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Your new movie Bedevil
- in a few words, what is it about?
For
the past four months, Cody has been receiving menacing phone calls and
messages. This time the stalker is taking it a step further. What were your
inspirations when writing Bedevil,
and is any of this based on personal experiences?
I actually wanted to do a film similar to this with James DeWitt who was
Dexter in Tinsel. We just never got around to doing the film,
which at the time was titled The Call. This film was for my final grade in
my production class, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, and I
decided to do the stalking genre that I wanted to do almost three years
ago. No, none of this is based on personal experiences.
How
would you describe your directorial approach to your subject at hand?
With every film I have done so far, I have tried to approach the filming
style differently. This was the second film that I had acted in and
directed. I think I have really stepped my game up with this film. I
am proud of my acting and proud of the film that has been released. I
was more verbal on what shots I wanted, and made sure that my crew could
see my vision. I wanted to create a movie where it was uncomfortable to
watch… I think we all nailed that.
You
also play one of the leads in Bedevil
- so did you write that character with yourself in mind, and given his
rather extreme behaviour, what did you draw upon to bring Adam to life,
how much of yourself could you find in him?
Madeleine Garcia, Michael Beckhart, Mikel
Ledesma, Triston Pullen |
I do, I play Adam. I did not write that particular character in mind
that I would be playing him. While I was writing the film, the teacher
brought up “Whoever that is going to play Adam better bring it, or it
won’t work.”
So I was worried about who I was going to find. About a week before we
were slated to shoot, and no one attached to play Adam, I decided that
it would be one of the coolest roles to play. With that being said I do
have eight years of experience playing crazy. I volunteered at the
worlds largest charity haunted house Hangman’s House of
Horrors. I spent a whole day in front of a mirror with my AD and
one of my cinematographers going over each scene that I had to bring
that extreme behavior to life in. I tried each scene differently until
we all agreed on what worked. After watching the film, I wish I would
have done some stuff differently but that always happens. And there is
always next time. All my friends joke around and call me Adam. I can
relate to Adam a little. But I am not as crazy as he is…
What can you
tell us about the rest of your cast, and why exactly these people?
This was the best cast and crew I have worked with hands down, everyone
was professional and hard working. We all had a bond, and I think thats
what made this movie work. You could tell we all had a blast making this
short.
My lead actor (Michael Beckhart) had never done film, he does have a few
stage performances under his belt, but this was his first actual film. I
will be working on two more films with him at the beginning of the year.
I never held a casting call for this film, I just went to people who had
some acting experience and who I felt fit the character that I had
visioned. They were simply amazing to work with and beyond professional.
I will work with every single one of them again.
Do
talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere!
Out of all four films that I have done, Bedevil
takes it. This was the
best experience I have had as a director. From the pre-production to
filming this was the film that I didn’t want the experience to end.
We were always laughing, smiling, telling jokes, and just bonding as a
cast. We all fed off each other, scenes that should have been awkward to
film, weren’t because we had such a tight bond. We literally
joked around with each other the whole filming. There was never a dull
moment. I didn’t stress over this film like I have with my others. The
set was awesome, the crew was awesome. I never worked on a film where
the whole cast had a bond and were together 24/7 while filming. My
favorite scene to shoot were the flashback scenes which weren’t in the
12 minute cut. The Director’s Cut will be out sometime in January. Our
AD (Michaela Murray)
directed the flashback scenes and pushed boundaries and made sure that
the scenes looked amazing. Let’s just say I have never kissed so many
people in one day in my life. I literally felt like we were shooting a
porno, but during
that whole shoot, we laughed and joked around, and everyone cheered when
the cameras cut at how good the scenes turned out. They do get a little
racy.
A
few words about audience and critical reception of Bedevil
so far?
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The film was voted into Freshman Showcase. When I first showed the cut
in class, we showed an 8 min cut that ended, and no one really clapped. I was
scared, They didn’t like it or they are just to oshocked to process
what just happened
was going through my head. I mean, I did end it on the worst part
possible. I ended it where I cut him loose, and we hug and Adam says
"I
love you." Bedevil
pops on screen. But once the class ended, the teacher
told me how proud
she was, and a few people in the class congratulated me and told me how
much they loved it and how crazy it was. People who went to the actual
screening and saw the 12 minute cut loved it. It was weird getting
praise about how
good I did at bringing Adam to life. Everyone who has seen it so far has loved it. One person did say it was a bit cheesy. I love cheesy and
I wanted it to have that B movie feel. Everyone is just shocked on how
it ended. And if there’s going to be a sequel or if I am gonna do what
I did to Tinsel, end it with a cliff hanger and never do a Part II.
Any future projects you'd like to share?
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Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
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The links below
will take you
just there!!!
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Choked: A comedy written by Gerald Crum (Cypress Creek) about 2
college students who decide to rob a drug dealer. Release Date: 2015
Bedevil: Part II - 2015
BED3VIL: The Final Chapter - 2015
Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
www.facebook.com/bedevil2015
Anything else
you are dying to mention and I've merely forgotten to ask?
The director’s cut of Bedevil
will be out January! Be sure to CHECK IT
OUT!! It will answer any questions, and cover all the plot holes….
Thanks
for the interview!
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amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Mikel Ledesma at adultvideouniverse.com
