The Film

Joanie, a waitress in rural Iowa, finds herself caught in a failed marriage at home, and beset by the unwanted advances of her boss at work. When her husband and boss strike a deal, Joanie must make a decision that will change her life forever.

Director’s Statement – Jared Seltzer

Three strong characters are trapped in a power struggle, haunted by looming threats of violence in a desolate Iowa landscape during the last gasp of winter. Gradually, the tension ratchets towards a breaking point in this tale of failing personal relationships and the limited opportunities of contemporary small-town America. In directing The Trapper, I sought to capture the stark beauty of the American Midwest while maintaining an understated emotional temperament reflective of the region’s climes and populace. Our film was shot entirely on location. Our crew was comprised of locals, and members of our cast were untrained actors from the surrounding community. We found our lead actress, Caitlin, waiting tables in Iowa City. For the character of Martin, Justin Cox fit the bill as a small-town local who could both play guitar and skin a rabbit. Those tattoos are his, and they’re all real.

Coming from Los Angeles, with only a few days to scout locations, meet the crew, and rehearse with the cast, I determined early on to employ an improvisational approach towards photography, contingent upon the requirements of our authentic locations and mercurial weather conditions. The Trapper takes place during the barren end of winter, and within days of wrapping our four-day shoot the spring bloom had exploded, bathing the forest and fields in constant sun, which resulted in green carpets of grass and the first leafy buds on trees.

We were lucky with the weather, but our key stroke of luck was obtaining a rabbit for the skinning scene with Martin. Our actor, Justin, being well-versed in the practice, had been scouring back highways for road kill days before production. With one day left, we still hadn’t found a dead rabbit in suitable condition. We were resolved not to harm any animals making this film, and we didn’t have a backup plan. The day before production began, in the late afternoon, I received a call from our producer, Nick, who breathlessly announced that he’d just swerved our gear van overloaded with film equipment to the shoulder of the highway upon sighting a poor rabbit struck dead on the shoulder. I couldn’t believe it. In the background of our cell phone conversation, I could hear him restarting the engine.

“Where’s the rabbit?” I asked.

He told me he’d moved it into surrounding bushes and would grab it on the way to set early the next morning. I erupted with a string of expletives, demanding that he turn around immediately and retrieve that rabbit, with his bare hands if necessary! He did, and at the final hour we had our rabbit with no harm done. A thousand such happy accidents occurred in the production of this film, but The Trapper could not have been realized without the support of the local community and the enthusiasm and contributions of all involved.

Producer’s Statement – Nick Twemlow

From the beginning, we wanted The Trapper to be a story about Iowa. We were interested in the people who live isolated lives in the farm towns that dot the landscape here, short-order cooks and out-of-work musicians looking for a way out. Iowans have been hit hard by the economic downturn. Farms are foreclosing at record rates; unemployment keeps rising while the price of groceries does the same. Things aren’t adding up. And sometimes, there is a price to pay for all this ugliness.