This delightful memoir about the making of an independent film is a story of dedication, commitment and spirit with a bit of serendipity thrown in. Twin brothers Noah and Logan Miller had been relatively unsuccessful at everything they'd attempted in life, though not for lack of trying. Things just hadn't gone their way...yet.
The young, northern Californian brothers had a tough childhood, bouncing between divorced parents. Good, hard-working athletes, their attempts at professional baseball were unsuccessful. A series of dead end jobs were, well...dead ends. "We were fired from the bingo parlor. Not many people can say that," is one of the early, tone-setting lines in the book.
Miller Brothers Promise to Film Story That Needs to be Told
When Noah and Logan's alcoholic father died in early 2006, broke and incarcerated, these enterprising (some would say "nuts") brothers decided that nothing was going to stop them from fulfilling their final promise to their dad: that they would make a movie about the three of them, with academy award-winning actor Ed Harris starring as dad. And they were going to do it in a year.
Either You're In or You're In the Way is the story of how, with no experience, no money, and few connections, the Miller brothers did just that. Noah and Logan had already written their script (as they had several unaccepted others), entitled Touching Home, the true story of their father's courage in the face of alcoholism and homelessness. It was a story that everyone who read it agreed "needed to be told."
Noah & Logan Miller Corner Ed Harris in Alley
One of those who read it was indeed actor Ed Harris, and the scene in the book describing the brothers' backstage cornering of Harris, and ultimately getting a handshake agreement in a back alleyway, is one of the highlights of Either You're In or You're In the Way. It is also typical of how Logan and Noah approached the monumental task of producing, casting, directing and starring in a full-length dramatic film.
Against-all-odds is nearly an understatement in this scenario. They achieved their goal not so much by "beating" the system as by circumventing, going around, under and finally plowing through the well-established Hollywood machine. This memoir's title, Either You're In or You're In the Way, pretty much states their modus operandi.
Touching Home Premiers at San Francisco International Film Festival
Serendipity, perhaps in the form of their father's assistance from the beyond, plays a major role in this story. The moments when everything could have (and should have) gone wrong, moments that would have ended the entire project with a word or a change of weather, are aplenty. The reader cannot help but cheer on of these crazy, dedicated red-headed twins.
Touching Home, Noah and Logan Miller's tribute to their father, premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2008.
Miller, Logan & Noah. Either You're In or You're In the Way, 2009, Harper Collins, 282 pages. (ISBN: 978-0-06-176314-4).
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