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Your new movie Doomsday
Stories - in a few words, what is it about?
Zorack
from The Hell on Earth movies from over 30 years ago
returns. Meanies pretty wiped out mankind. Creatures and the
Meanies led by Balrog have died out. Zorack over the years has hidden from
what is left of society. He wanders the wasteland and survives. He comes
across a book of stories from the past which make up Doomsday
Stories. With
Doomsday Stories
being an end-of-the-world movie, is that a genre at all dear to you, and
some of your genre favourites? End of the world Mad
Max type movies have always been my favorite . Plus movies like
Mad Max
and Omega Man have inspired me to do this. Due to budget limitations it’s
easier to go to less densely populated areas and shoot. Woods, deserted
beaches etc. Plus how scary is it to be alone with the unknown. I put my
own take making the star pretty much a maniac with a grudge who kills good
and bad. To ask quite bluntly, why
make an anthology film, and were there any guidelines your fellow
filmmakers had to follow? An anthology movie is
easier than making a feature. I have a great team that we have worked on 3
anthologies already. We all know our jobs. After numerous meetings on
the storylines and approvals of their stories they were let loose to
create their segments. Once theirscripts are approved I give them
complete artistic control. When done me and my editor Marcelo Fabani
dropped them in an already edited introduction segment and it flowed great.
When everyone knows their jobs things flow easy. The final touches were
made by James Panetta, who finalized the movie and got it out to our
copier. Me and Joel D. Wynkoop [Joel
D. Wynkoop interview - click here] approved cover, disc and posters we are
doing as a bonus for every DVD. It’s a team effort.
Let's for the moment focus on
your segment in Doomsday
Stories - what were your sources of inspiration there? It was supposed to be just a survivor of the apocalypse,
but then I said hey let’s bring the character of Zorack back and have
him tell stories. We really had fun going back in time and giving him a
backstory also. Showing he was once human and what made him lose faith in
humanity and become the killing machine he became. Do
talk about your directorial approach to your story at hand! It was cool. I starred and
directed the scenes of my intros to the stories. My wife who is a
photographer did the camera work and had my son do the drone footage. It
was a family affair. The other stories I had complete confidence that they
were told the premise and they knew what to do. I gave complete freedom on
what they created. You
also appear in front of the camera in your segment - so do talk about your
character, what have you drawn upon to bring him to life, and did you
write him with yourself in mind from the get-go? I
played Zorack in 2 films, then he was loosely done in Tales Till the End.
This was the first time we really got to know who he was. He had a
girlfriend and sister and a best friend - who were all taken from him. He
grew bitter and angry and killed everyone good to bad in the Hell On Earth
movies. So when bringing the character back after 30 years he has to have
matured and calmed down a lot. The world is changed and the evil monsters
have pretty much died out. He lives alone and stays off the beaten path to
avoid any human contact. I like my privacy and the settings I chose to
shoot reflect that. These are my escape woods when not filming and
escaping from the stress.
What
can you tell us about the rest of your cast, and why exactly these people? We have a huge cast with these movies.
With my segments I always got to my friends and people from the past
movies. I was very excited to get Bryant Sohl [Bryant
Sohl interview - click here] from the original Hell on
Earth movies to return. Also my friends Alba O’Neill [Alba
O'Neill interview - click here], Carl J Grasso [Carl
J Grasso interview - click here],
Will Devokees, Jaysen Buterin [Jaysen
P. Buterin interview - click here], Michael Moutsatsos [Michael
Moutsatsos interview - click here], Tim Hatch and Kimberly
Lynn Cole return in my scenes. I love working with them. A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? I’m known for my laid back
approach to things. I give a lot of artistic freedom. I always tell my
people I am giving you a script, it’s a guideline. You can improvise
and as long as it’s the right idea of what I showed you, improvements are
welcome. Kimberly Lynn Cole, who I have known and worked with for 30 years,
is a perfect example. I will give her a scene and I know she is a pro and
let her go with it and go bigger. She always turns out a great performance
and never request any reshoots. What
can you tell us about the other filmmakers involved in Doomsday
Stories and their segments? And how easy or hard was it to gather
all these people for your project? Joel D. Wynkoop [Joel
D. Wynkoop interview - click here],
who is my partner and whom I have known for over 30 years, helped with this. We
both agreed and got people we were familiar with and knew we can get a
good project done quickly. Joel had a great time travel story called 187
Times and pushed the budget, but was so worth it. It was so good we are now
shooting a feature based on the short 187 Times. Next up is Derek
Braasch [Derek Braasch
interview - click here].
What this young filmmaker and his wife Nina Trader come up with is
amazing. This is our 3rd collaboration, and his short A Broken Promise is a
really dark journey into hell that was beautifully shot. He instantly
draws you in these well fleshed out characters. His choice for lead is
Justin Bower who always gives a strong and very likable performance. Director James Panetta has the privilege of bringing to life
actress/writer Debbie D's story Bomb Threats [Debbie
D interview - click here]. A chilling performance and
equally chilling shot of the world going mad and the results. Marcelo
Fabani brings us Forever Man. A really fun gory entry which has the
Meanies that were taking over as a backdrop to create the perfect
atmosphere for his short. Heather Carson as the president does a fine job.
The $64-question of
course, where can Doomsday
Stories be seen? Doomsday
Stories will be streaming in different platforms a month after its
DVD release. Right now you can get Doomsday
Stories to purchase directly from
Phil Herman or Joel D. Wynkoop on Facebook messenger for $20. Message is
for information or questions. Anything you can tell us about
audience and critical reception of Doomsday
Stories? So far everyone is loving the
energy and the elaborate approach we took. We did everything we could to
make this a visually enjoyable movie. Any future projects you'd like to
share?
This year I’m working on Michael Moutsatso's Contaminate [Michael
Moutsatsos interview - click here],
Will Collazo's Amityville Turkey Day [Will
Collazo jr interview -
click here], I Slay on Christmas,
187 Times the Movie, and a few other projects early in development and will announce
soon.
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Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever
else? Facebook
page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1977592975924662/
Trailer: https://youtu.be/xo95Qzhgb3o
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask?
I just want to thank everyone for year after year returning and supporting
my movies. I have been doing this for over 3 decades and have so many
friends and supporters would just love to thank them all. I can only keep
making these movies with your support. So please order your copy of
Doomsday Stories now. All purchase go towards future productions. Thanks for the interview! Thank you as
always Michael.
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