Mark Webber Wants Your Money, But He Can’t Tell You Why
Mark Webber, mostly known
for his role in “Scott Pilgrim vs. The
World” as part of the Sex Bob Omb band with Alison Pill and Michael Cera and as Kiera Knightly’s fiance in “Laggies,”
is halfway through his first Kickstarter campaign for his secret movie and
halfway to his goal of $50,000.
READ MORE: 8 Things I Learned from My Failed Kickstarter Campaign
Trying to figure out how much you can scrape up to pledge
for a movie you do know something
about and can get behind is difficult enough, but Webber is banking on his
track record and his network of loyal fans to help him through this one.
“I’m not just some Joe Shmoe asking for money for a secret
movie,” he explained to Indiewire recently.
From what can be gleaned from
the images on his Kickstarter page, it seems the narrative feature set to shoot
this fall will be about his mother, social justice and living on the outskirts.
“I want to straight up tell
you the whole thing – like this is exactly what it is and how I’m going to do
it – but it really is because there are elements that are so next level crazy
to pull off that if I expose any of it now, it won’t be possible,” Webber said.
Webber’s mother, Cheri Lynn Honkala, who raised him as a single mother
often homeless on the streets of Philadelphia, is an anti-poverty advocate and
ran on the 2012 Green Party ticket with Jill Stein.
“I think I’m letting you know just
enough by alluding that it’s about my mother,” he said. “I like to work with
non-actors and draw from real-life situations. My mom is a very public figure
for very specific reasons, and I think that’s throwing it out there to create
enough trust and intrigue without me staying flat out what it is.”
When he began the campaign two weeks
ago, knowing that because of the secrecy he may get some flack, he’d thought
about writing a movie on Kickstarter con artists, recalling the person that
held a crowdfunding campaign and raised over $50,000 to make potato salad (which didn’t turn out to be
a con so much as a fluke). “They had $30,000 in a day or something. But no, for
me, this is so real,” said Webber.
And if you’re wondering why
you should – or might – give Webber your hard-earned money, so is he.
“That’s
the question, right?” he said. “[People will give me money if] they like my
work, they know what I’m capable of, they like supporting real artists and they
want to be a part of something. There’s been so much positivity coming my way,
and not just from people who are pledging. Someone who doesn’t have a job or
they’re a student, they just wish me luck and tell me they believe in me.
That’s the best thing in the world. In this industry and as an artist you can
feel isolated and alone. For me, social media, self-distribution [which he did
on his last film, “The Ever After”
with wife and actor Teresa Palmer], Kickstarter – they’ve all allowed me to
find my base and have interactions with them.”
READ MORE: ‘Rampage’ Director Goes on Rampage After Failed Kickstarter Campaign
