Film Threat Q&A

Jen sat down with Mark Bell from Film Threat to talk about Billy.
Here's an excerpt from the interview:

At the end of the day, what do you hope audiences take away from "Billy the Kid"?

"Billy the Kid" is an odyssey into the soul of an American teenager.

I want the audience to get to know a character for who he is rather than how he has been labeled. As much as I acknowledge the benefit of a diagnosis, that is not the story I am telling. I would like this film to be about celebrating our differences and realizing our similarities - how we all want the same things in life: acceptance, love and to be understood - and as a result have more compassion for each other and ourselves.

We live in a time right now where so many kids have or will be diagnosed with some sort of behavioral disorder. My hope is that people will not let that label be the definition of who they are. Our society is filled with people who have rage whether it is due to bullying, racial or sexual discrimination, domestic issues or just feeling misunderstood. So many times we only hear about this kind of "outsider" after their emotions have come to fruition in some tragic way. Although Billy has a keen insight to his feelings and a compassionate understanding of others, he still very much struggles with the demons from his past and present. His future is unknown but I hope that through his story we can start to increase our tolerance and compassion towards those who we believe are "different" from us. Hopefully that will enable us to confront and take responsibility for larger issues that stem from that divide.

Get the rest of the Q&A here and also check out Don Lewis' Film Threat review (four and a half stars!)