CUT Artist Spotlight: Dustin Whitehead
We will be screening two of Dustin’s films at ‘CUT. An Evening of Short Films’. His film ‘The Life of Alexander Hyde’ is a narrative short and ‘Movement to Music A Documentary’ explores a unique method of actor movement training taught at The Theatre School at DePaul University.
Find out more here: http://www.facebook.com/MovementToMusicADocumentary
Why did you become a filmmaker?
I grew up in a small beach town in Florida. ‘North Shore’ and ‘Endless Summer’ were films that made sense to me. Every other movie I watched taught me something new. We gain so much from the films we watch. I saw ‘What Women Want’ when I was like fifteen. I thought I wanted to be in advertising. Then I discovered the Godfather movies. Being a gangster wasn’t possible; studying acting was. The more I studied acting the more I realized that what I really want to do is tell stories. So here I am, an actor and a storyteller.
What filmmaker inspires you the most? Why?
Cameron Crowe is pretty rad. He takes chances and challenges form, but he doesn’t piss people off. I’m not much of an activist. I want to make films that inspire people. I don’t want to fight against anyone or any thing, I just want to get the audiences attention, to share something with them that they don’t get to experience every day. Maybe that will change as I get older and more jaded. But for now… Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Say Anything- all films that make me think, “Life freakin rocks!” The “Tiny Dancer” scene on the bus in ‘Almost famous’ is probably one of my favorite transition scenes of all time. And after all, the guy wrote ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’. I mean…
Is there a story you want to tell that you haven’t gotten the chance to yet?
There is a street downtown underneath Wacker Drive called Lower Wacker. During the winter hundreds of homeless people live there together. Their beds lean against each other and they hang their clothes above. It’s a small colony created out of necessity. A community that survives by each other’s warmth. That’s all I’ll say for now, but I’ll keep everyone posted.
