Aspiring director Brundige '04 pursues a Hollywood dream

Trying to get a college student to decide what he wants to do in life can be as difficult as pulling teeth, but David Brundige '04 already has a pretty good idea.

"I'm fully committed to making movies for the rest of my life," he explained.

To achieve that goal, Brundige has been flexing his theatric muscles on campus as a director and a writer.

Most recently, Brundige was lauded for his work on Bums and Monkeys, the dark comedy played at Theatre Intime in late March and early April. Brundige both wrote and directed Bums and Monkeys, which is the first play in recent memory written by a student to run during the regular Intime season.

"It's about a girl who runs away from her dysfunctional family to discover that the world is just as dysfunctional," he explained. Viewers seemed to respond well to Bums and Monkeys's whirlwind of characters and cliches.

Brundige wrote the script for a playwriting course during his sophomore year and then applied to have it produced at Intime.

Before Bums and Monkeys, Brundige participated in several other projects as a director and an actor.

Last year, he directed a production of Michael Cristofer's The Shadow Box at Theatre Intime. The play, which is a hard-hitting drama about three terminally ill patients, was also well received by local reviewers.

During his freshman year, Brundige acted in Hedda Gabler at Intime and a thesis production of Whirligig.

Though he started acting in high school, his true passion is for directing. "I don't really like acting," he said, "because I don't think I'm good enough at it." He added that he is actually embarrassed by his acting, but it was helpful in meeting other students on campus interested in theater.

Brundige hopes, whoever, that his work in theater can be another stepping stone for his more prevalent interest, working in film.

"Here I focus most of my energies on theater," said Brundige, who last year was president of the Princeton Film Foundation, explaining that theater has a better system of support on campus.

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"For people interested in the arts at Princeton, the theater road is much more friendly and supportive, so I save my filmmaking for the summer," he said in an email. He noted that there are far fewer video and film history classes at the University than there are theater and drama courses.

The visual arts program's general lack of interest in extracurricular events and lack of filmmaking equipment also contribute to the difficulties of being a student filmmaker on campus, he added.

Instead, Brundige encourages students to seek support through the Princeton-in-Hollywood network, which can help connect students with alumni working in Los Angeles.

And despite his dissatisfaction with resources on campus for student filmmakers, Brundige has been busy with his video camera and tripod, having already made four short films of varying subjects, from a Nazi who falls in love with a Jewish girl to a couple of kids trying to steal their neighbor's diary.

These films, Brundige hopes, will serve as something he can show to an agent after graduation to help get his foot into the film industry door.

His ultimate goal, making feature length films, he acknowledges is one that will not be easily obtained. "I'm completely willing to make commercials or music videos or whatever it takes," he added.

In the meantime, Brundige has written five full-length screenplays, each in a different genre – a children's movie, a comedy, a drama, a thriller and a political epic.

He emphasized the importance for him of being the author of the work he directs, which gives the work "a much better sense of ownership and freedom."

Brundige also said he is different from most University students who are interested in film because he is does not grate against what is popular.

"I think that they tend to sort of reject the industry and what's commercial," he explained. "I see what's out there, and I want mine to sort of be the best of what's out there."

While there is nothing wrong with independent films, Brundige said, he hopes to have his work reach the masses and looks forward to the advantages commercial success could bring, like large filming budgets.

One of the biggest draws of film, he said, is the way in which his work could explore certain movie standards. "I like the fact that there's a structure for movies," he said. "It's fun for me to manipulate that structure."

In the shorter term, Brundige is applying for a creative thesis for next year, which he would write and then direct. Though he has most cast members in mind already, he said the play itself is still very much in the formative stages.

"I just know that the main character really likes trite sayings," he explained.

Brundige decided on his career aspirations during his freshman year, well before many college students do. Before that, he had pondered several different areas.

Growing up, he said, one of his earlier considerations was becoming a lawyer. "When I was a kid I used to care more about money, cause we didn't have much," he noted.

He was, however, drawn to the entertainment industry, thinking to become an entertainment lawyer then a producer before finally deciding that directing was his calling.

Though Brundige hails from Los Angeles, where he attended a performing arts high school, he said he has no industry connections, other than Princeton-in-Hollywood, which he has yet to fully explore.

His 17-year-old sister Emily takes after him somewhat, wanting to go to the University of California at Berkeley and become an artist.

Brundige decided to come to the University because he wanted to learn a lot in college. "I didn't think that I needed to go into film right away," he added.

He said he is glad he chose the University, despite taking a short break to study at University College in London last semester.

The best thing about his Princeton experience, Brundige said, has been the Terrace Club, of which he is a member. "Despite its faults," he explained, "it is a true safe haven and fostering ground for arts and open-mindedness in the University."

What lies ahead for Brundige, he realizes, will not be the past of least resistance, but he looks at the situation with a kind of calm relief.

"I feel lucky that I know exactly what I want to do," he said.