According to the TV Tropes wiki, the phrase “Torn from today’s headlines” was originally used by Warner Bros. in the 1930s. They used the catchphrase “to promote the gritty realism of their ‘social problem’ films.” Now, almost a century later, New York-based filmmaker Jeffrey Turboff has continued that tradition with “Homebody,” a gripping six-minute film that showcases his work  as a director and actor. The film was finished on March 19.

A behind-the-scenes interview follows below.

Interview with Jeffrey Turboff

MMM: Could you tell us something about your film work?

Turboff: I’m an editor by trade, working mostly in news and documentary. Also active in indie film as writer, director, editor and actor. My role in “Trapped In Amber” won me some Best Actor awards. My film “Jimbo” also garnered a few awards and was on Amazon and other streaming services, but eventually was banned from Prime, so I took it back from my distributor. I have a feature length documentary “Modworld” free to watch on Vimeo. And several of my previous iPhoneography projects have been written up right here at MobileMovieMaking.com.

MMM: Turning to the present, what’s the origin of “Homebody”?

Turboff: A former acting coach of mine Rebecca Faulkenberry, who’s a wonderful instructor over at Anthony Meindl in New York, went live the other day on social and challenged her students, and I guess anyone in earshot, to make #shutinshorts – i.e., you’re trapped in your apartment, okay. You can still get your acting (and filmmaking) yayas out by making a mini-movie. About seven hours later I had a finished film.

MMM: Without giving spoilers, what’s the core idea in your movie?

Turboff: I didn’t just want to distract the audience. Like most people, I have anxieties about this new virus SARS-CoV-2. I need to work through my anxieties by facing them head-on. That’s just how I operate. Where could this all lead? Social isolation, difficulties with food supply, cut off physically from loved ones. And what does that look like taken to an extreme? What’s the nightmare scenario? This film isn’t exactly the nightmare scenario though. This is just short of that. This is merely difficult. There are certain outcomes, unimaginable and yet possible, where I just didn’t want to go in the film, much worse than I portrayed. Because we might actually be facing such horrors here in the U.S.

MMM: For a short film, “Homebody” is complex. How did you plan it?

Turboff: The shoot was completely unplanned. I just shot a section of it, then decided what should follow after. I shot in order, using an iPhone 6 with the Filmic Pro app, with inspiration for the next scene coming just as I was finishing shooting the previous. I shot without a script or any preproduction, and edited using Avid Media Composer, going from first impulse to finished output in about 7 hours.

MMM: What kind of reaction has “Homebody” evoked?

Turboff: My audience is weird, which I guess is fitting, but what I mean by that is they largely don’t weigh in. They watch, but mostly won’t interact. Very few likes, comments or shares. Maybe because I’m playing out people’s fears. And people don’t want to think about their fears. And they think it’ll reflect badly upon them if they like something so dark. But I’m not out to exploit people’s fears.  I see my task as an actor and filmmaker as being one with a shamanic function. You have all these fears, naturally. Because this is a dangerous once-in-a-lifetime event. So much fear that you don’t want to talk about a worst case scenario, and you don’t want to think about how bad it could get, because you don’t want to feel that fear. Naturally. But watch me. I’ll feel it for you.

MMM: This is very far from escapist filmmaking.

Turboff: I’ll live swimming amidst all your fears and you can watch me doing that for six minutes, so that you can then go back to staying positive and not thinking about the worst-case scenario, knowing that someone else has those fears too, and is on the case. Processing the difficult emotions. I’m willing to live fully amidst that fear… in a sense, for you… for those six minutes. That’s the cathartic function of drama.

MMM: Although this is a dark movie, you go through a wide spectrum of emotions. Was that a big challenge?

Turboff: Actors and writers and directors are specialists dealing in the processing of emotion. I do it, so you don’t have to. Or maybe you get encouraged to face your own fears as well, having seen me look at them directly. You can go on, knowing you’re not crazy for mentally catastrophizing to the worst-possible-case. Not only are a lot of us doing that right now, but this film is what that anxiety looks like. I hope “Homebody” ends up being hyperbole rather than prophecy.

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The editors of MobileMovieMaking have chosen “Homebody” as the Mobile Movie of the Week. You can keep up with the film’s director on Facebook and on his website.