Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with The Get Together’s Will Bakke

Award-winning filmmaker Will Bakke has emerged as one of the most exciting storytellers of his generation. His documentaries and features have gone on to be screened at festivals around the country, earning recognition from critics and audiences.

This May, he continues to build his legacy with the release of The Get Together. The feel-good comedy follows a Friday night house party told through the eyes of a post-grad misfit, a struggling musician, his long-lost love, and her neurotic boyfriend who is having trouble proposing.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Will ahead of the film’s release.

PC: Tell us about the inspiration behind The Get Together.
Will: The Get Together is a really fun movie. It was inspired by my cowriter Michael B. Allen’s and my twenties. It covers all the highs and lows of a person in their twenties, from moving to a new town, finding the right job, to figuring out if you’re with the right person, and finally, at the end of your twenties, looking back on it all, and trying to figure out if you made the right decisions.

I was inspired by films like Dazed and Confused and Richard Linklater’s films. We took the spirit of that movie and wanted to create something that was new and fresh about Austinites in their twenties.

PC: You released your debut feature film, Believe Me, in 2014. What was the biggest lesson you learned from that experience that you were able to bring over to The Get Together?
Will: That’s a great question. I think what I loved most about Believe Me—and I think it translated into this film—was having a big ensemble cast.

I love characters, and I love working with a lot of people to bring as many characters to life as possible. This movie was so fun because it takes place at a house party. You’re meeting a ton of people. It has a big cast, and it was such a big group effort. I really liked the opportunity to work with so many talented people and so many creative people to create this ensemble comedy.

PC: In many ways, the film is a love letter to Austin. What impact has this city had on your life and career as a writer/director?
Will: That’s a great question. Not sure how deep you want to go on that answer, but I feel like before this film, I was making Christian films. I graduated from Baylor University, which is a Baptist university. When I got to Austin, I experienced a lot of different opinions and ideas, and people with different beliefs than my own. In doing that, it really helped soften my approach to interacting and talking about faith and religion.

This movie and moving to Austin broadened my horizons of what people are like and helped me get to know different kinds of people. Going to a Baptist school, you don’t get too many variations of people. In Austin, we have it all. We’ve got weirdos galore. Moving to this town, it helped soften my idea of accepting other people for what they believe, no matter what it is. In turn, it helped me get to know even more people.

PC: Like you were saying earlier, the film is broken into three chapters, each highlighting a different stage of your twenties. If you had to describe your twenties in one sentence, what would it be and why?
Will: Dang dude, these are good questions. If I had to explain my twenties in one sentence, I would say, “My twenties were a lot of fun, meeting a lot of different, creative people that had different ideas, and that ended up being a huge blessing.”

PC: You’ve also said in previous interviews that you were looking for actors who had a connection to this city. Why was that so important to you? What was that casting process like?
Will: The casting process was a lot of fun. Alejandro Rose-Garcia was the first person to sign on. He plays the role of Caleb, who is a struggling musician. I remember telling him, “You’re going to have to think back on your early days to play this character because you’re not there anymore.” He’s a really successful musician. He just loved the spirit of the movie. We actually bonded because the movie takes place on a street called Speedway here in Austin, and he was like, “Man, I used to go to parties on Speedway back in my twenties.” We bonded over that and bonded over the zany characters that we’ve met here in Austin.

Courtney Parchman, who goes by Average Fashion Blogger—she’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met in my life. When she auditioned for the role of August, it was totally different from what I had imagined that character being. It was so much better than we had ever imagined. She stole our hearts in that process.

Jacob Artist, who plays Damien, is the third of our four leads. He comes from Glee. We had a quick conversation, and I saw his strengths as an actor. He ended up being the perfect guy for Damien, and he’s such a nice guy, too. I loved hanging out with him.

Then, Johanna [Brady], we knew each other from Believe Me. She was in my last feature film. We worked together, and she’s an incredible actress who is incredibly dedicated to her craft. She’s so fun and kind as well.

PC: I’m a huge fan of independent filmmaking. What’s the biggest thrill of the process? What’s the biggest challenge?
Will: You’re never short on challenges. When you’re making any film, something goes wrong every five minutes, it seems. But it feels like a big summer camp with all these people on set. It was a twelve-day shoot, twelve overnights, because the whole movie takes place at night. We all became zombies together through staying up all night, every night. You come out of that experience feeling like a family. That was one of the most rewarding parts.

PC: The film has made its way around the festival circuit. It’s been incredibly well received. What do you think is resonating most with audiences?
Will: It’s funny: this movie couldn’t come at a better time because we’re all getting out of quarantine. It’s the perfect time to remember how much fun it is to be with people, to spend time with friends. It was super nostalgic to make.

Now, it’s a brand-new level of nostalgia for totally different reasons that we couldn’t have expected. For this movie, we really want people to feel like they’re hanging out with their friends. They miss interacting with people, and hopefully, it helps them have the motivation to reach out and get back out and see people.

PC: You already touched upon it a bit, but with the film being released digitally, what do you hope audiences take away and how has that changed just given the past year that we’ve had?
Will: Anne Lamott is a writer. She says one of the most powerful things you can hear are the words “me too.” I feel like that’s how I feel with this movie. No matter how small of a problem you feel like a character is having, somebody can relate to that problem; somebody is right there in their lives, dealing with it.

Watching all of these characters, dealing with a variety of problems in their lives, there’s going to be something that you can relate to. That’s kind of what I want people to know: that especially in your twenties and you’re trying to figure everything out, it’s okay to hit bumps along the way—everyone does.

My biggest hope is that they relate to the characters and have a blast watching them fumble their way through.

PC: If you could have a conversation with your twenty-year-old self, what would you tell him?
Will: Kevin, your questions, man. So good. I would say, “Don’t take everything too seriously. Really lean into relationships with people and care about people. Everything’s going to work out. Career and all that is great to have, but it’s not everything.” I’m really lucky that I have a great group of friends here in Austin that I’m extremely blessed to have, and it makes all the difference.

PC: Final question for you! What’s next?
Will: I’ve got a couple of projects in the work. I’ve got a TV show that I’m executive producing on the Magnolia network called Van Go. It’s with a buddy of mine, Brett Lewis, who flips vans into homes, which is funny enough. It’s an unscripted series, and it’s a lot of fun.

I’ve got another movie that’s in development right now. And another TV show that’s set in Austin record store—that’s a lot of fun.

To keep up with Will, follow him on Instagram. Watch The Get Together today.

Photo Credit: Doug Klembara