Frank Popper (MA, Media Communications, 1980) has enjoyed a pretty busy year.

His latest project “Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?” was named a finalist for the International Documentary Association’s Feature Film of the Year Award; received the “Audience Award” at the 2006 Silverdocs AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Film Festival; and made it onto a short list of documentary films considered for the Academy Awards.

Oddly enough, Popper’s career didn’t start in film. He was a high school English teacher before enrolling at Webster. While a student he learned to create movement using multi-image slide shows and he was hooked.

In May, Webster University named Popper Outstanding Alumni for the School of Communications. Recently, he sat down with SCAN to talk about his life, his film and the lessons he learned while making it.

SCAN: Your first feature film was a comedy, “The Lounge People” (1992). What did you learn from the process of making it?
Frank Popper: Making a feature film taught me that I didn’t want to make narrative feature films. My problem with feature film making was that you have to go through so much trouble and spend so much money — to create scripts, hire actors, get crews, build sets, create costumes — to make life look real. I did not enjoy that experience.

But I liked to make movies, so I thought “Geez, why don’t I make documentaries? You just find a subject that’s real and make a movie about it.” I’ve been doing documentaries ever since. I like the idea of getting real people in real situations conveying the information that needs to be conveyed. You don’t know where you’re going; you just try to figure it out everyday. It’s fun and I enjoy that.

SCAN: How did you come up with the idea for the documentary “Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?”
FP: This film grew out of anger. I was really angry at (President George W.) Bush. The whole rush to war was the most insane thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Growing up in the 50s and 60s, all the things I had learned to fear and hate, we had become. It happened so quickly.

I was talking to my father about the war and I was getting really angry. He said, “You’ve got a lot of anger there. Why don’t you make a documentary about it?” I thought he had a pretty good idea. I spent about a year looking for a political subject matter when I bumped into Jeff Smith. It was a purely chance meeting at a book signing downtown. He came up to me and said, “Hi, I’m Jeff Smith. I’m running for congress.” I said, “I heard about you.” He said. “Yeah, you and 35 other people.” That was it. I sat down and told the woman next to me, “I think I’m going to make a documentary about him.”



I found him to be so compelling a person. He’s a very engaging, charismatic person. I went to his campaign manager and asked, “What would you think if I did a documentary about your campaign, kind of like ‘The War Room?’” And, boy, they loved that idea and said, “Fine.” I just started showing up and shooting film.

SCAN: What was it like filming with Jeff Smith?
FP: The most amazing thing is not only did he let me in, but that he gave me full access. He never told me to turn the camera off. There were times where I would be in meetings and the staff would say, “Let’s talk about this later,” code for “when Frank is not in the room.” Jeff would say, “Let’s talk about this now. I want to hear it now.” He let me go wherever he went. I followed him everywhere.

SCAN: What did you learn about the political process when filming the documentary?
FP: I learned that the system for electing our politicians is broken. It’s just totally screwed up. It’s broken in a multitude of ways. First of all, the electorate, for the most part doesn’t really pay attention until the last few weeks of the campaign. If you’re only paying attention for the last two weeks, you don’t really know what’s going on.

I don’t think the media really covers the issues. I don’t think they do a very good job (of keeping the electorate informed). Even if people want to be informed, it’s hard to get that information.

And leaders in the community, I learned, want to back the winner because they want access to that power. Unfortunately, the people who are in a place to make a difference look out for themselves and, as a result, we all lose out. The best people aren’t getting elected.

SCAN: What did you learn about yourself as a filmmaker?
FP: Stay in shape, especially when you’re following someone who’s half your age. Make sure your audio’s really good. I learned that, probably the next time, … it would be nice to have another camera there so someone could be there 24 hours a day. I learned that luck is real important. You’ve got to have good instincts, but you have to be lucky. There were a few scenes when I just happened to be there and had I not been there, there wouldn’t have been a movie.

SCAN: What was the greatest challenge in making “Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?”
FP: One of the biggest challenges of the film is to get people to watch it. There are two things that cause most people to have a glaze go over their brain — documentaries and politics. The only thing worse than that is a documentary about politics … but when we get people to see it they love the film. Most people think watching documentaries is like eating your broccoli. This is like eating a Hershey bar. It’s a lot of fun.



SCAN: What was Smith’s reaction to the film?
FP: Overall he liked the film. He thought it was an honest assessment of the campaign. He’s very uncomfortable about some of the footage we put in there and asked that I remove some of the scenes, but we had an arrangement, “If you let me film the campaign, you can’t be making decisions about what stays in and what comes out.” He accepted that and, now that it’s been a big success, he’s glad he didn’t force us to second guess what should or shouldn’t be in the film.

SCAN: What type of reaction did you receive from the general viewing public?
FP: As filmmakers, we all set out to make something … that’ll be the best thing we’ve ever done and hopefully it’ll make a difference. But we never expected in a million years that we’d be short-listed by the Academy (of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences).

We competed with several films that actually wound up getting nominations at the Academy Awards. We won audience awards and special jury prizes at festivals around the country and in Europe. We never expected any of this to happen.

If it had gotten on PBS I would have been thrilled. It did. If I had just gotten into festivals, it would be great. I wasn’t thinking about winning anything. It was a collaborative effort.

SCAN: So what’s it like now watching all the accolades roll in?
FP: It’s intoxicating. For my co-producers/co-writers (Matt Coen and Mike Kime) and I … for (us) be on a ride like this is one of the highlights on our lives. We just love it. It’s everything you could image.

SCAN: And advice for any aspiring filmmakers?
FP: Get your hands on a camera. You can always use your cell phone. If you’ve got any of the latest software, start making movies. Just start making them.

If you want to make films you can’t sit around waiting for somebody to make them for you. You should be making them for yourself. If you have a story to tell or have a story you think can be told, it’s so easy to start shooting.

Do you have a similar story to share? E-mail scan@webster.edu

Return to Top  

• Words from the Dean

• Opportunities Abound
  … in Arkansas:
  Brian Chilson Talks
  about His Life as a Photojournalist

• Working Without a
  Script: Alumnus
  Frank Popper Earns International Acclaim
  for Documentary Film
• Pride in Print: Faculty Publish Books on Nature, Sound and Photographs

• Rachael Horne ’05
  Journalism
• Mandy Tipton ’05
  Public Relations
• Chelsea VandeDrink ’06
  Audio Production

• Home Page
• About SCAN
• Become a GURU
• Send This to a Friend
• Contact Us
• Archived Issues
• Subscribe/Unsubscribe
• Copyright
• SOC Home Page