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Your new movie Monstrous
- in a few words, what is it about?
A young woman goes searching for answers after her friend mysteriously
vanishes in Whitehall, NY, an Adirondack town known for its Bigfoot
sightings. She quickly learns that hiding in the woods is an evil more
sinister than she could ever imagine. Why the Sasquatch,
and did you do any research on the subject? Originally, the script had no monster and I
had written the movie as a psychological thriller. After talking with some
distributors and producers, I was given the advice to add a monster
element. I was developing an original monster when the director, Bruce
Wemple, suggested Bigfoot. At first, I was resistant because I worried
that Sasquatch
can have a sort of silly connotation that could ruin the
overall tone of the movie. I realized it was an opportunity to take
something some people have a knee-jerk reaction to and turn it on its
heels. Bruce already had some knowledge on Bigfoot, which was helpful. I
also watched some Bigfoot
movies and researched the origins. I made sure
to go online and read different peoples’ thoughts on the subject. The Squatch
has quite a huge fanbase, so I wanted to make sure I got it all
right!
With Monstrous
being a monster movie, is that a genre at all dear to you, and what do you
think makes your movie stick out of the crowd?
I love all horror, including creature features. One of my favorite things to
do in my writing is take what people expect and deliver something more
interesting or at least less straightforward than what they went in
thinking it was going to be. That’s definitely something that makes this
film stick out. It’s not just a group of people trapped in the woods
fighting a monster. You get strong characters and a more intricate set up
with a satisfying pay-off. (Other)
sources of inspiration when writing Monstrous?
My inspiration for this was more of a recurring question I
have, which is what makes something or someone “good” or “bad”.
It’s so easy to sit there and make snap judgements whether it’s on
social media or the news, etc. What’s interesting to me is focusing on
the details of situations and trying to understand where people’s
feelings are coming from, regardless of whether you agree with them or
not. You
also play the lead in Monstrous
- so what did you draw upon to bring your character to life, and did you
write her with yourself in mind from the get-go? I try my best not to think about myself playing a role
when I write. Even if I know it’s probably going to pan out that way,
I’d rather focus on developing a fully fledged character and then go
from there on how I can best represent that. When it comes time to act,
whatever role it is, I always try to bring some of myself into it. Not in
terms of personality, more like the classic, “if I were this kind of
person, how would I truly feel if in this situation.” It all stems from
having a good grasp on who that character is.
What
can you tell us about Monstrous's
director Bruce Wemple, and what was your collaboration like?
The biggest element between us working together is making sure we’re
always on the same page. If one of us has a thought that the other
disagrees with, we make sure we understand what the difference in opinion
is and do our best to work together and come up with something we’re
both happy with. Monstrous
hasn't been your first time working with Bruce Wemple - so what can you
tell us about your previous collaborations, and how did the two of you
first meet even? Bruce and I met when I worked on a
medical training video his old company was producing, about 7 or 8 years
ago. He wasn’t physically on set for it, but he contacted me later about
a part in his first feature film, Altered Hours. We clicked fast and
started bouncing creative ideas off each other. It all took off from
there. Back to Monstrous:
Do talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere! It’s really important to both Bruce and me to have a feeling
of collaboration on set, meaning with all cast and crew, not just us.
It’s the best feeling in the world when you realize something isn’t
working during a scene and then everyone comes together to figure it out.
There’s a big sense of camaraderie on these sets. Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Monstrous?
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I actually try hard
to avoid reviews. I have people in my life whose opinions I trust.
They’re from all different walks of life, paying attention to things the
others may not be, and I know they’ll give me their honest opinions.
That’s really useful for me and I appreciate them all.
Any
future projects you'd like to share?
I have a lot of projects in the works which
I unfortunately can’t talk about yet, but am excited to share as soon as
I can. I did produce a movie, also by Bruce, called The Retreat, which
will come out in October. I’m really excited for that one. It’s about
the Wendigo, which is such a cool monster to work with because you can get
both the straight-forward physical creature aspect along with a
psychological, supernatural spin.
Your/your movie's
website, social media, whatever else? I have a website:
www.annashields.com
I put updates on my Instagram about my projects: hibananaanna
And of course, Monstrous is available to watch on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B08BGDZ6B3
Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Just
a big thank you for the interview and I hope everyone gets the chance to
check out Monstrous! Thanks
for the interview!
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amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
