Your new movie American
Antichrist - in a few words, what is it about?
American
Antichrist
is an epic, dark, and nihilistic horror film that
takes the viewer on a surreal drug fueled trip through hell. What
were your sources of inspiration when writing American
Antichrist?
I
had been wanting to make the film American
Antichrist
for some time now - as
far back as 2013, actually. But
it was not until after the completion of my previous film, The Rise and
Fall of an American Scumbag (late 2017-early 2018), that I obtained a 4K
camera, which enabled me to create films that were more cinematic and
sleeker in style. I’ve
grown tremendously as a filmmaker/artist, and now that I had a 4K camera,
I finally had everything I needed to truly bring my vision of American
Antichrist
to the screen.
As
far as inspiration for American
Antichrist - I drew inspiration from a
variety of things-such as serialkillers, religion, drugs, and heavy metal
subculture. As far as cinematic inspirations for making American
Antichrist, I was inspired by older horror films that relied heavily on
atmosphere, such as At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul,
Eraserhead, I Bury The Living and even The Exorcist. I
also found a great deal of inspiration from arthouse films as well, which
may explain some people have made comments that American
Antichrist
is
much more “experimental” than my past films, and some have even said
that American
Antichrist
is avant garde.
Of all the characters of American
Antichrist, neither of them being very nice people, is there
anyone who you can actually identify with on a personal level?
All
the characters in American
Antichrist
are each evil in their own
individual way - but despite this, if the viewer is able to set aside their
morality, then they will definitely not have any issues identifying with
any of the characters in the film.
Aside
from that, I enjoy how my character, The Antichrist is somewhat of a rock
star/celebrity even though he is a serialkiller, as the film shows that
he was given extensive media coverage and even has followers, including
the mysterious woman who cuts herself and spills her blood on his grave.
Do
talk about your movie's approach to horror for a bit!
I
wanted American
Antichrist
to have a dark, drugged up, supernatural,
nightmarish atmosphere, but at the same time I wanted it to be disturbing
yet abstract, with a lot of the content being left up to the viewers
interpretation. The film is essentially an exploration of evil, showing
how it can take on many different forms, whether it be religion or drugs.
I
was also fortunate enough to get to use music from the French doom metal
band Fallow as the soundtrack to the film. The soundtrack from Fallow
meshes incredibly well with a lot of the scenes and elevates American
Antichrist
into something powerful, haunting, and metaphysical.
What
can you tell us about your overall directorial approach to your story at
hand?
My
directorial approach to American
Antichrist
was to allow myself to have
unlimited artistic freedom - and that is why some of the film’s content
comes across as experiment or avant garde. I
also put a lot of effort into the camerawork of the film, and The 4K
camera gives the film’s images more depth and allowed me to take in more
of the surroundings, enabling me to establish the dark, supernatural,
nightmarish atmosphere I was striving to create.
You also play one of the leads in American
Antichrist - so what did you draw upon to bring him to life? And
since you once again play a very despicable character - how difficult but
also how much fun and how much of a relief is it playing this kind of
role?
A
great amount of time went into the development of The Antichrist
character. The Antichrist is essentially a glorified dead serialkiller
raised from the dead as a vessel for the Antichrist. The character isn’t
quite human, so the challenge I had was to convincingly portray and bring a
character to the screen that is an entity/supernatural being.
I
designed The Antichrist with myself in mind to play him since I felt that
the character was extremely important to the film, and it was imperative
that I play the role because I felt that no else could effectively bring
my vision of the character to the screen the way I could.
What can you tell us about the rest of your cast,
and why exactly these people?
There
is Nick Benning who plays the drug dealer named Chris in the film. Nick is
a friend of mine who regularly appears in my films. He played Nikki in The
Acid Sorcerer and Lucifer in American
Scumbags. Nick’s friend Meg plays
Crystal, a drug addict who escapes from rehab, hooks up with Chris and
then inadvertently ends up being murdered in a snuff film after being set
up by Chris and his friend/snuff filmmaker Sid.
Then
there is L.B. who plays Benjamin, a religious fanatic/serialkiller who
preys on homeless people. The character is on a divine mission to try to
extinguish the lives of those he deems “wicked” or unholy. L.B.
is an incredible actor and no one else could have played the character
Benjamin as effectively as he did or even touch his performance.
A
few of my acquaintances also played minor roles in the film, but other than
that, the cast of American
Antichrist
was relatively small.
A few words about the
shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
Compared
to the on-set atmosphere of my past films, it was normal. Most of the scenes
involving The Antichrist and Benjamin were actually filmed around my house
in Denver, Colorado.
The
segments of the film involving Chris and Crystal were filmed all in one
day at Nick’s house in Lakewood, Colorado.
The
$64-question of course, where can American
Antichrist be seen?
We
recently had an IndieGoGo presale of the film that was successful. A lot
of people supported and contributed to the campaign and we ended up not
only meeting but surpassing our goal! So thanks to everyone who supported,
contributed to the American
Antichrist
IndieGoGo presale!
There
will be second edition DVDs available in early 2019 and American
Antichrist
will be playing at a few film festivals as well. Then finally, American
Antichrist
will be streamed online for free - basically because I
want as many people possible to see the film.
Anything you can tell us
about audience and critical reception of American
Antichrist yet? It has been mostly positive. There
is no denying that the film is impressive on a technical level. I have
gotten a lot of positive feedback regarding the camerawork and acting in
the film, and almost everyone has enjoyed the new kind of experimental
style of American
Antichrist. Any future projects you'd like
to share?
I
am currently in the preliminary stages of a new film called The Dark Days
of Demetrius. We will probably begin filming spring 2019, and have it out
in the later summer-fall if next year.
Every
time I make a new film, I try to push myself as a filmmaker/artist and
think I have some solid ideas and concepts that I feel I can make a
powerful new film out of.
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!!!
|
|
|
The
official Dakota Ray-R.A. Productions WordPress can be found at
https://dakotarayfilmmaker.wordpress.com
It
extensively covers my films, and features a large photo gallery that spans
my entire filmography/career. The WordPress site also contains several
interviews I’ve done through the years as well.
Official
Dakota Ray-R.A. Productions Facebook
page:
https://www.facebook.com/dakotaraydirectoractorartistdenver/
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? Yes, thanks for your continued
coverage/support of our films, we really appreciate it. We’d also like to
give a HUGE thanks to everyone who contributed to the American
Antichrist IndieGoGo presale campaign and helped us surpass our goal! Thanks for the interview!
|