Director of 'Mars' to appear on campus.

A Christmas, by way of Mars, will be coming about two months late to Edinboro on Feb. 19, courtesy of the Flaming Lips and their longtime collaborator, Bradley Beesley. It will be the first live event for the Edinboro Film Series' spring semester.

A screening of last year's "Christmas On Mars," with Beesley as the special guest, will be held in the Louis C. Cole Auditorium-Memorial Hall on Feb. 19 at 8:30 p.m. It will be both a meet-and-greet as well as a Q&A session.

The Spectator spoke with Beesley last Wednesday about his career, his ties with the Lips and what he hopes to come from Edinboro's "big event."

Beesley, an accomplished filmmaker, is working out of San Francisco. "Filmmaker Magazine" named him one of their "Top 25 Independent Filmmakers." His first film, "Hill Stomp Hollar," won first runner-up at the 1999 SXSW (South by Southwest) film festival.

"I went to art school at the University of Oklahoma and I had art classes with Wayne's girlfriend (now wife) Michelle in 1991 or 1992," Beesley stated on how he initially became acquainted with Wayne Coyne (lead singer) and company. "I was already a fan," he said of the Lips, who hail from Oklahoma.

The rest is history. Beesley has since directed 20 music videos for the band, including those for some of their most famous songs, such as "Do You Realize?" and "She Don't Use Jelly."

"I think around the year 2000, [I directed] 'The Fearless Freaks' about their career and that's when I started getting serious about the documentary stuff, in 2001," Beesley said.

"Fearless Freaks," which came out in 2005, follows the band through live performances and features interviews with not only the band themselves but family members and famous friends such as Liz Phair and the White Stripes.

In addition to "Fearless Freaks," he has done the "The Creek Runs Red" (about the ecological effects of the mining industry in Pitcher, Okla.) and "Okie Noodling" (about "an unique breed" of fishermen in Oklahoma).

Despite Beesley's focus on documentaries, this didn't deter Coyne from approaching Beesley with plans for a feature film.

"He came to me with this idea for a movie," Beelsey remembered. The movie that Coyne imagined was to be science fiction.

Beesley tried to talk Coyne out of using him for a director, saying "Well, no, I shoot documentaries and music videos, I don't think I'm very well-equipped and you need someone with more experience. He didn't have a script, and we need[ed] a crew and a script. Thankfully, for me, I decided to help him."

"Christmas On Mars" was largely the brainchild of Coyne, who wrote and helped to direct it, in addition to starring as the film's savior/martian. It took seven years to complete.

"He listed me as co-director, totally gracious of him," Beesley reflected, who is also listed as cinematographer.

As for the film itself, it's a surprisingly touching, trippy venture. In other words: it embodies the spirt of the Flaming Lips. There are many influences on it, such as that of director Frank Capra, Jim Jarmusch and Stanley Kubrick for "2001: A Space Odyssey." Beesley also cited David Lynch's "Eraserhead" and the classic "The Wizard of Oz" as additional elements.

"Wayne's always had a fascination with Christmas. He truly, truly loves Christmas," Beesley said, adding that "[Coyne's] lyrical content has always dealt with deep space and space travel."

While most of the people who appear in the movie are friends or family of Coyne (or crew members), some are familiar faces that may come off as being anomalies.

Actors such as Adam Goldberg ("Saving Private Ryan," "Entourage") and Steve Burns ("Blues Clues") "met and befriended Wayne," said Beesley.

Which got Wayne to thinking during the creation of "Christmas On Mars:" "Wait a second, I'm making a movie here. Maybe these guys want a cameo in the film."

Fred Armisen ("Saturday Night Live's" resident Barack Obama) also contributes, of whom Beesley said, "it did take some time to get."

For all the while it took to make "Christmas On Mars" a completed work, Beesley had nothing but good things to say about it.

"The process in which we shot it was very collaborative. There was a sense of spontaneity and urgency you don't have on most feature film sets that was kind of liberating," he said. "Wayne was a very easy, fun guy to work with."

As of right now, Beesley has a lot more on his plate. The Flaming Lips are in the studio working on a new album, but Beesley is putting the finishing touches on his newest documentary, "Money the Hard Way."

"Money the Hard Way" deals with the nation's only female prison rodeo, which has existed since 1920, "following this group as they practice and train."

"Of course, the climax is the actual day-to-day prison life," Beesley said. Beesley will be appearing in March to promote the movie at the SXSW Film Festival.

Although you will need a ticket for the show, you don't have to be a Flaming Lips fan to come out to the campus big event on Feb. 19, Beesley stressed during his interview.

"It sort of has common themes of all of humanity to it and it isn't just for music fans of the Flaming Lips. It's a true story that a grandma in the theater, eating popcorn, can relate to. A lot of people thought it was just going to be a series of music videos."

FEBRUARY 10, 2009