Writing and Directing “Dual” with Riley Stearns | AD 233

Riley Stearns grew up in Pflugerville, TX, a suburb of Austin. His feature debut FAULTS premiered at SXSW in 2014 and went on to play festivals around the world. THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE, his second feature, also premiered at SXSW in 2017. The film was released by Bleecker Street domestically and Universal Pictures internationally. DUAL is Stearns’ third feature as writer/director and first as a producer. When not making films you can find Stearns on the mats training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

  • Riley’s origin story
  • Riley’s first memories of growing up
  • The memory retention of “highly sensitive people”
  • Riley’s past life as a musician
  • How Riley started writing short films and feature films
  • Riley initially finding his voice through mimicking other people’s writing styles
  • When Saman and Riley met at SXSW in 2013
  • Where the initial idea of Dual came from
  • How Riley creates the tone in his films
  • Riley’s time working as a staff writer for TV shows
  • Riley speaks about legacy
  • Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
  • Logistics for getting films made

Artists Mentioned:

  • Aaron Paul (Actor)
  • Karen Gillan (Actor)
  • Jim Jarmusch (Director)
  • Yorgos Lanthimos (Director)
  • Aaron Stewart-Ahn (Filmmaker)
  • Jack Nicholson (Actor)

Watch the video version of the podcast here

artistdecoded.com
instagram.com/rileystearns
twitter.com/rileystearns

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