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Your new movie Maya - in a few words, what is it about?
Maya,
a shape shifting soul collector seeks to lead a group of unsuspecting
non-believers into the afterlife. When space and time become a blurred
mirror of reality and Maya's mysterious abilities take on a dark and
ominous tone, fear becomes the only key to salvation.
What were your sources of inspiration when writing Maya?
I
gave Maya
a sophisticated backbone. It’s based on a combination of
philosophical concepts. If you were dead and in purgatory, and have no
physical body, does time still apply? The laws of physics demand that time
and space be connected but a soul or spirit has no mass. What then of the
laws of general relativity? A soul can exist for eternity because physics
doesn’t apply. That was my jumping off point.
I
was listening to George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass CD and took
special note of a song called Beware of Darkness. In that song, George
mentions the Hindu concept of Maya, which is complicated but fundamentally
links the rejection of deception and illusion with spiritual
transcendence. That’s where it all came together. My character of Maya
is both a person and a concept. Those two interconnected pieces ultimately
became the story. Nothing is truly real, and nothing is connected by the
laws of physics. If the illusion is primal enough, flawed humans cannot
reject it and cannot transcend. All humans are flawed and therefore all
humans are ultimately doomed to an individually eternal fate.
Maya has its fair
share of gruesome bits - so what can you tell us about the effects in
your movie, and how were they achieved?
I
did a large chunk of the visual effects myself. I had some excellent
talent help along the way, but what you see on screen is largely me. I
wanted a combination of practical and digital effects. I used a wide
variety of techniques including Pepper's Ghost, an old Coney Island bit
where you use mirrors and high key lighting to create the illusion of a
spirit in the middle of a room. After we shot it practically, I color
graded it to blow away the details in the shadow. Since there is actually
no actual color data in those parts of the reflection, it created a
ghostly look that is hard to recreate especially digitally. Beyond that,
there was a little of everything from 3D modeling and VFX composites. We
also did a few matte paintings and some digital animation. The practical
make up effects (with some of his own digital assist) were done by Joe
Castro [Joe Castro interview -
click here] who I’ve been a fan of since the 90s. All told, we put a lot
of VFX into this film and I’m happy with how it came out.
Do talk about Maya's
approach to horror for a bit!
I wanted Maya to be faithful to horror tropes while also expansive into
new areas. Horror fans love the things they love and are very loyal so
they can tell when you are being disrespectful to the genre. Maya
has many
of the familiar elements that the fans love but with some new ideas and a
different approach that can also be a fresh experience for them. It comes
from my being a horror fan myself.
A few words about your overall directorial approach to your story at
hand?
My
directorial approach was shaped by the budget. We had a pretty low budget,
so I wanted to shoot this like a George A. Romero film. Chaotic and
energetic but edited with a sort of poetry to it. I wanted to create a
flow of emotion with each scene (especially the death scenes). I also
tried to soften the rough elements so that the blood was legit but not
over the top. I wanted the death scenes to be horrific but with a sense of
humor about them. I really just didn’t want Maya
to be too much of any one
thing.
What can you tell us
about Maya's cast, and why exactly these people?
The
cast was great. I had worked with Victoria Paege previously as an actor. I
had her in mind when I was writing Maya. She was exactly what I was
picturing because, as one of my characters says, “She’s not the type
of person you would expect to find living out in the woods.” She,
wardrobe, all of it, was meant to be a little weird.
I
actually lost my main actor one week into shooting and I had a real crisis
on my hands with things paid for and arrangements already made. I had
worked with Seth Gandrud in the past and he is a friend. Seth is one of
those guys you may not run into for a year but if you call him out of the
blue with a problem, he’s johnny on the spot. That was kind of the
situation here. He stepped in with no lead time, and within a week we were
shooting. Complicating matters was the fact that he just started a new job
and so he would drive between Prescott and Phoenix over and over again
just to film. He really was the MVP on this project. For multiple reasons,
I likely wouldn’t have been able to continue the film as I'd had to spend
a month or two recasting.
I
really wanted Brinke Stevens [Brinke
Stevens interview - click here] in this movie because I was a fan. The
experience exceeded by expectations. I had her as an evil Tea House Lady.
In the scene where she (as the embodiment of Maya) murders Kira, I knew
she could do both scary and funny. I try to add some goofy to the kills
scenes to offset some of the cruelty. This particular scene, where she is
butchering Kira, is pretty rough so I actually have her dialogue
channeling Bugs Bunny. I think only old guys like me will pick it up, but
it may get by some younger viewers. In any case, Brinke definitely brought
her A game.
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Beyond
that the cast is a nice combination of more seasoned actors and rookies.
Everybody gelled pretty well and worked as an ensemble. For an indie film
with so many characters, I was very pleased that each individual
personality comes across and is clearly defined. And they too (as I
mentioned about Brinke) did a fine job straddling between the silly and
the intense. They came off as human which I was very happy about. I could
share great stories of each one of them
stepping up and surprising me with their level of dedication. I was very
lucky to have them.
With
Maya being an
outdoors film for the most part, where was it actually filmed, and what
were the main challenges when it comes to filming in the wild?
Filming
in the woods is tough, especially with a low budget in Arizona. The trick
was to make the desert look like the forest. Tough trick huh? This was
another problem related to losing our lead actor, there is a time window
when there is enough green in parts of Phoenix, Arizona to shoot the night
shots there. By summer this green burns off and day or night, it’s the
desert. Night shots were shot in Phoenix and then when it was too hot to
shoot in Phoenix and the greenery burned off, we went up to Mt Lemmon in
Tucson to shoot the day scenes in an actual forest-like environment. If we
had not gotten the night shots done within the small time window, we would
have had to shoot everything up North or in the mountains which would have
ballooned our limited budget. When you work on a shoestring you have to
think outside the box.
A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
Honestly
there was more stress than I would have liked. Almost all of it was
related to the shooting schedule which went from relatively organized to
more opportunistic (mainly working around Seth’s work schedule and
ability to travel into town). There was a lot of change which is tough for
professionals trying to prepare. Beyond that, everyone got along very
well. The chemistry was good among the actors and crew. There weren’t a
lot of us so that was very important that we got along.
The
$64-question of course, where can Maya
be seen?
Well,
we are beginning submissions to film festivals right now. Several are
getting close to making final line-up decisions, so I expect to have that
announcement soon. Ultimately, we will be hitting as many festivals as
possible over the next year. Other options are being thought through now,
but final decisions haven’t been made at this point.
Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Maya?
The
early response has been very nice. People seem to be really responsive to
the elaborate kill scenes which (Let’s face it) are the heart and soul
of most horror films. It’s always about the kill scenes and mine seem to
be getting a pretty positive response. However, we are getting good
notices across the board. The actors do a real good job, the direction,
the editing. I look forward to having it seen by more people in the months
ahead.
Any future projects you'd like to share?
Yes,
I want to write/direct a short film called the Sons of Naco. It is a
comedic take on a very familiar western trope. I’m also attached to a
feature film as their VFX guy. The producers were super thrilled by the
effects done for Maya, and this is a direct result. I’m excited about
this one for multiple reasons, not only do I not have to worry about
duties other than the VFX but the budget is significantly higher than any
other film I’ve been involved with previously. What a
multimillion-dollar budget would give me is the opportunity to work with
newer, higher end VFX tools. That’s pretty exciting for a tech head like
me. From there, I have a feature that I plan to write/produce/direct
which is more of a psychological thriller. Besides that, I’m trying to
free up time for scripts. I’m always writing so I have at least six or
seven great ideas in various stages of development (mostly horror).
What got you filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any
formal training on the subject?
I’ve
always loved film. In fact, I did study filmmaking in college. When I
graduated, I used my skills to create my own business doing industrials
and training videos. Sadly, within two years, the analogue era was over,
and the digital era had begun. Literally within a few years, nearly
everything I learned in school was outdated. After a while, I went back
and got more education specifically on computer systems design and
software. After receiving my master’s degree in that, I went back and
taught myself how to make films with digital technology including cameras
and editing. I guess I’m both formally trained AND self-taught.
What can you tell us about your filmwork prior to Maya?
I
worked on several smaller films for myself and others. Many of those films
are still available on streaming services. While I’m proud of all of
them, I am so heavily invested in improving my skills that they are hard
to watch. Maya is hard to watch because I’m an infinitely better
filmmaker than I was the day I started production. I guess that’s the
nature of the artform in a way.
How would you describe yourself as a director?
My
approach to directing is to direct the whole project. There are some
directors that are good with actors but stink with the technical side (some don’t even know what lenses to use), others are technical
directors who effectively spend the production shadowing the director of photography and everyone else just kind of does their thing. My recent
experiences required me to be all in on everything. This means that there
is really nothing on a film set that someone can throw by me. This
experience has made me a much better director because the more knowledge
you have, the better decisions you can make.
Filmmakers who inspire you?
Early
on was John Carpenter and David Cronenberg for the fearless way they
approached filmmaking. Their films have a signature to them. Visuals,
content, all of it has a real personality.
Sam Raimi also for creating a signature. He used POV shots for inanimate
objects. Amazing and distinctly Sam. I would also throw in George Méliès
for approaching filmmaking like a magician. Keep everything in camera if
possible is my motto. Use CG to accent and move to the next level.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Chuck Jones. Jones created
animated shorts with the eye of a serious filmmaker. His animated shorts
were real films, not filler for kids. He is following all the rules of the
artform.
Your favourite movies?
Saturday
Night Fever – Excellent character study of the era with amazing
photography on the dancefloor. Beautiful low angle shots put you right
down on the dancefloor. Wonderful.
Hugo
– Scorsese’s George Méliès tribute film. Perfect mix of practical
filmmaking and digital effects. Can watch it every day.
Somewhere
in Time - Genre jumping between science fiction and romance. I’ve seen
it 100 times, I still cry every time.
... and of course, films you really deplore?
I
don’t really deplore any films. I can enjoy and learn as much from a low
budget exploitation film as I can from a big Hollywood blockbuster. The
films that I like MORE than others are those that have a personality.
Films that have a voice. I’m not as much of a fan of the same thing over
and over again, especially if it’s a stale formula. Filmmakers can always
use the formula as a jumping off point, but they don’t need to just
regurgitate the same thing.
Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2780464/
https://www.facebook.com/paul.hemmes
https://www.instagram.com/fancyladfilms/
https://twitter.com/HemmesPaul
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-c-hemmes-525320a/
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Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
Not really, other than to express how appreciative I am to all the people that
have supported me over the years and continue to support me as a
filmmaker. Life can make you cynical sometimes. Especially when you
associate with the wrong people. I’ve been relatively lucky. I’ve got
great people around me now and the path to success looks wide open. Thank
you as well for taking the time to allow me this opportunity to rant J
Thanks
for the interview!
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