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Your new movie Into
the Gravel Pit - in a few words, what's it about?
Our film is about the internal life of people and how they deal with this
internal struggle. Our demons as one might say. Three friends who avoid
these demons come face to face with them head on.
Since Into the Gravel
Pit is basically about a drug trip gone horribly wrong - is any of
this based on personal horrible experiences with substances? And/or other
sources of inspiration when writing Into
the Gravel Pit? No personal
experiences were drawn on but the source did come from stories I came
across about severe drug trips causing the things that happen in the film.
All of what happens in the film has happened in real life. What can you tell us about your
co-writer on Into
the Gravel Pit, Ronald MErcado, and about the writing process? I started out on my own writing the film. I wrote one poor draft
of a script. I quickly began to understand that i needed a new set of
eyeballs and ideas for the script. Enter the great Ronald Mercado. Him and
I have worked together a ton in the past, and he agreed to pick up where I
left off. And he ran with it. From that point on he wrote it all. I would
help with minor adjustments as he went. Do
talk about your movie's approach to horror! I find horror very tricky and difficult. Contemporary
audiences are hard to scare. I'm not sure I can truly scare anyone but I am
interested in shocking them or at least confronting the audience with
intense experiences. When I set out to make a film it's always a question
of what interests me. Or what about events I think would be an interesting
story. The truth is the genre is secondary to that process for me. If it
ends up a classic horror then so be it. But never is it set in stone at
the beginning. In Into
the Gravel Pit the question was how do our inner
demons get exposed while under the influence, and why do they reveal
themselves at times in such a violent brutal way
A few words about your directorial approach to your story at hand? Since we were limited in time
and budget, I have to devise as much as possible before shooting. Every
film has a comprehensive pre-production, but when operating at such a low
budget we had to know going in precisely what shots we needed to get.
Organisation was key. I wanted to create a soft gauze feel to the image
over all using a dream efx filter on most of the shots. We used a lot of
camera moves on a gimble to create longer takes and long follow shots. I
wanted to the audience to linger with the characters and get into their
head space as much as possible. What
can you tell us about Into
the Gravel Pit's cast, and why exactly these people? This cast is so unbelievably
talented. The film is rooted in its 3 main characters but is
unconventional in how it follows their stories while also including an
entirely seperate story arc about three other characters on seemingly
different path. In our 3 main characters we had Rylie Rodriguez, Samantha
Makley and Mikael Dawkins. Those 3 were incredible together. I had a
previous working relationship with both Rodriguez and Makley. I wrote the
story with them in mind playing their roles. They both are insanely
talented actors and I knew having them meant the film had such a strong
foundation. Christy Crandall [Christy
Crandall interview - click here], the film's executive producer, was instrumental in
casting the other 4 roles. And she was able to lock the incredible talents
of Lisa Wilcox and Paul T. Taylor. They both created such an indelible
emotional experience with Madge and Edgar, their characters. Mikael Dawkins
brought an brilliant sincerity to his love starved character, and Bobby
Ragsdale took what was a very small role and imprinted such depth and
warmth to her role. All in all the acting is what the film can hang its
hat on.
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Do talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere!
Shooting at our practically no budget level is very challenging. Christy
as a producer was so incredible at managing all the elements of a shoot
from talent wrangling, meals, locations, and practically every aspect of
the shoot. The overall shoot atmosphere was great. The crew and cast got
along very well, and we all enjoyed the process. We did however have some very long
taxing days. Brutal days that when you do not have a large crew means all
hands on deck. Our crew was pushed hard on some of the days. Christy took
great care in making sure the crew was safe and taken care of. I'm usually
running around set like a chicken with its head cut off. So without Christy
probably would've had a mutiny. The
$64-question of course, where can Into
the Gravel Pit be seen? The film will be available on all streamers such
as Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, Plex and more. Eventually there will be DVDs
and a possible small theater run. Being a no budget indie film we need all
the views we can get. Anything you can tell us
about audience and critical reception of Into
the Gravel Pit? We haven't had much response yet at this
early stage but the few screenings we have had gotten a very positive reception.
Any future projects you'd like to share? We have a few films in
the works. We are currently in post-production on a film drama called Silk
Shadows which will be entering the festival tour in the spring. And
we're
wrapping production on another exciting horror film called The Demon
Killer. Stay tuned! What got you into filmmaking in the first
place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject? I loved movies my
whole life and made films since I was in 8th grade. I knew in early high
school I wanted to go to film school. I went to School of Visual Arts in
NYC. I loved film school and learning all aspects of filmmaking. What
can you tell us about your filmwork prior to Into
the Gravel Pit? I have made
a few films before making Into
the Gravel Pit. All my films are available on Amazon Prime Video and many other streamers. Most of them are in the horror
genre. I have made 2 dramas and 3 documentaries. I love working in all
aspects of cinema. How would you describe yourself as a director?
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Man that's tough. I'm a visual artist first, meaning the shots and lighting,
color palette matter a great deal to me. I'm very trusting of actors and
like to do most of the charcater work in pre-production. I try to give
minimal amount of performance notes on shoot days. Mainly fine-tuning
notes. Filmmakers who inspire you? Wes Anderson, Stanley Kubrick, Paul
Thomas Anderson, Spike Lee. Your favourite movies? Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind, Dr. Strangelove, so many more. ... and of course, films you really
deplore? Strange Days, Joker 2. Thanks for the
interview!
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