THE CLOSER Written & Produced By Eli Hershko & Isaac Broyn Directed By Eli Hershko
In this interview with Eli Hershko, we had the lowdown into both his background and how this thought provoking film came to be made. WE READ YOUR BIO ON FILMFREEWAY, AND IT’S PRETTY FASCINATING! WE KNOW THAT YOU WERE A PHOTOGRAPHER IN THE ARMED FORCES, BUT WAS IT ALWAYS YOUR INTENTION TO MOVE INTO FILMMAKING WHEN YOU LEFT THE ARMY OR DID SOMETHING HAPPEN? No, I was honourably discharged from service as a sergeant at the end of my service term. I then went to college in Israel to study film. After that I came to the states and became a fully fledged still photographer for over 16 years shooting album covers for the likes of Backstreet boys, Biggie smalls etc but there was something lacking in that it was only a 2 dimensional media and I felt the hunger for something deeper than that. I needed to paint not only with lights and shadows but to paint with human psyche as well which led me to pursue filmmaking as a career. HOW DID YOU END UP AS THE WRITER, PRODUCER & DIRECTOR OF “THE CLOSER”, WHERE DID THE STORY COME FROM? I had just finished my first feature and then I went to work in real estate for a while to help pay the bills. Somewhere in 2009 whilst working in real estate I had an idea to put together a movie about the shenanigans of the subprime real estate world. I met Isaac Broyn, a real estate developer and a film buff by his own right that had the same idea. Once Broyn found out that I was a filmmaker we both decided to come together and make this film ourselves. We would get together 2-3 times a week over the course of 3 months and discuss the movie then I would write it down, bring it to the next meeting, get notes and continue to write it till it was all done. After that we self financed this film and went to pre-produce it and produce it ourselves.
WOULD YOU AGREE THAT MOST OF THE DIRECTING IS ACTUALLY IN THE CASTING & HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO CAST “THE CLOSER”? That is correct. The right casting means you are 50% closer to make the film believable. Since our funds were limited I had to become our own casting director. The film was shot with a non union talent and we put out casting calls on lots of online local casting to NYC. I knew I can find the right actors since NYC is a hub to an amazing pool of raw talent of actors who are waiting to be discovered. The casting process took me 3 months and I must have had approximately 700 actors come in and read for me till I found my cast.