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Your new movie All
Girls Weekend - in a few words, what is it about?
It’s
about five childhood friends who have fallen out of touch and decide to
rekindle their friendship during a weekend in the mountains. They’re there to do adventurous stuff like zip lining, so they
decide to go hiking and get lost. It’s
the middle of winter, and they don’t have any food or water, but
that’s nothing compared to the force that is determined to keep them
from leaving. Is
any of the movie based on personal experience - in other words, did you
ever get lost in the woods quite as badly (well, hopefully not quite
quite as badly) as the girls in All
Girls Weekend did? I
hiked down the Grand Canyon a while back. We had underestimated how much food we should bring.
You burn a thousand calories per hour hiking back up from the
bottom. We ran out of food,
and I barely made it out. When
we got to the top, my body went into shock and I woke up in the ranger’s
station. Good times. Other sources of inspiration
when writing All Girls
Weekend? My
love for the outdoors is the main inspiration. I wanted to make a film that paid tribute to nature and emphasize
our need to respect our planet. It
breaks my heart what humanity is doing to our environment and what we’re
leaving behind for future generations Of the five girls in All
Girls Weekend, who do you identify with the most actually, and who
with the least? And why?
I’m
probably most like Nancy, who talks all tough but is actually a big softie
inside. What can you tell us about your
movie's approach to horror (as in suspense vs sudden shocks, atmosphere vs
all-out gore and the like)? It
is definitely meant to be suspenseful, not scary. It’s not about jump scares, and it’s not a man with an axe in
the woods. It’s different,
and people will either love it or hate it for that fact. Do talk about your overall
directorial approach to your story at hand? I
always say that I want to be more like Hitchcock than Carpenter.
There are a lot of people making horror, and it’s a hard genre in which
to do something different. It’s
more about telling a story with horrific elements that hopefully has
a premise that the audience wants to see. What can you
tell us about your key cast, and why exactly these people? It
was originally written for specific actresses I knew, but for various
reasons they were unavailable and the only one that did play the role
meant for her was Gema Calero [Gema
Calero interview - click here]. The
other girls auditioned, and they were the best actress for each role.
back row: Karishma Lakhani, Sharron Calvin,
Katie Carpenter, Jamie Bernadette, Gema Calero
middle: Todd Voorhees
front row: Alan Hanna, Lou, Jeff Bourdett |
With
All Girls Weekend
being an outdoors movie, you just have to talk about your great locations,
and what were the challenges filming there, especially in what looked like
rather cold conditions? And would you describe yourself as an outdoorsy
type of person? You
try to make a film to honor mother nature, and she repays you with the
coldest weather of the season and snow.
We made the snow work for the end of the film, but that meant a lot
of cleaning up of the ground for the earlier scenes.
Otherwise, it would have messed up the continuity of the film.
I love the end product though. What can you tell us about the shoot as
such, and the on-set atmosphere?
It
was the smallest crew I’ve worked with, but it was the best crew. Everyone was so helpful and diligent.
They also made great extras for the picture that the girls find in
the cabin.
The $64-question of
course, when and where will your movie be released onto the general
audience? The
film will be available on VOD on July 12th.
The DVD will be released in the fall.
Anything you can tell us about audience and
critical reception of your movie yet?
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So
far the reviews have been great. I’m
glad that reviewers get what I was trying to do. I was very nervous that they would decry “this isn’t horror”
and trash it. I’m sure some
people will feel that way, but so far so good. Any future
projects you'd like to share? We
start principal photography on 3 in July. It’s the complete opposite of this one
-- very gritty and violent. It’s
a psychological thriller about a man who is kidnapped and tortured in
order to force him to confess to a rape that he may, or may not, have
committed.
Your/your movie's website,
Facebook, whatever else?
www.facebook.com/allgirlsweekend
www.twitter.com/allgirlsweekend
@allgirlsweekend2015
on Instagram
@allgirlsweekend
on Snapchat
Anything else you're dying to
mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I’m
just very thankful to everyone who was part of this film, and all the
support we’ve been getting from the indie community. Thanks for
the interview!
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amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Lou Simon at adultvideouniverse.com
