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Your new movie A
Stranger Among the Living - in a few words, what is it about?
It’s
about a young teacher who has a dream that’s a premonition of sorts, which
helps him avoid a school shooting, but soon after, he begins getting stalked
by these creepy figures who want to finish what death started.
One of the central points of
A
Stranger Among the Living is survivor guilt - what inspired you to
base your film on that condition, and have you done any research on the
subject?
It
was something that came organically to the story. If someone managed to avoid
a disaster like this, how would they feel? I did do a lot of research. I
watched a lot of interviews with survivors of tragedies such as this. YouTube
is such a wonderful resource on this. I think it’s something that’s just
now getting out into the mainstream since we seem to have shootings every week
these days. It’s getting hard to ignore and, hopefully, we’ll start doing
something about it. (Other) sources of inspiration when writing
A
Stranger Among the Living?
Even
the title itself comes from the tagline of Carnival of
Souls, so I could say
that’s a huge inspiration. That film is one of the greats, and I started
working on this film because I wanted to do something similar to that.
There’s another great similar film called Sole Survivor from the 80’s that
inspired me a lot along with films like Messiah of
Evil, The Sentinel,
The
Stepford Wives, The Fog, The Innocents, and Let’s Scare Jessica To
Death.
They were all so moody and creepy, and that was the kind of mood I wanted to
bring to this movie.
Do talk about
A
Stranger Among the Living's approach to horror for a bit!
This
is probably my moodiest horror film. Blessed Are the Children had a little bit
and Triggered was more of a dark comedy, but this is my first bonafide mood
piece. I wanted the whole film to feel really dark and oppressive like
stepping into someone’s nightmare. The only real nightmare sequence is the
first 10 minutes of the movie, but I wanted that mood to last throughout. Sort
of like how, when you first wake up from a really weird dream, it takes a
little while to shake that mood off. A
few words about your directorial approach to your story at hand?
It’s
definitely my darkest and most dramatic film. There are a lot of raw human
emotions at play and I wanted to take everything as seriously as possible, so
I was fortunate to work with some excellent actors who I could usually just
let loose. For the first time, I’d start playing some games with my actors
so that I could help them hit just the right notes. I’d get them to play
some scenes a few different ways so that we could find little nuances that we
might not have found otherwise. Even though it’s a dark story, I’m always
looking for the humor in everything, so I’d sometimes make them play a
really dramatic scene and look for the humor in it and, sure enough, they’d
usually find a moment or two that they could mine for a little humor instead
of making the entire scene so oppressively dark.
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You
also appear in front of the camera in A
Stranger Among the Living - so what can you tell us about your
character, what did you draw upon to bring him to life, and did you write
Jarvis with yourself in mind from the get-go?
Jarvis
was a lot of fun. I’d started writing the script years ago after having a
dream that inspired the opening of the film and I kept getting stuck about 30
pages in. I had no idea where to go with it, because it seemed like it was so
dark and so depressing that I didn’t really want to keep going. I knew the
film needed a little injection of humor and energy and that’s where Jarvis
came along. He tries so hard, but he really does mean well and it was fun to
play someone like that. He reminded me of a lot of actors I’d met over the
years, so I used a few pieces from this one person and a few from this other
person and put him together that way. I had no intention of playing Jarvis,
but I couldn’t find anyone who quite got what I was going for with the
character, so it got down to the wire and I figured I could give it a go. I
enjoyed it a lot more than I’d expected and it was nice to have one less
actor to have to worry about. I knew what I wanted, so I didn’t have to try
to direct a performance out of anyone. On an indie film set, having one less
thing to worry about can be a lifesaver. What can you
tell us about the rest of A
Stranger Among the Living's key cast, and why exactly these people?
I’ve
worked with a lot of the cast before, because I love having a sort of film
family. It makes it easier to communicate what you want, because it’s like
we all have our own language now. Keni Bounds, Eric Riggs, Cheryl Abernathy,
George Mayronne, and Claire Mayronne have
been in all my films thus far, and it was nice to work with Meredith Mohler again
after Triggered even though her part was so small in this. We were so lucky to
find Jake Milton, Will Lovorn, Vicky Posey, and Shari Plumlee. They were joys to work with and brought so
much to their roles. I remember Vicky and Shari’s auditions being so spot on
that I was taken aback a bit. It was like they’d gotten into my head and
understood exactly how I pictured every line delivered, every facial
expression - it was unreal. I like having my rep company of sorts, but I
always like adding new people to the mix with each film to spice things up
and, hopefully, they’ll be in other films in the future.
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Do
talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere!
It
was pretty relaxed. The shoot lasted about a month, but since most of the
actors were more local, it was a bit more relaxed, so we didn’t shoot every
day and we had a few breaks. Everyone was nice and professional, but we
definitely had our laughs. There wasn’t any drama except one day when we
discovered we’d only secured a certain part of a location and we weren’t
allowed to shoot the rest of what we’d originally planned. Thankfully, we
moved that stuff to a different location and what we ended up with was
creepier and more atmospheric anyway, so it was a win-win. Indie films are
full of little surprises like that which annoy you at first, but if you’re
able to adjust and roll with the punches, they can be blessings in disguise. The
$64-question of course, where can A
Stranger Among the Living be seen?
Right
now, it’s touring film festivals around the world, but hopefully, we can get
it widely distributed by the end of this year or early next year. Be sure to
follow our social media pages to see where it’ll be playing near you.
Anything you can tell us about audience and critical
reception of A
Stranger Among the Living?
So
far, it’s been wonderful. People really seem to be responding to it like
I’d hoped and that makes me so happy. I hope audiences and critics keep
enjoying it.
Any future projects you'd like to share?
I
just completed a play that was based on a one act I workshopped last year
that’s a full-on comedy, and I’m really excited about that, but I’m not
sure what its future is at the moment. Maybe I’ll try to stage it myself or
maybe I’ll turn it into a film script. I’ve been outlining like crazy and
have quite a few ideas for the next film, but, right now, it’s about trying
to figure out which one to pick. After a while, one usually calls out to me a
little louder than the others and that’s the one I end up focusing all my
energy on. What
got you into the filmworld to begin with, and did you receive any formal
training on the subject?
I’d
play with my action figures in my room and tell stories even as a kid. I
always loved any form of storytelling. I’d make really awful movies with my
friends over the weekends starting in 5th grade by using my family’s
camcorder and improvising everything. They weren’t very good, but we sure
had fun making them. I ended up attending UNCSA in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina to study filmmaking and spent 4 years there, meeting some great
people and learning the more technical side of filmmaking.
What can you tell us about your
filmwork prior to A
Stranger Among the Living?
There
are a lot of things I would have done differently. The first movie I really
claim is Blessed Are the Children, and that has some great scenes and
performances, but I don’t think it works 100% as a movie. It has a lot of
flaws, but I think I got better with Triggered. To me, that had a stronger
script and I knew what I was doing a little more. Plus, it was fun to really
play with the comedy and try to create a different mood. With A
Stranger Among the Living, I feel
like I’ve finally made something that really looks and feels like a movie.
It’s definitely my most mature film. At least I’ve been hearing that I’m
growing and getting better. That’s all one can really ever hope for as both
a storyteller and a human being. If you’re not constantly getting better,
what’s the point?
How would you describe yourself as a director, and how as
an actor?
As
a director, I’m usually pretty hands off with the actors. I like for them to
come up with their characters by themselves unless they just go off in some
bizarre direction I don’t think is right. I direct them the way I’d want
to be directed as an actor.
I wish I could say I have some big process as an
actor, but I just read the script and try to put myself in the character’s
shoes. I’m not big on research and all that stuff. If you start
overanalyzing everything, it stops being fun and it feels like every choice
has been determined beforehand. A lot changes when you meet your scene
partners, too, so you have to adapt to them and actually listen them and feed
off their energy. I just try to connect on an empathic, human level. It’s
the same if I’m doing a drama or comedy. Filmmakers, actors, writers, whoever else who
inspire you?
Oh,
boy! There are so many. I’ve been mostly inspired by those auteurs like Wes
Craven, George Romero, John Carpenter, Brian De Palma, Dario Argento, and even
John Cassavettes (though he’s not a horror guy). Growing up, I knew I wanted
to be like them. Every moment of their films has their stamp and personality
all over it and I love that about them. Each film felt personal and I’ve
discovered that’s what makes a watchable movie a lot of times. There has to
be a personal reason that you’re telling the story. It can’t just be “I
want to make a movie about a killer on the loose or a movie about a drug
addict.” There has to be something in the story that you relate to that
makes it personal.
Actor-wise, I’ve always admired Phillip Seymour Hoffman. That man never struck a
false note in his entire career. Allison Janney, Ellen Burstyn, Sandy Dennis,
Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Toni Collette, Gena Rowlands, Sissy
Spacek… there are so many. Your favourite movies?
Carrie
is probably my favorite. I know every word, inflection, and music cue. Halloween,
Death Becomes Her, Heathers, Suspiria,
Deep Red, Demons,
Dressed to Kill, Carnival of
Souls, Mulholland Drive, The Sound of Music, Alice Sweet
Alice, Terms of Endearment, 9 to 5, Singin’ in the
Rain, Meet Me in St. Louis, and Friday the 13th among others.
...
and of course, films you really deplore?
Oh,
I don’t know. I don’t really ask for much. Just give me one interesting
character or one semi-creative set piece and I’ll feel like I didn’t
completely waste my time. Even a lot of really bad movies are still
entertaining in some ways. I think the only truly awful movies are the ones
that have no heart or passion whatsoever. They’re the ones that are the
cold, cynical cash grabs where you can tell no one involved in the films has
any care for the final product. Everyone’s just doing it for the paycheck.
These are usually incredibly forgettable and, to me, that’s the worst sin a
film can commit. At least a really awful movie can be memorable and make us
feel something. When you walk out to the parking lot afterwards and can’t
remember a thing about what you just watched - that’s a bad movie. Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
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We
have a Facebook page which is
www.facebook.com/astrangeramongtheliving
and an Instagram which is @astrangeramongthelivingmovie and a Twitter which is
@StrangerAmong. Give us a follow or like on those to keep up with what’s
going on with the movie. We’re always posting where it’ll be playing each
month and fun stuff like that. Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
I
think that about covers it. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I hope
everyone checks out the movie and enjoys it. Thanks
for the interview!
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