Hello,
And welcome to episode 3 of my podcast!
This week, I had the immense pleasure of speaking with Nick Butler, writer and director of The Legacy of Cloudy Falls (2024) and Lunar Sway (2026).
I caught a screening of Lunar Sway at Toronto's Inside/Out Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and after posing a fun question about the main character, I connected with Nick via Instagram, only to find out that our paths had crossed several decades ago when we both worked at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
The episode begins with Nick telling us a bit about himself and us trying to figure out the specifics of our earlier meeting (was it in person? was in over the phone?). From there we move to discussing Nick's background in casting and his move into feature film making. Nick talks about how much he enjoys working with Grace Glowicki, who appears in both his features, Ginger Minge, and Kaden Connors, and how he would love to work to work with Noah Parker and Liza Weil, who play the leads in Lunar Sway. From there, we delve into a series of winding and intertwined conversations about Nick's influences (The Coen Brothers, Charlie Kaufman), his near obsession with divination (magic 8 balls, tator cards, psychics), the symbolism of the elements (moon, water, air, fire, earth) in his movies, creating interesting (queer) characters, and we round it all off with a lighting round of "getting to know you".
Nick and details about upcoming screenings can be found at: Cloudy Pictures: https://www.cloudypicturesinc.com/
Nick's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nick_butler8
Content Breakdown: 0:00 - Intros and round of applause for Nick 1:46 - A chance encounter at TIFF 4:03 - Film School at York University and just missing Dmitry Lopatin (cinematographer) 6:20 - Nick builds a winning team (composers, sound team, cinematopgraher) 7:42 - Nick loves NYC 8:21 - Nick's background in casting and the role of luck in film making 10:33 - Grace Glowicki, Nick's muse 13:14 - Casting Liza Weil and Ginger Minge 16:50 - Lunar Sway, plot summary and avoiding spoilers 18:47 - Unrequited love and inspiring Lunar Sway's story 20:46 - The value of toxic/unhealthy relationships 21:53 - Interlude: The Jersey Shore's Ronnie & Sammie: the OG toxic relationship 22:21 - Queer cinema and characters: to queer and not queer enough 27:14 - It's giving David Lynch? Wes Anderson? The role of film influences 30:34 - The mystical desert setting and the use of contrasting neon colours 34:30 - Film settings and the elements | Dr. T. mines Nick's subconscious 38:48 - Dr. T performs of psychological reading: Tarot cards and archetypes 45:32 - Who hurt you? Dr.T psychoanalyzes Nick's fixation on grifters, swindlers and liars 47:15 - The contractual and transactional nature of relationships 51:42 - Why so many scenes of Cliff urinating? 55:22 - The symbolism of animals in Lunar Sway 58:04 - Nick's next/third feature film 1:00:34 - The film festival circuit and where you can find Lunar Sway 1:02:14 - "Getting to know you" lighting round 1:04:44 - Where can people find Nick? 1:05:52 - Bye bye until next time!
