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Your new movie Chasing
the Ghost - in a few words, what is it about?
The
film is about a drug addicted anesthesiologist who’s about to enter
rehab and has a curse put on him; he must stay high and if he doesn’t
his friends and family will die one by one.
What
were your sources of inspiration when writing Chasing
the Ghost, and is any of it based on personal experiences? One
of our key sources of inspiration was Jordan Peele’s Get Out, at least for me. I really paid attention to how
Peele made the everyday and mundane scary for a specific group of people.
Todd and I knew we wanted to do a thriller/horror film. We also knew we
wanted it to be about drugs. With that being said, I asked myself what is
scary to a drug addict? And then it hit me: Being sober. I know when I was
in active addiction that’s what terrified me the most, getting through a
day without being high. Which answers the second part of your question.
Having been an opiate addict in the past for over ten years, and in and
out of rehab five plus times, I definitely drew on my personal experiences
to craft the story. What
can you tell us about your co-writer Todd Calvin De Pew, and what was your
collaboration like? Not
only is Todd my best friend, he’s also one of the most interesting
people I’ve ever met. When we collaborate, there’s never a dull
moment, and I think we both one up each other with our knowledge of film
and writing and try to wow the other one with what we’ve written next.
It’s slightly competitive, but being that we’re ultimately on the same
team, it really sharpens our skills as artists, I feel. I
become a better writer every time I collaborate with Todd, because he
forces me to step outside my comfort zone and turn in surprising and
different work. We are currently working on our fourth feature length
screenplay together, and I can’t wait for the fifth and sixth and... Do talk about Chasing
the Ghost's approach to horror? Well, I wouldn’t call
Chasing
the Ghost a horror film per se. It’s more of a
drama/thriller with a supernatural spin. Sure, there are some horror
elements; a couple jump scares and an impending sense of existential
dread, for example. But, mostly I wanted to explore the effects of drugs
on the family members of the addicted, and this was the most interesting
way I could do that without coming across like an after school public
service announcement. At least I hope I didn’t.
A few words
about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand? I
think it was most important for me to convey to the actors (especially Dan
Pesta who plays the lead, Clay) that even though the story may seem over
the top and implausible at times, it’s very important that they play it
straight. That they really root their characters in reality. Because, I
feel like if the characters were too over the top the message of the film
would get muddled and people wouldn’t care about these characters.
Hopefully, that came across in the film. What
can you tell us about Chasing
the Ghost's key cast, and why exactly these people? I really lucked
out with this cast. Each and every one of them came to set prepared and
ready to work. This goes for every actor, I can’t specify that enough.
We had a pretty rigorous rehearsal schedule for two months and I think
everybody was feeling a bit of fatigue, but it must’ve paid off, because
the cast just nailed it. But, I’d really like to tip my hat to Dan
Pesta. He had auditioned for my last film If
I Can’t Have You and was superb. He didn’t get
that role, but I knew I needed to work with him after seeing him in the
room. He is in almost every scene in Chasing
the Ghost. Everyday we’d give Dan something to do, something that
couldn’t have been too comfortable for him physically or emotionally,
and he just handled it like a pro. Whether it be the sex scene or snorting
milk powder, the guy never seemed to be out of his element and really
delivered something special performance-wise.
Do
talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere! It
was a relaxed and fun atmosphere, which I think is important when you’re
making a film with such a heavy subject matter. Even though there was a
sense of levity on set, the cast and crew never let their foot off the gas
so to speak. They threw themselves at the task at hand and I think it
really shows. I think this is a lot of people’s best work. In my
opinion, the cinematographer (Peter Poulos) has never been better. We
worked together on If
I Can’t Have You, which
is wonderfully shot, however, I feel like Chasing
the Ghost is in another league when it comes to
cinematography. I also think, Kayden Bryce (who plays Tegan) really turned
in some of her best acting work to date and has a Best Supporting Actress
award (Kollywood Film Festival) to show for it. And the film’s just
getting started on the festival circuit. The
$64-question of course, where can Chasing
the Ghost be seen? Chasing
the Ghost is
currently streaming on Tubi. Anything you can tell us
about audience and critical reception of Chasing
the Ghost? It’s
really hard to gauge, because the reviews have been favorable, and my
friends and family have responded positively, but those are my friends and
family. Ha ha. They could just be lying to my face. So…I’m really
interested to see how it performs on Tubi and what strangers, like
yourself, think of the film. But in the end it doesn’t really matter.
I’m my toughest critic and even if I just got done making something
people considered to be a masterpiece I’d still be nitpicking it from
wherever I was sitting. Any future projects you'd like to
share?
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Currently, Todd
and I are writing a script called A Spider, the Fly
and I. It’s about a thief who breaks into a mansion and comes face
to face with a woman who’s just killed her entire family. It’s the
last part of our thrill-ogy (as Todd calls it) after If
I Can’t Have You and Chasing
the Ghost. We also completed a script called Nightcap for
Bradford Clark and Joseph Quick. That one’s about a group of people
stuck in a bar with an active shooter outside. It’s much more of a dark
comedy and it’s a lot of fun. I can’t wait for that one to go into
production. Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever
else? I’m
just Matthew Santia on Facebook and matthewsantia on Instagram. Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? No,
I think you covered it. Thanks for the interview!
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