Sonic and teen filmmaker shine at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards
Click here to watch Joaquin’s dramatic tale about a daring soul determined to save his love from death in the most innovative way imaginable. He proves firsthand that ingenuity can do the impossible. And look for bonus behind-the-scenes footage as well!
Behind the scenes with Joaquin
Q: Joaquin, you’re about to have a film you wrote debut at the MTV Movie Awards, and you’re only 18 years old. That’s pretty impressive. When did you first realize you had a knack for movie making?JOAQUIN: I’ve always been a visual person. When I was young I was put into a middle school that was dedicated to the arts. At first I was very into the visual arts portion of it, but I’ve also always been a big fan of movies and the behind-scenes portion of the DVDs, you know, to see how it was all made. Then in high school, a lot of my classes involved using Movie Maker and iMovie. The fact that you can create stories with images was just fascinating to me. I would say somewhere around my junior year of high school I was pretty sure that this was what I wanted to do.
Q: When and how did you get the initial idea for “Never Let You Go”?
JOAQUIN: I’ve always had different ideas for projects that I personally wanted to develop. So when I first heard about the details of the contest, I thought it might be a good opportunity to combine some of the ideas that I already had. One of them was a story about two lovers and a test against time, but I didn’t know how I would move that story forward. Another one I had involved a female character waking up in a hospital bed after an accident. I was also thinking of ways to sort of retell the story of Adam and Eve. So when I dreamt of the contest concept, I combined all my ideas into a love story that was kind of a post-apocalyptic retelling of sleeping beauty — where Prince Charming helps save his love. It all came together nicely.
Q: In what ways did Chevrolet’s “Find New Roads” inspire you to make this film?
JOAQUIN: When I read over the contest page, it asked for a character with a can-do spirit who never settles for less. My character is pretty much like that. He’s a scientist that uses innovative and genius ways to save the woman he loves. So he’s essentially finding a new road to saving her, and I thought that just tied in beautifully. I had the ideas beforehand, but I didn’t really know what way to tie them together, so the concept of Find New Roads really helped.
Q: Things must be pretty crazy for you right now. How cool was it when you got word from MTV that your concept had been chosen?
JOAQUIN: At first I was in disbelief. I mean, of course I was excited to know that I had won, but I didn’t really understand the scope of how huge it was. But once I really started thinking about it, it sorta started to sink in and I was pretty excited. Then when I went into the office and met the incredible people that would be helping me produce my movie, I was just ecstatic — through the roof, really. And then moving onto set, it was incredible.
