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Your new movie First
Moon - in a few words, what's it about?
It's the story of a young woman who is abducted by a religious sect of
monster hunters who believe she has been infected with a werewolf
contagion, and are trying to "cure" her before the next full
moon. With First
Moon ultimately being a werewolf movie, is that a genre you're at
all fond of, and some of your genre favourites? And what do you think
makes your film stick out of the crowd?
Oh, absolutely! I've been a massive horror fan for most of my life, and
deeply in love with the supernatural and creature features. I of course
love the classics. The Howling
and American
Werewolf in London are of course massive inspirations. More
recently, films like Late Phases and Paul Hyett's Howl just
show that the genre is bubbling under people's skin - both of those were incredible.
For First Moon I
wanted to take a look more at the idea of what makes a werewolf a monster.
Looking at them like a naturally occurring creature. This brought me to
the idea of the werewolf's rage as a constant thread... which led to the
idea of passion. So in this, our creatures are beings of extreme passion -
which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how it's used. That
notion is what brought about the idea of it as a sexually transmitted
condition. I also wanted to talk about the idea that so few of the people
we categorise as monsters are inherently evil. More often, they're
ordinary people pushed to the extreme, and lashing out at the world around
them. (Other) sources
of inspiration when writing First Moon?
So many! Honestly, the bar for independent horror coming out of
Australia has been set ridiculously high in recent years! Films like Talk
to Me, Late
Night with the Devil, Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism, Birdeater...
there's been a high bar set. That said, I also looked at a lot of
thrillers and dark dramas. You can't have a two person prison style
dialogue scene without looking at Steve McQueen's Hunger. Michael
Fassbender and Liam Cunningham showed that you don't need a thousand and
one cuts to make a dialogue like that hit. This was constantly in my head
in the scenes between Jessica and Elyse in particular.
Do talk about your movie's approach to horror!
I wanted to try and do a slow burn, with a high level of tension. It
takes a long while for anything extreme to happen - Jessica wakes up in a
cage, which is of course horrific, but mostly it's the threat of danger.
The threat of violence. I did a lot of reading into traditional monster
hunting practices, including those around werewolves. This brought me a
lot closer to torture porn than I'd intended!
A few words about your directorial approach to
your story at hand?
I really wanted to focus on actors and performance. We were on a really
tight timeframe, and the story itself has moments of flashbacks and
reveals, so I really wanted to make sure my cast were supported in where
they were narratively at any given moment.
I also worked really closely with my DP, Dillon Pearce, to create a
different feel for the real world, and the ethereal dream world of
memories. Shooting it in different styles to help an audience easily see
the difference between the different stages. There was a fantastic episode
of Firefly where they seamlessly drift between three distinct time
periods, and they did an incredible job of keeping all three of those
separate, which was a huge inspiration.
You of course also have to talk
about First Moon's
wonderful monster design for a bit,, and to what extent were you involved
in its creation? I was heavily involved! As soon as we got Thomas Surprenant onboard, I
began many long conversations with him all the way through the process. I
knew I wanted to go for something that looked a bit different, and with
this being the monster's first moon transformation, I thought it would be
interesting to have them seem more foetus like. Hairless. Vein riddled.
After all, who doesn't love a wet puppet?
There was an amazing conversation with Thomas early on where I told him
I'd been inspired by the stories of skinwalkers... and at the time, I had
no idea of his Native American heritage! This brought about lengthy
discussions, long emails and late night calls to talk about the potential
impact on character design. It was a really synergistic working
relationship.
Do talk about First
Moon's cast, and why exactly these people?
Luck, mostly! I'd written the piece, and held an online table read with
some really lovely and talented actors, all of whom submitted tapes.
Lauren Esposito [Lauren
Espositio interview - click here] was on that read as a potential acting coach, if we
managed to find a cast member with a fantastic look who needed a bit of
extra work... but after reading the script herself, she got really excited
by it, and put herself forward for consideration as well! Looking at her
performance, it was clear that she really got a lot of the nuance of the
character, and for a long time, we had weekly calls going through each
moment in the script. I'd tweak things a little based on our
conversations, and slowly Jessica became even more fleshed out.
I'd known
Shannon Ryan personally, but hadn't even thought about her until going to
casting. When we started reaching out, I looked through the lists of
actors I knew personally and thought "I wonder if Shannon would be
any good for Elyse?" We had a number of really solid auditions... and
then Shannon came in, and just knocked all of our socks off. Even on set,
people were TERRIFIED of her!
Julian Curtis [Julian Curtis
interview - click here] was a really lucky find. Thomas had worked with him in
the past, and he'd been doing incredible things in the States. He's an
Australian native, and it turned out that he'd planned a trip home around
the time of the shooting, so after Thomas pitched the role to him, he
turned in a tape. There were a number of tapes for Thomas - I think he's a
really interesting, and meaty role for an actor, so it was a really sought
after role. Ultimately, Julian's tape was very strong... but that couldn't
prepare me for the absolute professional powerhouse we got on set! He was
incredible. And the way he worked with me, and his relationship with
Shannon - the two of them would come to me having had discussions about
their characters, and would pitch me ideas on set. When we had time to
workshop things, the results have become some of my favourite moments of the film.
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And then there was Soren Jensen. It takes a lot to make someone that
menacing and arch come across as warm, sympathetic, and rational. Soren
shone out above all of the auditions... and then I met him. The man is an
absolute giant! There was a moment after filming his introduction to the
film where I had been worried about the dialogue... and then Soren
performed it, and I had people coming up to congratulate me for the
writing! He took something rough, and polished it with performance in such
a beautiful way.
Matthew Pritchard who played Scott is a long time friend of mine, and
an actor who has an incredible range. Anytime I make something, I always
ask myself if there's a role for them to audition for, because I'm
grateful to have someone with the talent, but who also knows me well and
can see several layers of intent behind any note. That said, I'm never the
sole authority on anything I do, and I'm really grateful to have a number
of people involved to make sure we only cast people talented enough for
the task! Seeing Soren and Matt in their intimate father/son relationship
really confirms my feelings! The emotional interplay between them was a
thrill to direct. You
also have to talk about your fittingly atmospheric main location, and what
was it like filming there?
The location was just about everything you could ask for, in terms of
atmosphere and set design! It was such an insane place! That said, we also
needed to keep a strong eye on safety, as there were large sections where
old buildings were rotten through and ready to drop jagged sheet metal!
The carpark for our final scene had to be combed repeatedly with magnets
to try and collect years of old rusted nails (they found hundreds in our
last few sweeps alone!).
I remember going out there on a location scout, and I drove out one
night with Dillon in the middle of the night to get a sense of the
atmosphere... and with the wind howling through the buildings, freezing
cold, and fog starting to build, we both stayed for as short a time as
possible! It was terrifying!
That said, the caretakers were two of the loveliest people you could
meet. They'd been professional caterers in a past life, and the days where
they took over craft services were some of the best food I've had, on set
or off! What can you tell us about
the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
It was stressful, no doubt about it. Long hours, cold temperatures,
short time frame... but we had so many lovely people both in cast and
crew, that at one point or another, I saw a smile on everyone's face.Our electrical team had this wonderful atmosphere, blasting music while
setting up shots... only to be able to snap into action at a moment's
notice. My first AD tried to keep everything professional, but there were
times I managed to infect her, and by the end she found herself
accidentally breaking into song! My safety officer/armourer/fight
choreographer "Safety Cam" was an absolute godsend. The man is
highly trained, and could kill any one of us in a heartbeat... but had the
warmest smile, regularly would come up give me hugs, and honestly did a
wonderful job of keeping me sane. Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of First
Moon?
It's a bit too early at the moment! But I've been really happy with the
reviews I've seen coming out. As it's my first film, I'm of course very
apprehensive! The internet has a habit of being overly harsh... but I
haven't seen any of that! The reviews I've seen so far have all been fair,
and incredibly generous. There's been a lot of positivity out there, and
it feels like a lot of what we tried to achieve has really resonated with
the people who have seen it.
Any future projects you'd like to share?
I've got a lot in the pipeline at the moment! I've been working on a
number of projects with Reel One, with one that just recently finished
filming in Canada, and another two in various stages of scripting. I think one of the biggest on the way is
Magnum Opus, which I've been
working on for a long time with director Nick Kozakis and my co-writer
Steph Troost. We did a proof of concept short which was accepted by Sitges
Film Festival last year, and got so much acclaim! I don't want to give
much away about that one yet, but if you can get a hold of the short,
you'll have some idea of the twisted direction it's taking! That one is
just going through a final script polish, and hopefully moving on into
production. Everyone who's been involved so far are super excited, and I
think it's going to be something really special. Beyond that, I've got a few other projects coming together, including
another horror film revolving around teenagers and the toxicity of social
media with Sparkplug Films. We're onto a second draft, and I'm lined up
to step into the director's chair again for that one, so I hope to take
through as many of the lessons from First Moon
with me as possible.
What got you into filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal
training on the subject?
I did! I started off writing random prose while stuck on the daily
commute in London. I lived over there for a number of years, working as a
temp in random offices, and going out of my mind! Eventually I moved from
writing for myself to trying to write for others, stepping into comic
books - the work I've done with About Time Comics I'm really proud of.
The Fist which I've made alongside Roy Huteson Stewart for Square One Comics
is due to start its Kickstarter any day now.
After I moved back to Australia, I knew I wanted to make a living
writing, so I enrolled in a university degree, which gave me a number of
years to focus on it... and the longer I looked at the writing industries,
the more I fell in love with filmmaking. There was no film component at
the university, so I wound up working with other writers and actors and
making my own!
So, the craft of writing is all heavily informed by formal study. The
filmmaking/directing is much more hands on, self-taught and honed through
experience. What can you tell us about your
filmwork prior to First Moon?
I started out just doing anything I could to get experience on set.
From short films to commercial work. I'd do running, project management,
unit management, whatever was needed that could get me some experience.
Then after a while of writing, I managed to land a role as a script supervisor
on a low budget shoot with a short timeframe and three working cameras.
That really tested my knowledge, and ability to think creatively on the
fly. By the time I had my second script supervisor role, I felt a lot more
comfortable tracking the action, understanding coverage, and helping the
production along.
I'd directed a number of short films prior to this, but stepping into
the hot seat for First Moon
was an incredible challenge. One that I'm extremely grateful for.
How
would you describe yourself as a director?
In case you couldn't tell from the lengthy responses, I'm a bit of a
talker! I like to communicate with my cast and crew on set. I have a
vision for how something is going to play out, and I want to make sure
that's come across before we start... but once we start, I like to have a
very open and collaborative style. The number of times Dillon would come
to me and suggest a different way to execute a shot - he knew the shot I
wanted, so he could bounce off of that. Same with Thomas and the effects,
or Cam and the fight choreography. They knew what I was after, and we'd
play off of that, with me trusting them to give me their best as experts
in their particular fields... and boy was I given an abundance of their best!
I also like to think of myself as an actor's director. A long time ago
I spoke with an actor who described directing like train conducting. An
actor isn't a 4x4 going off road, they're a train on a fixed track. They
can go faster or slower, but once you've got a fixed starting point and a
fixed destination, you can't direct how they get there. So on set, I like to do a lot of talking to my cast. I want to make
sure we're on the same page at the beginning of who they are, where they
came from, and where the scene is likely to take them. If I disagree with
a choice, that's the conversation we go back to - louder or softer? Sure.
Intensity? Absolutely. But I'd been on set where a director had almost tried to puppeteer
their cast, telling them how to smile, how to use their eyes. If you and
an actor are on the same page about origin and destination, you can't tell
them how to experience the emotion differently.
Filmmakers
who inspire you? Bong Joon Ho for his incredible staging.
Martin McDonagh for his... well... everything. I think Danny Boyle has a
spectacular way of embodying the "show don't tell"-essence of
visual story telling. That's three off the top of my head, but I could go
on for hours if you let me! Your favourite movies?
I love In Bruges -
I remember seeing that with a group of friends who didn't feel like they
"got" it... while I was in stitches. If we're talking guilty
pleasures, I think I've seen The Crow more times than any other film.
I had a conversation with an editor not long ago when talking about
horror, and she asked me "What is the best horror movie of all time,
and why is it Alien?"
I stopped, and thought for a very long time... and even went on a deep
dive online trying to compile a list of every horror movie I'd seen, or
wished I had seen! But no, I couldn't argue. In terms of horror, Ridley
Scott absolutely nailed it!
... and of course, films you really deplore?
It's hard to truly hate anything once you've started making films
yourself. You get to understand enough of what goes on in the backend that
you really appreciate the magic when a film breaks out and speaks to you,
but you have a lot of empathy when it doesn't.
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So, that as a preface, and no hate to the filmmakers... I'm a big comicbook guy, and have really ridden the wave of superhero properties, but as
of right now, I feel like we're in the end times of them. I felt like
Logan was a really wonderful way to say goodbye to the genre for a
while... but films have kept coming, and in a number of cases, the quality
has been slipping. And because the loyalties get drawn down tribal lines
at times, I grew up on Marvel
comics, and never managed to get into DC...
and I've felt the same with their films! I've watched a number, but the DCEU
hasn't managed to ever ignite something in me.
Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?
One
Tree Entertainment has all of the socials for First Moon,
so their webpage for it is onetreeentertainment.com/moon.
They're @onetree__ent on instagram, with a separate @firstmoonfilm
there as well. I'm @cloudedpage Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I
think you've covered everything... and I've definitely rambled on enough
in my replies! Thanks for the questions! It's been nice to go back over
several key factors and think about them again. Thanks
for the interview!
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