Your new movie Hate
Crime - in a few words, what is it about?
A family is held hostage by sadistic home intruders. In
many instances, Hate Crime
reminded me of vintage grindhouse home invasion films of old like Last
House on the Left and House
at the Edge of the Park - were these at all conscious influences?
And (other) sources of inspiration when writing Hate
Crime? Honestly, although I love those films they
were not conscious influences. This time around I don't think we really
had any conscious influences that were horror films. Except maybe if you
count stuff in the found footage genre just because it's also found
footage? What can you tell us about your writing
partner (and co-producer) Jarret Cohen, and what was your collaboration
like? It was awesome writing this one with Jarret. He had
been the producer on My Pure Joy and is the co owner of Psykik
Junky Pictures with me, so naturally we were going to work on a
project together, but I never thought we would be so good at writing
together. It was so much fun. We basically would switch off. I would write
a couple pages, then he would. It turned into a one-up contest. Who could
write the most horrible and disturbing stuff in their pages would get the
high five from the other. I would sit down to write my pages and read
where he left me off and just start laughing, he would do the same when
reading mine. I guess we are both some twisted individuals but I think we
worked well together and it turned out great. I'm sure we will write
together again in the future. The main section of Hate
Crime consists of one uninterrupted single shot. To ask quite
bluntly: Why? I never understood why found footage movies
had editing in them, it always took me out of the realism of the world.
Who would take the time to edit the found footage? Or more importantly how
did they have multiple cameras? I swore to myself if I ever made a found
footage movie I would make it look like there wasn't editing and not have
music in it. I would make it actual found footage. I decided when writing
this film that the only way to tell this found footage story was to let
the camera roll nonstop until it got turned off. I also believe having a
camera in the hands of your killers gives the audience a different
perspective on the story. It turns the camera into more than just what is
shooting the film but also a character, because you are seeing what the
killer was choosing to film. This also enables a different kind
of fear. People now get scared when they see a victim rather than when a
killer pops out at you. If a victim is on camera, you know something bad
is going to happen! How easy/hard was it to set up that one
single shot, what were the challenges, how much planning was there
involved, was there any room for improvisation, actually, and how many
takes did it take to get the thing done? And honestly, was there some
cheating involved? I choreographed the film with the actors
and did repeated walk throughs for an entire week before we even started
filming. It had to be down to a science. There was some room for
improvisation yes, the character of Three had the most amount of improv
out of the actors, however for the most part we kept exactly to the
script. I would say 90% was the script, 10% was improv (the improv being
the stuff that is being said in the background that isn't during the main
action that the camera is focused on). There were way too many takes to
count them out so I can't exactly answer that question, and yes there was
cheating involved, but do you know where?
What can you tell us about your
ensemble cast, and what kind of a strain did it put upon them to play
everything through from beginning to end in one shot? And what can you
tell us about the overall on-set atmosphere? I was blessed
with an amazing cast. Everyone was so great and easy to work with, I
cannot imagine this film without them, they really became their roles. We
all lived together for weeks in the giant house the film was shot in in Big
Bear California. It became a family environment. Everyone got to know one
another so well that it was sad when the film ended. You know its funny
but we all got very close while filming such a disturbing film. We all
spend time together to this day. I think living together and getting to
know one another allowed the actors to really trust each other when making
the film, which enabled them to become more vulnerable on camera for me.
The family actually went on family outings. It really built chemistry for
everyone and added to the rawness of the film. It was a great experience
and I'm sure every actor on this film had the time of their life. I know I
did. With all that have
experienced and learned on Hate
Crime - could you ever be tempted to make another single shot
movie? I would not be, just because I don't want to revisit
something I have already done. I already made a film like that, the one we
are talking about, so now it's time to make something new and different. Some of the violence in Hate
Crime is pretty intense - was all of this in the script from the
beginning, or was some added during rehearsals and the like? And what kind
of a challenge was it, effects-wise? And were there any lines concerning
violence and gore you refused to cross for whatever reason? All
of the violence in the film is definitely in the script. We kept exactly
to the script throughout the full film, there was a little improvisation
with lines through out the film but none of the actions, violence or story
changed at all. 75% of the effects you see are practical effects, the
other 25% are CGI. I will let you decide what is what lol. There were
absolutely no lines we weren't willing to cross on this film. We went all
out, nothing was too messed up to include. I think you will notice that
when you all see it. The $64-question of course: When and where will
your film released onto the public? Hate
Crime is out to festivals now, so hopefully we get into some
stuff! We find out in September. fingers crossed. Any future projects
you'd like to talk about?
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I am currently working on Pernicious,
the horror film I wrote and am directing that is shooting in Thailand in
January, produced by Benetone Films and Hillin Entertainment.
I also wrote a script, with co-writer JD Fairman [JD
Fairman interview - click here] called Auteur that on Pernicious,
the horror film I wrote and am directing that is shooting in Thailand in
January, produced by Benetone and Hillin bought the rights
to and are producing, alongside my production company Psykik
Junky Pictures, and we have attached Cameron Romero to direct.
Lastly I am in pre-prod for Dancing with Rip, which is a project I
didn't write but was hired to direct. It is the biopic on the grim sleeper
serial killer. Your/your movie's website,
Facebook, whatever else? Pernicious website: www.perniciousthemovie.com
Psykik
Junky Pictures website: www.psykikjunkypictures.com
My Pure Joy website:
www.mypurejoyfilm.com
Dancing with Rip website: www.dancingwithripmovie.com
my Twitter: @Jamescullenb
IMDb: www.imdb.me/jamescullenbressack
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/James-Cullen-Bressack/195934533800413 Anything else you are dying to
mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? No sir! You
were quite thorough! Thanks for
the interview!
Thanks a million for having me again!
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