‘Max Dagan’ cast and crew take The Panther behind the scenes

Terre Weisman (left) and director of photography Tim Banks. Photo Credit: Chris Labadie

The importance of compassion is one of many messages one could take away from Terre Weisman’s “Max Dagan.” 

In the film, the titular character (Zachary Gordon) is on a mission to get his terminally ill father, Albert (Rob Morrow), released from prison on a compassionate release. Albert has been incarcerated on a manslaughter charge for an incident during Max’s youth, an accidental outcome of a gruesome altercation in which Albert was involved. Dagan finds compassion in pursuit of his father’s freedom; chiefly, he must reconnect with his uncle Bob (Rob Brownstein) and convince Alaina (Lindsey Dresbach), the daughter of the man Albert is in prison for murdering, to not speak in favor of his father’s continued incarceration.

The Panther talked with some of the cast and crew behind “Max Dagan” at the Newport Beach Film Festival in October, and the film has continued a festival run since its screening there. 

Just as the characters in “Max Dagan” must have compassion for each other, the collaboration between Weisman, his cast and crew helped them tackle some of the film’s more intense scenes. 

“I think being collaborative… helps everybody immerse themselves into that mental state of angst and anxiety that you may have about what’s going to happen or how it’s going to happen and everything,” Weisman told The Panther. “The actors have to bring the anger or any emotions that come with those scenes…” 

Weisman credits his actors with keeping scene intensities up, and in one pivotal scene, his being considerate of his actor’s abilities to keep going helped filming, which had amounted to multiple takes of a moment of high emotion. 

“...I kept talking with them and pulling them aside and asking them if they had more to give,” he said. “I wasn’t going to say, ‘Okay, let’s do it again, let’s do it again, let’s do it again’ if they were all drained, because an actor wants to feel good about their performance, as well.”

He continued: “So I think my role in that was just making sure they had enough in them to continue going and give me the same intensity they needed.”  

Zachary Gordon (left) and Terre Weisman (right). Photo Credit: Chris Labadie

In regards to getting into character for a film that’s heavy and dramatic, Morrow’s process didn’t necessarily change. 

“I try to find myself in the story,” Morrow said. “I start with, ‘How am I like and how am I different than this character,’ and then, ‘How would I be if I were in this situation?’ That’s really my training, that’s really my approach… as an audience person, I respond to material where I feel a personal connection with the audience. So I try to find my own emotional corollaries to the story and then hope for synergy.” 

Weisman started writing “Max Dagan,” which he self-financed, years ago, but its production was stalled by the pandemic. He used the time in which the world was on hold to extensively outline and rewrite the piece. At the advice of an old connection, Barry Katz (who became a producer on the film), the third-time filmmaker eventually traveled from where he lived in New England to Los Angeles for pre-production and filming. 

The characters and story in Weisman’s script were part of what enticed Rafi Jacobs, another producer on the film, about the project. Jacobs shared his hopes for audience takeaways.  

“I always hope movies like this kind of help inspire people to be a little more patient and understanding in the ability to create space,” Jacobs said. “Regardless of how we may feel we were wronged or how we were negatively affected by something, these things aren’t happening in vacuums, and every action has a reaction and there are typically multiple people involved in any situation…”

Jacobs continued: “I think this movie really starts with characters a lot more closed-off to hearing about how anybody else was living through the same circumstance but from a different vantage point, a different proximity, and then over time these walls started to come down, people actually started to listen and hear and connect. I think that’s really what opened the door to start the healing.”

Katz, conversely, appreciates the subjectivity of the viewing experience: every person may take something different away. He didn’t have a singular message he hoped audiences would walk away with. 

“What I want them to get out of it is what moves them and what takes them,” Katz told The Panther. “...To me, a really great movie, a hundred people come to see it and a hundred people are inspired in a hundred different ways.” 

Morrow and Dresbach also spoke to the messages they hope audiences leave with and the important facets the film offers. Their hopes and important takeaways range from entertainment, the revelation of the truth and an understanding of the complexities of families. 

“I just hope audiences take away this idea that no family’s perfect. They’re all layered, and I really think that you could see yourself in every character’s shoes,” Dresbach said. “And no one’s the bad guy. I really see that everyone has their own right for the decisions they’re making.” 

Dresbach continued: “I just really hope they see that all these characters are so human and they can see themselves in the characters and that family’s difficult, but it’s worth it.” 

On the subject of a director’s most important qualities, Weisman places importance on a director’s approachability, vision, collaboration and the language a director needs to communicate that vision to actors, among other specifics. 

“I think a director needs to be approachable,” Weisman told The Panther. “I think the actors need to be able to come to you and discuss anything they need to… but I also think you need to go into it with a specific vision. I think you need to at least know what you want, because when you get on set, you can’t just yell, ‘Cut!’ and let whatever happens happens, you have to have something in your mind that you’re trying to leave with.” 

Weisman offered multiple pieces of advice to filmmakers, advising them to invest in themselves and to take action regarding their filmmaking. 

“Make the investment in yourself… write the movie you want to see. Write what you want to write,” Weisman said. “There’s no format, there’s no this, there’s no that. Write the story you want to write and get out there and do it.” 

He summed up his advice for filmmaking and directing in one word: “action.”

“Whatever it is you want to do in life, just pursue it but do it. Don’t talk about it,” he said. “Everybody talks about it, just do it. Don’t wait for other people’s approval. You don’t need it.”