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 Shelter marks a new highpoint for the ‘gay surfer film’ genre. Director Jonah Markowitz tells Adam Bub why his movie is more than just a ‘gay OC’.
“Our whole concept for this film was to make a coming-out story, and a gay independent film, in a completely new and different way,” says Jonah Markowitz of his directorial feature debut, the internationally-acclaimed Shelter.
Replete with hunky leads, romantic intrigue and family crises, Shelter sounds like a typical gay indie film, in the vein of Latter Days or Get Real. Surprisingly, it adapts these conventions into a more realistic realm, showing how identity, family, work and sexuality are all interwoven into the fabric of everyday life. Markowitz captures both the personal and universal experience of love – and the importance of finding one’s own private ‘shelter’.
“It was written to not have the same scenes we’re used to seeing in gay films; there’s no gay bar, no drag queens, and the guys don’t meet in a locker room, sauna or club – not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that I don’t think that’s everyone’s story,” Markowitz tells SX. “I wanted to show two guys in nature, two guys who knew each other previously, whose relationship blossoms in a very real and organic way.”
After winning the Audience Award for Best Film at the 2008 Melbourne Queer Film Festival, along with other prestigious awards across the US and Canada, Shelter finally arrives on DVD in Australia. It tells the tale of Zach (Trevor Wright), who works in a dead-end job and takes care of his troubled sister’s son, and finds refuge in drawing, and surfing with his best friend Gabe (Ross Thomas). When Gabe leaves for college, Zach’s life is turned upside down by his new surfing buddy – Gabe’s hunky older brother Shaun (Brad Rowe).
Unlike the ill-received ‘gay surfer’ movie Tan Lines (2006), Shelter has received world-wide acclaim for its exploration of gay relationships in the traditionally heterosexual subculture of surfing. Markowitz hesitates to plant the restrictive ‘gay surfer movie’ label on his film.
“We wanted to make Shelter a film for everybody, so that it wasn’t just a gay film, but rather a film about people who are dealing with falling in love and finding themselves. The leads are gay, but that isn’t the only struggle they have in the course of the film. As a gay filmmaker, I say that I don’t make gay films, I make films.”
 The same goes for the lead actors – who are both straight. Up-and-coming Trevor Wright (appearing soon in Vacancy 2) and Brad Rowe (from gay cult classic Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss and last year’s National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets), had few qualms about playing gay characters, says Markowitz. “They identified with the emotions in my script. Before Trevor auditioned, he wanted to talk about the movie – we thought it was because it’s gay. He actually wanted to know all about where I surf, what surfing means to me, why it’s in the story – he wanted to make sure we weren’t doing some homoerotic OC movie. He really got into it.”
Wright, a surfing champion in his own right, even wears Australian brand Rip Curl in Shelter, from his win at a Rip Curl Championship. The film has local appeal for other reasons too – it’s filmed in San Pedro, an urbane beachside suburb in Los Angeles not dissimilar to coastal cities in Australia. “I have a close friend living in Perth, and when I came to visit I felt like I was in California the whole time,” Markowitz told SX.
At just 31, Markowitz has worked as an art director for multi-million dollar Hollywood productions, including Meet the Fockers, Saw and Rocky Balboa.
Always an outdoors type, Markowitz grew up skiing in Colorado, and began surfing after his involvement as an assistant art director on another surfing movie, Blue Crush. He attended college in Boston and moved to LA at 22, working in script development, art direction, and now, directing. “I’ve had the opportunity to work on wonderful Hollywood movies and also independent films, and straddle both worlds,” he says.
Markowitz asserts that he felt compelled to direct his own script for Shelter. “It had been sitting in the drawer for about three years so it was wonderful to pull it out and make it! I got all the people that worked on films with me to agree to do it on this tiny budget, and we shot the whole thing in three weeks.
“We shot it in December. We shot beach scenes at 5.30am, just when the sun came up, because it was stunning and the waves were good, but the water was unbelievably freezing,” laughs Markowitz. “There was plenty of talk about them not being with their wetsuits on but that just wasn’t an option!”
Currently, Markowitz is developing future projects. “I’m sure you’ll hear more from me. I’m so happy people in Australia like Shelter. It’s a great honour.”
Shelter is out on DVD now.
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