|
Your upcoming movie Aberrant - in a few words, what's it
going to be about?
It's
basically about a young couple who encounter a female vampire while trying
to escape the horrors of a worldwide pathogen that's turning people into
flesh-eating abominations. What were your inspirations when
dreaming up Aberrant? While
discussing the success of zombie-related films and TV's The Walking
Dead with another filmmaker a while back, I remember us agreeing
on the fact that neither of us would ever consider doing a film in that
sub-genre unless it contained a fresh twist. With my recently completed
horror feature Ghostline in the can and another feature
entitled Kill Me Once planned for September, I really had no
interest in doing a short film in the interim. But then one night while en
route to an audition for Kill Me Once, the idea for Aberrant hit
me... and I've been running with it ever since. What can you tell us about
your movie's approach to horror (as in suspense vs sudden shocks,
atmosphere vs all-out gore and the like)? As
we did with Ghostline, Aberrant will have its
share of horror, suspense, and sudden shocks. Since it'd be difficult to
make any kind of a zombie or vampire film without it, it'll also have some
gore, but I definitely wouldn't call it "all-out gore". Just not
my style. With
flesh-eating zombies and a vampire on the menu, I suspect Aberrant
to get bloody at least occasionally - so for the sake of the gorehounds
among my readers, what can you tell us about that aspect of your movie?
As
mentioned above, it'll get bloody at times. With a relatively small cast
and the story taking place in the country, there won't be hordes of
zombies milling about, but the ones we encounter will certainly provide
some thrills and chills. A
few words about the intended look and feel of Aberrant?
|
Danielle Lozeau |
 |
|
Mike Brayden |
|
|
Nadia Lanfranconi |
With
the entire story taking place at night in semi-isolated locations, our
intention is to make it dark and creepy. But we're going to light it in
such a way that viewers will certainly be able to see what's going on.
Anything
you can tell us about your key cast and crew yet, and why exactly these
people?
The
couple (Leslie & Brad) will be played by Danielle Lozeau and Mike
Brayden. Even though she's only in her early 20's, Danielle has starred in
several horror films, including Black Water Vampire and the
soon-to-be-released Misogynist. About a year ago, I was ready
to cast her in a feature that was ultimately shelved. Although it's a very
different character, I liked her right away for Leslie.
Mike
is a very talented local actor who's been winning awards left and right in
the burgeoning San Diego film community. Having already cast him in Kill Me Once, Mike was the first actor that came to mind while
writing Aberrant.
Our
vampire (Nicoleta) will be played by Italian actress/singer/songwriter
Nadia Lanfranconi. Nadia was selected mainly because of her strong acting
chops, but also because we loved her European accent. She's known for her
performance in The Snow Queen and was recently cast in the
big-budget feature Mesopotamia (Bill Oberst jr [Bill
Oberst jr interview - click here] & Natalie Burn [Natalie
Burn interview - click here]).
Regarding
crew, we've hired cinematographer Jesse Aragon, MUA/SFX artist Francia
Cohen, sound mixer George Goen, and composer Steve Garbade, all of whom
worked with us on and contributed greatly to Ghostline, and
Mark Anthony Cox as our stunt coordinator. Mark is also playing a zombie
in a key scene.
As far as I know, Aberrant is still in
its fundraising stages as we speak - so what can you tell us about your
fundraising efforts? This
is our first attempt at crowdfunding and the first week was very
interesting to say the least. I had no idea that managing it would be so
time consuming. But I'm not
complaining. Being aware that money is very tight for most people these
days, we sincerely appreciate ANY contribution that's made and are honored
to have so many people believe in our project. http://igg.me/p/aberrant/x/279263
Once the funds are raised, what's
the schedule, and even if it might be waaay too early to ask, any idea
when the film might be released onto the general public yet?
Our plan is to shoot the film April 2 - 4 and have it
ready for viewing sometime in June.
Any
future projects beyond Aberrant you'd like to share? As
mentioned above, we have a feature film (Kill Me Once) in
pre-production and expect to begin principal photography in September. Kill Me Once
is a supernatural thriller that stars Andrew Bongiorno and Rachel Alig.
Beyond that, we hope to produce Ghostline II sometime in 2016.
Oh, yeah... and there could be a sequel to Aberrant mixed in
there somewhere.
What
got you into filmmaking to begin with, and did you receive any formal
training on the subject? The
short answer is that I got tired of waiting for someone to option one of
my screenplays. Having read about how indie filmmakers were producing and
directing their own projects, I
decided to try my luck with it. I initially wanted to produce a feature
film, but one day I came across a story in a filmmaking magazine that
listed five legitimate reasons for producing a short before taking on a
feature. Having had no formal training, I read a lot of books and did a
lot of research on the internet before tackling my first project as a
director, The Body Bag.
What can you tell us about your
filmwork prior to Aberrant? As
mentioned above, The Body Bag was my directorial debut.
Besides being awarded Best California Short Film 2012 by the
California Film Awards, that film opened a lot of doors and enabled me to
meet a bevy of very talented actors and filmmakers. Following that, I
jumped directly into Ghostline.
I'd also like to mention that while we were working on Ghostline, I optioned one of my screenplays (The Final
Table) to a production company in Las Vegas.
How
would you describe yourself as director? Patient
and flexible, yet insistent at having my story told the way I want it to
be told. Filmmakers who
inspire you? That list would be way too long to print. But if I
had to choose one, it would be Alfred Hitchcock. Your favourite movies?
Having
seen so many great films over my lifetime, it'd be virtually impossible to
choose which ones are my absolute favorites. But here's a few that popped
into my head: North By Northwest, The Godfather, Star Wars,
Taken, and, in the horror genre, The Exorcist and the
original Night of the Living Dead.
...
and of course, films you really deplore?
 |
Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned) |
The links below
will take you
just there!!!
|
|
 |
Out
of respect for other filmmakers, I won't list titles. But I deplore any
film that leaves the viewers scratching their heads or asking "What
just happened?" as they're leaving the theater. Okay, I'll give you
one: Eraserhead.
Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, IndieGoGo, whatever else?
Facebook
page for Aberrant:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aberrant/418672081622319
IndieGoGo
link:
http://igg.me/p/aberrant/x/279263
Anything
else you are dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
I
just want to say "thank you very much" for doing this. Also,
congratulations on your screenwriting debut with A Killer
Conversation, which I plan on ordering from Amazon!
Thank you ... and thanks for the interview!
|
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Dean Whitney at adultvideouniverse.com
