Matt Steele – DIVOS!

By starrymag | August 17, 2020

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) What are the recent projects that you have been working on?

 

A) I’m continuously working on my show “Two Gay Matts.” “Two Gay Matts” is both a YouTube show and podcast that I co-host with one of my best friends, Matt Palmer (who wrote and performs the song “Up to Par” in the movie). On both the show and the podcast, we discuss things like new music, musicals, movies, and events happening in pop culture – me from the perspective of a musical theatre fan and him from the perspective of a pop music fan. I’m also currently writing the script for a new feature that I’m very excited about!

 

 

Q) Please tell us the premise for DIVOS!

 

A) DIVOS! is all about the competitive and sometimes catty dynamic between boys in their high school musical. It tells the story of Ricky Redmond, an egotistical, self-proclaimed “future Broadway legend,” who believes he’s deserving of the leading role in his senior year musical. Things go sour when Josh Kelly, the school’s star pitcher, breaks his arm. Josh, in need of a new extracurricular activity (and possibly some crowd adoration), decides to audition for the musical. Suddenly, Ricky is forced to share the spotlight. At first, Ricky tries to muster up some team spirit as he takes Josh under his wing. However, he soon realizes that Josh’s ambition and star quality are far more dangerous than he had originally thought. It’s your classic “All About Eve” backstage tale about diva rivalry, but with a male twist. And there’s something that happens in the middle of the film that flips the story on its head. I won’t reveal what it is, but let’s just say that everyone is a divo/diva once you get inside their head. [wink]

 

 

Q) Where did the idea for the film come from? 

 

A) I actually started writing the story in 2011. “Glee” was incredibly popular at the time, so a lot of entertainment for young people had a big emphasis on talented kids making their dreams come true. I wanted to play against that. Don’t get me wrong, I love those stories as much as the next musical theatre kid. But I wanted to tell a story that reflected the high school theatre culture that I knew, which isn’t anywhere near as glamorous. School plays are often delightful trainwrecks. And there’s always that very small handful of kids who treat the school play like it’s life or death… while all the other kids truly couldn’t care less about it. I really wanted to play on that dynamic. I had also just finished the musical theatre program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and was fascinated by the culture of men in musical theatre. It’s very much its own competitive world that not many people are privy to, especially since musical theatre is so dominated by women. So, I knew I wanted to focus on the boys in their school play. I was also helping to direct high school theatre at the time and just thought that the insane antics from the kids I was working with would make a hilarious movie!

The first draft of the script was more of a feel-good ensemble piece. I felt like it was funny and entertaining, but there wasn’t enough story. So, I put the script down for a little while to focus on other projects. When I picked DIVOS! back up, I knew that I needed to give the characters, the main character of “Ricky” in particular, more of a challenge. So, I created an antagonist for this already antagonistic-protagonist of a main character. And that’s when Josh was born. As time went on, the movie became less “feel-good” and more of a rivalry film. This wasn’t a movie about dreams coming true. This was a movie about a war of egos.

 

 

Q) How involved were you in the casting of the movie?

 

A) I was lucky to be involved in every step of the process. I had a wonderful time with our casting director Dea Vise and the production team brainstorming potential names for roles. I knew I wanted a quirky, diverse cast and we had a lot of fun seeing so many different types of people for so many of the roles. I also knew I wanted a Broadway name in the mix for the theatre fans out there. The role of Sister Hartt, the miserable nun/music director/choreographer at the school, was the obvious character for that actor to me. I thought it would be hilarious to see the seasoned musical theatre performer play a character with such disdain for the school play. I immediately thought of Marissa Jaret Winokur because she’s known for her perkiness and infectious enthusiasm and wanted to see her play against type. I’m so proud of the cast we built and had such an amazing time with all of them. The scenes with the rest of the kids were especially fun to shoot.

 

 

Q) What was the most difficult part of balancing roles as writer/producer/star?

 

A) I actually found the process of balancing all three roles to be much easier than I anticipated. I was a little nervous at first that I would be overwhelmed (and don’t get me wrong… I definitely was at points…), but it was a relief to know people I trusted and I were in control. Producers Jayson Bernard and Roberto Rosario, Jr. of J&R Productions, director Ryan Patrick Bartley and I worked very well together and always made sure we were on the same page during production. Balancing the roles of writer and star were especially easy because I had no questions about my character. I’d lived with Ricky Redmond for years and knew exactly what I wanted to do with the role. It was also helpful being both the writer and star because I could tell my co-stars felt confident in following my lead in terms of style, energy and where to go, emotionally, in a scene. Throwing in the added role of producer, though, was a slightly more dizzying process. I was running around set, talking to crew, picking out character costumes, setting up craft services and performing various other tasks all in my dance spank and jazz sneakers!

 

 

Q) Was there room for much improv when you’re on set or did you guys tend to stick to the script?

 

A) We mostly stuck to the script. Depending on how much time we had, we would occasionally play around a little in the final takes. But, for the most part, we stuck to the script. But there were a few improv moments that we incorporated, particularly in the bedroom scene between Jake Busey and Timothy Brundidge and in the scene where Marissa’s character is teaching the kids choreography and then eventually flips her lid. Another one of my favorite improvised lines is one that Luis Avila, who plays “Javier,” says off-camera while he’s trying to stroke my character’s ego: “You’ve got the B flat…” For some reason the pure sincerity with which he says that line always cracks me up.

 

 

Q) You have great comedic timing. Is it something that’s always just been an innate ability for you or have you worked it in in some fashion?

 

A) Well, thank you! I truly have no idea! I try not to think about it too much. I always find that the second someone tells me I’m funny I become too aware of myself and suddenly lose it. I think people think I’m funny because I’ve been immersed in musical comedy all my life. We always had musicals playing in the house, whether on the tv or the record player. I was surrounded by material like Guys & Dolls and The Music Man since before I could talk. That medium and style is so ingrained in my bones that, while most people find it “funny,” I find it to be completely ordinary life. So, I never knew how I acted was “funny” until I got older. I would go on auditions or take acting classes and do what I considered to be a dramatic scene, but the class would be in stitches or the casting director would compliment me with, “I’m so impressed you were able to find the humor in the scene!” I would always be so confused. I’ve always been described as an animated person, but I really don’t think I’m doing anything different from the average person. That’s just how my face works!

As far as my acting in DIVOS! goes, I imagined the movie as a drama – a serious war film with the highest stakes that could possibly exist. I had to! DIVOS! isn’t about something frivolous and inconsequential. It’s about the most important thing on the planet to these kids: THE SCHOOL PLAY.

 

 

Q) What were some of your favorite scenes to film or ones that hold a special place in your heart?

 

A) My two favorite scenes going into filming were always 1. the bathroom scene between the boys and 2. the car scene between Ricky and Josh (Timothy Brundidge) near the end of the film. I adore the bathroom scene because it’s the one scene in which all the boys are together, equally participating in a discussion, without an adult or other characters getting in the way. And I’m just incredibly proud of the final car scene. I think it really drives home the fact that even the most seemingly confident people still want validation.

My favorite scene to film, though, was the fight scene between Ricky and Mitchell (Chris Schermerhorn). We were running ahead of schedule, so we got to do a lot of takes.

During one of the many takes, I suddenly realized that we were filming something really special. Here we had a scene between five characters. Of those characters, four were played by actors of color. Three of these characters were under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. A gender non-conforming character was fighting with two gay characters and the two assumedly straight characters were backing up the gender non-conforming character. It was in that moment that I realized I have never seen this type of dynamic between characters in a movie before. It was a really cool feeling.

 

 

Q) You are a part of social media. What kind of feedback have you been receiving to the movie?

 

A) I’ve been getting the most wonderful messages from people on social media who love the movie. It’s a really amazing feeling to know that the nine years of work I put into this has been worth it. My favorite thing about all the feedback is that I haven’t gotten a general consensus on which character or moment is most people’s favorite. Everyone seems to find something unique about the film that personally resonates with them. I’m also thrilled that the theatre fans are really relating.