An ironworker by day, Genel Mejia recently produced his first feature film, for which he put rebar out of his mind and instead focused on script-writing, directing and filming “Muse” inside his house and garage.
“The reason I made this movie is because in 2020 I entered a contest by composer Hans Zimmer called ‘The World of Hans Zimmer,’ where you make a short film with one of his [five famous] music tracks and create your own story,” said Mejia, 40, of Bay Point. “I had my sister and my brother-in-law in the project, called ‘La Mejia.’
“It was six minutes long. Many of my friends mentioned that my sister had some 1940s look on her face and that planted a seed in my head to make ‘Muse.’ ”
It was all the inspiration the 20-year construction worker needed.
“It took me two years — on and off — to make ‘Muse’ (bit.ly/museimdb) because I work 40 hours a week as an ironworker, so it was very challenging,” said Mejia, whose film was released May 1 at the Orinda Theatre.
His film was also accepted at the Portugal International Film Festival. Born in Mexico, Mejia came to the United States at age 15, later studying film at Pleasant Hill’s Diablo Valley College (DVC) and San Francisco Community College. He has made roughly 20 short films, which he says was great training for making “Muse,” which also started out as a short until friends told him it should be feature-length.
Mejia’s short films and the “Muse” trailer can be seen online at his YouTube page, bit.ly/genelmejiayoutube. It took Mejia eight months to build sets and a stage to transform his home for the film. He also shot some scenes in Walnut Creek at Mount Diablo and Shell Ridge.
“To save money, I converted my garage into a movie set for some of the interior scenes that include a green screen,” he said. “I also converted my whole house into a movie set. I painted the walls and added different furniture. I also got some old searchlights from the 1940s, which are part of the movie. It was very challenging to do the lighting because ‘Muse’ is a movie within a movie.”
His 90-minute film has five actors: Laura Nimr, of Martinez (the female lead); Regg Davidson, of Sacramento (the male lead); Tristan Hissong, of Vacaville (a supporting actor); Maritza Mejia, of Visalia (an imaginary character played by Mejia’s sister); and Victor Chavez, of Visalia (another imaginary character). The movie within a movie is about a film director searching for his muse.
“ ’Muse’ is a very surreal experimental fantasy, also a mystery/musical, and the project has the DNA of the silent era German expressionism from the 1920s and also Hollywood 1940s,” said Mejia. “It’s a movie with a little bit of everything and anything.”
Nimr, who plays the muse, has known Mejia for 15 years and was also an ironworker who is now retired with 40 years’ service in Oakland Local 378. She took classes in theater make-up, musical theater and acting on camera at Diablo Valley College, but this was her first time in a film. She also sings in the DVC choir and sang and danced with a Mexican band for about five years. She says she enjoyed working with Mejia.
“My experience with Genel was great,” she said. “He just told me what he wanted, and I did whatever he wanted my character to do — sing, dance (or) dress up as a witch.”
Actor Tristan Hissong, 25, met Mejia in 2022 when they were castmates on a project with director Chris Price for a short film called “The Test.”
They stayed in touch until Mejia reached out and asked if he wanted to be part of his “Muse” film.
“I happily answered ‘yes,’ ” said Hissong. “I really respect Genel a lot and enjoyed working with him for ‘The Test,’ so I was excited to work with him once more, especially seeing him in the director role. From our conversations, I knew he had a very creative mind — which is showcased in ‘Muse’ to a very thought-provoking degree.”
Hissong, who says he has been in many short films, including his own, said this was his first time in a feature-length film. Becoming an actor is one of his biggest goals, and his character in “Muse” almost mirrors that dream.
“My role in this film is as — interestingly enough — a young actor trying to get booked for a role from a struggling director who is tormented by his ideal of what his ‘muse’ ought to be,” said Hissong. “My character, Bryan, reads a poem to the best of his ability … but the director doesn’t bond with the performance.
“This plays out in a fairly unusual way as the film progresses that adds to the layer of mystique in the storyline, but I don’t wish to spoil anything!”
Actor Regg Davidson plays the lead male character, Blair, a perfectionistic film director obsessed with 1940s film noir cinema.
“My character’s fantasies and dreams about directing classic Hollywood film noir are so powerful and intense that the character is having difficulty separating reality from fantasy. He is tormented by fantasies taking over his mind,” he said.
Davidson felt the weight of what his role carried for the team.
“It’s an awesome, surreal experience to be the ‘star’ of a motion picture (even a small indie film like ‘Muse’),” he said. “It’s both humbling and invigorating at the same time. It’s also a lot of responsibility to carry a film.
“All these people, crew and cast, are supporting me and helping me succeed. It’s an ego trip like none other but also stressful in that everything hinges on me, my performance. I don’t want to let anyone down.”
This is just the beginning for Mejia, who plans to create a documentary about ironworkers and another film about rock-crawling (a form of off-road driving). After a long day of wearing a hard hat, it’s time to go home and play with film.
“One of the joys of making this film was the collaboration of my cast — we developed such a great friendship together,” said Mejia. “There is something magical about making movies — you get transported to a different world, and that is just priceless. Making memories is a treasure for sure.”
Reach Charleen Earley, a freelance writer and journalism professor at Diablo Valley college, at charleenbearley@gmail.com or 925-383-3072.