MUTE: Behind the Scenes

Story by Morgan Williamson 

Two pals: Mr Nate Tyler and Sir Victor Pakpour, have been on the grind. Their goals set to produce a surf film, aptly titled: MUTE. “We called it MUTE,” Victor tells us, “because it’s representative of Nate’s personality: Humble, quiet and sometimes moody.” Nate’s got a certain groove that Stab‘s quite fond of. The film also features Owen Wright, Dion Agius, Chippa Wilson, Brendon Gibbens and Noah Wegrich. Newport Beach’s Lido Theatre will serve as a loving host for the premiere, this Friday, July 31 at 8pm. If you’re in the area, stop by, grab yourself a drink and glue those eyes to the big screen. With everything so web-centric these days, it’s a treat to see good surfing blown up in crystal clear RED vision. If you can’t make the premiere and pixels are your gig, don’t fret. August 1 will suite you well. In prep for the film’s drop we spoke with Nate and Vic to clue into the smiles, thrills and mishaps, behind the scenes of MUTE.

Easy riding with Nate and Vic. Photo: Brenden Gibbons

Stab: So what are we to expect here, boys?

Nate: Well, it’s not a profile film of me. I don’t want people to expect, like, a bunch of archival footage from my childhood. Those films are made for people like John John, or just the most well-rounded surfers out there. We haven’t been sitting on clips and are just now ready to drop them. It’s more a profile on the last eight months of Victor and I’s free time between our other jobs. People are going to watch it and be like, what the fuck was that? Because the waves are pretty whatever. It’s more of a reality surf film.

Vic: It’s all cold water and wetsuits. Which is perfect for Nate. I feel like every film that’s coming out is like, tropical-influenced, or Indo-heavy. Our’s is the exact opposite. I wanted to make a film on the moodier side. As the filming went on, it really took form and made sense to push the moody vibe.

The boys. Photo: Victor Pakpour

How’d the project come into play?

Nate: It wasn’t anything too crazy. We couldn’t have done it without Monster funding it. It all kind of started a long time ago when Monster approached me to do this web series. I don’t have anything against web series, it just didn’t seem like the right fit for me. I’d rather have a long term project with an end goal. Which worked out in the long run. I kept holding out on the series, then they were like: hey, here’s a budget if you want to ahead and make a movie. So, Vic and I were like shit, let’s give it a whirl. We definitely had a blast making it.

Photo: Victor Pakpour

Any hiccups in the production?

Nate: The hardest part of getting over the mental struggle of doing a film somewhat based around me. We got a cool little budget to make a film with our friends, so we started mapping it out with these elaborate plans. Then by the time we put it in motion, it was a bit of a reality check. We still went to Australia and Canada few times. Then filmed a bunch in California. We didn’t have crazy trying times or whatever. For the most part we just got shitty waves (laughs).

Vic: The whole movie was pretty much a hiccup. I shot 90 percent of the film in rain. I have this huge puffy jacket that I brought on every trip. Which is kind of cool because it helped with the moody vibe… well, it actually solidified the vibe (laughs). But shooting in the rain is fucked. I got my RED camera and all this gear. The conditions weren’t supreme. We had only one session that we shot in the sun… it was unreal!

Lost in the woods. Photo: Nate Tyler

Is there any scene that you’re particularly stoked on?

Nate: The clips in Oz with Owen. (Laughs) That was the only trip that felt like we went on for a movie.

Vic: I think a lot of people will be excited about the Owen and Nate section. We went to Australia for a week. Owen is a legend. We stayed at his parent’s house and got some really fun waves.

Nate and Owen pregame. Photo: Victor Pakpour

Are people going to dig this?

Nate: Hopefully people like it. It’s kind of nerve racking. It was a fun little adventure. We got some really fun waves in California that I’ve never surfed before, but we can’t tell you where they were.

Vic: You really never know, I hope it’s good. I think at the end of the day Nate looks really good in the film. I’m happy with what we put out. In my film career, I’m most proud of this one.