important quality to the movie.
Rebecca Elliott:
It really does, definitely. As you just mentioned, in that particular scene where you play a little bit with, let’s say the visual story is different than maybe an audio story going on in the background. There are also other instances throughout the film where you play with a discordant feeling, I guess is the best way to say it. But I love it because it breaks up the monotony of the whole downward spiral. Can you talk about those choices and was there anything that didn’t work that you tried?
Tim Sutton:
Oh, lots of things. There are things on the cutting room floor for sure. But I think what’s important is that we didn’t want this movie to just be…people were at first scared that it was going to be too dark a movie. I was like, it’s not dark. It’s tragic. And it was important that it wasn’t a slog. That it wasn’t just this slow crawl to the end. But at the same time, what I wanted was this. You’re spiraling down a staircase step after step after step. There’s no stopping. The important thing was this is a person who was still interacting with the world. He’s just not doing it on his best days.
Sure, he’s still taking the meeting, even though he doesn’t want to be there. And he’s still in the recording studio, even though he is just trying to find the right thing. He’s still interacting with people and interacting with the world and wanting to be a good dad, wanting these things, wanting connection, even if it’s with an escort. So he wants to try and connect with the world and just can’t do it.
I thought that the back and forth, the idea of like, oh, his daughter is there. Oh, he is in the pool. To have that be more of a mess than just like, oh, he’s slowly walking towards his death. I think the movie is entertaining. And I think you’re in it, and I don’t think it’s easy. But I also think challenging is a good word in filmmaking. The audience should be challenged to deal with these realities or even the nightmares he has as well.
Rebecca Elliott:
Yeah. It’s really immersive, and, strangely, not as depressing as it could be. Plus, it’s beautiful too. Circling back around to the music, you have some pretty epic needle drops throughout. And of course, we talked about that main musical theme that cycles throughout. How much of that was on the page, including the needle drops, and how much of it did you develop with Baker? Or in post?
Tim Sutton:
Well, to find the theme, he and I just exchanged music while we were prepping. We would send each other songs. And they weren’t songs that were ever going to be in the movie, they were just mood songs. I would send him a Rolling Stone song or Spiritualized song, stuff that I really liked. Then he would send me stuff back. He sent me “Eyes on Fire” by Blue Foundation, and it just blew me away. So he really wanted to sink into that in his own way. He found two notes out of that and really just, that was his starting point. And we developed things along the way.
As far as music, I didn’t tell him what to do musically. You don’t take a wild animal and put him in a cage, you let the wild animal roam wild. I have no expertise in that, but I knew he would deliver something that I would be inspired by. Part of the beauty of making films like this is I don’t know, I’m not sure where it’s going to go. But I know where it’s going to go, and I’m going to have to figure out how that works. The needle drops and the dance scene between him and Megan. That was scripted.
Rebecca Elliott:
The dance scene was beautiful.
Tim Sutton:
Most romantic scene in any movie ever.
Rebecca Elliott:
When I realized what was happening, I gasped. It was really tragic, like you say.
Tim Sutton:
The mood of the music was both of us, but he’s the musician, and I give him total credit.
Rebecca Elliott:
Nice. I guess I’m about to get cut off, so I just wanted to ask you one last thing. In the movie, I love this little part where there’s a discussion about how some of the happiest songs are actually sad. I love that because it’s true. Sometimes you listen to some lyrics and you’re like, wait, what are they saying? What are they talking about?
Tim Sutton:
Yeah. “You Are My Sunshine” is the saddest song you’re ever going to hear in your life.
Rebecca Elliott:
That’s a great example. I was going to ask you, what is your favorite sad happy song?
Tim Sutton:
Oh my God. I wrote “Happy” in the movie because I swear to God that Pharrell song could not be happier, but it’s literally like out of The Stepford Wives. It’s a bunch of people being forced to be happy. Happy, happy, happy. It scared me to death. That’s the one that does it. “You Are My Sunshine” is another example where it’s the saddest song if you think about it, but you’re talking about sunshine.
But I think it’s important because it’s a metaphor for the film. You’re the biggest rock star in the world, and you’re supposed to be happy. You have a great life, you’re rich, you’re famous, but it’s not that easy. It’s not that simple.
Rebecca Elliott:
Right, right. Well, that wraps it up so perfectly. Thank you so much for taking the time.
Tim Sutton:
I appreciate the interview. Thanks.
Taurus will be in Theaters, On Demand, and Digital on November 18, 2022.
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