Bill Muench, full-time teacher and friend of SHS’  Mr. Welch, made his directorial debut recently with his documentary The Artist and the Astronaut. Muench describes the film as an “unlikely love story between the artist Pat Musick, a civil rights activist, and the Apollo astronaut Jerry Carr as they participate in some of the most historic events in human history.”

The Round Table’s own Samantha Neer took it upon herself to interview Muench about his filmmaking process as well as other questions regarding the film.

What inspired you to become a movie producer outside of teaching?

Bill Muench: I wanted my students to see me doing something that I was passionate about outside of the classroom while I was still teaching… They could watch me go about the making of a film and see my successes, my failures, and be a part of the journey… I was making films while I was teaching, so this was not anything more than a larger version of what I had been doing.

How did you manage your time being a teacher and also filming? 

Muench: Not very well… Ha ha. Actually, it worked fine. It was like anybody who has interests outside of school, I just peeled off a couple hours to work on them… Some people play golf, some people play music, some people do art… I did filmmaking…

What was your favorite part of filming/ the whole process? 

Muench: Getting to meet and interview amazing people who had had amazing lives… And inspired me to do something great and it inspired me to stay busy and work hard.

Do you think you will make more projects in the future? 

Muench: Absolutely! I am looking forward to a couple of projects that I’ve been thinking about… At the moment this film needs all my time to make sure that I do all of the promotion and social media.

How did you come up with this idea? Did you have a connection with these people? What was your inspiration?

Muench: I went to Arkansas with my wife to celebrate Pat’s 90th birthday in 2016… I have been friends with Jerry, the astronaut, and Pat for years… I knew many of their stories. When we got on the plane to come back to Vermont I said to my wife, “somebody should make a documentary about these two,” … She said, “you should do it,” and that is how I got the inspiration to do the film. As far as a connection with Pat and Jerry, I was teaching a course called Space and Time and everyone in town said I had to meet the astronaut who [was] moving to Manchester in 2007… I introduced myself and we became friends.

Are you proud of how the documentary came out?

Muench: When I started working on the documentary, I did it for my own enjoyment—I never dreamed in one million years that it would win awards and I would be able to travel the country and screen the film. I am especially proud of the musical score by Todd Hobin… 83 different music drops all of them original.

The Artist and The Astronaut is coming to streaming on Amazon Prime soon. For more information check theartistandtheastronaut.com.