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Your new movie Delusion
- in a few words, what is it about?
I'll
give you the synopsis: Three years after the death of Frank's
wife a mysterious woman appears. As their attraction grows Frank struggles
with reality and his loss. He tries to start over not knowing his choices
could lead him to his own downfall.
Delusion
plays like a
mystery-thriller with some horror thrown in the mix.
What were your
sources of inspiration when writing Delusion?
And is it in any way based on personal experiences (not the demon part I
hope)?
No
demons in my life. At least not that I know of ha-ha! This is actually a
hard question to answer because Delusion
was based off of an old script I
was working on that just wasn't coming together so I stole some elements
from that and started over. From a shooting standpoint I was very
influenced by Bella Tarr. Not that we were trying to do what he was doing
because it's completely different, but I love his use of longshots, pans,
and tracking. We tried to do our own version of that. We always try
to find our own voice in what we do.
Some
of it was based on personal experience in the sense that the thoughts and
ideas that the characters have are based on random thoughts and
conversations I've had in my life. Ideas of life and death, spirit
worlds, do they exist or not, and the psychology of people in certain
situations. I was trying to find things in my life that interest me
and make that work in a film. One of the biggest goals was after making A Life Not To Follow, which was very raw and real, I wanted to make
something that we had to be more patient with, a little slower, smoother,
and surreal.
In Delusion,
the line between (the film's) reality and its lead's nightmares and
imagination is blurred quite a bit - so how hard was it at times to not
just lose the plot, and what can you tell us about your movie's narrative
structure as such?
It
wasn't hard. I just had to make sure I was explaining what was happening
to my cast and crew. Not that they couldn't follow but to make sure we
were all on the same page.
The
structure was all about a feeling for me. As long as the story was moving
and there was tension along the way I was happy. I had a lot of room to
play and experiment because the main character was struggling
with reality. It allowed me to take calculated risks. I also used the
leads psychology when thinking what direction to go next. I can't say too
much or I'll give away the story. I just wanted to make something that
interested me and I wanted to create a good atmosphere for this
story to live in.
Do talk about Delusion's
approach to horror for a bit! And to what extent is Delusion
based on any actual demonology, did you research on that aspect of your
story?
I
always do some research when I make a film. Santa Muerte makes an
appearance in the film. She is a very cool saint. You should check her
out! I absolutely love Mexico too. I have been there a few times and hope
to go back again many more. So like I was saying above about finding
things that interest me Mexico is a place that interests me a lot so
having a character that spent time there was great because it made me look
into her and Mexico more. Also with the character Isabella she talks about
researching the Mayan Oracle, which is from Mexico again, and also
shamanism. She's clearly searching the whole realm of spirituality to find
her place. Something I think a lot of people go through. I've researched
that a bit so I knew what I was talking about in the film.
The
horror in this film is very psychological. We definitely have some
blood and violence but it's more about reality and psychological fear than
anything. Fear of the unknown and fear of starting over. It's not an in-your-face gore flick but it has a build-up to horror. It goes from creepy
to bat shit crazy. Like how in real life things sometimes take a bad turn
and there is nothing you can do but act or not.
What can you tell us about your overall
directorial approach to your story at hand? My goal is to
always make sure the actors have all the information they need to prepare.
Make sure they understand what they're doing in each scene and we can make
adjustments if needed. Pretty much once we're set with the idea of a
character it's really about continuously sharing my vision and giving the
actor a very supportive and encouraging environment. I always try to be
calm and collective on set. Everyone is going to ask you a bunch of
questions and you have to have the answers for them. I also know I need to
be a leader and my attitude sets the tone for the shoot. I have the same
approach every time. I experiment with a new technique once in a while.
It's small things that change from story to story. David, who plays Frank,
and I talked a lot about psychology and his character being in denial. I
also gave him a piece of music that was about 19 minutes of this drone
pulsating sound and every time his character was in a nightmare or just
confused I wanted him to play that song in his head.This is not
a new approach but an example of stuff we would be talking about or
doing. You may give an actor a painting to look at, maybe you're
having them watch an old film, read a book. It's all about the
results. Keep sharing your vision and make sure you always listen as well. Do talk
about your key cast, and why exactly these people?
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David Graziano |
David Graziano [David
Graziano interview - click here] worked
with me in the past and after A Life Not To Follow I wanted to make a film
with him as the main lead. In A Life Not To Follow
it has three parts and
is not a normal film structure. I knew I can work with him and get
great results. He gives 110% all of the time.
For Mary I saw actress Jami
Tennille in a few things and loved her look. She is strong and very
talented. She can play tough and she can play sweet. That's what I needed.
I saw Kris Salvi in a short and again I thought his look would fit the
role. He again is very talented and goes above and beyond when he
performs. I worked with Justin Thibault
in the past as well and for him it was just about taking a really good
actor and giving him a role. He's very smooth and has a lot of range. I
also worked with Irina Peligrad before. She is another great
person to work with who really fit the role. She has great timing. Carlyne
Fournier was someone I have known about for a long time and I always
wanted to work with her. I had a role that was a fit and was happy she
accepted. Renee Lawrie was someone we auditioned and thought she
would be great after seeing her act. She does a great job and is very easy
to work with. For Jessy Rowe, she was one of the leads in my film
Under the Dark Wing and I wanted to make sure she got in on this feature.
She's really talented and a really nice person too. Everyone in this
film was so professional and has a lot of talent. Our crew was
just amazing to work with as well. They're all hard working and very
smart. A few
words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
Amazing!
Really we just had a group of people that had fun with the material and
got along with one another. It was about as positive and smooth of a set
you're ever going to find and I'm very grateful and want to take the time
to thank my cast and crew again for just being amazing, hard working
people. It was a fun film to make. The
$64-question of course, when and where will Delusion
be released onto general audiences?
We have been picked-up by Cinema Epoch and the film is now available at
Amazon. Free to watch with Prime. Please check it out. We need your
support.
Link to Delusion:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01MF9KFQL
Anything you can
tell us about audience and critical reception of Delusion
yet? So far the critical reception has been great! My last
two films I've really been lucky to get a ton of positive reviews. For Delusion
we have been getting great responses from the audience as well.
People seem to really be digging it and are very intrigued by the story. Any future projects you'd like to share?
I'm going to be releasing a short film called Kinnari free
online in the next few months. It's an arthouse film about a man who is
frustrated with life and looks for an escape. I'm also going to
start looking for funding for a new feature.
Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
 |
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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My
website:
http://www.christopherdinunzio.com/
Delusion Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/thefilmDelusion/
A Life Not To Follow
Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ALifeNotToFollow/
Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? My
other feature A Life Not To Follow
is looking at a spring release from
Random Media. I'm very happy about getting that one out. The last two
features we made have been picked-up for distribution and we couldn't be
happier. Keep a look out for this one! Thanks
for the interview!
As always thank you for the having me!
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