TWIS Asks: "The Dog," directors, Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren

In 1972, John Wotjowicz captivated the country when he attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to finance his lover's sex-change operation. The robbery went awry, and Wotjowicz and his accomplice spent 14 hours locked in a tense hostage situation that was unfolding on live television. In 1975, the story once again enthralled audiences on the silver screen in Sidney Lumet's film, "Dog Day Afternoon," starring Al Pacino.

Now, decades later, audiences remain infatuated with the story. Filmmakers Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren spent the better part of 10 years getting to know Wotjowicz and his family, exploring not just the robbery, but the man behind it, as well as his personal relationships.

The documentary, titled, "The Dog," will play at 9:30 p.m. tonight, Thursday, May 15, at Burns Court Cinema, as the opening feature of the Harvey Milk Festival. Tickets are $10. Read our interview with the directors, below.

Why do you think your film, "The Dog," is a good fit for the Harvey Milk Festival?

(Frank) Well, the character of John Wotjtowicz takes us through a lot of scenes in history that especially relate to the gay rights movement. He happens to be a highly unusual tour guide, but he was definitely part of it. Everybody loves outrageous, larger-than-life stories, and this is definitely one. It also has that sort of outsider or underdog quality to it, and I think people will really relate to that.

What about this story originally appealed to you?

(Allison) Neither of us had seen Dog Day Afternoon in years, and we both love it, so we were watching it, and we mistakenly thought he was just about to be released from prison, and we thought, "Oh! Wouldn't it be great to track him down and make a documentary?" Of course, we were wrong, and he'd been out of prison for years. But he has an unusual last name, so we found him pretty easily. We just called and talked to his mother. She seemed so sweet — she told us she'd give her son the message, and h called us back at, like, 2 a.m.

(Frank) Well, it's a really strange story — not because a guy was robbing a bank to pay for a sex-change operation — but because every single character and every single turn is just unbelievable. The story, as it's told in Dog Day Afternoon, starring Al Pacino, the character is very toned down. Our film shows John as a very unrefined character. He's very upfront and colorful. And as we met more and more people involved with the story, we realized each person was more colorful than the next. It was unbelievable.

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After tracking down Wotjtowicz, how did you manage to have such incredible access?

(Allison) We spent so many days meeting with him and his mother without ever even turning the camera on. There was a lot of trust building and creating a bond with John. The original plan was to film for a year and be done, but it turned into so much more than that.

(Frank) Dog Day Afternoon runs almost like a play. It's more or less one day. In our film, the robbery is only about 15 minutes. We wanted to look at before and after and really get to know these characters. Once John accepts you into the fold, he kind of doesn't let you go. We ended up working on this for 10 years. The first four years were just getting to know the Wotjowicz family. There were a lot of reasons we worked for so long. It was all self-financed, so that was a big factor, of course. It was also a challenge to figure out how to illustrate these interviews, so there was a lot of time spent looking for archival footage. And the editing process was like a monster when we first sat down with it.

What were you surprised to learn about the real life Wotjowicz?

(Allison) You never expect the real-life person to be even more outrageous than the character in the movie, but he was. In both good and bad ways. He could be very difficult to work with, but in a way that, as filmmakers, you've never experienced before and knew you never would again. So it was easier to accept the difficulties, because you knew this was such a unique experience. We became really close with him and his mother, and those real-life experiences will always stick with us.

How did it feel to finally complete the film?

(Frank) It felt great. When you're filming an independent film, you always think you're never going to finish it, and you're always full of doubts. It always feels like a small miracle at the end. But the best thing has been seeing how people react. It's been better than we ever thought. We love that people react to the human aspect of the film — his relationship with his mother and the other people in his life.

(Allison) I think people are surprised by how moved they are by the film. There's definitely parts of the film where there's a lot of laughter in the audience, but by the end, I think people have really experienced something. That's the most rewarding part is knowing that people got the story you were trying to tell.