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Your new movie The Retaliators - in a few words, what is it
about?
The Retaliators
is about an upstanding pastor who attempts to survive an
insane and terrifying journey after being offered one minute alone with
the man who killed his daughter.
What were your sources of inspiration when
writing The Retaliators? A
major source of inspiration was a real-life traumatic event in our family.
In 2004, our sister Jody was brutally and nearly fatally attacked by a
serial rapist. It took 14 years for the perpetrator to be finally caught
and sentenced to prison. Throughout the ordeal of the trial, we came up
with an idea that explored the concept of an underground revenge-fantasy
service for family members of crime victims. Our sister gave us the
blessing to use her story as an inspiration. She asked, “If it’s ever
made into a film, please use my name. I want my story to be an inspiration
to victims. For people suffering traumatic PTSD. I want people to see that
you can survive and get through it.” Her name is Jody Geare. Today, she
is healthy and thriving as one of the few female fire captains in the
United States. The Retaliators
doesn’t tell her story per se, but her
story was our jumping-off point and is the human heartbeat underneath all
the insanity. Do talk about The Retaliators' approach to horror, and is this a genre especially dear
to you?
We
both grew up as obsessed horror fans. To this day, horror is still what
drives and inspires us like no other genre. We draw from stone cold
classics like John Carpenter’s Halloween, Sam Raimi’s
Evil Dead, Wes
Craven's The Hills Have Eyes,
but we're also heavily influenced by various
subgenres from exploitation cinema of the 70’s and 80’s to the absurd,
subversive spirit of the Cannon Films catalogue.
The Retaliators (and
every other script we write) also always has the connecting thread of
crime thriller mixed in. We are very influenced by the grimier crime
thrillers of Don Siegel, William Friedkin, J. Lee Thompson and the
neon-noir aesthetic of Michael Mann’s early work.
Perhaps
the most important part of The Retaliators’ approach to horror is its
employment of “the hard turn” (such as we see in other horror films we
love, like Audition and
Hostel). A likable, though flawed, protagonist is
set in a world with a false sense of security. Once a tragic or shocking
event occurs, shattering that sense of security, a false sense of where
the film can plausibly go is established. You think, “Okay, I know it
can get crazy from here, but not that crazy.” But then somewhere down
the line, it does get that crazy. When done right, the hard turn can bring
you one of the most entertaining cinematic experiences possible; and our
attempt to do that is definitely baked into The Retaliators’ approach to
horror.
What was the writing process between the two of
you actually like?
The Retaliators started with just a one-sentence story idea: "An
underground revenge-fantasy service for family members of crime
victims." That, along with the title The Retaliators.
We started with that. From there, we spent a long time doing extensive
outlining. We work in a back house that's been converted into a replica of
a video store/record store, decked out with thousands of VHS and vinyl on
original Tower Records shelves, an original stand-up arcade, movie
posters, memorabilia and old television sets. This environment always
instantly puts us in a productive, creative mindset.
We
took turns writing scenes separately. We wrote some scenes together. When
we'd each finish scenes, we would then go over each others' scenes, edit
and do another pass for each other. The nice part about the constant going
over, writing, editing, re-writing is that when we're done with a 1st
draft, it's really more like a 5th or 6th draft.
After
extensive outlining, when we go into the actual writing of the screenplay,
we adopt a loose attitude towards the outline. We follow it ... but if the
story and the characters start taking us to new places, we follow along
and let the story and the characters take us where they want it to go.
Now how did the project fall together
in the first place?
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When
we finished The Retaliators
script, we sent it to a platform for
showcasing your screenplay to the industry called The Blacklist. We got
high ratings and made it on their Top List. Next thing we
know, offers to buy the script start coming our way. Simultaneously, we
had sent the script to Michael Lombardi. Michael and Darren stayed in
touch after working with each other years back. Michael instantly
expressed strong interest in getting the film made, as well as his desire
to play John Bishop. He was on a plane from NY to LA within 3 days. We
both knew right away that no one but Michael could do justice to our
protagonist. Not only is Michael a top-tier actor, but he has that very
rare combination of sensitivity and intensity to his personality that
makes the character arc of Bishop both believable and totally captivating.
Michael brought the script to Allen Kovac, the CEO and founder of Better
Noise Music, who saw enormous potential with the movie. And thus began our
long but rewarding journey to getting the film made. The Retaliators
has been described as "a rock song birthed onto
screen" - so to what extent did rock music play into the writing of
the screenplay, and were you at all aware of the rock-heavy score when
putting the script to paper?
Originally,
no. What’s funny is, the spirit was always there though. Early on when
our script was reviewed, the term “rock” and “metal” were actually
mentioned affectionately multiple times. My favorite example was a review
of the script that said “The insanity of the third act feels like the
birth of metal.” When Michael Lombardi connected the script with Allen
Kovac (producer of The Dirt), Allen had the immediate vision to
connect rock bands to the project - both through bringing back the
tradition of epic rock soundtracks and by incorporating the rock artists
into the right acting roles. All of this was ultimately crystallized by
Allen Kovac’s vision of what rock music could mean for this movie, and
what this movie could mean for rock music. Speaking of music, on top of
all of the incredible bands and songs in
our movie and on our soundtrack, we also had the honor and thrill of
having Stranger Things composers Michael Stein and Christopher Dixon score
our film.
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Were you at all involved in
the actual shoot of The Retaliators, and if so, what can you tell
us about the experience? Because
we were also producers, we were involved in pre-production, we were on set
for a couple weeks and we were also involved in post-production. Michael
Lombardi led the way as our main producer and leader. Our shoot was full
of many, many seemingly insurmountable obstacles because we were literally
in the middle of shooting when the Covid pandemic lockdown first began.
This led to having to shut down production several times, shooting on
multiple coasts, changing directors, key cast unable to travel, etc.
Michael Lombardi was truly the unstoppable force that kept everything
together. He even directed a good chunk of the movie himself. My brother
and I were there for Michael whenever he needed us, and we were grateful to
help and be a part of the process in whatever capacity was necessary.
Allen Kovac (producer of The Dirt), the head of Better Noise
Films, was
incredibly supportive, nimble and always dedicated to help the creative
vision be executed through all of the crazy hurdles thrown our way.
Working with Allen, Michael and the entire Better Noise team has been an
incredible experience. The $64 question of course,
where can The Retaliators
be seen? We
are so proud to say that starting on September 14th, The Retaliators
will
be playing exclusively in movie theaters worldwide! Tickets are on
pre-sale and available now! Go to retaliatorsmovie.com
to get yours now! Any future
projects you'd like to share?
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We
have several scripts that we have written that we are super excited about.
We have been polishing drafts and are excited to get them out there and
get them made. One of them is a sort of Coen Brothers-esque horror
thriller that has a good amount of humor sprinkled in. Your website, social
media, whatever else?
Follow the Geare Brothers on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_geare_brothers/
Go
to http://www.retaliatorsmovie.com
to buy your tickets!
Anything else you're dying to
mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
We
are so excited to hear about people’s experiences of watching The Retaliators. It was truly a labor of love, and we are so proud of how it
turned out. Trust us when we say that this was made to be enjoyed in a
theater. We've had the good fortune of having The Retaliators
be accepted to 30 film festivals. It played incredibly in front of
audiences. Lots of yelling, cheering and laughs. The third act hits such
fun heights of insanity - you've got to see it with an audience!
Thanks for
the interview!
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