Your new movie Freakish
- what were your sources of inspiration for writing it?
Thank you
for agreeing to interview me. First off me and Christopher Livermore
walked into a prop shop in Southport UK and saw the mask that we used for Freakish, and Chris said that mask is really
freaky, so I bought it and he
kept saying it, and when we arrived back home we came up with the idea for
Freakish the Clown. I started to write the script and things just went
well from there. Really it was an idea that just grew and grew and I
pitched it to some people I was working with and they loved it.
What can you tell us about Freakish's
cast, and why exactly these people?
Christopher Shipton, who plays Freakish, hasn't had much acting experience,
only a little, and I once said if anything comes up that I think fits you I
will give you a shot - and Freakish was made for him, he plays the part ever so
well and mostly he loved the charcter and focused and made the charcter
his own. Lucy Lewendon and Kevin Mangar were two people I was really
wanting to work with and as I do with most of my projects I just pictured
the movie and the characters as I was writing the script, and these two wonderful actors were in that picture. I had also done my research and
watched a previous movie that Kevin had starred in as well. And Ian Joness,
a very close friend of mine, hasn't had much acting experience either, so
again I wanted to give him a shot and he played the part well and made the
charcter his own. I believe in giving people a shot at playing a part, and
when I direct a film I try to bring the best out of my cast and when we
get on set its like one big family. What got you into
filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal training on
the subject? I got into the film industry about seven years ago now, and it was a dream of mine
- I really thought I'd have no chance
as I didn't have a clue, but a good director friend of mine Velton Lischke
helped me a lot and said you need to take your time and do things this way
and that way - and to be honest, if I hadn't listened to him I probably
wouldn't be doing this, I failed several times when I first started out but
you have to fail to succeed sometimes. I had no proffesional training,
everything I learned was from working and listening to the right people and
doing my homework. Not every film I have made is brilliant, some I look back
on and go oh no, what was I thinking, but I'm not the only filmmaker who
thinks like that.
What can you tell us about your filmwork
prior to Freakish, and
your frequent collaborator Christopher Livermore? I met Christopher Livermore a few years ago by chance on
Facebook. We immediately hit it of and decided to meet up from there. We
have directed several movies together, to name a few, The Killer Plumber 1
and 2 for the amazing Tony Newton [Tony
Newton interview - click here] and Troma's Grindsplotation 666
and Drive-in Gridnhouse, respectively, and we then made
some awareness films, one of my favourites will alyways be Fibro and the
New Me - available on YouTube. We even did a bit of work for action megastar
Steven Seagal after we met up with him in London. I won't say much on that
but it was an honour to do that for my childhood hero. Me and Chris have
achieved so much together, we have won awards for films and had many official
selections from festivals, mostly for our film Freakish,
and we are
very proud as we are self-taught and we work hard. Christopher Livermore is
a great editor and a great composer, you can see his work on Soundcloud
and YouTube also. Any
future projects you'd like to share? Freakish
is quite a fun movie, and thanks to us
meeting Dustin Ferguson [Dustin
Ferguson interview - click here] from SCS Entertainment we
were able to release it
in Amercia on demand and then on DVD, and we have had great success with
the movie and a lot of lovely feedback. So on that we decided let's make a
feature solo movie, as we believe we can make this film bigger, badder and
freakier, but trust me this won't be anything like the short,
this will be a very dark and scary film, and we are teaming up with Dustin
Ferguson again, and trust me he is amazing at what he does. Christopher
Shipton is returning as Freakish along with great actors Billy Mansell,
Guillaume Rivaud, Ian Joness, and the legend that is Cynthia Rothrock is
joining the cast, so exciting times ahead for Freakish. the feature will be
titled Freakish Unleashed. Anybody you'd like
to thank? I couldn't do these films without the amazing
support from others and the help from close friends. I'm living my dream of
being an independent filmmaker, also as an actor and I love it. I'm all
about passion - money, fame and all that other stuff doesn't phase me, I just
want people to enjoy what I make, and for it to entertain them ,and I have
amazing support from my amazing wife Jane and my kids, they are my biggest
supporters, and my goal is to show my kids you can achieve you dreams in
life. Your/your
movie's website, social media, whatever else?
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You can find my work on YouTube, Amazon Prime, SCS Entertainment
Network and on Facebook under Ross Heath. Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Thank
you for the interview
Michael it has been a pleasure. Thanks
for the interview!
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