“Confessions of a Superhero” goes behind the superhero facade of four Hollywood hopefuls, exploring the inner lives of the aspiring actors who make their living on Hollywood Boulevard. Hulu recently spoke to director Matthew Ogens about the film and its subjects, who range from a wannabe starlet to a caped crusader with a dark past. —Rebecca Harper, Hulu.com

Hulu: Can you tell us about the movie?


Matthew: On Hollywood Boulevard, in front of Mann’s Chinese Theater, right around Hollywood and Highland, there’s a group of people who dress up as different movie, cartoon and superhero characters and icons, things like that. It could be Superman, Marilyn Monroe, SpongeBob Square Pants, Elmo, whomever. They work independently and take pictures with tourists and the tourists give them tips if they want to. They’ve been doing it for years and they don’t make a lot of money. Most of them are struggling actors trying to make it. This is their day job, another way of performing for them.

I was directing a commercial over by Grauman’s Chinese Theater and I was fascinated by them, especially Christopher Dennis who plays Superman. I just kept talking to him between setups for the commercial, and I knew right then I had to do a film about these guys. Within two weeks, I was shooting with them. Superman is sort of the ambassador of all of the characters on Hollywood Boulevard and he introduced us to some of the other characters who ended up in the film. It’s basically about four people, Superman, Batman, the Hulk and Wonder Woman, who dress up as these superhero characters by day and work for tips on Hollywood Boulevard and this sort of soap opera that goes along with that, as well as their lives as they try to make it as actors. I think the underlying theme is just them trying to follow their dreams and it really applies to anything. That’s why I think it has a pretty good appeal to people who aren’t in L.A. and aren’t in this business—it’s about following your dreams. In some ways, it’s really the boulevard of broken dreams because it’s tough what they do. The film’s not all comedy. There are some dark moments in there.

What made you focus on these four characters?


I knew I wanted to stick to comic book characters, one because I wanted the characters to have something in common; two because comic book characters are universal and iconic, in any language, any country, any time. Superman’s going to last forever, but someone in another country or even in 10 years may not know who SpongeBob is. Some people, kids these days, may not remember who Marilyn Monroe is. There’s something a little romantic about superheroes; it’s a little bit of a metaphor for escapism. I think that’s why some people watch superhero movies and read comic books, to escape and wish they had those powers, so I thought it was a good metaphor for life and for the film that these guys were sort of “hidden behind the mask.” And then also in terms of marketing, with the popularity of the superhero movies right now, I thought it would be a good idea to go that way, as well. It’s a good complement to the superhero movies that are out and so successful right now.

As far as their personalities, the people who dress up as these characters, I just thought they were fascinating and complemented each other. You have your good guys and your bad guys; some people might say Batman is a villain in the film. He’s a violent guy.

Batman reveals some interesting things about himself in the film. Do you think any of it’s true? 


I want the audience to decide. I mean, he was arrested in the film…

Some of the film focuses on some controversy that took place while you were shooting. Was the police crackdown already taking place when you started filming, or was that coincidental?


It was a little of both. Some of it had happened before, but some of it was ongoing. These guys don’t have a lot of money; they don’t have licenses; they’re not allowed to say “give me money, give me money.” They are out there all day long, and people sometimes don’t understand the concept of tipping, so some of them show their temper and might start chasing somebody asking for money, and some of them might get arrested. [City officials] don’t want them to give Los Angeles or Hollywood a bad name. There’s a sign outside of Grauman’s Chinese Theater that says the characters “are not affiliated with us” because there have been some issues. The Batman thing happened while we were filming the documentary. I believe the Elmo arrest may have happened just beforehand, but it was definitely heating up after we started filming. In fact, the Batman arrest took place after we premiered the film at South by Southwest and we thought “we have to include this in the film,” so we edited that in.

How did Maxwell [the man who plays Batman] react to the film?


He didn’t love it. He really didn’t like it and we had a little bit of a falling out. First he said the stuff about the mafia, then said we could not air certain parts because the mafia would come after us, and then we had a falling out and he felt that I edited the film to portray him a certain way. But if you watch the film, I can’t put words in his mouth. The words clearly came out of his mouth; I can’t edit that in. there’s no way. Most people who are fans of the film say “Wow, you did a really good job of not making fun of them, of not exploiting them.” We were really conscious of that. There’s really nothing made up there. I know in reality TV these days, so much of it is staged and scripted that it’s not really “reality.” This is pretty real. We really didn’t make anything up. If anything, we held back.

The idea of dressing up as a superhero by day can sound kind of fun, but one thing “Confessions” shows us is that it’s a lot of hard work. Can you walk us through some of the ordeals? 


It’s not easy. It looks like it doesn’t take a lot of thought, but it requires standing on your feet all day long. It can get very hot out there, or it can be cold. If it’s raining or really cold, there are no tourists and they’re out there all day just trying to squeeze out a buck, and may not make anything. And that’s what’s going to put food on their table or pay their rent. I think emotionally it’s tough for them. I don’t think it’s their first choice; I think they take a lot of pride in it but they’d rather be acting. I’m not them, but from what I observed, that’s the toughest part, to get up every day and put that outfit on and try to care about it. Because they’d rather be on a set somewhere or filming a TV show.

Tell us about the cinematography and your use of still photos to set up the “chapters” of this film. 


Charlie Gruet who was one of the producers was the director of photography. A lot of great documentaries have great content but not enough care went into the cinematography. It’s still a moving picture and I think it’s important. Why not make a documentary look like a regular movie and make it cinematic in style? We really thought about what we were shooting. We didn’t just turn on a camera and run around. Everything was thought about and discussed. Maybe we didn’t capture as much footage as we’d like but I think we made up for it in a good-looking documentary. We thought the stills complemented the style of the film. It was something we decided later on in the edit. I shot a lot of the stills myself and Charlie also shot a bunch it ended up making good transitions.

I noticed some Hulu users have been discussing whether what the characters do is panhandling. What do you think? 


I don’t think it’s panhandling. I know in the film, Joe McQueen who plays the Hulk says it’s another form of panhandling and it gets him down sometimes, but I don’t look at him as a loser. You can judge it all you want. One thing I learned personally in this film is don’t judge a book by its cover. They are out there working and they’re taking pictures with tourists and making them happy. They’re sort of ambassadors to Hollywood. They’re performing a service and they’re getting paid for it. They’re not out there in their street clothes begging for money. It’s still work. It’s their job and I don’t think you can fault someone because it’s the job they choose.
In some ways—and I might not have the same reaction and Superman doesn’t have the same reaction—but I can understand why Batman may get angry. He’s out there all day long doing his job. If he takes a picture with a tourist and they don’t pay him… They may not be required to, but he’s got to pay his rent. He’s got a wife; he’s got to put food on the table or he’s going to be homeless. We may not agree with the way he goes about it or with his temper, but I do understand the underlying reason.

And finally, what are some of the superheroes up to now?


I know they go out on auditions and they still make some appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! I do know that Jenny, who plays Wonder Woman, did get a guest starring role in an episode of My Name is Earl because of our film. One of the executive producers saw the documentary and had her come in and audition. I know she has a new agent and she’s out there auditioning and trying to make it happen.

Personally, I think Superman would be happier just opening up a Superman museum. He loves going out there. He’s probably the most passionate about it, he’s great with kids, he knows everything there is to know about Superman, and he’s just sort of content with that. And there’s nothing wrong with that as long as he’s happy.

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