Starting his career as an in-demand music video director for the likes of Taylor Swift and The Weeknd, Grant Singer has perfectly pivoted to acclaimed film director with his debut film titled Reptile. Holding a true passion for the medium, he discusses his creative influences, unique challenges and how he merges his passion for music and picture into compelling storytelling with a distinct twist.

I would love to start about hearing a little more about your background. I know you grew up in California, was it San Diego?

No, Northridge!

Wow. Were you there for the big earthquake?

Yes, I was!

You know, the reason why I refused to go to Los Angeles for a long time was because when I was younger, I watched a film about the Northridge earthquake.

There was a movie about the Northridge earthquake? Or was is it a documentary?

No, it's a movie! I had never been to LA, and there was only one scene I remember, which was showing all the freeways breaking and collapsing. And I thought, "I'm never going to LA!”

Growing up in California, people are used to earthquakes, I don't have that fear. Whereas in the southeast, there's hurricanes and tornadoes, and that freaks me out. The idea that wind can break your windows. That to me is so much scarier.

I guess being Australian and now living in Los Angeles, I am used to the idea of bush fires, though it brings fear to others.

Well, the fires here now, they're actually quite terrifying, but you’re right, you just get used to where you're from. Earthquakes don't bother me for some reason. I kind of find them amusing.

I always ask people who grew up in Los Angeles about that earthquake, for some reason. Maybe because it is ingrained in my mind.

I remember the earthquake vividly. There was so much movement. It actually felt fake. It felt like being on the most insane roller coaster. It was hours and hours... long hours!

What?

Oh yeah, the aftershocks lasted hours. It seemed like three hours, but I remember it stopping around six in the morning. But I remember it was the middle of the night.

That is madness to me. You get them here now and you don't even feel it.

Well, the funny thing about being from Northridge is that people know it because of PTA [Paul Thomas Anderson]. That’s where he's from, and all of his movies are, well not all, but a lot of his California movies are set in the valley.

Oh, I didn’t know he's from Northridge. What a nice segue to bring it back to you! [laughs] People would assume that because you grow up in California it would be quite easy for you to fall into the film industry.

It's funny. I’ve always loved music and film. Those are the two things I've always been drawn to since I was young. I just discovered certain films and filmmakers that I just, you know, was really compelled by. I remember back in the day; I loved John Cage. I loved experimental music, and then I discovered Charlie Mingus, and all different forms of music, and then at some point, those two worlds merged, and I became a music video director. As a creative person, it's just the way in which you live. It's your life. You can't differentiate your work from your life.

Did you have people around you that helped, influence or guided you? Or were you one of those people who just found everything yourself. Were you the weird one? [laughs]

Yes, I was the weird one. It's funny, because growing up in Los Angeles, you're under the shadow of an industry, right? Hollywood is so intrinsic to the city, and I remember growing up not really being interested in it, but, in my freshman year of college at Bennington, I took a film history class. The professor was this guy, Stephen Bach, an amazing man. Rest in peace. He was a famous producer and studio executive in the 70s, and he showed us a film, Hiroshima, Mon Amour by Alain Renais, and it has that amazing opening sort of montage that took my breath away. I remember feeling everything clicked. Then there are a couple moments, obviously, throughout your career. I remember when I saw Eraserhead for the first time, or Vertigo for the first time, or even Magnolia or Faces by John Cassavetes. There are tonnes of movies that inspired me.

I've spoken to a lot of creatives and not everyone considered their passion could be a career. Did you think this?

I never felt like, “Oh, what if this doesn't work out?” There's no other option.

Yeah. You can't fail, you know?

I can't fail, exactly. I have to make it work. When it comes to directing, when I’m actually physically directing on set and working with the actors, it just goes very naturally, it’s like speaking. You don't think about the way you speak. I just speak. It just comes out of my mouth, and hopefully I'm articulate. The profession of making films, it is everything. When I'm doing it, it’s like everything is aligned.

Oh, that's such a nice feeling to have, when your career feels so natural.

There are a lot of great filmmakers where, I know they make great work, but then they talk about how they hate the process of doing it, but feel like they need to do it, whereas, it actually feels good when I do it, I actually feel like it's my happiest place.

I love that. What was your first steps into making this become a reality?

When I was in my 20s, I was living in New York, and I was friends with a lot of musicians. There was no careerist mentality, but I was always the film guy. I just started documenting with a camera. I started making these visual pieces that would accompany their music. They weren't even necessarily music videos. They were just visual pieces.

A bit of a Reality Bites vibe?

No, not quite. Just filming them in an artful way, sort of documentary photography. I was just with a DSLR camera, filming my friends.

Oh, so they weren't asking you to do it. You were like, "Can I use your music for this?"

No, it wasn’t that formal. It was like grabbing a glass of water, when you're thirsty. It's not like, “Hey! At 2pm let's get a glass of water!” Everything was so natural, and nothing was preconceived. I started making these pieces that were accompanying their music, and then they kind of became music videos, technically. I started doing some for my friends, and then their friends, or other people who'd seen these, and then I'm like, “Holy shit, wow. I guess I'm now directing music videos?” It became a kind of career, and it was a very natural way to start filmmaking because it's so daunting to enter the film industry.

When you made music videos, how much of yourself do you put into it? Obviously, it's telling another person's story, and they're generally involved in the creative. How did that work for you?

In the beginning, I was making stuff with friends who I love, and they knew I loved them, and we had this trust, so they just let me do everything. I was director, the gaffer, editor, producer, and art director. I was everything. It was a one man show. Eventually you maybe hire a cinematographer, or maybe you get an editor. It’s like hiring a photographer to shoot you when you're entering their world, then all of a sudden, you have other voices in the room. I just view each collaboration as a completely distinct, unique, original thing and see what feels right. I would say, in almost every video I've ever done, I always like to get to know the person, and they get to know me. It's important to have a real collaboration and trust there.

In music and film industries, your kind of forced to collaborate, and sometimes the person you're collaborating with is not used to being there. They like to collaborate, but they're not used to creating with people. How do you deal with situations where you know what's good for the project, but they can’t see it.

Well, you know what? As a music video director, when I was doing it, I always knew it was about the artist. You might be making a music video, but at the end of the day, it’s their music, it’s their artistry, it’s their career, and you are making something for them. Often times an artist is in the video, so they’re conscious of how they want it.

You're creating an atmosphere, and world building.

Exactly. I love the atmospheric stuff and photographing people in a way that, to capture the soul of an artist.

I read somewhere you’ve done about 35 music videos?

Probably closer to 70.

That is crazy! How do you sustain creativity with tight timelines, lot of opinions being thrown in, limited budgets, or to like a very strong talent lead who has a lot of opinions.

As long as you have energy and you're inspired. I was talking to someone earlier about this, but if you're a filmmaker, you love shooting. You have to love being on set in whatever capacity, and working with people and making something together. You've got to love that, because it's really exhausting and can be very draining. I don't black out when I'm working, because it's not the right thing, but I definitely succumb to the moment and feel inspired. I would say this: I don't intellectualise what I do. Every project is different. You just let each project guide you.

What was the point where you were ready for film and TV?

I hit a point maybe years ago, I don't even know, let's say seven, eight years ago, where I kind of felt like I'd done everything I wanted to do in the music video world. Well, maybe there are more things, but I kind of felt like that early part of that career was done. I wouldn’t say bigger, but it was like, I am really challenging myself and learning and growing as a filmmaker and trying new things. Then there comes a point where you're not challenging yourself. You're not learning new things. It's like a routine because it becomes a day job, and also, so many cooks enter the kitchen. So, the goal was always to make movies, and it just felt like at some point it was just the right time to make that transition. I want a different environment. I want different weather.

Once you felt this, did you immediately move on, or did you give yourself space to focus on the next steps?

There were a couple other projects that never panned out for my first film. I wanted to make something that was tonally specific. That was really key. I knew the tone that I was trying to evoke. Everyone is different. I am very seduced by the feeling a film gives me. Sometimes the feeling can be from what the characters are experiencing. Sometimes it can be from the atmosphere of the film. Sometimes it can be from the combination of the music, the sound, the directing, the cinematography. It really is more important to me than even anything story related. All the things that I was working on were all similar. In terms of feeling, some may be lighter than others, but completely different types of stories. I was really sort of certain about the kind of film I wanted to make.

When you talk about the feeling, do you mean that you have a vision, or something like a signature?

For my first film, I wanted to present myself in a certain way. The earlier drafts of Reptile were so much more enigmatic. I want to say dreamlike, but that's not the right word. It wasn't a signature, more of an emotion. I was trying to evoke the feeling of being deceived, a cerebral sense of dread. Those are the kinds of feelings I was interested in evoking, and then once you do it, you're kind of like, “Okay, moving on!”

Yeah, mood is such a strong character in your whole movie, and for me, I really was aware of the colour and pacing. It was very impactful.

Film is both a sonic and visual medium. I typically am very moved and taken by films that are visually bold. But then again, you don't want to be too bold, so that you move away from the story. There's always this balance. I need there to be visual integrity to the things that I do. I was interested in a more formal lens with Reptile. There's something voyeuristic about it too, in terms of way we shot things, but also the mechanical, razor-sharp construction of shots. Typically, a whole film is a tightrope connection between the dialogue, the performance of the actor, and the camera filming the actor. If an actor walks five feet, the camera tracks with them five feet. If the character stops, the camera stops, and the music stops. You want that symphonic connection between what you're seeing and what you're hearing. Those things are incredibly important to me.

I've met with a fair few film people, and sometimes it feels like the music is an afterthought, or it gains importance when they are trying to save scenes with the score. Music feels like something that should be a more important role to help tell the story.

Kubrick used a lot of music in his movies, and that’s kind of what Tarantino does, too. He might construct a sequence to a piece of music, or use a piece to help with how the film feels, or how a sequence feels. I completely agree with you. You can't separate the two. They're all encompassing.

Were you surprised how well Reptile did? It was number one on Netflix for a long time?

The thing that's kind of crazy about Netflix specifically how many countries it was played in. There are so many people who may not have access to movie theatres. It's surreal, but at the end of the day, you might make a song and it's heard by many people, however it’s still just your song. What matters to me is process of filmmaking.

How long was the process?

Quite a long time. We wrote the first draft of the script in 2018 and then we shot the movie end of 2021, early 2022, came out 2023. So a couple years. It wasn't a crazy long time, but still, it becomes your life. You do it every day.

The timelines in film are crazy to me. I remember I went to see Uncut Gems , and the Safdie brothers were there, and we were talking, and I remember asking how long was the whole process to make this film. They said eight years! Eight years! When you're a director, you lead the whole project, and so you could spend years on one baby. The director needs to be 200% on, the whole time.

Yes, it’s all about the curation of your collaborators. Making sure you all have the same vision. Maybe they'll bring things to the table that you didn't even anticipate, that you love.

I definitely have learned that you can't do everything yourself, even if you're good at a lot of things.

It's true. It's both about getting great people, and also about people that match personality-wise. It’s really important to have people who can both challenge you but also inspire you. Someone who makes you happy to be around, you know?

For sure. Are you working on some new projects?

I have a couple documentary projects, and a movie I wrote that I’m hoping to make very soon.

Are you going to be the type of director that will only will direct what you write?

A great question. I would love to direct someone else's script, if there's a great script that I like. It just so happens that right now, I want to direct the film that I wrote.

How different is your creative process now?

I'm now very conscious of the actualisation of each beat, it’s writing while understanding the pacing of a sequence. The rhythm. It's the roller coaster of a film. It's the experience.

I never thought about a film needing a beat, but makes it so much sense.

Exactly. The tempo is the type of thing where — every time you make a movie — you get more experience with it. You have a better grasp of it, you know? I'm certainly going to take a lot of things I learned from my last one, and things that I didn't do. This new film script is done.

Is it going well so far?

This film will probably take a year or so. The documentaries, I'm not sure about. I've also got a TV show, and I am writing other things. Your kind of just let whatever happen, and live in the moment.

Yeah, I agree. How do you stay motivated? I sometimes find it hard, even if I am passionate about something.

I don't feel like this is work. Being a director doesn't feel like a job. When I'm working, that is my vacation. I don't have this need to get away from my life, because when I'm working. It's the thing that I love to do. I look forward to it the same way people would look forward to going to on a trip.

That is a really nice way of seeing it, it’s so special to have a career that is your passion.

I feel very fortunate that I do exactly that. Having to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to get to set on the first day of a film. It's like a dream come true. I’m very excited to start. The thing that keeps me going and the thing that motivates me is just the work itself. Making things and writing things is what I love.

Interview by Ilirjana Alushaj


Photography by Francesca Forquet