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Your new movie Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII - in a few words, what's it about?
A parody of never-ending movie franchises and Bigfoot movies.
With Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII being a monster movie, is that a genre
especially dear to you, and some of your genre favourites? When
I think of monster movies, my first thought turns to Godzilla. I would like to think the
"Bigfoot Unleashed" franchise is the
natural heir to the Godzilla
legacy, but I’m probably the only
person who thinks it. (Other)
sources of inspiration when writing Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII? The
main source of inspiration for Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII is the
seemingly endless supply of B (and lower grade) Bigfoot
movies. A few words about Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII's approach to horror? Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII follows the traditional arc of horror movies in
the sense that the question eventually needs to be asked,
“Is the monster the true monster in the film?” At
least to me, Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII is in parts also wickedly funny - so would you
at all agree, and if so, what can you tell us about your movie's brand of
comedy? Parody
is a fairly easy type of comedy to produce. The Haunting of Prince
Dom Pedro will be partly a comedy but in a different style than Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII. What were the challenges of bringing
Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII to the screen from a producer's point of view? The
biggest challenge was trying to find a date to film that met
everyone’s schedule. Unlike major Hollywood productions in which
everyone is under contract and can be told when filming is taking place,
low budget productions need to ask and politely tell.
Do
talk about Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII's director Don Swanson, and what was your
collaboration like?
Yeah,
I talk about him a lot but most of it is not good ... I’m joking. Maybe.
Collaboration the primary day of filming was mostly Don Swanson telling
myself and the rest of the cast and crew to walk through the woods
and me telling the cast and crew in an apologetic manner that I
didn’t think we would be walking so much through the woods.
You also play Bigfoot
in Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII - so what was that experience like? In
many ways, it’s easier and more enjoyable to act when wearing a
costume. The Bigfootcostume was surprisingly very comfortable but the
mask was terrible. It was hard to breathe in the mask, I
could barely see out of it, and it made me sweat profusely. That
being said, it was really fun being Bigfoot. I might write another
seven "Bigfoot Unleashed" sequels just to be Sasquatch again and again and
again… What
can you tell us about the rest of Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII's cast, and as producer, how much of a say did
you have or demand when it came to the casting process?
I was the casting director, so I had the entire say in the process. Bobby
nailed his performance as a dog since, well, he is a dog. Gary
Miller is a very authentic individual and his authenticity came out as
someone who claimed to have seen Bigfoot
seven times. John
Iwanonkiw and Gregory Begg played incompetent small town B movie police
officers to a T. Valena Zitello put in a fantastic performance as
an (purposely) overacting
neo-1950s B movie actress. A lot of what she did in the movie
might seem simple but it wasn’t easy. The final product is
really her film. Paul
Anderson did a great job as a voice actor with three different
voices in the short.
A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? We
were out in the woods. A lot. I would say it was a fun but
professional atmosphere. The
$64-question of course, where can Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII be seen? For
the near future, Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII will only be seen at select film
festivals. By select, I mean film festivals that select it. It will probably be released online for free in time for Halloween next
year (2024). Anything you can
tell us about audience and critical reception of Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII?
Overall,
the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. There was one
British film critic who really didn’t like it, but I’m not
losing any sleep over that one. From what I know, Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII was originally conceived as a segment for your
upcoming feature film The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro - so what
can you tell us about that movie, and how does the short fit into it? And
any idea yet when we get to see the feature?
A modern-day fairy tale, The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro is a
story of how a group of high school Latin American History
class students learn to regret their decision to not fully
appreciate the Liberator of Brazil.
The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro will have a different look
and feel than Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII. The "Bigfoot
Unleashed" franchise will be mentioned in two scenes and clips
of Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII shown in one scene in the feature
film while other clips will be shown on televisions in the
background in others. Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII really won’t be a significant part of the feature in terms of the story.
The feature should be finished in 2025.
Other
future projects of yours you'd like to share? I
can’t predict the future beyond The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro, but
I do have ideas for two other films with a similar budget level. What got
you into the filmworld to begin with, and did you receive any formal
training on the subject?
I did take a few classes dealing with the visual arts in junior high and
high school in addition to some film acting classes as an adult. A
lot of what I gained in terms of knowledge of filmmaking has been
informal self-learning and on-the-set experience. I live around
Pittsburgh and the film industry has expanded in this region since
around 2011. As more film opportunities opened up, I got more
interested in the film industry though I had been involved with film
productions before 2011. The physical and human film industry
infrastructure has really grown in the last decade around Pittsburgh so
that makes producing a film in this area much easier.
What can you tell us about your
filmwork prior to Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII?
It’s easier for everyone involved just to look at my IMDb page:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5203487
Going through your
filmography, you seem to be as comfortable in front of the camera as
behind it - so what are some of the jobs when it comes to filmmaking that
you enjoy the most, what could you do without? There’s
nothing I can say I don’t enjoy about the entire filmmaking
process, though recently I found trying to secure a location to film can
sometimes be a frustrating process. Filmmakers,
writers, actors, whoever else who inspire you? This
is an interesting question because I can be inspired by almost anyone,
living or deceased, in terms of what I want or don’t want. Your
favourite movies? I
really enjoy any type of movie that engages and pulls me in to its
world. ... and of course, films you really
deplore? I
really don’t like movies that are primarily made to set up the
next movie in a franchise, which is part of the inside joke in Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII. Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else? http://www.thehauntingofprincedompedro.com
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Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask?
I would like to thank Noah Crissman who was literally the crew for
the Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII primary day of filming as well
as designing the movie posters, Cathy Abbinanti for her fabulous makeup
job, and, finally, Don Swanson for being the man behind the curtain for
this production. He’s also out in front of the curtain. Don was
the first person I approached when I had the idea for the feature film.
Without him, neither Bigfoot
Unleashed, Part VII nor the feature
could be made. In
addition, I would like to thank everyone who put their faith in me by
agreeing to be part of the wider The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro
feature film production.
Thanks for the interview!
You’re welcome and I hope we can chat again after The Haunting of
Prince Dom Pedro is completed!
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