The World Premiere of NOBODY LEAVES ‘TIL JESUS COMES
5 min read
Jean Barker’s Debut Feature to Have a Global Premiere at Dances With Films LA
Writer/Director Jean Barker‘s debut feature Nobody Leaves ‘Til Jesus Comes will premiere June 29th at Dances With Films LA. Barker’s dramatic-comedy tells the story of 17-year-old protagonist, Mati Flores, played by Alex Felix (Never Have I Ever, Goosebumps) with Spencer Garrett (Winning Time, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Bombshell) as the lovable villain, Jack Day.
The film also features the onscreen talents of Garrett Coffey (Cora Bora), Joanna Going (Eden, Kingdom), juggernaut Marla Robison (Side Hustle) as hooker-addict Amber and Max E. Williams (Winning Time, Bullet in the Face, Bosch) as sex-addicted bail bondsman Ollie. The global premiere screens at Dances With Films LA on Saturday, June 29th at 7:15 pm at TCL Chinese Theatre (6925 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles 90028.)
Writer/Director JEAN BARKER
“Your Worst Decisions Make the Best Movies – If You Survive Them.”
Jean Barker credits a wealth of poor decisions to draw on for filmmaking inspiration. Nobody Leaves ‘Til Jesus Comes was inspired by the writer-director’s own teenage misadventures.
Born and raised in South Africa, Jean Barker left a successful career there as a journalist and columnist to move to California to pursue her dreams. Her sci-fi MFA thesis short film One More Day won a Student DGA Jury Award and starred the late, great John Heard. Barker has since worked in a writers room for an online game and made many successful shorts, music videos, and commercials. She will release her Afro-Futuristic graphic novel “ZANA” during Dances with Films.
A stellar cast
“As a first-time feature director working with a schedule and budget that wouldn’t forgive mistakes, I sought to surround myself with more experienced creators and to combine extensive prep with an open mind.”
A mere two weeks of pre-production time, an 11-day shoot schedule, and an ultra-low budget meant no time for rehearsals, so Jean storyboarded every scene but tweaked and adjusted the script with the actors each morning before cameras rolled. “I wanted to hear even challenging ideas, even on the shoot day. I was lucky to have a stellar cast who dug deep to help me tell this story.”
Alex Felix as Mati
Alex Felix subtly and powerfully brings to life Mati Flores, a character who at 17 has more sense than the “adults” around her but learns compassion during a formative two-hours told in real time. “The filmmaking process highlighted collaboration in an unique way. While Jean came in with a strong framework, she encouraged our input and insight to construct characters with our personal flairs. It created the sense of a group project on set, where everybody had the opportunity to create a sense of reality in their roles.” says Alex.
Spencer Garrett co-stars as Jack Day
Spencer Garrett says Jack Day conveys this tragic-comic combination of hubris and humor. Like the film’s solo Greek chorus Violet (Joanna Going), his character Jack Day can see everybody’s truth but his own. Garrett brought decades of experience to Nobody Leaves ‘Til Jesus Comes, ranging from featured roles in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Bombshell, and over 200 guest appearances on TV, from The West Wing to Mad Men to his transformative turn in Winning Time as legendary announcer Chick Hearn’.
Spencer said that “making this film was an exhilarating, and at times, exhausting experience, for all the right reasons. Having grown up in and around the industry, I’ve met guys like Jack. I’ve worked with guys like Jack and sat in audition rooms with guys who were on top of the world for a brief, shining moment, then suddenly looking at the downslope of a business that builds you up and spits you out without a blink. I dedicate my performance to a few very talented guys I knew who, for whatever reason, zigged when they should’ve zagged, and ended up with too many bad hands at the table. May their memories be a blessing.”
I have a gut sense of what I want and what works, and I storyboard extensively, but I believe a director is a conductor, not a dictator.
Jean Barker Writer/Director
Max E. Williams as Ollie
Max E. Williams described his character as “…a lonesome scab with deep sexual wounds. And repulsive. As a boy he was hope filled. He releases his pain on others like a terrified man-child. Jean allowed me to fill-in the gaps of ‘Ollie the boy,’ affording me the respect to fully tap into Ollie’s central discomfort as an unloved human being.”
Post-production
In post-production, Jean Barker leaned on the talents and smarts of seasoned superstar editor Nina Kawasaki (Bombshell, Trainwreck) and Grammy-winning, Emmy-nominated composer Lili Haydn (Anita, DriverX, Ginny & Georgia).
Haydn commented, “I was excited for the opportunity to write a score that was simultaneously contemporary, soulful, ominous, and funny in order to serve Jean’s multi-layered vision.“
Looking ahead…
Jean has unshakable roots in South Africa and dreams of returning to direct one of the South African projects burning a hole in her pocket. Her next writing project is a child-centered dramatic-comedy feature. Like all her work, it’s inspired by her own life experiences, this time of being a girl who lived as a boy called John for a year in ultra conservative 80s South Africa, as well as by her recent work as a substitute teacher in some of LA’s most under-served schools. And from that work she has learned that “Filmmaking is tough, but not as tough as teaching 3rd Grade on a Friday.”
*Special thanks to Jean Barker and DWFLA for information provided in this article.
