|
Your upcoming movie Tales of Bedlam: A Trilogy of Lunacy Madness and Despair - in a few words, what is it about?
Tales
Of Bedlam revolves around three short stories, where each leading
character from each respective story has their own personal demons, fear,
and phobias, that they must confront.
I
feel that a film focusing on such issues at this particular moment of time
is quite relevant, especially as an American, where here in the United
States, we are facing the most severe mental health crisis we have ever
experienced. And it doesn’t help that we are coming out of the pandemic
with a failing healthcare system where mental health remains largely
unaddressed and therefore people suffering from mental illness go
untreated.
So what exactly was the idea behind making an anthology
with a horror host framing story? Framing
the film with a horror host was just something that progressed as I
fleshed out the film. With the stories being between thirty to forty
minutes in length, I am not afforded the luxury of time in establishing
the characters the way that I would with a ninety to a hundred and twenty
minute story. Having a host simply allows me to set the tone of the story
as well as summarize the story at the end by tying everything up in a neat
little package. What were your sources
of inspiration when writing the individual segments of Tales of
Bedlam?
I
have been writing since I was old enough to remember. And the main
constant throughout the past forty years of writing is that the I have
always written about the psychological terrors of the human condition. My
first real feature film, Noctambulist (2018), is a psychological thriller,
and my current film Lachrymose Primrose (2024) is also a psychological
thriller. So Tales
Of Bedlam is simply a natural continuation of a subject
matter that I feel most at home in addressing.
What exactly made the three stories you're telling in Tales Of
Bedlam a perfect match for one another and for your anthology? Great
question, because this is something that I wanted to address: All
three stories are shorts that I had written roughly five or six years
back, if not longer. Some of the stories were finished, while others were
close to being finished. In the Lachrymose Primrose, the main character is
a washed up, best-selling, author, so naturally I needed to show books
that the author had written. In the film we show two published books, The
Charnel House Vault and Rosalie. And at the beginning of the film, the
writer is working on a new story entitled The Persistent Nuisance. When
choosing stories for Tales
Of Bedlam, I thought that it would be a great
idea to include that three stories that hearken back to the Lachrymose
Primrose as “Easter-eggs” if you will. So if and when one watches the
two films, they should be able to make the connection, even though there
is not connection which directly ties the two films together, as they are
each stand-alone films. Do
talk about Tales of Bedlam's approach to horror for a bit! The
approach is the same approach that I used with both Lachrymose Primrose
and Noctambulist, which is tapping into the most primal fear of mankind,
death. The death of ourselves or the ones that we love. Death has been an
obsession of mine since I was four years of age. To say that I am
terrified of it would be an understatement. The not knowing of what
exists beyond the great beyond. The uncertainty of how you will die. Will
it be peaceful? Will it be painful? All questions that plague me, and
perhaps many others out there. So in my personal opinion, approaching such
a global fear that a majority of us, despite race, creed, or religion, can
all relate to, is the perfect approach to a horror film. Nothing new by
any means. But something that I always enjoy telling through my own
perspective. What
can you tell us about the intended overall look and feel of your movie?
The
look will be unlike any of my prior films. Tales
Of Bedlam will be the
first film that I shoot in 4k. Prior to that, I always preferred the
older, standard HD look as my prior films were set in dated times, the
nineteen-twenties and nineteen-eighties. Whereas Tales
Of Bedlam will be a
bit more contemporary, although not as much as that statement may lead one
to believe.
Anything
you can tell us about Tales of Bedlam's key cast and crew yet,
however tentative?
I
am still fleshing out all of the details in regards to the cast and crew.
As for my crews, everyone that works on my films becomes family, so
naturally, they are all welcome to work on any future film that I make. I
prefer working with people that I know and trust, so that is always my
aim.
As
for the cast, Tedd Bodnar who plays the lead in Lachrymose Primrose, will
be returning to play the lead in The Charnel House Vault. I feel as though
I
have pigeon-holed Tedd as an actor, when really his range is very dynamic.
I just really fell in love with his ability to play a character who is
completely deranged. I initially thought about casting someone completely
different, but the voice in the back of my head kept telling me that the
character needed to be played by Tedd.
As
I may have expressed in prior interviews, I love working with unknown,
soon to be known, up and coming, actors. There is certainly nothing wrong
with using established, well known actors. It obviously increases interest
in a film. But I prefer to work with actors who have prior acting
experience, but who either come from theater, or in the case of my actor
Joseph Benson, who will be playing the lead in the story The Persistent
Nuisance, he was an actor who performed at tourist destinations in
Jamaica. And for third and final lead in Tales
Of Bedlam, I will be acting
with a gentleman by the name of Robert Lovett, who I have worked with at a
local murder mystery theater production company, something that I do in my
off time, when I can. Both Robert and Joseph bring a very exciting element
to the screen.
And
lastly, I shall be returning to acting by playing the horror host. I did
have a small walk-on role in Lachrymose Primrose - however, I cut myself
from the film. I had no dialogue, and the film was coming in at over two
hours in length. I had to make some cuts to get the final run-time down,
and my small role was nothing that was detrimental to the story of the
film, so I cut it. Acting as the horror host will be my first return to
acting since I appeared as an extra in two episodes of the A&E
television series Those Who Kill in 2014. And it will also get me back in
the saddle and dust off the rust as I will be playing the lead in a
future, yet to be announced, Seafaring Pictures release.
As far as I know, Tales of Bedlam
is still in pre-production - so how far along are you, and what's the
schedule? And even if it might be waaay to early to ask, any idea when and
where your movie will be released?
Since
I am currently in the final stages of post-production with Lachrymose
Primrose, and am also the film's editor, which is taking up most of my
time, all that I have had the time for with Tales
Of Bedlam thus far is to
start casting, conceptualizing, and revisiting the stories that I
initially wrote some years back. By the end of March, I should be able to
start converting the stories from novellas to screenplay adaptions. And
then start location scouting, prop building, etc.
I am not the type of filmmaker that likes to quickly pump out films. I would
rather take my time and focus on one key film before jumping into another.
So for someone like me, you will get a film every few years. And because
of that, I do not expect to start filming Tales
Of Bedlam until 2024.
Any future projects
beyond Tales of Bedlam?
 |
Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned) |
The links below
will take you
just there!!!
|
|
 |
Yes. One film in particular. However, I am slightly sorry to say that I am
keeping that under wraps until Tales of Bedlam is released. But I promise
to provide you all of the details as soon as possible. Your/your movie's
website, social media, whatever else?
I
am always terrible updating these pages, but you can find news about my
film(s) at the following. And a Tales of Bedlam Facebook page will be
coming shortly, too.
https://www.facebook.com/SeafaringPictures
https://www.facebook.com/officialjdellenberger
https://www.facebook.com/LachrymosePrimrose
https://www.facebook.com/TheNoctambulist
Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Not at this time. But I do thank you as always for your very kind support. And
I look forward to speaking with you more in the future. Thanks
for the interview!
|
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
