Hailey Gates Goes Full Silly With Atropia

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In Hailey Gates‘ debut feature film, Atropia, she presents a comedic take on what she sees as the absurdity of the U.S. government. This movie is an expansion of her 2019 short film, Shako Mako. In both works, Gates delves into the creation of fictitious towns by the American military for training purposes, and the actors playing townspeople and potential terrorists in these simulations. The central character in both pieces is Alia Shawkat’s Fayruz, whose Iraqi background and dedication to her role give her a dramatic intensity that is humorously over-the-top.

At its core, the blend of political satire and unconventional romance characterizes the film Atropia, which originally began as a documentary about the transformation of fictitious towns from the Middle East to Russia, eventually evolving into a narrative set in 2006 – three years into the Iraq War. The advantage of fabricating such an extraordinary tale, as director Gates explains, is that it allows for more humor. Consequently, Atropia becomes a movie brimming with jokes, one of Sundance’s funniest productions, poking fun at the military-industrial complex, acting methodologies, and romantic comedies collectively.

Instead of many romantic comedies focusing on mending the issues within a couple for societal acceptance, the screwball genre revolves around an unconventional, self-confident woman, whom I’ll call the “screwball.” This character draws everyone into her whirlwind with her escalating, self-assured actions. In our story, Fayruz remains oblivious to the chaos unfolding, while the narrative of Atropia revolves around her: Actors improvise more and more, accidents like explosions or animatronics malfunction at inconvenient moments, and things gradually turn crude and repugnant.

Shawkat’s character, Fayruz, is the jewel in the crown of the film Atropia. As Gates puts it, she embodies the spirit of Pre-Code actresses, carrying an air of timelessness. He often refers to her as a skilled surgeon because of her ability to subtly steer the course of a scene with a single eye movement.

Gates drew inspiration for this project from wartime comedies like M*A*S*H and Catch 22, as well as Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not to Be, which satirizes war and acting. In the story, Shawkat’s Fayruz is paired with Callum Turner’s character, Tanner. Tanner is a real-life Iraq War veteran portraying a fictional insurgent known as “Abu Dice” who explains that this name means “father of Dice.”

While Shawkat’s Fayruz is eccentric and eager to make it big in Hollywood, Turner’s Abu Dice is reserved and serious. The scenes they share are not just theatrical games for him; they were once his reality.

Gates praises Turner’s performance as reminiscent of Gary Cooper, another iconic old Hollywood figure.

In her fashion background, Gates discovered that the costuming and set design offered an opportunity for humor, highlighting the flaws in the military drill. She explained Fayruz’s attire as appearing as if she had pilfered clothes from a small-town theater, finding Abu Dice’s habit of using sunglasses as a headband endearing. The most stylish choices were reserved for Chloë Sevigny, portraying military analysts who remained seated, with Sevigny embodying mid-2000s fashion: bronzed skin, overly styled hair, and shiny lipstick. Gates chuckled as she shared that she had written the character to have “crunchy bangs,” adding that it was enjoyable to delve into the nuances of recent history.

As a movie enthusiast, I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing the versatile talent of actress Patricia Gates across various films such as “Ricki and the Flash”, “Challengers”, “Uncut Gems”, and “Twin Peaks: The Return”. Though “Atropia” might not be a typical Lynchian production, her reminiscence of working with David Lynch is filled with warmth, particularly his affection for practical effects. From scattering more Bisquick on a table to make it appear dirty, to using pizza as a stand-in for human flesh, Lynch’s appreciation for cinematic magic resonated deeply with Gates, who shares the same passion.

In creating “Atropia”, she sought out the best production designers to deliberately create an unpolished look: worn costumes, subpar effects, anything that would expose the seams of the production. As I delved into Lynch’s book “ Catch a Big Fish“, Gates’ words echoed his sentiment perfectly, “This should be fun. We should be like puppy dogs wagging our tails.” And it was, every single day on set, we felt an unbridled joy, exclaiming in disbelief, “Can you believe they’re letting us do this? This is outrageous!” Nobody, indeed, should be able to create such magic.

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2025-01-31 19:55