The Lumineers 'Salt And The Sea' still
The Lumineers’ III, a 44-minute visual accompaniment to the group’s new album of the same name, starkly explores three generations of a fictional working class family— the Sparks— in the American Northeast as they deal with addiction and other dysfunction.
The three chapters in the film correspond with the album’s 10 tracks. The folk-rock band has unspooled the 10 videos comprising the film one at a time since May 21, starting with “Gloria,” and ending Sept. 19 with “Salt And The Sea.” The album came out Sept. 13 via Dualtone.
The only time the movie was shown in its entirety was earlier this month at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The movie is based on a story written by Lumineers singer and guitarist Wesley Schultz and the film’s director Kevin Phillips, and draws from lyrics by Schultz and drummer Jeremiah Fraites from the album. Though fictional, the film is about a member of Schultz’s family, whose addiction led her to rehab, jail and homelessness. Addiction also affected Fraites, who himself has been sober for four years, but lost his brother, Josh, to a drug overdose in 2001. Josh Fraites and Schultz were close friends, which led to Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites meeting and starting the band.
Phillips has a strong affiliation with the band, having served as cinematographer for its 2016 videos for “Cleopatra” and “Ophelia.” He made his first feature film in 2017, the thriller Super Dark Times, co-starring Charlie Tahan (Ozark), whom Phillips hired for the role of Junior Sparks, the grandson. Anna Cordell plays matriarch Gloria Sparks, and Nick Stahl (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, In the Bedroom) her son, Jimmy Sparks.
Billboard sat down with songwriters and band co-founders Schultz and Fraites—or “Jer” as Schultz calls him— in Toronto to talk about the movie and the message they hope people will take from it.
What was the original concept for the film?
Schultz: The elevator pitch was three characters that are the centerpieces of their respective chapters and they cover three generations and it’s one family. So you’re exploring what things are handed down in a family and what things you have free will with— or get out of. In this case, a lot of it is talking about addiction because that’s what was going on in my family and in Jer’s. It didn’t seem like a great subject, but we dove in and now people are being really open with us about their own lives. When you realize it was a taboo, that if you crossed the line a little bit or break the ice, it’s amazing what people respond with.
The cast is not glamorous. What look did you want for these roles?
Schultz: It was like what Kevin had cast in his other movie and what some of these TV shows do a really good job with. Have you ever seen the movie Troy, full of models and good-looking people? Brad Pitt. Eric Bana. They’re all great actors. Don’t get me wrong, but it’s distracting. Most people don’t look like that. I mean, Anna is gorgeous and she’s a model, so she’s a good-looking person, but I think she has this unique look. Everybody in the cast had this distinct look versus just [being] beautiful. And because of that, they were interesting…It was also a goal that if you put the videos on mute, you could still be entertained massively by what you’re seeing on that screen.
They actors have no dialogue. Are they hearing the lyrics blasting at the same time they’re acting?
Fraites: Kevin Phillips gave these look books to the actors. He took [the character traits of] Junior Sparks and he would be into like Radiohead or he’d be into these bands or he’d be into these TV shows. He smokes these types of cigarettes. He gave so much direction according to Charlie.
That’s about his character, but how did it work in terms of shooting the scenes?
Schultz: It was all synced up to the music. It was planned out to the second. Kevin is a very organized guy.
So the actors are hearing the music too?
Schultz: Yes.
How long did it take to shoot?
Schultz: It was 15 days. We were there for two-and-a-half of those days. So we got to see a small piece of it and we cameo-ed in two videos.
At the house party?
Schultz: Yeah, the whole band was in that scene.
Fraites: To Kevin’s credit though, I think he went through the ringer. It was 24-hour days. This whole team had to just cram so much in a small amount of time.
You talked right away about addiction sometimes being hereditary. Is there a message for the viewer?
Schultz: It’s pretty simple. For me, when I started writing songs, I was trying to tell people what to do and now I feel like I’m in a better place because I’m just describing what I’ve seen or what I’ve experienced. That’s the takeaway — try to open up a little bit to someone around you. It’s a weight on people’s back to keep a secret. It’s already hard enough to deal with what you’re dealing with— — which a shocking number of people who interview us or who we meet are— it’s almost more rare to meet someone who hasn’t been brushing shoulders with [addiction] or touched directly in some way. So it’s just a simple idea of telling your story a little more, like we did. It’ll help start the healing or at least get closer to that because you’re just creating a bigger problem by hiding it.
How does your family feel about you being so public about someone else’s problem?
Schultz: It’s a really good question because what I realized was it’s our whole family’s problem. It’s called a social disease for a reason. I did go through that thought process of “Am I just a vampire and am I just using this to sell records or to advance my artistry or my career?” [I realized] I was using this as a tool to cope with it. And, for me, that worked. I had a respect for this person, gave disguises, aliases, and I think that was all I could do, but I really wanted to tell the truth. I’m sure there are mixed feelings, but the people that I’m close to [have] said, “I feel like this gives us a voice and it gives the story a voice that I wasn’t ever allowed to express because it’s almost like no one wants to hear that or they’ll judge me in a certain way.” I feel like what would be cool is if a kid sat down with another kid and he said, “Let’s watch a video together.” Then that’s a segue to go, “This is what’s going on in my life.”