Written by Sarah J Kyle and Sammi Bjelland
It is the classic tale of childhood friendship: one fateful encounter makes friends for life. So it was with Harding professor Jack Shock and his friend, acclaimed film directorJay Russell.
Their friendship has developed from high school to the present, where Russell recently joined Shock and a group of his journalism and film students in Italy to share his experiences in the film industry.
“Our friendship has grown and developed over the years, although our worlds are vastly different now than they were when things were maybe simpler in 1977,” Shock said.
Shock and Russell met in the trumpet section of the North Little Rock Ole Main High School band, with no idea that their friendship would still be intact and growing after 35 years.
While Shock said that Russell was the better trumpet player, Russell said Shock’s switch to the French horn gave him the opportunity to shine.Regardless, both said that it was an appreciation for music and writing that created the friendship that remains strong today.
“There’s no circus story or anything like that,” Shock said. “We were musicians together, we were writers together. It’s funny how, even at your earliest days, your interests will bring you together. Now it’s 35 years later and we have two different worlds, but in a crazy kind of way, our worlds collide.”
After high school, Russell’s gifts in the film industry began to emerge, forming a foundation for the director he would eventually become. While Russell entered college as music major, he said he began to realize that he was not skilled enough to make a career in music.
“That was a tough, bitter-cold swallow,” Russell said. “I had always wanted to do music, and decided at that moment that I needed to find something else to do… So while I was trying to figure that out, I started hanging out over in the theater and film department.”
Russell began to get involved in the department, making short films and eventually writing his first screenplay. After some encouragement from professors, he began to learn his way around the film industry with basic film jobs.
Russell said he learned the basics of filmmaking through his job shooting video for the Arkansas Parks and Tourism department.
“It was not the most creative job in the world, but it taught me a lot about staying on the schedule and meeting a budget,” Russell said.
After additional experience working for a crew that shot highlight footage of NCAA football games, Russell decided to pursue film as a career and apply to film school.
“I arrogantly decided I was going to go to one of the top five schools,” Russell said.
With that decision in mind, Russell called up his old high school friend with a proposition.
“One day, I distinctively remember Jay calling and saying, ‘I’m going to Columbia, and you’re going with me. We’re going to go up to Columbia and we’re going to spend a week there in New York City and I’m going to apply for film school,'” Shock said. “Which he did, and he was accepted.”
Upon his acceptance, Russell said he was given the opportunity to work with professors that were members of the film industry themselves, including one of his all-time favorites:Milos Forman, the Czechoslovakian director of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Hair” and “Amadeus.”
“The thing that struck me about the program there was that all of the professors were filmmakers themselves,” Russell said. “They were not making a career out of being professors; they made careers out of making films and writing scripts.”
Now, many years later, Russell is the acclaimed Hollywood director of “My Dog Skip,” “Tuck Everlasting,” “Ladder 49” and “The Waterhorse,” with several more projects on the way. Shock has lived an active life in the public relations industry, with jobs ranging from working for President Clinton to a professor at Harding University.
However different their worlds may be, Shock says their friendship is as strong as ever.
“Our worlds started when we were young, and now we’re old and our worlds still interact,” Shock said. “Over the years, Jay has been very gracious to include me in his world, like going to premiers and visiting the set where I see him in his world.”
Shock added that in that world, he still sees a glimpse of the Southern life in which the pair was raised.
“He’s a good decision-maker and leader. He also cares about people, and I’ve seen that in his actors,” Shock said.”That makes me very proud to know that his Southern sensibilities continue to play 30 years into his career.”
While Shock said he feels honored to be a part of Russell’s world as a director, Russell said Shock is actually quite famous in Hollywood circles as well.
“Jack and I write a lot of emails back and forth,” Russell said. “I love Jack’s emails, because Jack will not just send and email; he’ll send an essay. Jack has no idea how wide-reaching his essays will go… Jack has no idea how popular he is in Hollywood because of some of his essays.”
