Film
Over the past three years, the making of the thriller The Human Trace has nearly severed thumbs, smashed marble tabletops, burned cars, scratched an actor’s retinas and sent its writer-director, Jason Satterlund, to the hospital with exhaustion after filming an against-all-common-sense underwater sequence—all on a budget that wouldn’t buy a new Toyota Corolla.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” says Satterlund, who premieres the film 10 a.m. Sunday in a test screening at Mt. Juliet’s Providence Cinemas 14. “I didn’t want people to pat me on the head and say, ‘Good job, you made a movie.’ That’s why it took so long. I wanted to make something people would really want to see.”
Described by Satterlund as “CSI meets The X Files,” The Human Trace follows a detective (Josh Sumner) hunting down a killer who leaves no apparent cause of death. The movie was filmed in winter 2004 and summer 2005 with a cast of local actors, including David Chattam, Jeff Wilson, Jamie Grey and Jeff Hime. For months now, the Nashville-shot thriller has teased online viewers with an enigmatic website (thehumantrace.com) strewn with clues, crime-scene photos and case files.
Behind all those foul deeds, though, lies a lot of charity. “I’m in awe of how many people came on board for nothing and helped us out,” Satterlund says—whether it was local film fixer Andy van Roon, who introduced him to key collaborators, or the Nashville police officers who gave instructions on weapons handling and handcuffing.
Sunday’s screening of The Human Trace is likely to be the only one for a long time, as Satterlund gears up to submit the film to festivals. The movie will start promptly, as it has to clear out in time for a certain green monster to devour the megaplex. Next time, maybe it’ll be Satterlund’s turn to elbow aside the ogre.