|
I know we've talked about this before [click
here], but do bring us up to speed: ABCs of Superheroes
- in a few words,
what is it about, and what's the concept behind it?
René: Crazy and lunatic superhero anthology with
lots of blood, sexy babes and cool cameos. In other words pure german
moviemaking madness.
Oliver: We wanted to combine our love for
superheroes with our love for absurd and over the top trashmovies. For
every letter of the alphabet, there is a superhero or a supervillain. That
was the starting point and then we just came up with as many weird
variations of classical comic tropes as possible.
Do
talk about some of the superheroes you've added since our last interview?
René: We made one of my favorite episodes which is Tarantrella versus Unicorn Man. We built a great set and also
shot on a cool rooftop. The cast was great and Lloyd Kaufman and Fred Olen
Ray are in it
too, which is fantastic. Jesus Space Missionary was also a
great experience. With extras we were about 70 people on the set in a nice
club in Hamburg.
Jens: Originally we had an idea for a recurring hero
that pops up in different episodes. His name is Hero-Boy. That didn't
play out the way we thought, but we shot one scene with him and a very
aggressive female supervillain. That shoot was a lot of fun, even if the
scene will be really short in the movie.
Since
we've last talked, you have finished the movie, right? So what can you
tell us about the remaining shoot days?
Oliver: After assembling a rough cut we noticed some
things missing, details, close ups, scenes that didn't make sense. We
shot over the span of one year and it was a 20-man job done by three
people. No assisstants, no continuity persons etc. So we did make mistakes
and spent the last two month trying to correct those.
Jens: The last shots were mostly effect stuff or
things without actors. We spent a whole day shooting details and then in
the evening I would get a call from Oliver and he would say "Hey we
forgot this shot!" So the next day we would have the same set-up to
do this one take again.
René:
Right we are done with shooting but there is still a lot of stuff to do in
post production. It's exhausting but when we got the call that the film
will be shown at the Fantasy Filmfest that gave us another adrenaline shot
to finish it. You have added
quite a roster of guest stars to your cast for the new episodes, including
Troma head
Lloyd Kaufman, legendary German horror filmmaker Jörg Buttgereit, genre
legend Fred Olen Ray, and also German hip hop group Fettes Brot - so how did you get
each of these people, and what were your collaborations like?
René: Oh yeah, they were all great. We showed Lloyd
and Fred some of our material and asked if they wanted to have a small
cameo. Obviously they are great supporters of independent filmmaking, so
they agreed.
Oliver: I know the guys from Fettes Brot for years
and directed some music videos for them. They are smart artists and really
funny.
Jens: We met Jörg Buttgereit at the premiere of his
own film German Angst and talked about our project. He is an
incredibly nice person and agreed to do this immediately. He has his own
superhero comic and stageplay Captain Berlin, so he has an
affinity to our ideas.
Oliver: It's great to see how directors work when
they are on the other side of the camera. They still think like directors
and offer different takes or ask where you want to cut. No one was a diva.
They all wanted to give the best for us. They were really great.
Speaking
of Lloyd Kaufman, Jörg Buttgereit, Fred Olen Ray, and another guest star
of yours, Uwe Boll - to what extent do you see your movie in the tradition
of either of these filmmakers?
René: I think what these moviemakers have in common
is that they make movies against any resistance. For forty years Llyod has
been producing the most anti-mainstream movies possible and showing that there
is a market for this. Jörg made a few of the most intense and memorable
German movies ever with almost no budget and he even came in conflict with
the law.
Jens: What I love about Fred Olen Ray is the variety
of his output and I admire the sheer amount of his oeuvre. He seems to be
working non-stop. That's just incredible. Definitely one of my heroes!
René: Uwe knows the business like almost no other
and is a really nice guy who loves movies. He makes these broad action
films and then he surprises you with a real intense and personal story
like Darfur, where you see how much the stuff matters to him. It's amazing
to see him working against all the obstacles that are against him.
Oliver:
I admire that these people are self-made men. They didn't have to ask
anyone for permisssion to make their movies. As far as I know, you're
presently running a fundraiser for your movie - so do talk about that one
for a bit, and with the movie as such being finished, where will the money
go?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/abcsofsuperheroes/abcs-of-superheroes-postproduction-final-
touches
René: The money goes completely into post
production and into the pockets of the VFX-artists. We dont earn anything
with it.
Oliver: We were behind schedule when the call from
the Fantasy Filmfest came. So we had to hire additional help with the
visual effects. We had to pay these artists to finish the film in time.
Jens:
Unfortunately we were already absolutely flat broke, indeed we have a lot
of debts that might follow us to the end of days. So we thought of this as
a fun way to pay the artists without having to sell our kidneys.
The $64-question of course, when and where will your
movie be released onto the general public? René:
It will have its world premiere on August 13th. After that it will be
shown in six other German cities. We are also in talks with other
festivals around the world. There is still no distribution plan. We are
sure that will change as soon as the film was shown at some festivals. Your/your movie's website,
Facebook, Kickstarter, whatever else?
René: Please support our Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/abcsofsuperheroes/abcs-of-superheroes-postproduction-final-
touches/dashboard
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ABCsofSuperheroes
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/abcheroes
 |
Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned) |
The links below
will take you
just there!!!
|
|
 |
Anything else you
are dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
René:
Thanks to all of our fans and friends. We hope to see all of you at the
Fantasy Filmfest or any film festival near you.
Thanks
for the interview!
René: Thank you!
Oliver: Thank you!
Jens: Thank you!
|
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find ABCs of Superheroes at adultvideouniverse.com
