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Your new movie I'm a Gun
- in a few words, what is it about?
I describe I'm a Gun as a high speed head-on collision, into a sea of madness and
violence. A gun-for-hire
accepts a shady contract targeting a beautiful and deadly woman. When the
mark's disabled brother gets in the way, the job quickly turns into a
desperate fight for survival inside a den of madness and brutality.
I'm a Gun is
quite a wild genre mix - so what was the idea behind that, and how much
fun was it to play with genre mainstays as your film did? I'm a Gun
was spawned as a passion project for
my love of 2 very specific movies, and I always thought it would be fun
seeing them together as 1 film. Mashing them together was a blast.
Seeing elements from a multitude of genres coming together, and flowing
effortlessly into the same story, was truly surreal. (Other)
sources of inspiration when dreaming up I'm
a Gun? I've
always had a love for anti-heroes. They always put the audience in a
very uncomfortable position. Who do you root for? Bad Guy #1 or Bad
Guy#2? As an audience you instinctively connect with one of them for any
multitude of reasons, and when a filmmaker forces you to choose between 2
bad people I think it tells us a lot about who we are in a very primal
way. Plus, I've always loved bad guys!
I'd
love to make a movie of nothing but bad guys for every character at some
point! To what extent could you actually
identify with your film's main character, the too-cool-for-his-own-good
gun for hire? That's actually a brilliant question, because
Chaisson was such a complex character and nobody else has even come close
to asking me about him in this way. On a filmmaking level, I wanted to
have a main character who was oozing confidence. Having someone who
was a sure bet, and that the audience could place a bet on that was a
guaranteed winner was critical to the story! Now, on a personal
level, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't an allegory in Chaisson's
arrogance in relation to a private frustration I have with indie
filmmaking in general. I'll just leave it at that.
What can you tell us about your
directorial approach to your story at hand? My approach was
the same as usual, have fun while learning and growing as an artist.
I primarily work with the actors in making sure they're confident in their
performances, giving them the freedom to explore the characters in their
own ways, while allowing the crew a lot of creative freedom to highlight
these characters properly to enhance their performances. I am not
one of these overbearing directors who has to control everything on set.
My crew knows what their job is, they do it well, and I allow them to do
it. If I don't understand it, or agree with their choices, we'll
generally discuss it and we'll move forward when we are all on the same
page. Shooting a film is a group effort, and everyone involved is a
pivotal piece of the project. Do talk
about your key cast, and why exactly these people? Probably
75% of my cast & crew were people I had never worked with before, and
it was glorious! I love creating opportunities for people, and I
ALWAYS learn something new from people I've never worked with before.
I'd limit my growth tremendously if I never changed my cast & crew up.
My key cast were all people I had never worked with before. I
chose them primarily based on their audition performances, and their
ability to trust in me when I gave them specific direction. Jason
Neff encapsulated the callous & cool Chaisson, Kat Walsh wasn't afraid
to yell profanities or be a cheerleader of violence, Ryan Stoick was just
brilliant in some of his improv, and I was extremely impressed with Nick
Austin's emotional roller coaster that I coerced from him. These
characters were so abrasive, so off-the-wall, that the actors had to have
complete trust in what I was asking them to do. I'm fortunate that
they did, and that we were all able to communicate effectively. A few
words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? We
shot the crime thriller portion one night and the horror portion the next
night. Working with new people, we had some hiccups the first night,
but everyone seemed to adapt to each other for the 2nd night. I
really applaud this crew for being able to pull everything together, often
times in tight quarters.
The
$64 question of course, where can I'm
a Gun be seen? Well, in all honesty, nowhere at the
moment. We're still trying to find our first film festival
acceptance after 9 months of submissions. I'm kind of starting to
wear it as a badge of honor - I'm a Gun is a film that is too extreme for film
festivals! Anything you can tell us about
audience and critical reception of I'm
a Gun yet? Our reviews have been nothing short of
overly positive, so the mystery behind all of the festival rejections is
quite compelling. I can say that I still enjoy watching I'm a Gun, and I'm
eager for it to find the audience that festivals have denied. The
fact that online reviewers have all liked it just proves that these
festivals have gotten it wrong so far, but plans are in place to release
it online sometime in the first few months of 2018. Follow us on the
I'm a Gun Facebook page and you'll be sure to see it once it does hit the
internet - https://www.facebook.com/imagun2016/
Any future projects you'd like to
share? I'm in pre-production for my first feature, which is
another genre mash-up! This time it's a supernatural drama called
The Caregivers. Hoping to shoot it in late 2018.
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Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else?
https://www.facebook.com/imagun2016/
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? Despite all of the challenges
we've had trying to get this movie in front of audiences, I'm extremely
proud of it! Of all my films, it's the one that haven't grown tired
of after hundreds of viewings. It's a violent, offensive, comical,
nerve-wracking 10 minutes of solid performances! Thanks for the interview!
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