Interview with Ryan Kruger the director of Fried Barry:
Fried Barry hits cult status.
By Fred Felton
17 Mar. 2021
Fried Barry is the debut feature film by director Ryan Kruger. It follows the story of Barry, an abusive man, drug-addled he goes on yet another bender, gets abducted by aliens and takes a backseat as the extra-terrestrial visitor assumes control of his body and takes it for a joyride through Cape Town.
The film has achieved cult status and has gone on to garner 22 awards around the world. It features an all-star cast including Gary Green, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Chanelle de Jager, Sean Cameron Michael and Brett Williams.
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| Ryan Kruger, the director of Fried Barry | Image: Supplied |
I sat down with Ryan Kruger and asked him some questions about the film and his life:
You have shot many music videos. What has this experience taught you?
I think experience is everything in the film industry and actualy being on set is where you going to learn the most. Having done over a 100 music vids it’s a lot of years in experience and with my style of stuff am not always doing performance videos. I’m always doing short narrative films within a music video or something very visual. Which is where I think I got more of my style from, it’s almost like commercials as you only have a certain amount of time to get the idea or story across in a short amount of time.
How did you get the idea for ‘’Fried Barry’’?
Fried Barry was born out of total frustration where I was in my career. I am known in South Africa as a music video director for doing narrative storytelling within music videos and sharp visuals. Although I always came up with my concepts and bands trusted me and let me do anything I wanted, I was still in a box as I had to think about their audience and their music and being able to get it on major music video channels. So I couldn’t really do my style. Originally Fried Barry was just a three minute long experimental film that did really well. We had 59 official selections around the world at festivals and picked up 13 awards. But what came from that was all of these amazing pieces of fan art from all over the globe, which was a surprise because people just seemed to really love the main character. I never planned to make it into a feature film at all. I just looked at it as that short was a success and that’s it. But where I was at the time I was in a bad place. I had an operation on my kidney and got sepsis and nearly died, went through a break up and my cat got cancer and I went into depression. It was all too much for me at the same time. So while I was in this dark hole I just said to myself what is the number one thing I’ve always wanted to do with my life, and it was to make a film. I just got the idea one night and I knew that this was the film to make.
How big was your crew for ‘’Fried Barry’’?
We had a big cast and crew on this film but we used multiple different people for certain crew members as we shot the film over a year and a half but only shot 28 days in total. Some days we had a small crew depending on what we where shooting on that day. Other days for big set ups we had a large number. When we shot the hospital riot scene on that day we had over 90 people on set including cast which was crazy but a lot of fun.
Did you get any big financial backing for this film?
Fried Barry is definitely the first of its kind for SA cinema! It’s a cult-style film with mashing up genres like horror and comedy and the height of indie-dark cinema. In SA we normally make dramas or comedies or films about the history of our country, So its not the type of film that gets made here and the content is really out there and not for the faint hearted so I new nobody would back this type of film, so me and my producer set out to make it ourselves. But things are starting to change in SA cinema which is great. There are so many amazing films coming out. But it’s good to show that this type of film can make money and there is an audience especially overseas. At the end of the day the film business is a business you need to be able to sell your film so you can make another one. And if we keep making the same type of films here the industry will never change or grow.
What camera models did you use to shoot ‘’Fried Barry’’?
We used a Red Dragon for all of the film and a Phantom camera for high-speed slow motion scenes.
For a first time director what budget-friendly camera would you advise them to use to shoot a film?
I think making content is the most important thing. Getting out there and creating stuff so if you haven’t got budget for a nice camera its ok. You can use a 5d or a black magic and maybe get good lenses which will make all difference.
For a film shoot what is the minimum crew you should have on set?
Well I love indie cinema and I’ve done a lot of stuff super low budget with minimal crew, and there’s so much you can do with less than 5 people. I guess it all depends on what you are making. One of the last experimental films I made was just me my camera guy and my producer and we all helped in different areas and it looks amazing. I think it’s more about getting the right people that know what there doing.
What advice do you have for first time directors looking to make their break in the film industry?
Get out there and make movies! It’s a cliché, but it’s true! Worrying about whether your gear or your movie will be good enough only leads to praxis paralysis. A bad movie is better than no movie. It’s all about creating content to share.
You can watch the trailer here:
Fried Barry is set for international release in May 2021.
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