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Your new movie When
a Stranger Knocks - in a few words, what's it about?
This is a tough one for me. It's about so much. But, as far as the plot goes,
it's about ‘grief’. Two siblings go to their childhood cabin to spread
their father's ashes and basically face the harsh realization of
mortality. And of course… there's a monster at the end of that journey.
What were your sources of inspiration when writing When
a Stranger Knocks? Curious George was the original inspiration. The
Ranger's silhouette is really pulled from the Man in Yellow from Curious
George.
Then sprinkle some Venezuelan mythos of El Silbón and a little family
trauma, and boom, you have When
a Stranger Knocks. Do talk about When
a Stranger Knocks' approach to horror! Our
approach is very direct. In my previous film I wanted to hide everything
and make the audience guess who was the bad guy, but with this one I
wanted it all out there. I wanted the audience to know immediately who is
who. It's simple in a way, good and evil, angels and demons... black and
white. When
a Stranger Knocks is, at least when it comes to horror, quite
heavy on fight scenes - so do talk about the fights in your movie for a
bit, and how were they staged? I
have to mention the MVP of the movie here, Eddie Wells; he was our fight
choreographer. Crazy thing too, we celebrated his 60th birthday on set
with having him being punched in the face by Dawn Hamil [Dawn
Hamil interview - click here] several times. Poor guy.
He and Dawn did an incredible job with those, all my camera team had to do
was pick some solid angles and shoot. We wanted them to feel very visceral
and real and painful. We know the audience is waiting a long while for the
BANG, so we wanted to deliver, and just to make sure we did we shot some
of them twice.
What can you tell us
about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand? I
think I lead with a lot of gut intuition. I never feel like I did a good
job when I write, and I know I’m not that great at dialogue. I try to
just build a space where the actors and the crew can shine. I give them
what I feel a scene or a shot needs to convey, I try to be as clear as I
can when it comes to that, then allow them to build on that and bring the
scene to life. Collaboration would probably be the key word, but also
knowing what I want and don’t want. Do
talk about When
a Stranger Knocks' cast, and why exactly these people? Why
these people? Because I love them. Really. Joseph Bishop [Joseph
Bishop interview - click here] is my life long
best friend, Dawn Hamil is the sister I never wanted (joking) and we’ve known
each other and been working together for a decade now. Steven Marlow [Steven
Marlow interview - click here] I met
on my first film, and that guy is just an absolute joy to be around. He
always makes me laugh. Ty Anthony Smith [Ty
Anthony Smith interview - click here] was the newest addition, Dawn knew him and
showed me his work, and his audition just blew me away. It feels very
effortless in the way when he plays a scene. Alexiona Gettis is so young and raw,
her eyes spoke to a lot of depth of soul in her audition. She sort of
understood exactly what was needed from that character without there even
needing to be an explanation. She just clicked. And Clint (James Clinton [James
Clinton interview - click here])
is my mentor, he believed in me before anyone else did outside of my
family and in the professional world. I really wanted to have him in the
film in a way to show him that he wasn’t wrong in believing in me and
supporting me. It felt good to be able to actually pay him to do what he
does best. He’s a classically trained Shakespearean actor and it shows. You
of course also have to talk about When
a Stranger Knocks' main location, and what was it like filming
there? It’s a beautiful location. Jerry, the owner, we met through
AirBnB and he was
so gracious with us. He gave us the run of the whole place. I love wood
flooring and paneling, and the cabin had everything. Strangely enough,
one night on set (because some of us did stay and sleep there during
filming) there was a tornado right outside the window, it woke me up, sent
shivers down my spine, and then I ran outside to see the hail the size of
golfballs raining down. The first time I’ve ever seen that in Florida.
And I slept upstairs, in the top room, where you see Elly appear in the
closet. That closet was eerie, because there’s a door in the back that
leads into the attic. (Insert creepy laugh.)
A few words about the shoot as such, and the
on-set atmosphere?
I don’t know if I’m the right person to speak to the atmosphere. I was
always stressed out and crossing my fingers we got everything we needed to
make the film. But, that being said, I love being on set. It’s the best
place in the world. And the crew we had to make this was amazing. I love
all of them, deeply. They made me laugh so many times. I like the
atmosphere to be very loose and open to play, you need that when making a
horror film and dealing with very dark subject material.
Anything you can tell us about
audience and critical reception of When
a Stranger Knocks? So
far, the reception has been very positive. Which I did not expect. It’s
difficult working on something sort of away from civilization in a closet
for 8 months, then releasing it and getting such positive and uplifting
results. It’s difficult for me to accept praise or… I don’t know.
I’m very humbled by it, I never want to let anyone down, or someone feel
like their time was wasted, so to see reviews and comments from people
saying they enjoyed it, it’s too much for my heart to take. Any future projects you'd
like to share? Two words… analog horror. Or another two words…
liminal space. When things
really start rolling, I promise you’ll get the first big scoop.
What got you into filmmaking in the first
place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject? I
went to theatre school and worked in Broadway style theatre for 4 years
with James Clinton and Bob Whittaker at NorthWest Florida State
College.
There I met Joseph and several other industry folks that wanted to make
movies. From there we just got together as a collective and began filming
and editing our own short films. This was from like 2009 to 2012, so it
sort of still felt like the wild west a little. Not as many YouTube
tutorials as there are now. What
can you tell us about your filmwork prior to When
a Stranger Knocks? My
film work has been very consistent. I made several bad short films in
college, then went on to make an extended short film, then finally a solid
short film that went on to some festivals. From there I made my first
feature film, which was terrible but had some really solid nuggets that
were great. I decided to go back and make more short films, and I really
started to feel I understood how the process worked. It’s hard to learn
anywhere else than just by being on set and actually MAKING movies. I’ve
written several films, some that went on to be made by other directors,
but I’ve always been working in the commercial field and documentary
space. Those are great to cut your teeth on. They teach you the economics
of filmmaking. As a filmmaker, you seem to
never stray too far from the horror genre - so why is that? Because
for me, it’s the best genre. It’s the most creative and fruitful, full
with new ideas and you’re able to take risks. John Carpenter is a huge
inspiration to me. His work is so elegantly simple and direct and really
allows the mind to wander into dark spaces. It’s pure in a way. The
audience wants to be scared, and you want to scare them. My brother and I
grew up scaring each other all the time. It’s a joyful feeling, touching
the darkness and knowing you survived. There’s a reason even Christopher
Nolan wants to make a horror film.
How
would you describe yourself as a director? This
question kind of stumps me. I don’t know exactly. I’m curious. I find
stories and the structure of storytelling to be fascinating. Filmmaking is
so interesting. The mechanics of it. It’s like the casting of spells or
an illusion. If you can trick the audience into believing it, into feeling
it, then you’ve accomplished something really special. Filmmakers
who inspire you? All of them (joking). I mean, Ridley Scott and John Carpenter are up there at
the top. A lot of those 70s filmmakers that really took the industry by
the throat and made it their own. Kubrick, Nolan, and Fincher as well,
they can’t really do anything wrong. But, I will say one modern
filmmaker I’m absolutely blown away by and very very interested in her
career going forward is Rose Glass. Her film Saint Maud inspires me a lot.
She seems very fearless and I respect the hell out of that.
Your favourite movies? Oh
the tough questions. Do you have all day? Dog Day Afternoon is incredible,
I love the rawness and documentary feel of that film. Nolan’s The
Prestige blew my socks off as a teenager. Alien, The
Thing, Planet of the Apes are just classics. Anything with George C Scott. But one film I can
always watch and always makes me laugh no matter what is going on in my
life is Edgar Wright’s The World’s End with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
It’s scary but I see a lot of myself in Gary King. ... and of course, films you really deplore?
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Oh geez, I can’t do that. I want to continue working in this industry lol.
I will definitely say my first feature film, it’s a mess.
Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?
https://www.instagram.com/when_a_stranger_knocks/
https://www.facebook.com/thesavagefilm/
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I
will mention you. Thank you for doing this. Thank you very very much for
the great review, it means the world to me, really. Any time someone likes
something I’ve created it really blows my mind and I take it with me. We
spend all this time alone, thinking about projects and stories we want to
tell and working on them. And when people like yourself are interested in
them and enjoy those works, it’s incredibly humbling. So, thank you. Thanks
for the interview!
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