Discovering Kasper and his doll

By Spun Counterguy on March 24, 2014

Discover Kasper is a short film about an introvert who finally makes a friend, albeit with a doll he’s ordered off the television. Like any normal friendship, Kasper the man and Loki the toy have their highs and lows, except with some of the lows going near criminal. Still it’s ultimately a sweet story and is making the rounds at a few film fests right now. Writer/director Seth Christian took time in between his festival hustling and upcoming projects to talk about his work.

Brophisticate: As bizarre as it is, the film still seems to come from real place. Was the concept based on a real person?

Seth Christian: Various people actually. The idea was to portray two things, one, that human interaction is not only important for a healthy life, but its essential for sanity. There are folks out there who are sociopaths. They rarely get out, rarely change, and consequentially many develop a selfishly, bitter and narcissistic outlook on the world. Man is meant to fellowship with man!

Then I threw a monkey wrench at the story after I did a video involving people with special needs, and the power of the mind intrigued me. So I thought, what if I gave this film a “kid-like” quality? A POV from someone who had Aspergers Syndrome and OCD? And, that to me made it even more interesting. Even though the film is NOT about those topics, those characteristics about Kasper made the journey with the doll (Loki) seem all the more human and believable to me.

(Actor Todd Evans and his co-star)

So I gotta ask- are you Kasper? 😉

Ha! No. However, it’s natural for any writer’s psyche to sneak into any story, it’s part of what makes it personal. If there’s any truth to that, I’d guess that I make up 30% of Kasper in ways. I collect things. I’m weary of conformity. And Darth Vader is my favorite Star Wars character!

Where in the world did you find that weird looking’ doll?

We had it custom made for the film by a stuffed toy maker in Texas. It took 3 drafts until we got what I was going for. Which was earthy, rare, mysterious, and a hint of creepy…sort of like Kasper.

You’ve been submitting the film to some fests- how’s the response been so far?

Festival run is going well.

One festival took the whole “Aspergers” thing too far and premiered us right after a mental retardation documentary so we had to kind of defuse any focus on that. It’s a small part of his character, but not making any statements about that topic whatsoever. Overall though, it hasn’t been brought up.

So what’s next for you?

Then in pre-production for a gritty, backwoods suspense/drama called Sticks starring Maya Boudreau. The story is about bravery–amid a lower-working class culture of laziness, self-pity, and settling into the path of least resistance–two characters begin their journey in not only finding the courage to break free from life’s circumstance, but brave enough to act upon their dreams.