LAKE STEVENS — Jonathan Holbrook has an eye for the darker side of filmmaking.
A dedicated fan of David Lynch of "Twin Peaks" fame, Holbrook likes to delve into the shadows and create a little mystery in his works.
The independent filmmaker is in the process of filming his third movie, a dark comedy-thriller called "Customer 152" about a man who gets into financial trouble, files bankruptcy and tries to start over with a new credit history. But he runs into trouble when he gets a mysterious black credit card and then becomes embroiled in mysterious happenings.
"I get bored with ordinary," said Holbrook, 35.
He studied film production at Everett Community College and the University of Washington.
"I took those courses to learn the technical side of it, but I’m mostly self-taught," he said. "I already knew what I liked and what my style was. For the artistic side, you’ve just got to have it."
His goal is to make good movies that people enjoy, distribute them himself and make enough money to put his daughter Chloe through college. He’s got some time until then, however, and Holbrook spends it as the stay-at-home dad of his 7-month-old and also watches a neighbor girl the same age.
"I just enjoy telling stories and executing them onto the screen. I like to see what reactions I can get out of people. It’s just fun. If I could do this full-time, I’d just be playing," he said.
He’s producing the movie on a shoestring, wrote it and also plays one of the faceless, phantom "Tall Men" who stalk the star. He also does much of the filming and all of the post-production work editing, adding sound and writing music.
At 6 feet 7 inches, Holbrook’s a natural as one of the Tall Men. Two other Tall Men are his cousins, Brian Lowell of Kirkland, who is 6 feet 8 inches, and his brother Matt Lowell of Seattle, who is nearly 7 feet. The shortest Tall Man is Sean Kelley-Clarke of Everett, who’s a mere 6 feet 2 inches.
"Customer 152" will be dedicated to a friend, Danny Graham, an avid mountain biker from Bellingham who died in September in a bike accident.
Holbrook’s cast — mostly relatives and friends or former co-workers — work for free, unless you count the food he buys them, and the freebies of T-shirts and posters.
The film consumes his nights and weekends because it’s hard to get much work done with two little ones around during the day.
"During nap times is when I have time to edit or to clean the house," he said.
He also films commercials to make money for his moviemaking.
Holbrook has a Web site, www.cafeshops.com/studioh, that sells items related to his movie, such as T-shirts, coffee cups, lunch boxes, stickers and infant clothes with art from the film. So far he’s made $3.96.
His two prior movies screened at the Globe Cafe in Seattle. One of them, called "Missing Chelsea" (co-written by his wife, Janine Holbrook), played at the former Cosmopolitan Theater in Everett, since torn down and replaced by the Everett Events Center.
"If you want to do what I’m doing, you have to do it yourself and barter and dicker and grovel," he said. "You can’t be too shy to ask for things for free."
All of the actors also have day jobs and don’t support themselves on their acting, Holbrook said.
So far, he’s spent about $1,000 on the production, which began last March but was interrupted in the summer by his daughter’s birth. He expects the film to cost about $600 more, including the distribution.
He’s already made a couple of movie trailers to promote his film. He hopes to create some anticipation before "the Tall Men cometh."
Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 or logg@heraldnet.com.
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