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Your new movie Art
of Obsession - in a few words, what is it about?
At it’s simplest, Art
of Obsession
is a reverse Stephen King’s Misery. But instead of a fan kidnapping a writer, in this film, a writer
kidnaps his muse. But it’s not just about the suspense and tension of
this scary situation. There’s a strong artful side to the story as well
that explores addiction and losing yourself in your art. What
were your sources of inspiration when writing Art
of Obsession?
Like with every story and subsequent movie I create, my main source of
inspiration is music. For this film, it was primarily the early 90s
Seattle grunge scene. Specifically bands like Nirvana, Alice In Chains,
and Mother Love Bone. I always was and always will be a metal-head, but
there is something about the rawness and the realness of the vocals and
lyrics of people like Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley that is so powerful and
so haunting. And that is what I wanted to capture for this story. The subject matter of the film has absolutely NOTHING to do with music
or these musicians, but I was influenced by their emotions and pain.
Especially someone like Staley, who was so talented but after the death of
his true love, Demri Parrott, he just kinda drifted away until he died, so
utterly alone that no one went to check on him until two weeks after he
died. I know that sounds really dark and depressing and I knew it while I was
writing it. And the reality is I wanted to make a horrifying and mournful
story, not a depressing one. So I was kinda inspired by David Lynch as
well. I focused a draft of the script on making it weird. Sometimes the
dialogue would be odd or the delivery would be quirky.
To what extent can you identify
with your lead character Kennedy, actually? And what kind of a challenge
was it to make a psychopath your movie's protagonist?
I think I can identify with him to the same extent that any artist can
identify with him. Whether it’s novels or music or paintings, every
artist knows that nervous feeling they get when they release their art for
public consumption. There’s a quote by Robert Hughes, “The greater the artist, the
greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a
consolation prize.” So when I think about the character of Kennedy Sait,
or myself or any other artist, I think we can all identify. And to be honest it really wasn’t that difficult to make a psychopath
the movie’s protagonist. I mean everyone is capable of good and evil.
It’s a fine line and it’s just about understanding what has brought
them to this point. You’re not cheering for Kennedy, but at the same
time I didn’t want him to come across as a total bastard.
With
Art of Obsession
being a psychological thriller - what can you tell us about your approach
to the genre? I approached it like I do all my films
because whether it’s psychological thriller, slasher or whatever, it’s
still a horror film. This one is just a lot more realistic than my
previous couple. Psychological thrillers definitely have a heavy dramatic
element to them so it was about finding the balance between drama and
horror. Since the story revolves around a woman who is being held prisoner
by a man obsessed with her, I felt the elements of terror were definitely
there no matter how we did it. Do talk about your overall directorial
approach to your story at hand!
Well the script is like the blueprints for the characters and it’s
the actors that bring them to life. So I like to give them a lot of space
to try things and take chances. And then I work closely with my crew,
creating everything around them. I once again had my cinematographer Michael Davidson and editor Chris
Cull working closely with me (Chris is also producer). So the look and
substance of the film has just as much to do with them as it does with me.
Since we have worked together many times (and Chris and I have also
written a number of different scripts together) we’ve created a
shorthand between us. And because there is that understanding and trust
there, Davidson has the freedom to focus on the lighting and the shots,
which allows me to be able to focus on the story and cast.
I like to give freedom to every department to be able to contribute a
lot of themselves into their work, which is why it is important to work
with people you know and trust and have a mutual respect for. There is
always going to be new faces, which I always welcome. For this film I was
able to finally bring Eva Mancini onboard as a producer as well. Eva’s a
friend who I went to film school with and we had been talking about
collaborating for years. It was great to finally do that.
One of the other new collaborations that came on this film was with
composer Janal Bechthold. She is a creative genius with a killer ear. And with a genre
film where building suspense is key, music is such an important component
to that. Especially this film because it is such a quiet and moody piece,
the music really drives the scenes forward. It was really
rewarding doing spotting sessions with her and discussing styles and
motivations. I think with all departments, you can never be too
prepared. And you can tackle any obstacle that arises as long as you
are fully prepared. And making an indie film there is always going to be
shit that arises.
What can you tell us
about your key cast, and why exactly these people?
Ry Barrett stars as Kennedy Sait. I’ve worked with him a few times
and I’ve seen him in so many other films. He plays a great monster, he
plays a great villain, he plays a great jerk, but I think one of my
favorite roles that I’ve ever seen him in was in a film called Neverlost.
He wasn’t just playing a tough guy or a mean guy. He played a vulnerable
guy with so many layers and flaws. And he played it perfectly. I admire
his fearlessness and his commitment to the role. When I see him on screen,
I don’t see him at all, I only see the character he’s become. Before making this film, we made a short film that was the origins of
“the anger artist” part of his character. Eventually when I decided to
turn this into a feature, I combined it with another story of mine, which
was a lot more horror based. And it had to be Barrett leading the way
because Ry Barrett is the total package.
Another actor that I had to have in this film was Jessica Vano. I just
knew that she had to play the role of Melanie. Jessica’s got such an
incredible look and the camera loves her, but more importantly, she’s a
natural born talent. The moment I saw the film The Demolisher I
thought, wow she was so captivating. She took me on a journey with every
emotion and movement. Jessica Vano is the indie film community’s best
kept secret.
Ryan directing Raven Cousens |
Raven Cousens is an actor whom I’ve known in the film community
for years. I’ve seen her in multiple films like Late Night Double
Feature and Dead Rush and she always steals the show. It was a
big honor for me to get to bring the character to life with her and direct
her.
Then there is Winny Clarke [Winny
Clarke interview - click here], who plays The Muse and Patricia. And with
her it was totally different. She is not someone I knew of prior to this
shoot and to be honest, the way I envisioned her character, was nothing
like her. But she came in to the audition and was so phenomenal that I
just said, ‘screw it, I know she doesn’t fit what I had in mind for
the character, but that’s fine cause she just changed what I envisioned
that character as.’ And she delivered on set. Winny is creative, daring
and such a wonderful soul to work with.
But it’s not just the key cast. I lucked out with everyone who was in
the film. Brian McDonald and Margaret Jeronimo both played their parts
just how I wanted, which worked so well off of the key cast. And Tim
McCarthy and Keegan Chambers not only came in last minute for their roles,
but they fit so perfectly with everyone else that it made their characters
bigger and better than I originally thought. Tim is an actor that I worked
with 7 years ago and whom I always respected and enjoyed the work of. And
Keegan is an actor that I enjoyed seeing in an indie Toronto horror film
called Secret Santa and I thought, ‘I’m gonna work with her one
day.’
So I have always been very grateful to have been able to create with
such a wonderful cast.
A few
words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
Well I was definitely out of my comfort zone on this one, which was
exactly what I needed. And thanks to having some great people by my side,
we pulled it off. Sure there were obstacles and definitely a couple big
fires that needed to be put out, but it’s a testament to the team I
worked with, that we met the chaos head on and came out on top. And to be
honest, there was something about the film’s subject matter and style of
storytelling that I think benefited from the craziness of the shoot. The bottom line is everything happens for a reason. Kennedy’s house
in the film was perfect, but it wasn’t the location we originally had,
so that change was one of the issues we had to work with and in the end,
the film is better for it.
The
$64-question of course, when and where will your movie be released?
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Ryan directing Winny Clarke, Brian McDonald |
It
starts playing film festivals this fall. And we’ll be spending at least
the rest of 2017 and into 2018 taking it around for screenings. After that
will be distribution, but if you want to see it sooner rather than later, the
best bet is to keep track of the film on Facebook, where we will announces
festival screenings and hopefully one of the festivals will be near you. Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Art
of Obsession yet?
We actually kept this film pretty quiet, so it hasn’t been seen by
too many eyes yet. We only just announced the film once we got into
festivals, but the response that we’ve gotten from those who’ve seen
it has been really positive. Reality is there will be people that like it
and people that don’t. But hopefully for fans of this style of film,
they’ll enjoy what we’ve created.
Any future projects you'd like
to share?
I’m working on a couple new scripts and even a novel, which I am
really excited about. And I have a couple films in development but my main
focus right now is getting Art
of Obsession out there to festivals.
That plus also continuing to push my previous film Save
Yourself.
Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else?
We have only launched a Facebook page so far, but we will be posting
about all of its screenings and future distribution there. So it’s best
to follow there. We’ll have Twitter and Instagram soon. https://www.facebook.com/TheArtOfObsession/
You can also check out the teaser on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxjij1kf-6I
My social media is:
Instagram: ryan.m.andrews
Twitter: @RyanMAndrews1
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As always what I’m dying to talk about is encouraging people to get
out and seek out independent artists. I’m always hearing people complain
about the unoriginal big budget cookie cutter, well if you wanna see
something new and support the future, look to the indie world. We are
passionate and we care about our stories. There are so many hidden gems
out there and the Toronto genre scene is just as big as ever. Tricia
Lee’s film Blood Hunters has just been released [Tricia
Lee interview - click here] and Navin
Ramaswaran’s new film Poor Agnes just premiered at the Fantasia
International Film Festival and will be making the rounds soon. Its
star Lora Burke is someone to definitely look out for.
Also Black
Fawn Film’s The Sublet, which stars Save
Yourself star Tianna Nori [Tianna
Nori interview - click here] is also one to check out.
Wherever you’re located I’m sure there is a local indie scene and
it needs your support. And you wouldn’t be supporting some faceless
corporation that follows a formula. You are supporting blue collar hard
working artists.
Thanks for the interview!
Thank you for the opportunity to chat about this new film.
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