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Two new movies of yours are about to be released, Lady
of the Dark: Genesis of the Serpent Vampire and Dark Watchers: The Women in Black. Let's talk about Lady
of the Dark first: In a few words, what is it about?
Ultimately,
it's about living with nature. The “snake” has no reasoning powers, it
simply is. It feeds, procreates without thinking about it. We reason
everything, we fall in love with our possessions and each other and yet
forget how fleeting these things really are. We own nothing, we are in
essence energy having found consciousness through the biological form of
the human. Same energy as the snake. So, what happens when we collide with
nature? When the mind of a conscious man or woman morphs with that of a
cold-blooded natural animal? I predicted a hellish clash and used the
ancient serpent worship myths to tell the tale in a modern setting. Not
surprising when I've written so many books on serpent worship (which are in
many ways all about living in balance with nature anyhow). What
were your inspirations when writing Lady
of the Dark, and to what amount is the story rooted in actual
myth? From a visual point of
view I was inspired by many of the really arty shorts you find on vimeo.com. There's some serious talent on there. Don't know if I
succeeded! Yes, the film is based on ancient myth. The serpent can be
found in every religion of the globe. In the Bible it's the only animal to
speak with its own voice. It is wisdom, it's good and bad. It's as many
things as humans want to create. I simply envisaged an ancient serpent
race, having once been proud and ruling over the earth.
With Lady
of the Dark being a vampire movie - is the vampire a creature that
holds any special interest for you? I
find the whole vampire thing fascinating, but probably not for the same
reasons my daughter does when she watches Twilight. What's it really all
about? Where did it really originate? The concepts of eternal life, life
in the blood, the existence between the world of light and dark, life and
death.
Lady
of the Dark is pretty much a one-person-play, just like your
earlier Cam Girl. What
made you choose that approach again? I
had done a few films with plenty of people in, and in all honesty I needed
a break and to show that I could make a film without any help. Was damned
hard work.
From the looks of
it, Lady of the Dark
seems like a tour-de-force for your leading lady Melanie Denholme [Melanie
Denholme interview - click here]. So what
can you tell us about the shoot as such, the on-set atmosphere, and of
course about Melanie Denholme? Mel
is a professional. She learns lines at lightning speed and delivers them
beautifully. She has that look that will set her apart from the LA glamour
types too. We worked from dawn till dusk and everybody did a wonderful
job.
Dark Watchers: The Women in Black
- again, what is it about?
Well,
it's about three girls, two of which hunt out UFOs. Then a man in black
appears and things go strange. Ultimately it's about what they said at
Woodstock, getting back to the garden. Dark Watchers: The Women in Black
touches subjects you have touched upon
in your documentaries as well, right? So did your work as documentary
filmmaker in any way influence Dark Watchers: The Women in Black, regarding plot and background, and
have you based any of the characters (e.g. the doctumentary filmmaker in
the movie) at least in part on yourself?
Some
of it is a what we Brits call "taking the piss". I think there will be a
lot of folk who will recognise themselves. I'll leave it up to them to see
if they can see that clearly. I'm not in it dude, no! (Other) sources
of inspiration for Dark Watchers: The Women in Black? The
Day the Earth Stood Still (original) was probably one, but in all honesty,
it's a strange film with so many weird things happening that it probably
just emerged out of the screwed up brain of the writer whilst popping a
few magic mushrooms.
What can you tell
us about your cast and crew, and the on-set atmosphere? Can't
stand any of them. Useless, every last one of them. Seriously, best bunch
of guys and gals I've ever worked with. Very hard work on set, but a lot
of fun too. Especially
with both Lady of the
Dark: Genesis of the Serpent Vampire and Dark Watchers: The Women in Black, you seem to have developed a puzzle-
or maze-like, atmosphere-heavy directorial style. Why, and would you like
to elaborate on your directorial techniques for a bit?
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Yes.
I can't stand watching whodunnits because within the first 5 or 10 minutes
you know who's dunnit because they follow formulas. So, throw out the
formula and aim to tease and confuse.
If
you compare Lady of the
Dark: Genesis of the Serpent Vampire and Dark Watchers: The Women in Black
... what can you come up with? I
hope they're very different, because that's what I aimed to do. I don't
want to be a one-style Director, I want to show I can do anything from
horror to sci-fi. All I need now is a nice big budget :) Any
future projects you'd like to talk about? Working
on a one day shoot film. No script. It's probably the maddest thing I've
come up with, so we'll see. Living on the edge, eh! Your/your
films' website, Facebook, whatever else? Well,
you can find mostly every link you want by going to www.gardinersworld.com. Anything else
you are dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Thanks
to folk like you, us Indie's get noticed, so thanks to YOU dude. Thanks
for the interview!
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find Philip Gardiner at adultvideouniverse.com
