VIDEO: Watch an interview with filmmakers Todd and Brad Barnes.
Brooklyn brothers Todd and Brad Barnes dreamed of making a feature film, and earned an invitation to Sundance in 2005 with one of their shorts.
But a story powerful enough to fuel a feature film eluded them -- until they began reviewing the fascinating people they had filmed.
"Brad did an early documentary on a real guy, and our film's lead character is based on that guy," Todd Barnes said in a phone interview for "Homewrecker," screening in Ogden on Saturday.
"He was working as a locksmith, on work release," Brad Barnes added. "He was locked up every night at 9, and was released every morning to let people into their homes instead of breaking in. I always thought that would be a good starting point for a story."
"He was a really nice guy," Todd Barnes said. "He had made some mistakes, and had a hard time of it. Things hadn't gone well for him, and that was the starting point of our story: What would happen if something went right for him? What if someone came into his life who could inject hope and change his world in a day?"
"Homewrecker" tells the story of Mike, a prisoner on work release laboring as a locksmith. His days remain routine until his world collides with that of Margo, a free spirit determined to prove her boyfriend is cheating. She hijacks Mike for a crazy day that blasts him out of his rut, and may even offer a possibility of romance.
"We became really good friends with (the real) Mike," Brad Barnes said. "We shot some scenes in the locksmith shop he works with. It's been a struggle for him. After work release, he was on parole for five years, and was not even allowed to leave the state to see his mom. He worked six days a week, and he had health problems. He was this sweet guy who hadn't had a break."
The brothers set him up, on film at least.
"The character of Margo makes up rules as she goes along," Brad Barnes said. "In some ways, it's a revelation for the character Mike. Knowing Mike so well, we knew how to activate the Margo character to really fill out that unique contradiction, to put these very different energies together in a locksmith van."
His brother agreed: "They are such different characters," Todd Barnes said. "When you get them in the same frame, you can't not look at them."
The playfully competitive brothers, who want it known that Brad is older but Todd is taller, shot the film on a tight budget in their native New York City. They hope audiences will leave the movie feeling upbeat, happy and buoyant.
As for the real Mike, he hasn't yet found his own happy ending.
"Maybe he'll meet someone after the movie," Todd Barnes said, with a hopeful laugh.
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