Michael Morrissey, the director of “Boy Wonder” and other television programs such as “10 Grand in Your Hand” and “Mom’s Cooking,” began his career writing screenplays. He says producing “Boy Wonder” is a “180 degree” from what he does for a living. In addition, he stated that it would be a miracle to continue to work with a cast of actors and create new worlds and new characters.

Although he very much enjoys this, he is grateful for all the home television and reality shows he creates now, because he’s still behind the camera, editing and creating television. ”Boy Wonder” was Morrissey’s first film. He went on to tell us about his experience as a movie director and writer, saying,”It’s the craziest thing you can ever do.

It’s great to write something on the page and hearing the actors say it, but then sometimes you’ll hear the actors say it, and you say, ‘That sounds like crap.’”

He then tells us, “It’s pretty wild, you become God as you keep writing,” and he uses the scene in the movie where characters Teresa (Zulay Henao) and Gary (Daniel Stewart Sherman) are chatting as an example: when Gary puts the quarter into a vending machine, the dialogue between the two characters is suddenly interrupted.

During the shooting of the film, the idea for that scene originated when Morrissey somehow realized there was a vending machine. Morrissey asked, “What is that?” The crew responded, “Who cares, it’s just a vending machine.”

Although the object was a simple vending machine, the importance of that moment lie in Morrissey’s realization that writers and directors create the entire world of a film; how any outside distractions can have an impact on the way someone writes. He advises to “keep all those things in your head at the same time while directing, acting, and writing,” because they can influence you in the future.

When asked what inspired “Boy Wonder,” Morrissey explained, “I drew the idea from a couple of writers, Frank Miller and Klaus Janson, who did a daredevil run in the late 80’s. I love his stories, it wasn’t always actions but emotionally intense, I liked him, people could understand him and his form of justice was his kind of to its own, he kind of ran by his own moral code probably a little more strict then Sean’s.”

He also discusses with us the relationship between Sean’s character and himself, because when Morrissey was younger he found himself having a lot of rage and getting into a lot of fights;  at the same time, Morrissey also had a very soft side that enjoyed classical music and reading.

As for future work, Morrissey’s new movie, “Mother,” is under development. This movie takes place in 1986 in Lake Tahoe, where serial killer Elizabeth Caulfield kidnaps little girls. One little girl manages to escape, and she becomes the subject of the movie. Along with that, Morrissey is working on a screenplay that was inspired by Harry Potter, and some other books based on magic.

He was curious to see what the life of a wizard would be like  if he were living in the real world. Here is some advice that Morrissey gives to all those aspiring directors and writers out there: “I would go out there and start doing it now. I think I waited a lot of time and people would tell me I was good enough to direct and good enough to shoot. So I would say go grab a camera, and go start writing.”

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About the author

Maynor Guzman
Is a senior at Baruch College majoring in Marketing with a big interest in Music and technology. In my free time I enjoy writing music and expressing my creativity.