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An Interview with Lou Simon, Director of Agoraphobia

by Mike Haberfelner

January 2015

Films directed by Lou Simon on (re)Search my Trash

 

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Your new movie Agoraphobia - in a few words, what is it about?

 

It’s about a woman who is unable to leave her home due to an acute case of agoraphobia. She inherits a house where she thinks she’s going to finally be able to overcome her illness. Instead, she begins to suspect that the new house is haunted, and due to her condition, nobody believes her.

 

Agoraphobia as such - is that at all a fear you can relate to, and how did you happen upon it as a premise of your movie?

 

I have aviophobia, which became pretty severe after the events of September 11th. It’s under control now, but I had to go to therapy to be able to set foot on a plane again after that. Agoraphobia seemed like a similar type of phobia, where people look at you like you’re crazy and just can’t understand why you can’t just get over it. The idea of not being able to leave your house was scary to me on its own, so once you add that you’re not safe inside either, it seemed terrifying.

 

With Agoraphobia being a ghost story of sorts, is that a genre at all dear to you, and some of your genre favourites? And what do you think makes your movie different from the usual ghost story?

 

Ghost stories are definitely my favorite. The only issue I have with most of them is that you ask yourself, “why don’t they just leave?” I wanted to give this story a genuine reason. She can’t leave because of her illness, and the people who might help her leave don’t believe her.

 

Other sources of inspiration when writing Agoraphobia?

 

Driving through the Florida Keys, you see some very beautiful houses in remote islands. I liked the irony of having a house surrounded by so much beauty and not being able to go outside to enjoy it.

 

How would you describe your directorial approach to your story at hand?

 

To keep the audience disoriented. I wanted the audience to not know whether this is just her imagination, or whether it is something supernatural, or even if it’s a trick someone is playing on her. If I succeed in keeping them guessing, then the twist at the end works. If not, I would have failed.

 

You produced Agoraphobia together with a dear long-time friend of this site, Tara Cardinal [Tara Cardinal interview - click here] - so what was your collaboration like, and how did she come on board even?

 

Tara and I are both part of a Facebook group of female directors. I had originally planned to film in Los Angeles, so I posted something on there asking for help from an experienced producer in L.A. She wrote me right away, and I was thrilled to have her onboard. Although we eventually moved the production to Miami, I would not have been able to do it without her. She took care of most of the casting and ran the entire production while I directed. Not only do we love working together, but we’ve become really good friends.

 

Tony Todd and Cassandra Scerbo

Agoraphobia features fan fave Tony Todd in a major supporting role - so what was it like working with him, and how did you get him even?

 

That was all Tara. She fought to have him join the cast and made it happen. I was actually terrified of working with him. I thought he’d be difficult or demanding. Instead, he was a complete sweetheart and so easy to work with. He continues to be involved with the film and to help us promote it.

 

What can you tell us about the rest of your key cast, and why exactly these people?

 

We needed a very strong actor for the lead role, since she’s in ninety-five percent of the scenes. I’d seen Cassandra Scerbo in Sharknado, and I thought that she was the best part of that film. Tara made that happen as well. The rest of the cast came from very talented actors that either Tara or I had worked with in the past or had always wanted to work with. When you have a cast of seven people, every performance has to be spot on or it kills your film.

 

I think your location is one of the key factors of Agoraphobia - so what can you tell us about the house it was filmed in, and the advantages but maybe also challenges of filming there?

 

One of the reasons we decided to make this film at this time was the fact that most of it happens in one location. That helps us keep the budget relatively low so that you can spend more money on talent. However, filming at someone’s house is very challenging. They initially are excited about it, but when fifty people descend on their house and wreak havoc, it stops being fun. I don’t think I’ll ever do that again.

 

What can you tell us about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?

 

This has to be the hardest production for me yet. When you are trying to do an entire feature film in fifteen days and you are flying in talent, there is zero room for error. For example, we had Tony Todd on set for only one day, and we had to film all four of his scenes in those twelve hours, no matter what. I was actually physically ill that day on set, because the stress level was so high. But you just have to grin and power through.

 

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Any idea when and where the film is going to be released onto the general public yet?

 

We just signed a distribution deal for North America, Scandinavia, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Japan. I don’t have dates yet though.

 

Any future projects you'd like to share?

 

We start production in mid-February on a new film called, All Girls Weekend. I like to call it a horrific adventure film, because it’s not a typical horror film. It’s more of an adventure with some really gruesome events. It’s an all-female cast, and it takes place in the mountains. It’s my homage to one of my favorite films ever, The Descent, but without the monsters – five strong, adventurous women who are roughing it and get really roughed up. That last part might be an understatement.

 

Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?

 

www.agoraphobiafilm.com

www.facebook.com/agoraphobiafilm

www.twitter.com/agoraphobiafilm

 

Thanks for the interview!

 

© by Mike Haberfelner


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Thanks for watching !!!



 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!