Your new movie Answer
Your Phone - in a few words, what is it about?
It’s about a young man walking home while being stalked by an evil
presence ... or a standard night in Sydney. What
were your
sources of inspiration when writing Answer
Your Phone, and as weird as it might sound, is any of it based on
personal experience? It was based on my friend's experience of abuse. They felt trapped in an abusive
relationship and I wanted to inflict the viewer with the same
feeling so they would have more empathy to people in abusive
relationships. A few words about Answer
Your Phone's approach to horror? Try to make the audience shit their pants? Well I wanted to
see if could make a scary horror film that was very basic. I wanted
to make the audience feel unease and isolated without showing the
demonic entity until the very end. What
can you tell us about your overall directorial approach to your story at
hand? My directorial
approach is to imagine I’m directing an episode of Sesame Street
and Oscar the Crouch is being a primadonna. Being real, I like to
talk to the actor about what the character is thinking and feeling in the
moment, how the set, narrative and costume affect their mindset.
That sort of thing. Do
talk about Answer Your
Phone's cast why exactly these people? Well I vowed to Rhiannon
Newman I was going to make
her a horror movie monster one day. Oliver Midson is a great actor and
has
has these wonderful facial expression. From day one I only wanted
him for the lead.
You also
have to talk about your main location, the parking garage, for a bit, and
what was it like filming there?
It was kinda cold. We had a few run ins with drunks. It was a
wonderful place to film really, the good thing about this parking lot
is it's underground. So there wasn’t much outside noise and we felt
cut off from the world. A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? Well, we hadn’t been able to shoot for quite
some time, so the atmosphere was very joyful, We were finally back
on set. As usual when it was time to film the scene I was an extra
in, I kept laughing and ruining the take. The
$64-question of course, where can Answer
Your Phone be seen? Umm it’s doing a
festival run now. It’s also available for free viewing on YouTube.
Just search Crazy Moo Productions or Answer Your Phone.
Anything you
can tell us about audience and critical reception of Answer
Your Phone? So far all the reviews have been positive, which is extremely
humbling. That being said they better be positive, I spent a lot of
money bribing those reviewers. Any future projects
you'd like to share? I’m planning on shooting a comedy in which a young woman
enters a drinking contest againt a member of the undead. What got you into filmmaking in the
first place, and did you recieve any formal training on the subject? I had some free time one day. Umm I
don’t know, I’ve always done theatre and always wanted to make
films. So one day at uni I just decide to make a film with a friend.
I don’t have any training but I’m friends with people who do, So
I ask their advice. What
can you tell us about your filmwork prior to Answer
Your Phone? I created The Ballad of Captain
Vengence. It follows Luna, a girl obsessed with superheroes. She
tries to develop superpowers but can’t. She learns that one way
to become a superhero is to have your parents killed and vow to
avenge them. So she murders her parents.
How would you
describe yourself as a director? It would probably be better to ask the crew
to describe me as a director. I think I’m an actor's director I
guess?* Filmmakers who inspire
you? Neil Breen. Umm I’ve always
loved John Carpenter, Lucio Fulci [Lucio
Fulci bio - click here], David Lynch and Makoto Shinkai. Your favourite movies? Mad Max 2
(you wanna get outta here talk to
me), RoboCop (“Dead or alive you’re coming with me!”
- “No! We
killed you!”), Sinister (that opening is amazing - if you sat down
to watch it without knowing anything about it, you sure as shit know
what it’s about after that opening), Falling Down, Nightmare on Elm
Street 3, The Thing,
Legally Blonde (That’s not a joke either, it’s a perfect film), Your Name. ... and of
course, films you really deplore? I didn’t like Rise of the Skywalker, and
The Mummy Returns
was dog shit. I’ve sat through all the Harry Potter films sadly. Your/your movie's
website, social media, whatever else?
https://www.instagram.com/benniewragg/
https://www.facebook.com/people/Bennie-Wragg/564914164/
Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
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I ordered a kebab on UberEATS last night and it took 2 and half
hours to arrive. I just wanted to complain. It was cold. Thanks
for the interview!
*Oliver
Midson on Benji Wragg: Based on my experience working with you, you’re very driven to
help your talent find the emotional core of the scene. You explain the
scene easily and in your own way help the talent along on their own
internal journey to reach the heart of their character.
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