Crash Land Director on Crafting a Jackass-Inspired Coming-of-Age Drama
Dempsey Bryk’s goofball comedy tells the story of boys becoming men one wipeout at a time.
What happens when a group of amateur stuntmen try to make a “real movie” so they can prove their worth to a town that hates them? Crash Land, directed by Dempsey Bryk, answers that very question.
Inspired by decades of misadventurous buddy comedies, Bryk executed a goofy ode to films including, but not limited to, Bottle Rocket, Napoleon Dynamite, and Superbad.
“It came out of COVID,” Bryk says. “I was stuck with my brother and my entire family in a really small one bedroom … living behind the couches in the living room, as you do, and I was watching this Jackass marathon on loop and the idea blossomed out of there.”
Crash Land manages to evoke nostalgia for an incomparable era of filmmaking while simultaneously highlighting a young directorial voice with new things to say.
“It’s an homage to the movies that we loved growing up (and) it’s sort of a love letter to the friendships I had when I was 12,” Bryk says. “Now it’s just a labor of love that we made with our best friends.”
Against a Canadian backdrop of charming chaos, Bryk whips viewers through belly laughs, sharp gasps, and welling eyes with a fresh energy.
“It’s a really, really emotional and sweet movie about friendship at the end of the day,” Billy Bryk – Dempsey’s brother, producer, and cast member of the film – says. “Under all the stuff about stunts and guys being delinquents and hurting each other and hurting themselves, it’s really a tender movie about love and friendship and grief.”
In addition to serving as a love letter to classic films and television programs of the genre, the plot of Crash Land is a testament to rudimentary filmmaking in itself. It follows an ensemble of young adults who terrorize their small town performing crude stunts and generally wreaking havoc, and upon realizing the passion with which their community despises them, they attempt to make a “real movie” to prove that their lives have meaning. The true star of the film is the chemistry shared among the cast as their mission twists and turns across town.
The feminine counterbalance to a film dominated by many testosterone-driven characters is Abby Quinn as Jemma, the offputting French iteration of the girl next store. Quinn demonstrates the essence of her character through the work she looked to while preparing for the role.
“I think my character probably mostly watches animated movies, and I’d never seen Ratatouille,” Quinn says. “So, I watched Ratatouille.”
The spirit of Crash Land is rooted in the coming-of-age story told behind the scenes. Dempsey and Billy Bryk’s journey as young adult artists is just as touching as the one of Crash Land’s protagonists, albeit less destructive.
According to Dempsey and Billy, the SXSW crowd reacted well to the heart of the film, and to its setting.
“This movie takes place in Canada … but a lot of people who … are not from Canada, don’t know about Canada, still really connected with it,” Dempsey says.
Through the influence of their surroundings, a quirky cast, and infinite stunts to try, the characters crash and land in a world that is fun, endearing, and unexpectedly touching.