Jim Cummings is a dynamic filmmaker. For years, we’ve seen his name fly under the producer credit line for many of our favorite Staff Pick films from the film collective Ornana. This year at Sundance, however, we saw a different Jim shine — this time as the writer, director, and star of his own short, Thunder Road. It’s a funny, inventive, and thought-provoking film, one that makes you want to call your mom after you finish laughing. And we weren’t the only ones in awe: a few days after we saw the film’s debut, Jim won the coveted Sundance Short Film Grand Jury Prize. We’re so charmed by the trajectory of Jim’s success, the development of his voice, and Thunder Road itself, that we’re ecstatic to announce that the film is making its online premiere on Vimeo today. In celebration of its debut, we reached out to Jim to hear about finding motivation as a filmmaker, and what it takes to make a Sundance-winning short.
Before this year, I knew you as a producer. How did it feel to step in front of the camera?
It felt great. I really love it. I had only really acted once before, in this short film called This is Jay Calvin, where I play this cheesy filmmaker. But I caught the bug from that. I produced for years with Ornana Films and then I bounced between a few indie features and a few Lil Dicky music videos. But I had seen Celia Rowlson-Hall’s film about auditioning on Vimeo, and I realized that you can tell a HUGE story by only filming one person in one location. Nobody humiliates themselves to say something big: all of my heroes have done that, and it usually pays off.
Seems to be the case. Why’d you make this film? And what did it take to make it?
I made this film, honestly, because I wanted to show off. I had seen really great short films and features that had been made on a small budget and thought, ‘I could do something like that.’ I was also really disappointed in a lot of the comedy and drama I was seeing, and wanted to make something like the comedies that had moved me to tears, like Inside Out and Summer Heights High.
I was a video producer for a comedy company at the time, and I saved my money and sold my wedding rings to fund Thunder Road. I went through a divorce a year and a half prior, and I had them lying around and wanted to turn all of that into something permanent.
The film touches on a relatable topic: feeling a mixed sense of heightened appreciation and regret about the sacrifices that parents make for their children. Why did you choose to explore this theme?
I think that’s growing up: being hit by how hard it must have been to raise you. You’ll notice that nobody talks about this stuff until it’s too late. There’s this good Ricky Gervais line, ‘It’s never too late until it’s too late, and then it’s too late.’ I spent a huge amount of my life being depressed (age 13-23), and thinking about mortality and humanity and the cosmos, and I realized that being considerate can be a really miserable experience. But then I realized that I was kinda primed to tell a story like this. I think great movies can help people. Or at least give them good ammunition to cope with problems they’ll be facing soon, if they’re lucky.
Where did the decision to shoot this in one shot come from, and what was it like to do so from a production standpoint?
It was a long take from the outset. I wanted to make an awesome monologue and do it in one take because I knew that that would be challenging, honestly. If the film had been edited it would have just been a weird film about a funeral. But shooting it in one take is hypnotizing and you become present — you are right there with this dude, the poor guy.
The police officer was such a good character fit for you. What was the motive behind choosing to play a cop?
It had to be someone who would really struggle dancing in front of their coworkers. We toyed with the idea of making it a soldier, but I was in a pizzeria and these two cops told me that you’re required to wear a uniform at funerals in California and New York, and I started growing my mustache out the next day.
You’ve had a wild ride with this film. What were your expectations with it? What has happened with you and the film after winning Sundance?
I had always intended for it to be released online for free, and at my most delusional I was thinking that it would play at a few film festivals and maybe get Staff Picked on Vimeo. I never dreamed that we’d ever get into Sundance: they have 8,700 submissions, and they accepted 72 short films this year. When they said that we won — luckily that moment is captured on film in our web series — I was floored.
After winning Sundance, I met a thousand really wonderful folks that have been very supportive; I got signed at WME with an awesome team who are throwing me to cool people and onto dream projects, I’ve met some of my heroes, and we just wrapped a series for Fullscreen that I’m super proud of.
Your reaction is the best. Through this whole experience, I’m sure you’ve learned a lot. Is there anything you’d like to impart on the Vimeo community?
Two things. The largest thing that’s stopping you from making your dreams come true is your self-doubt.
And [secondly,] I’m very reachable, so if anyone is really down and out or needs advice on where to start, please let me know. Keep writing in coffee shops, keep writing notes in your phone, keep editing your films on airplanes. Don’t stop. I can’t, either.
