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Your new movie Esther -
in a few words, what is it about?
It's
about a woman named Katy who moves back into the house she grew up in
and starts to experience strange things at night that turn out to be
linked to her childhood imaginary friend.
What were your sources of inspiration when writing Esther?
Everything I've ever digested from childhood! Ha! But seriously, it's a
culmination of my love of scary movies, especially monster movies.
Do talk about your co-writer Brian Levin, and what was your
collaboration like? This
is the first collaboration we've had together in that space. I had a
script from a while ago that I always wanted to make so I threw it at
him, and he came back with some notes and I turned it into what we see
now. What can you tell us about your
movie's approach to horror? Specifically
for Esther, the approach was to lay breadcrumbs of tension up to the
final moment. Not just a gotcha moment but one that was earned more
than just a jump scare. We wanted to plant the seeds that something
ominous was coming. Since your movie's very
limited in both cast and location, what were some of your techniques to
keep things visually interesting throughout? I
felt like if we could jump into Katy's point of view, staring into
darkness, through plastic, etc that we might be able to prop the
audience up into her mental space as well. Are we seeing something? Is
there something there. I always think about those moments when you
wake up in the middle of the night and you see the shirt draped over a
chair and panic because you think there is something there. You of
course also have to talk about the titular creature in your movie, and how
was she achieved? I've
been making masks and doing FX for most of my life. Since I was a kid,
I was fascinated by makeup FX. Savini, Bottin, Baker, and so on. I
love making creatures and masks. Esther's design came to me when I saw
these dental mouth stretchers online and thought "okay that could
be really creepy' - so that was the leaping off point of her design. I
imagined Esther was a chatty one and her father did that to keep her
from talking so much. That's a deep backstory, but you come up with
this stuff when you're designing creatures and monsters.
A few words about your overall
directorial approach to your story at hand? Don't
over-direct. That's the simple answer. Don't make things too
complicated. Get the story first. You can kill a day trying to do
fancy camera moves. Your movie
stars Haley Heslip - so what made her perfect for the role, and how did
you find her even? I
found Haley when we were making The Spore and she just crushed it.
She's a lot of fun to work with and is really talented. We then did 3
Demons together and continued to work together on all sorts of things.
When you find someone you like to work with then it makes it much
easier to create. You build a shorthand together. Do talk about the shoot as such, and
the on-set atmosphere! We
had a fun set. Small crew. Just a couple of us. Keith Golinski, the
DoP and EP and I have worked together on many things. We also have a
shorthand and it's super easy-going. If it's no fun, then why do it? The $64-question, where can
Esther
be seen? On
our Red
Tower YouTube page: youtube.com/@redtower Anything you can tell us about audience and
critical reception of Esther? So
far, the reception has been great! People really like
Haley and of course want to see more of Esther. Which was the point.
Like Jaws, less shark! I think if we see too much of her, she's not as
creepy. That's my personal feeling.
Any
future projects you'd like to share? We've
got a couple in the pipeline now. Horror-comedy, spooky fun stuff and
a horror parody series. Really want to dive into some more creature
stuff as well. That's my jam. What got you into
filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal training on
the subject?
Star Wars got me into filmmaking. Saw that when I was a kid and knew right
away I had to do whatever that was. I went to Full Sail for film and
learned some stuff there. Honestly, I probably learned more being on
set than any school could train you for. That's always been the best
way to learn. Baptism by fire!
What can you tell us about your filmwork
prior to Esther?
How much time do you have? Ha! I've been making movies since I was a kid.
I've done about everything you can do on a film and TV set.
You
of course also have to talk about your company Red
Tower, and the philosophy behind it?
This is a bit of a continuation from the previous question. Now,
we take all the skills we've learned and use them in a more
independent creator way. From script to screen. We say yes to our own
projects. We make what we want to see. It's a lot faster to get things
done when you're not sitting in development for years hoping for a
yes. We want to deliver fun content direct to the audience. Low
barrier to entry.
How would
you describe yourself as a director?
Someone who wants the cast and crew to enjoy the process together. Drive the
ship but be open to detours and investigating possibilities. Letting
everyone express themselves while keeping things in line with the
story. Filmmakers who
inspire you? Well, Wes of course. Some of my biggest inspirations would be Spielberg,
Carpenter, Tim Burton, Ivan Reitman, John Hughes. Your favourite movies? I'll
go with current favorites and a few of the obvious ones. Halloween
(78), Texas Chain Saw
Massacre (original), The Blob (88), Halloween 3 (man I
love that one), Let the Right One
In, Gremlins, Ghostbusters,
Turbo Kid, Terminator,
Chopping Mall, big fan of
Cannon
films, Escape from New York, The
Thing, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET... and of course,
Star Wars. Wow, I could go on for days. ...
and of course, films you really deplore? Not especially.
Knowing how hard it is to make a movie or get one
made, I greatly appreciate the effort that goes into it. I think
people forget when they leave scathing reviews of a movie that many
people put a lot of effort into it. That's their job. Not all of them
stick the landing. But not all sandwiches are made great. Not all
plumbers fix the leak. But they all try! Your/your
movie's website, social media, whatever else?
www.redtowerproductions.com
YouTube:@redtower
TikTok: @redtowerdigital
Instagram: @redtowerent
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Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Yes.
What are we all going to do once AI puts us out of work? Are you Sarah
Conner? Thanks for the interview!
Thanks for the interview! Greatly appreciate it.
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