Your upcoming movie A Bad Luck Guy in a Bad Luck Town - in a
few words, what's it going to be about?
Kyle Johanessen: First I want to say thanks for the interview! It's
great to get to talk about this project and get the word out. A Bad Luck Guy in a Bad Luck Town
is a fantasy film-noir comedy about a low level hitman for a mob run
by witches and wizards. He wakes up one day to a horrible string of
unforeseeable bad luck that leads him down a path that he's not ready to
walk down. The whole movie really has a Sin City meets Who
Framed Roger Rabbit vibe to it. It's dark and gritty, yet charming and
funny at the same time.
Diana Porter: It's a noir detective film set in a world where magic is
real and our main character is having a really bad day.
Chris Goodwin: It's a film about a low level criminal who
finds himself having the worst day of his life. So bad that he thinks he's
been cursed. And to get to the bottom of it he scours the depths of the
supernatural underworld to find the truth. A Bad Luck Guy in a Bad Luck Town
is based on a short story by Joe Botsch - so
what attracted you to the story, and how faithful will you
remain to your source material?
Kyle: Joe is a great friend
of mine and has an amazing eye for story telling. He's also a terrific
comic book artist and has a great line of horror comics that you can see
here www.donotreadcomics.com.
Now that I got the shameless plug out of the way, it was just a very
visually compelling story and written in a unique style that really
grabbed me. I heard the story literally the day I wrapped up Devil
May Care and as he was reading it to us, I thought "this is my next
project." It's been a bit of an up and down struggle to get it up and
running, but I think we've really nailed the script and style and it's
going to be unlike a lot of short films that get made these days.
As far as faithfulness, it's really close to his story. We've had to add
some things, and subtract some others, but it's really close to what he
wrote. He's obviously given me his seal of approval to move forward, which
was really important to me. If he wasn't happy with how the script turned
out, I wouldn't have moved forward.
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Diana and Chris, how did
you get involved, and what attracted you to the project? Diana:
I had such an amazing time working on our award winning film Devil
May Care that I have spent the last 6 months bugging Kyle to pick
his next project so I could work with this amazingly talented team again. Chris:
I was contacted about the project by Kyle who I had worked with before,
acting on his other film Devil
May Care. He sent me the script to check
it out and I loved it. Had this real old school noir feel, plus it had
these sci-fi elements that really made it stand out from other scripts
I've read. Do
talk about your characters for a bit, and how do you prepare for your
roles? Diana: Our characters are siblings so mostly I'm
going to be concentrating on that relationship and also, practicing my
stunt! Chris: I play The Guy, a thug who knows what he is and
doesn't aspire to much more than being left alone to do his job. He is the
narrator of the story and whose eyes we see this downtrodden hell of a
city through. The man has done a lot of bad things in his life, is aware
he has this bad luck coming, but it doesn't stop him from trying to find
out what did this to him and make whoever it was pay. I've been preparing
by going over several noir films and books to try and get an authentic
voice for the character that stays true to the text. The script does a
great job of fleshing out this character through narration and action and
I'm just doing my best to put as much work as I can into portraying him
onscreen the way the writer had intended. What can you tell us about the rest of your key
cast, and why exactly these people? Kyle: Casting hasn't
been finalized, as we are still working out how a few characters are going
to work. I expect we will really dig into casting the last few key members
in the next few weeks. And of course there will be the obligatory director's
cameo. From what I've read
so far, A Bad Luck Guy in a Bad Luck Town
seems to relie on
strong locations quite a bit - so what can you tell us about yours?
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Kyle:
You're right that locations play a key role on this project, and we have
some great ones. Most of our exterior work is going to be shot in
Providence, Rhode Island. It's a small city, but offers a wealth of
different architectural styles that really lend itself to what I'm looking
for on this picture. I really want the film to have a timeless quality to
it, and there are modern buildings and businesses right next to hundred year
old buildings all over the place in Providence, but it all blends so well
together. There are so many visually compelling alleys and streets that
just fit in perfectly with the world we're trying to build. There is this
one amazing street that still has really tall buildings, all in a
1920s-30s style, but looks as though its tucked away and hidden from the
rest of the world, and that is exactly what I'm looking for. A
few words about the film's intended look and feel as such? Kyle:
Film noir all the way. We are going to make it look as much like an
old detective film from way back as we can, black and white, heavy
shadows, it's going to look fantastic. Mikel J. Wisler, my director of photography, and I have a really clear vision on how the movie is going to
look and feel and we're really flexing our visual muscle on this picture. Devil
May Care looked amazing, this is going to look even better. You won't
see a lot of films, especially shorts, with this sort of look. Chris:
It's got a definite noir vibe that also brings in a lot of comedic and
sci-fi as well. From what I've been told so far they are looking for a
dark tone to the film and may or may not be in black & white. Which,
for a pale ass person such as myself, is not a bad time at all. As
far as I know, A Bad Luck Guy in a Bad Luck Town
is
currently in its fundraising stages - so what can you tell us about your
fundraising efforts? Kyle: I can tell you my hair has gone
a few shades greyer, but it's going well and we're hoping that it
continues to go well. Places like IndieGoGo are an amazing resource for
independent filmmakers to find the necessary funds to make shorts they
normally wouldn't be able to make. Chris: We are using
IndieGoGo as the means to raise funds for the film. Kyle, Greg and Justine
are constantly promoting the project online and throughout the local film
community. We are hoping with a little help that we can make this thing
with the tools and talent that the script warrants.
http://igg.me/at/ABadLuckGuy/x/2435034
Once the funds are raised, how do
you plan to proceed - and any idea when the film might be released yet -
though I know it's probably waaay too early to ask? Kyle:
The campaign ends only a few weeks before principal photography starts and
we're making the film no matter how much we raise. After the campaign
ends, it's all systems go. We're aiming for a Christmas 2014
release. Chris: We got an amazing post production team lined up
for this project, so whenever they deem it ready and fully polished, I
suppose. I do know that they are looking to shoot principle photography in
the coming months and after that, I guess we shall see. Any
future projects beyond A Bad Luck Guy in a Bad Luck Town? Kyle:
I
know Chris and Diana have a lot on their plate, and Transparent Frog Films
has a wealth of ideas for the future. We're hoping to do two or three films
next year, with our first feature, hopefully, following the next year.
There's a plan in place for our future projects as we learn and grow
with each project. Diana: Kyle and I started working on a story
concept I came up with about 5 years back. I'm hoping we can tackle that
one next.
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Chris: You can catch me starring in the upcoming
feature comedy The Angry World of Brian Webster and directing
another feature. Truth Cocktail which will be premiering in the
fall. Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, IndieGoGo, whatever else? Kyle:
You can follow me on Twitter @tfrogfilms, the film itself @ABadLuckGuy,
we're on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/ABadLuckGuy
and most importantly, you can find our campaign at:
http://igg.me/at/ABadLuckGuy/x/2435034
We have lots of amazing prizes like DVD's and an original comic from Joe
Botsch set in the Bad Luck Guy Universe! You can even take a whack at a
piano with a sledgehammer!
Obviously we'd love donations, but if you can't donate please share the
page to Facebook or Tweet it out! Spreading the word is just as important
as donating! Diana: My new website
www.DianaMPorter.com
should be released before September! Also you can follow me on Twitter: @DianaMPorter Thanks
for the interview!
Kyle: Thanks again, Michael! I really appreciate it!
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