Interview with The Comic Shop Director Jonathan L. Bowen
The Comic Shop is the type of movie that one can easily relate to with its themes of perseverance and hard work paying off in the end. This film shows how a comic store owner named Mike (Jesse Metcalfe) tries to rebuild his business after a competitor opens a store nearby. Tristin Mays co-stars in the picture and plays Alex, the former employee of Mike’s store who goes to work for the competition while Mike gets his act together. This is a charming dramedy with a lot of heart and FilmBook recently had the opportunity to speak to the film’s passionate director, Jonathan L. Bowen.
FilmBook: So, Jesse Metcalfe. How did you get to cast him? He’s not the first person I would have for a comic book guy.
Jonathan L. Bowen: Yeah, so actually we did go through kind of a list. The distributor provided some options that would kind of like move the needle for us or, you know, help us with the movie. And one of their early offers was Justin Long. We kind of imagined that. You know, like a comic book guy. You know. I’m trying to think. Jon Heder was considered as well. But, kind of to me, it becomes a different movie. And, I know some of the producers were, they thought of it that way. But, I kept saying, “It’s a drama, it’s a drama. It’s not a comedy.” It has funny parts in it, that’s OK, but I think Jon Heder might have moved it a little too comedic. We kind of caught Jesse at a good time as he alluded to in a few interviews. He was kind of going through something himself a little bit and, you know, he put on a couple of pounds for the role. Because I think Jesse, right now, he’s in perfect shape. He’s been hitting the gym like twice a day. You know, it may be a little bit more ridiculous in today’s shape in the movie. So, I’m really glad he kind of transformed for it for us.
FilmBook: So, tell me about Tristin (Mays). How did you come about her?
Jonathan L. Bowen: Yeah, so I started thinking about Tristin as an option because I had watched, I kind of binge watched, the re-run of “MacGyver” during the pandemic. And I was like a huge fan of the original “MacGyver.” I kind of put off watching the reboot because, you know, nothing’s the same as when you were a kid. So, we started talking about options. And, you know, we were just racking our brains, a casting director and a couple of producers, we kind of go silent. And, I said, “Well have you guys heard of Tristin Mays, she was the lead in the new ‘MacGyver?'” And one of the producers was like, “Yeah, I’ve heard of Tristin.” I said, “I think that’s kind of like how I imagined the character, I mean just honestly, like the way she plays her character in “MacGyver.” I know she can do the performance because I’ve basically seen it. She has that cool-like tomboy kind of edge even though she’s so pretty you know. So, we made her an offer, and I think she accepted within like 48 hours. So, that was actually one of the easier casting things. Because, of course, I don’t have a concept. I didn’t know whether we could afford her or not. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they said, “Oh, you know. She’s going to be too much.” But, it never hurts to offer sometimes and, you know, just see if they’re interested.
FilmBook: Eric Roberts as the landlord. What was the casting like behind him?
Jonathan L. Bowen: Um, yeah. So, I think like it was basically the casting director said, “Hey, would you like to have Eric Roberts in the movie?” And, I mean at first, I was like, “Yeah, who wouldn’t want to have Eric Roberts. That sounds great. But, can we afford that? What’s the deal with that?” I also didn’t know he was in so many, you know, smaller, like independent films at the time. Honestly, I guess I hadn’t kept up with that. So, when we had this as an option, he actually sent a video audition of the scene which I couldn’t believe that because, I mean, it’s Eric Roberts, like we don’t really need him to audition. If he wants to do it, it’s his role. But it was so cool because I’m like sitting here on my Zoom-thing like looking at it like “Oh my God, is this Eric Roberts doing a scene from my movie? Like this is weird.” So yeah, he ended up working out scheduling-wise to get him in.
FilmBook: Tell me a little about the real-life inspiration behind the movie? Just a little bit.
Jonathan L. Bowen: So, you know, I knew a guy growing up who ran a comic store, and I got close with him over the years through different collections whether it was a Marvel or a Spawn, and he didn’t seem exactly pleased to be running the store at times. Like, he got grumpier as the years went on. And, until he, you know, basically spent more time across the street and then the store closed. So, then as I was kind of approaching, I guess I was around 35. And, it had been a little bit since my first movie. You know, I’m running a small business. A corporate video production company. And, I realized that it’s like, yeah, it’s not glamorous. It’s not as cool as you think it would be. I want to get back to what I love to do- you know, make movies. So that kind of made me think about Mike and I wrote the character as a sort of this hybrid between the real-life Mike and then my story at the time. And, then I sort of introduced Brandon as like a young Jonathan, like full of optimism. The world’s not going to get him down. And, I thought it might be kind of interesting to have these two characters meet. And, you know, they’re very similar in some ways. And, you know, how would that interaction look and how would they impact each other? That was kind of the inspiration behind it.
The Comic Shop is now streaming on demand! Don’t miss it. It’s something different and just the type of movie the world needs right now.
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