Q&A: Filmmaker Thom Hilton Talks “Synonymous With,” Collaboration & More

☆ By MARY MCCARTHY ☆

WEARING A MULTITUDE OF CREATIVE HATS — Thom Hilton is an upcoming filmmaker, learning on his feet in the trenches of filmmaking. Hilton is tenaciously pursuing writing, directing, acting, and all things creative. He began working as an extra for movies and TV in 2017 and later joined the School of Visual Arts as a guest actor. Hilton’s work ethic and knack for collaboration is stellar, and he’s just getting started.

Hilton is an absolute sponge for creativity, and he believes in learning from experience intently and often. Hilton has an infectious enthusiasm for connecting with other creatives and supporting a network of incredibly cool friends and colleagues.

He recently appeared in a supporting role in Swan Song, which premiered at SXSW on March 18 and was recently picked up by Magnolia Pictures, His latest short film Synonymous With will be making its world premiere streaming globally via Kansas City FilmFest International, April 12-18.

Inspired by all things queer, horror, and Vincent Price, Synonomous With promises to be right up your alley if you’re a slut for the spooky side of life. Hilton describes it as queer horror crossed with a fictional documentary. The project team is full of talented friends and fellow creatives, and I have no doubt we’ll see more great projects down the line from everyone involved.

Read below to find out more about the project and Hilton’s creative process.

LUNA: What was your goal going into this project?

HILTON: I’ve never been a goal-setter, honestly (whenever there were career goal assignments in school I would just … make things up). The only goal I really had was to make it look like the ideas. Sounds rudimentary, but it’s tough. The ideas were alive in my brain, and then I had to write them so they could live in the team’s brain and we could all get on the same page, and then we had to build it and photograph it and edit it in a way where it felt true to that. It’s like this months-long game of Telephone where you’re desperately holding onto that original idea and it’s so slippery and changes the whole time. And in Telephone, usually what comes out at the end of the game is this magnificent silly accident, so it was important to be open to those evolutions along the way.

LUNA: Can you share your favorite memory from the making of the film/about the film specifically?

HILTON: For the interview scenes, I wanted a lot of B-roll of our lead to make it feel like there were parts of this conversation we weren’t seeing. Every time we’d finish a scene, he’d stay in the emotional space and we’d play a song and move the camera around on his face while he processed what he was listening to. For the last scene in the film, we had him listen to “Vapour Trail” by Ride. I got the idea because the character graduated high school in 1999, which is the year The Perks of Being a Wallflower came out, and that song is prominently mentioned in that book. So we played that beautiful song right after Remy really nailed that line; we had the fog machine going, he was on the couch with all his props, and there was that lyric “tremble with a sigh, glitter in your eye,” and it was just the perfect moment. I’ll always hear that song in my head when I see the last shot.

Stills are photographed by Brooke Banister, Christina Casillo, Thom Hilton, Xander Marrow, and Jake Thompson

LUNA: What excites you about film right now?

HILTON: I am excited by patient audiences and patient movies that show the biggest, most beautiful feelings in the smallest slowest things, like Minari and Nomadland. I am excited about movies made by dear friends. Todd Stephens’ Swan Song (I’m biased because I’m in a couple scenes, but Udo Kier’s performance is unlike anything I’ve ever seen). Adam Baran’s Trade Center (a short documentary with just the best hook ever). Harrison Sheehan is working on a gay rock climbing movie right now — just gorgeous. I’m excited by gay movies that are SO specific and creative I cannot wrap my head around them. Death Drop Gorgeous and Straight Up are like that — movies that are so uninhibited where I’m like, “HOW did they DO that?!” And I’m excited by hopeful movies. A lot of Trump-era movies were very dour.

LUNA: What got you started with film?

HILTON: I started working as an extra on movies and TV shows in New York in 2017 and just tried to listen as much as possible. Later I joined the School of Visual Arts in 2018 as a guest actor and listened some more. And I’m lucky enough to have friends with incredible taste who watch movies that I would never have heard of otherwise. So it’s like I’m always in film school.

LUNA: What were your influences for this project? (I’m personally getting strong Vincent Price vibes.)

HILTON: A whole bunch of stuff. Definitely Vincent Price. A lot of research of a lot of horror hosts. Much of the character’s persona came from a great horror host named Bob Wilkins. Roddy McDowall in Fright Night. Elvira. Paranorman. Growing up in Portland in general. There’s a drag performer in Portland named Carla Rossi who hosts Queer Horror at the Hollywood Theatre, an event I’ve gone to since I was in high school. That’s the best place in the whole world to be, when that’s happening. That’s a huge influence.

LUNA: Can you tell us a little about the creative team you work with?

HILTON: Remy Germinario, the lead actor, was where it started. I saw him do standup in 2019 and wrote the whole thing with him in mind. Ethan River Cohen did the magnificent synth score, which was written in kind of an unconventional way. It was all done a year ahead, and based on the script, and then I used it to help inform the rhythm of the scenes in the edit. It ended up being the perfect approach because you really feel his emotional interpretation of the ideas instead of just writing to picture; it’s unique and beautiful. Drama Del Rosario, the executive producer, makes these deeply personal short documentaries and I was very lucky to have him there to push me and guide me along the way. Roman Chimienti (who co-directed Scream Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street) really helped me nail it down in the final days with his sound work. Everything just clicked together. I could go on but it would take the whole day and I would be a blubbering mess. Every single person in the credits means the world to me. Hire them all.

LUNA: If you had to classify this project into a genre for marketing purposes, what would you classify it as?

HILTON: I don’t know. Somebody tell me! This has been the trickiest thing with this project. I call it queer horror and I call it a fictional documentary.

LUNA: What are the upcoming months looking like for you?

HILTON: I have that supporting role in Swan Song, which premiered at SXSW on March 18. I’m planning on shooting a couple music videos this summer and have a completed script for my next short film, which I’m trying to raise money for and shoot in 2022. Synonymous With will be making its world premiere streaming globally via Kansas City FilmFest International, April 12-18. Folks can visit our Indiegogo page and buy a digital poster and all the proceeds go to our festival submission fund. Until then, getting vaccinated, staying safe, [having] long walks all spring and summer.

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“I want to set the mood for younger emerging artists in Toronto, to be like, ‘Hey, you could, like, fucking work with literally anyone who has a kind soul.’ I do want to uplift the artist community. I do think collaboration is important, because if you wanna be in the community, you're gonna have to collaborate one way or another." - Cruz ⭐️ 🎞Allowing themself to take a more vulnerable & meaningful approach with their work, photographer Cruz is combining her creative talent with her passion for mental health advocacy. Read more about this incredible artist & how quarantine shifted her work + about the work they are doing for the community in our feature on the site now 💞