Your upcoming movie Eden Falls - in a few words, what's it
goint to be about?
It's the story of a champion skier who witnesses something he is not
supposed to see. When he gets into a terrible accident and wakes up at
Eden Falls hospital, he finds that his girlfriend is held hostage by a
sinister doctor and it becomes a cat and mouse game when he tries to
rescue her. How did the project fall together in
the first place?
Well I was friends with Victor Miller. We
met in 2010 when The Big Bear Horror Film Festival (which I had co-founded
in 2009) was doing a 30 year reunion of Friday the
13th. I met Harry
Manfredini as well. Both Victor and Harry were reunited then at the
festival in Big Bear. Victor and I had talked about writing a script
together.
Fast forward to 2011 (a few months later)
when I was shooting a film in Helena, Montana. There I met Martin Rogers.
Martin and I had hit it off and he was interested in writing a horror film
as well. We even had come up with the idea of an abandoned hospital. Well
I decided to reach out to Victor to bring him on to the collaboration.
Eden Falls was born.
What were your inspirations for writing
Eden Falls? This seems like a simple enough
question. I think each one of us was inspired by things separately on our
own. Our inspiration, as a collaboration, was that we
wanted to write something that was very Hitchcock-esque in its suspense
and still make it something that fans of Victor Miller would love to see.
It was a good way to introduce him to a new audience. Do talk about your co-writers Martin
Rogers and Victor Miller for a bit, and what's your collaboration with
them like?
This is my favorite question to answer. I
like it because we made an amazing script in such an unconventional way.
Martin lives in Helena, MT. Victor lives in the bay area outside of San
Francisco, CA. I live in Los Angeles, CA. Sitting down to write was
something that couldn't easily happen.
So we met digitally. We would schedule Skype
calls every week or so and discuss the project; create characters, plot
points, scenarios, all the good stuff that goes into creating a good
story. We would each go off and write, and then submit our sections and
then Skype again and talk and critique. I won't lie - it was so much fun!
It was also a huge learning experience for both Martin and myself.
Victor is the seasoned pro here. He has 3 Emmys and created the largest horror franchise to date. He is also a Yale
English graduate, so Martin and I let him take the lead in the project.
He was our head writer. Once the script was done, Victor went through it
and polished it, giving it one voice and making it fluid.
Eden Falls will be scored by Harry
Manfredini of the original Friday
the 13th, just like Victor Miller - at all a coincidence, or will
there be parallels between those films? And what can you tell us about Mr.
Manfredini's score?
Well it's actually not a coincidence. When
Victor and Harry reconnected in Big Bear and we all knew each other, it
made sense to reach out to Harry to score Eden Falls, especially when they
had already created a highly and successful brand with Friday
the 13th.
Here is what I love about Harry. He speaks
musically. He describes scenes and moments to you with music. It's so
fascinating to hear that. As a writer/director I really look at things
visually - but he looks at things musically and it really adds depth to
everything.
I can't give away too much now. I really
want the viewers to be surprised and let the music that Harry creates
enhance their experience. You can interview Harry and let him talk about
it! He will do a much better job at describing it than I would.
Do talk about the intended look and
feel of your movie for a bit! Well it is a suspense so it
needs to be a bit fast-paced, especially since it involves a lot of
action. I won't give too many secrets away this early on. Let's do a
follow up interview and we can discuss all of this in more detail! Anything you can tell us
about your cast yet, and why exactly these people? As a
director I have a tendency to reach out to actors I have worked with
before, because I am familiar with their work and because we have a great
working relationship. I want that to reflect on the screen. We are
in the final stages of casting so keep an eye out for more faces! As
far as I know, your film's still in pre-production - so what's the
schedule, and even if it's probably waaay too early to ask, any idea when
the film will be released yet? The film is scheduled for
release in 2017. Any future projects
beyond Eden Falls?
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I am blessed to have an amazing team. My
manager Shaun is a rock star and we surround ourselves with people who
hustle. So we are always out there and working on new projects.
As of right now, I just got attached to a
fun zombie film called Hamachi. I also have a project - that is not horror
related - which I wrote and will be directing called You Can Call Me
Eve. This is a powerful latina drama about an older woman who
has lost her husband is trying to figure her place in life now that she is
alone. We have some amazing people attached to that as well including
Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis.
Your/your movie's website,
Facebook, whatever else?
Website: www.bearclawfilms.com
On the site is the link to all of our social
media and all of our projects.
Anything else you're dying to
mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? There are so
many things to mention but if I were to put them here what would have to
talk about next time?! Thanks for
the interview!
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