Digital Journal Reports | January 2, 2012
Michael Krebs
Andrea Meditch, Julie Goldman, Buck Brannaman, and Cindy Meehl at Sundance 2011
With the 2012 Sundance Film Festival set to begin on January 19, I caught up with Meehl to ask her about experience with “Buck” and about her Sundance perspectives.
KREBS: Often with journalism and with documentary film making the story reshapes the storyteller’s original thought on the subject at hand. And with Buck, the cowboy helps reorient the perspective of a given troubled horse. How did Buck shape you as a director? And when you see the film now, how does he continue to have an impact on you?
MEEHL: Buck actually did a lot to shape me as a director, though I’m sure he does not know it. He has a way of “raising the bar” on everything you do. There is no such thing as too tired, too difficult or not trying your absolute best in his world. Excuses are a joke to him. He’s like the Nike ad ~~ Just Do It! His hard work philosophy and tenacious manner was a big influence on me. Anyone who has ever made a film knows that it is a job full of challenges and choices. It is not for the faint of heart. Knowing his dedication to his work made me work harder than ever to accurately depict him and achieve what it was that I wanted to say in this film. Seeing the film, even now, I still get choked up when I see him riding alone in that field at the end of the film because I know how hard won his success is.