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Your upcoming movie Horse - in a few words, what is it about?
A man seeks vengeance upon the men who murdered his horse. What inspired you to write Horse
in the first place? I grew up on a farm and have always
loved animals, hell, I’ve been a vegan
for over 20 years. Anyway, I had rescued a wonderful little rabbit that
was dumped on the street near where I live, and we became instant friends.
It may sound funny, but we really had an instant connection. Well,
unfortunately, he was killed by a neighbor's dog. I was devastated, but
through that tragedy Horse was born. Why a Western?
Is that a genre especially dear to you, and your genre favourites? Perhaps
it was when I was kicked by horse when I was 10 or the countless
times of watching The Searchers with my father, either way, the Western is
my favorite genre, and one that I’m dying to explore. Is
there anything you can tell us yet about the look you will be going for
with Horse?
It’s a very dark and claustrophobic
story that I plan to shoot on film and
in scope. Think the look of Nick Ray’s Bigger Than Life as a Western set
in a cave.
Over the decades, the Western genre
has grown increasingly brutal and graphic ... and since you have a horror
background: How far do you intend to go in terms of violence and gore?
I plan to portray the violence as extreme and realistic as possible. No
CGI blood! Anything
you can give away about your cast yet? No.
It might be waaay
to early to ask, but any idea when the film's going to be released onto
the general puclic?
Hopefully before the end of 2013. Let's go back to the beginnings of
your career: What got you into filmmaking in the first place, and did you
receive any formal training on the subject? At 16, I
dropped out of high school to work full time at a United Artists
movie theater, started out as an usher and within a year I was asst.
manager. Learning how to assemble 35mm prints and run ‘em through the
projector was best part of the job. Having films like Dances with
Wolves,
Body Parts, The Doors, Silence of the Lambs, Robot
Jox, Popcorn and Barton
Fink pass through my fingers and flicker up on that big white screen was
truly a magical experience. From that moment on, the dream was realized
and I began to reach for the silver screen.
I got my GED and enrolled in community college while working nights at a
video store. In my theater class I was able to write and direct a play
about a homicidal butcher called Dead Meat - it was very bloody and
received a standing ovation from the class. Actually, that experience was
so electrifying that I packed my car and drove from Minnesota to Hollywood
the very next day. Luckily, Lori, my babysitter growing up, was married to
producer Mike Leahy (Pulse, Feast) and he gave me my first job as a
production assistant on the film Back to Back starring Michael
Rooker.
Working on numerous productions over the next 2 years was my film school;
I learned everything from loading a camera to cutting on an Avid. I just
stuck my nose anywhere and everywhere, watched, listened and learned.
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Your first
feature was, I believe, Unspeakable. What can you tell us about
that one, and how do you feel about it from today's point of view? I
sold my house to make Unspeakable and never saw a dime from Troma.
During filming, half of the crew quit by the 2nd day, stealing film,
lights and sound rolls along with them. Ah, it was a failure on many
levels, but I learned a lot from my mistakes, so the pain is not all too
soul crushing. At
the beginning of your career, you have also worked for legendary Troma
quite a bit, right? What can you tell us about your time with the company?
Troma
is awful and I prefer not to speak of them.
One
film of yours has way too good a title to go unmentioned: Easter Bunny,
Kill! Kill! A good title goes a long way. As we speak, you're also in
pre-production of another film of yours, Dances with Werewolves.
What can you tell us about that one? Dances with Werewolves is set during the
Civil War, centering on Confederate soldiers having
escaped a Union prison camp, only to be hunted by Native American
shape-shifting werewolves. My producer Roham Ghodsi has been working
tirelessly on raising the budget and it’s on track to begin shooting in
early 2013 thanks to his efforts. I'm very excited.
Other films of
yours you'd like to talk about? The great guys over at Cine
du Monde have just put out a region free deluxe
edition of The Ghouls that’s jam packed with special features that I’m
very proud of. http://www.cinedumonde.co.uk/ Any future projects
beyond Horse? I’ve got a Sci-Fi project kicking
around in my head that I’ll start
writing soon.
Filmmakers who inspire you?
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Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned) |
The links below
will take you
just there!!!
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Boetticher, Peckinpah,
Ford, Hawkes, Fuller, Leone, Welles, Bava [Mario
Bava biography - click here], Bresson,
Ray, Kurosawa… ah, I can go on and on, the list is endless. Your
favourite movies? Midnight Cowboy, Pickpocket,
The Naked Prey, Videodrome, Wages of Fear, 7
Men From Now, Ed Wood, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The 7th
Victim, Zeder,
Electra Glide in Blue, The Culpepper Cattle Co. to name a few. ... and of course, films you really
deplore? Some shit that comes to mind would be Centurion,
The Raven and anything
from The Asylum. Your/your movie's website, Facebook,
Kickstarter, whatever else? http://www.cinedumonde.co.uk/ Anything else you are dying
to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? That about
does it, thank you for the great questions. Thanks
for the interview!
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