‘Tales of Harsh Gruder’ a Labor of Love for J Paul Preseault and John Otterbacher

A short film with a mission, Tales of Harsh Gruder tells the story of an old friend from out of town who stops by his childhood pal’s place to reconnect and unknowingly interrupts a very “dark moment”. The rest of the movie sees the two rehash old stories while making some new memories. Beyond the dark comedy storyline, the filmmakers behind Tales of Harsh Gruder want audiences to think about addiction, mental health and suicide particularly in middle-aged men who as a group are about four times more likely to take their own life than women. While other leading causes of death are going down, rates of suicide have been trending up. SCREEN spoke with the two directors about this powerful piece.

The 30-minute film is a labor of love put together by directors J Paul Preseault and John Otterbacher as a way to celebrate the life of Preseault’s friend Rob, who took his own life in 2017. Starring Bobby Rafferty and J Paul, the duo also crafted the story together before Preseault wrote the screenplay.

“When my dear friend Rob ended his own life, I was plagued for years by the simple perplexing question: WHY?,” Preseault shared with SCREEN. “I simply could not wrap my mind around a logic or rationale that would fit the description of my close friend taking himself out of the game on purpose – it could just never compute, and it still doesn’t. And it doesn’t matter, even if I somehow answered the unanswerable question “why” it wouldn’t heal any wounds nor bring anyone back. Once I got past this conundrum, I finally started to see another path of remembrance – to honor my friend is to conjure him. The mandate was clear: create a story that leans heavily into the ridiculous, a celebration of friends having one last absurd, adventurous day together.”

Producer John Otterbacher stepped in to help direct when J Paul decided to cast himself. “When we decided that J Paul would act with Bobby in the film, I said ‘well, who’s gonna direct while you’re acting?’ And J Paul said, ‘You are,'” recalls Otterbacher, who also produced Tales of Harsh Gruder.

An All-Star Crew Behind This Impactful Film

Veteran Chicago DP Christopher Rejano (Knives and Skin, My Last Martini) came on board to shoot the film. Tales of Harsh Gruder was edited by long time collaborator of Otterbacher’s, Jon Gollner, who also edited J Paul and John’s last film, Father Burke’s Boss Battle, which also stars Bobby Rafferty.

The color grade was handled by Ryan Stemple at Quicksilver Color, who works closely with Rejano on many of the projects that he shoots.

Shot entirely in Chicago, Tales of Harsh Gruder was filmed in June of 2023 with camera support provided by Keslow Camera before moving into the second phase of production, creating the animated illustration sequences of the film.

Here are some photos from set…

The two main characters co-write the Tales of Harsh Gruder within the world of the film and as their night continues, these stories and characters come alive on-screen. To bring Harsh to life, the team enlisted Chicago comic book artist Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash, Money Shot, Local Man) and his team. Tim recently had his hit series Revival adapted for TV by SyFy and he in turn is putting his own spin on characters and illustrations originally done by J Paul and his late friend Rob.

An Emotionally Charged Cast and Crew Screening

On Dec. 18th, 2024, right before everyone heads home for the holidays, this deeply personal comedy about mental health and suicide premiered to a packed house of cast, crew, family and friends at local luxury theater Kinowerks on Chicago’s North Side.

Kinowerks not only hosted the premiere but was also integral in finishing the sound mix of the film. Dominic Bonelli came onboard to do sound design, especially important for the animated sequences of the film. Kinowerks owner Myles Beeson helped facilitate the sound mix in the theater literally built by the Wachowskis. “I had been invited to Kinowerks a few times and got to know Myles through mutual friends and when I approached him about mixing Harsh Gruder, he was game to help make it happen,” Otterbacher shared with SCREEN. “The facility is amazing but since Myles has taken it over, they have been focused on other things and I think we are the first film to be mixed there since the Wachowskis did Speed Racer and Sense8 years ago. After we did the mix there and with Kinowerks holding more events and screenings, it was a natural move to do our private screening there, the perfect venue, really.”

Here are some photos from the private screening…

Kinowerks is available for screenings and events and also houses rental company Machina along with a studio, offices and post production suites making it a one stop shop for filmmakers and creatives on the North Side.

The Road Ahead

Tales of Harsh Gruder was presented at the prestigious Wisconsin Film Festival earlier this month and made its Michigan debut at the East Lansing Film Festival in March. The film will have its as yet unannounced Illinois and Vermont premieres, among others, later in 2025.

In addition to traditional festival and theatrical screenings, the filmmakers are working to get the film in front of as many people as possible that could benefit from its alternative approach to mental health and suicide awareness. “We have been actively reaching out to suicide prevention and awareness organizations such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in an effort to connect and collaborate with communities in the suicide and mental illness & health fields.” said Preseault followed by “We also anticipate connecting with mental health educators in order to become a resource for discussions around suicide awareness.”

For more info about or to request a screening of Tales of Harsh Gruder, email jp.pre@tribesproject.org and orangechair@mac.com and follow them on instagram at @harshgruderfilm

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