Describe the plot of The Heart of Texas.
Janie May, an aspiring singer-songwriter stuck in the paycheck-to-paycheck grind in Waco, TX, is finishing her overnight shift at the diner when she gets big news that she’s a finalist in a radio contest that could lead to her big break. She must race to the station to sing for hometown hero and country music star, Harlan Thompson, in hopes of winning the opening act slot on his tour. On her way, she has a life-changing encounter that forces her to examine the cost of her American dream at the expense of another’s.
Explain to us the genesis of the project.
The idea for the project started when I saw a man working in my neighborhood almost get clipped by a speeding vehicle. I started to wonder, if the man was undocumented, what rights would he have? Would he be able to get medical care, could he go to the police, would he want to? That started a number of conversations with first generation immigrants, health care workers, cops, and community organizers and I realized there is a story here that could touch on a real issue in a very human way. I wrote a version of the script that sat in a drawer until I met Lauren Noll and we took it out and re-wrote it together.
How and when did you get involved with the project, Lauren?
I met Gregory at the Waco Independent Film Festival in 2021. We were both there with short films we’d directed, became fans of each other’s work, and wound up on the same flight back to Burbank where we solidified intentions to keep in touch. During the following year, he presented a script to me that was a very different version of what became The Heart of Texas. I resonated deeply with the central dilemma, and he welcomed my thoughts, so the two of us embarked on tearing his original idea down to its studs and rebuilding the world and the characters in a new version of the script together. We took it back to Waco for the festival’s screenplay competition in 2022, won a production grant, got the film made in 2023, spent 2024 traveling the world screening it at film festivals, and now we have submitted our film to be considered for Best Live Action Short Film at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025. In short: go to film festivals and work with the people you meet!
What was the casting process like?
We always knew that I would play Janie, but it was essential to find the right Jesús for this film to work. I ran a breakdown for the role in Texas and Los Angeles and gave actors a week to tape, but Carlos Cravioto submitted his tape within 24 hours, and it was the first audition we saw. He immediately had me in his court. He set the standard, and even though we saw other great actors who were more aligned with our original notions for the character, Gregory and I could never shake Carlos’ performance. He came to the table and showed us who Jesús is. He lives in a small border town in Texas, and has an impressive resume in Mexican cinema and television. We’re honored to be his first American film. Beyond that, we filled other small roles with actors we’d also met at Waco Independent. Aaron Konzelman, Peggy Schott, and Richard Jones are all local Texas performers whose faces were in my imagination for their roles during the writing process.
Janie is a very engaging and complex character. What was it like to play her?
I’m aware that audiences see my performance as a complete transformation. I’m often not recognized at screenings. On screen is a guitar-slinging bottle blonde with a twang in her speech and the mouth of a sailor. In real life, I’m a brunette, I don’t have a Texas accent, I (probably) won’t swear during the Q&A, and I’ve never played the guitar before working on this movie. And yet to me, she’s exactly me. We drew from the core of what I know to be true about dream chasing — the momentary highs, the dark nights of the soul, shifting identities, the insecurities of hustling in hospitality jobs while you get older and feel your dreams slipping away, and the grit you develop to stay in the game. While Gregory and I were rewriting the script, we built this world-weary girl around my own lived experiences – not literal experiences, but the gut knowledge of the sometimes electrifying, sometimes degrading long haul chase of a dream. Even the opportunity to make this film was a “radio contest” moment in my own life. When artists get the chance to show the world what they do, the stakes are high! You don’t want to miss a single shot. By the time we got to set, I just wanted to do this girl justice because she is me and she is every dreamer.
Not to give too much away, but the film ends with quite an emotional ballad. Tell us about the song.
We wanted to have a song that felt like something Jaine would write, you know, with cowboy chords and country cliches, but, after the events of the film, would mean something true and effecting. When Lauren and I were in Waco we met Aaron Konzelman, a local Texas singer/songwriter who had a great stint on the show “The Voice”, and we asked if he would write the tune with us. He agreed and we all met on zoom with guitars in our laps and worked out the lyrics and melody. Really, it all came down to Lauren’s performance, who sold the song with the passion, hurt, guilt, and intensity that the scene required.
What do you hope audiences will take away from this film?
Honestly, we hope it starts a conversation. No matter what your politics, most of us can agree that people are people and we need to see the humanity in each other. We are more alike than different, each of us following our own dreams, and we deserve the right to do so.
What’s next for the both of you?
Right now we are in consideration for the 2025 Oscars and sharing our film where we can. We are also in the process of developing the feature length version of THE HEART OF TEXAS. Gregory is working on several film and commercial projects and Lauren is preparing for her feature film directorial debut, entering production in the spring of 2025.
