Your upcoming movie The Saviors - in a few words, what is it
about?
The Saviors is a very dark film about a struggling graduate
who returns to her Tennessee home years after the suicide of her mother.
While there, she begins to rekindle an estranged relationship with her
older, schizophrenic brother, and also begins to experience supernatural
phenomena. She starts to question if she is, in fact, seeing ghosts, or
is just suffering from a post-college depression or if her family’s
history of mental illness is finding its way to her.
Samantha Bryant |
From what I know, The Saviors is going to
be a ghost story of sorts - so is this a genre at all dear to you, and why
(not)? I’ve always had ideas of ghosts. Snake
itself was a ghost story. It wasn’t that the ghosts were necessarily
spirits or poltergeists, but of a psychological type. The man in that film
was quite literally haunted by his past, and his inability to accept the
ambiguities of the future. The Saviors is going to briefly brush
on that same level of “ghost story”, although there are more ideas
there. Other sources of inspiration for dreaming up The Saviors? Jean
Rollin. The films of Jean Rollin. I got into a kick of rewatching his
work, and was really struck by how much I had found a love for Fascination.
That slowburn style, and that atmosphere. It reminded me of something not
often found in horror anymore – and I definitely wanted to apply that
type with my own style for a fully-realized genre film. What
can you tell us about your movie's approach to horror (as in atmosphere vs
all-out gore, suspense vs sudden shocks and the like)? I’ve
been told often that there’s horror running through all my work from Cleaners
and even The Valentine. It’s more psychological, for sure,
and The Saviors will be, too. In fact, mental illness in itself
plays a key point in the framework of the film’s horror – but it’s
also nowhere near as restrained as my other films. I don’t want to give
much away, but it’s purely horror – and I’m hoping that it delivers
such with a few set-pieces I have in mind. A
few words about the movie's intended look and feel as such?
Joi Itapson |
The
film is going to be shot, believe it or not, on an iPhone. In fact, the
past five films I’ve directed (The Knock, The Music Video,
Hollywood,
Nikki, and The Valentine) were all shot on
iPhones. I like the look it gives. That deep focus and that overabundance
of information. It’s important, I feel, and it’s really what I want
when I’m staging a frame or planting a piece of symbolism somewhere.
Sadly, when uploaded online, my films take on a pixelated quality, but
I’m happy to announce the quality of The Saviors is gonna match
that of The Valentine online. It’s going to be crisp and
overwhelming. Anything
you can tell us about your projected key cast and crew yet, and why
exactly these people? Joi Itapson [Joi
Itapson interview - click here], the actress who played
the title character in Nikki, has taken on a key supporting role.
She’s also taken on position as co-producer with me, and also co-writer.
Her ideas are inventive, dark, and fit the world I have in mind. She’s
very invested in the material, and her character, and I have no doubt
she’ll be phenomenal. My leading lady has been cast. Her name is
Samantha Bryant, and she really knocked out her audition. She has a very
soulful presence that reminds me of a mixture of Lana Del Rey and Jennifer
Lawrence, and her look itself is very giallo-centric. I’m blessed that
she took on the part. Crew members include Scotty Ryan as music composer,
Itapson as costume designer, and a few key supporting parts cast, too. As
far as I know, The Saviors is still in pre-production as we
speak - so how far along are you, and what's the schedule? And any
idea when and where the film might be released onto the general public?
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We’re
aiming to film the entire thing over May and June of this year. It’s
going to be a quick shoot, outside of very key sequences that ask a lot of
me visually as the cinematographer. I’m going to spend a while editing
it, and working with Ryan on the score, for the film cut to be sent out to
film festivals through the end of the year and 2016. It’ll eventually be
put online like most of my other work, but it may take way longer than
anything else I’ve done. Any
future projects beyond The Saviors you'd like to share?
Not currently. I’ve placed all my energy on this one, but who knows
when I may be influenced to make a short film here or there until then. I
do know that Itapson and I are going to do a short film in the vein of The
Saviors, just so that we can open a possible IndieGoGo or Kickstarter
fundraiser for the feature – to help have the finances to distribute and
make its festival rounds possible.
Thanks for the
interview!
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