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Your new movie Bill
Huckstabelle: Serial Rapist - in a few words, what is it about?
It’s about an entertainer who is beloved by the public and
respected by his peers, but he has a dark side, a really dark side. This
film is my take on celebrity and the hypocrisy that comes with it. This
whole Cosby scandal is a perfect example of that theory. For years there
have been whispers about his drug and rape antics, but no one wanted to
touch an American icon. This happens so much in Hollywood and the rest of
the world. It’s sad to say, but when any of these guys preach too much
in favor of family values, they are usually up to no good. This film is my
statement on that culture. I
think I'm not giving away too much by saying Bill
Huckstabelle: Serial Rapist has been inspired by the Bill Cosby
rape allegations - your personal take on that story, and also on the
(American) public's obsession with all sorts of sex scandals? People
love sex scandals; it’s been that way since we had the printed page.
When I wrote this script, I structured it like those Whatever
happened to ...-shows. I recreated scenes from his TV, standup and movie
work, we even have a Skinny Vinnie thing going on. So when you see this
film, you're getting a lot of dramatizations of what’s going on behind the
scenes of these shows, the stuff you don’t see, but only imagine. Other
sources of inspiration when dreaming up Bill
Huckstabelle: Serial Rapist? I was working on Vault
Of Terror ll: The Undead when we started to kick around a few ideas on
future projects we could work on. The Bill Cosby scandal was fresh and an
idea for a film based on this was thrown against the wall. Sean Weathers [Sean
Weathers interview - click here] and I had
different ideas on how to tackle the subject, so Sean let me take my
vision and flesh it out. While I was writing the script, Joel M Reed, director of
Bloodsucking Freaks, was on the set of Sean’s
film The Fappening, so I sat down and had a great conversation with him about film,
and when I told him that the Bill
Huckstabelle: Serial Rapist script had taken on the tone of Bloodsucking Freaks, he got a real kick out of that.
Bloodsucking Freaks
was one of the few films to really blow my mind, so meeting Joel was
awesome. It’s also such a scandalous story, I knew sooner or later
someone would make this film, why not me and why not my twisted vision.
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To what extent was
the film actually pre-scripted, how much was improvised? The
whole film was pre-scripted. I believe in having a full shooting script
before the first scene is shot. The scenes in the basement were re-written
the night before the shoot. We only had the location for two days, and we
realized we would never get it all done in that time frame. It stayed
pretty close to what was originally written, but Sean is so great at
Improvising, he took those scenes to another level. Another scene had to
be re-written and re-worked because of an actress who jerked me around. I
wound up getting my neighbor Reina to play the role, and she was 100 times
better. The
rape allegations notwithstanding for the moment, what's your personal
opinion of Bill Cosby, the comedian, and to what extent did you let his
brand of comedy influence the tone of your movie? I thought
he was talented comic, and if you look at his body of work, he had some
great shows other than The Cosby Show. I did a lot of research on his
career and his comedy act. And recreated those shows in the film. Then we
pepper in what we envision he is up to behind closed doors. And as far as
the women who have come forward, I support them all. They were violated
and treated like trash, then made to look like money-grabbing gold
diggers, wrong on so many levels. He should answer the questions and come
clean, otherwise, as far as I’m concerned, he looks guilty.
What
can you tell us about your directorial approach to your subject at hand? This
was a real departure from my past films. I am totally against the trend of
violence on women flicks. In my past films, the violence was often doled
upon people who deserved to be killed or eaten. So when I was fleshing
this film out, I had to make a decision on how graphic I was going to get.
I spoke to my crew and asked how they felt about the subject and how far I
wanted to go, and they all agreed to go all out. So the film took on a
very dark tone. I was also directing people to perform these acts of
violence, which was very surreal because it’s so much against my nature.
But after the day was done, we got some really scary stuff, and all the
girls were competing for the best screams. The
titular character of Bill
Huckstabelle: Serial Rapist is played by Sean Weathers [Sean
Weathers interview - click here] - so what made him perfect for
the job, and what was your collaboration with him like? And how did you
two first meet even, and what can you tell us about previous
collaborations? Sean is a great actor. When we started to
talk about this project, it was always going to be Sean who played Bill.
We had a conversation about the way he wanted to play him. Bill has two
sides, one where he preaches about cursing and family values, and the
other side, who enjoys rape and torture like some enjoy reality TV. I am a
big fan of They All Must Die, so when I saw Sean on Facebook, I
reached out and when he mentioned doing a Vault Of Terror
ll, we started
to work on that project together. My short films Demon Frequency
and The Butcher Game
were a product of that. Since we weren’t at
each other’s throats by the end of that project, we decided to start Bill
Huckstabelle: Serial Rapist. What can you tell us about the rest of
your cast, and why exactly these people? Well as you can
imagine, a lot of people turned down various roles after they read the
script. The movie hits many nerves, so I expected it. I met Erika Smith
through Sean, and thought she would be perfect as Bill's wife, and she was.
Sal Amore, who plays Bill's lawyer, is one of my staples and a great behind
the scenes guy, especially working with the actors. Sybelle Silver Phoenix
and Sarah Rosenberg were also actresses I met though Sean’s film, so I
knew they could deal with the subject matter of the film. The biggest
surprise was Brian Martin, who plays Bill’s sidekick in the basement. He
was so cool; he kept apologizing to the girls after he tortured them, and
then became this monster on screen. Very happy with everyone’s
performances.
Do talk about
the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere! Most of the
film was shot in my house, that is all the scenes that did not contain
violence or nudity. We built sets on various floors of the house and kept
them lit and set until we were done with them, which cut down on set up
and break down. Plus, we were on a tight schedule, so we could shoot until
we got what we wanted. I have a great crew, and it’s the same crew on
all my films, so we're all used to each other, which make things go off
without a hitch. I have to say, I love working with them. The
$64-question of course, where can your movie be seen? You
can stream it now through Vimeo at
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/billhuckstabelle
or you can buy the DVD in November through
http://fullcirclefilmworks.com
and Amazon. A
few words about critical and audience reception of your movie? The
movie was just released, so we have gotten some feedback from the people
who have seen it and they like it. They get it, and understand the humor.
It happens to be the best thing I’ve done so far, I am very happy with
the end product and the message it delivers. I’m getting offers to
screen it so the word must be getting out. Any
future projects you'd like to share?
I just wrote four scripts, two features and two short films for a
possible Vault Of Terror 3. One of the features is in pre production and
it’s an old-fashioned horror film, I have the creature suit all done
so we're ready to roll. An investor is looking at the other feature
script as we speak. So I’m keeping busy.
What got you into
filmmaking to begin with? I was a photographer most of my
life who wanted to be a filmmaker but also wanted to eat and raise a
family. So when I left my nine to five to raise my daughter, I got back
into it. With the help of the digital age, it made it much easier for me
to produce my own projects. What can you tell us about
your filmwork prior to Bill
Huckstabelle: Serial Rapist? My first film Silent
Deaf'ning was a documentary about military funerals, which was also
accepted into the New York Film Festival. After that I wrote Krackoon,
which won two awards for Best Horror Film and Best Cult Feature.
Bloodmarsh Krackoon was next, which I won Best Director for. Both Krackoon
films can be purchased from Alternative Cinema or Amazon, those are really
fun films. I also did a bunch of shorts, Rex Bailey is on the Bill
Huckstabelle: Serial Rapist DVD as an extra, along with a behind the scenes short film. I
have also worked behind the scenes on a few independent films as a DP,
including Sean's Movie The
Fappening. How would you
describe yourself as a director? I think I’m the guy who
gets it done, and doesn’t interfere with an actor unless they are going
totally off the rails. I also think I’m an easy guy to work with. I
always listen to an actor's suggestion, and If I like it, I shoot it, and
a lot of the times, it worked better than what I was shooting for. So I
guess my ego is in check. Filmmakers who inspire
you? David Lynch, Sam Fuller, George Romero, Todd Browning,
Abel Ferrara, Martin Scorsese, John Carpenter. I met Wes Craven, who
passed away this week, at Visual Arts when he came to teach a class. He
was in postproduction on the first Nightmare On Elm
Street, very cool guy.
I worked on a George Romero fanzine and played an extra on Day Of The
Dead and had the pleasure of having dinner with George Romero and talk
about his experience shooting Night Of The Living
Dead, great weekend.
Your favourite movies? I’m
always asked this question. Being a movie buff, that’s not an easy
question to answer. My favorites range from The Sound Of Music to Blacula. I’m a big fan of nature-run-amok films and think
Squirm is great enough to make my Top Ten Horror Films I would take
to a desert island. But low budget horror is what I live on. ... and of
course, films you really deplore?
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I just saw Under The
Skin, one of my favorites books turned into a real piece of shit. I’m
not much of a hater. I appreciate anyone who actually gets a film done
and out there. But having said that, rehashing classic films is a
dangerous trend, and hardly ever works. Your/your movie's
website, Facebook, whatever else? I’m currently on
Facebook, friend me and keep up with the films . I’m also on Twitter as REDEYEONE and also on Instagram. Anything else you are
dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
I will be doing the horror/sci fi conventions this year to promote and
sell Vault Of Terror ll and
Bill
Huckstabelle: Serial Rapist. Friend me on Facebook and
keep up with where and when we are going to appear. I also ran a
successful film festival in the Bronx this year and intend to do it
every year, so filmmakers, please get in touch with me through my
Facebook page and The Reel Bronx International Film Festival, also on
Facebook.
And go out and buy Bloodmarsh Krackoon, which also contains the original
Krackoon, and Vault
Of Terror ll: The Undead on DVD. And in closing,
thanks to the fans, you guys have made this a fun ride.
Thanks
for the interview!
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find Jerry Landi at adultvideouniverse.com
