Your upcoming film Dead Walkers: Rise of the 4th Reich - to ask quite bluntly: Why
Nazis? Why zombies? And why Nazi zombies? And what new will your film
contribute to the zombie and (let's just call it that for the moment) the
nazisploitation genre?
Eirian Cohen |
You
should have been a Nazi in the film dude, bluntness like that would have
been cool.
Why Nazis? Because there's an emotion that remains with most
people today about the word and what goes with it. You say Nazi and you
know what is meant. It's up there with President Bush.
Why zombies? I'm
only going to say this once, there are NO ZOMBIES in this film. So there.
Yet again, most folk won't have a clue what is going on and I make no
apology. Before you watch it, look up Vril on Google. As far as I know it's a proven
fact that the Nazis dabbled in the occult quite a bit, and the occult is a
topic you're somehow familiar with. So how much of your film was based on
actual research?
Graham Gill, Melissa Hollett |
All of the
facts and little bits and pieces are based entirely on research I have
done over the years and it was fun to bring some of it together in the
film. A lot of it came from a book about James Bond I wrote (called
The
Bond Code) and how Ian Fleming and Nazis dabbled in the dark arts etc.
This film asks the question what would have happened if a secret
scientific occult group of Nazis escaped and continued with their
experiments? We discover that the 4th Reich may not actually be
real physical people anymore...
What were your inspirations when
dreaming up Dead Walkers: Rise of the 4th Reich
to begin with? To
be honest I wanted to make a sort of spy-action film and had to bring some
paranormal stuff in there for various reasons. I used to love films like
The Odessa File and well, it just boils up in your head from all the
ingredients. How
would you describe your directorial approach to your subject at hand? Maybe
I'm getting old, but I wanted to let people free on this film. There were
so many talented people. I recognised some talents straight away. People
like Craig Canning, who is a top award-winning martial-artist and actor,
showed immediately that he was the man to take over fight scenes. Others,
such as Stephen Foster-Hunt [Stephen
Foster-Hunt interview - click here], had been military men, and so he was great
for getting the tons of extras into the mindset of Nazi. I also knew I
needed to push again if we were going to get that raw, evil feel of the
cold wastelands of Romania, so that's what we did. I had a lot of beatings
and torture scenes filmed that I knew wouldn't even be used, just to get
the team spirit going. Sorry guys.
Nikki Webster |
Since
there are zombies in your movie and quite a few gorehounds in my audience
I feel I have to ask: How far is Dead Walkers: Rise of the 4th Reich
going in terms of blood and guts, and was there ever a line you refused to
cross? And how important is explicit gore for your style of moviemaking
to begin with? I did say I'm
only saying this once. I lied. Second time. There are no zombies in this
film. As for gore. I'm not a fan of gore to be honest. I think it reveals
a distinct lack of imagination. That said, we used at least half a cow,
several hearts and a lot of intestines. It stank and there was blood
everywhere. Well, the film needed it really because James Mason is no
longer with us and his stare would have been sufficient to scare anybody.
One can't help but notice that you've
invited quite a few castmembers back from your previous Exorcist
Chronicles. Why is that, and what can you tell us about your cast as
such? And why exactly these people? The
folk from Exorcist Chronicles
came in droves. I drugged them on Exorcist Chronicles
and then
hypnotised them. Now they are my league of many, my evil hoard that shall
help me take over the universal (when we win the lottery) ... I asked them,
because they are absolutely awesome. Nothing less.
Dead Walkers: Rise of the 4th Reich
and Exorcist Chronicles both feature
casts of dozens, but you have also made films like Cam
Girl and Lady of
the Dark: Genesis of the Serpent Vampire that feature no more than
one actress - so how do these two approaches to filmmaking compare, and
which do you prefer, actually?
Totally different. Over
100 people on Dead Walkers, massive locations, dozens of guns, Nazi flags
and props. All that takes money and organisation. Thankfully the wonderful
Michelle Gent [Michelle Gent
interview - click here] and Trevor Gent were always at hand and did such a lot of
the background work. There are a lot of unsung heroes in this film –
folk like John Sullivan who is a gem!
The single narrative
films are just a dream to make. Simple locations, one person, no running
around for lighting, sound, make-up, extras everywhere. BUT, the actress
needs to be amazing and Melanie Denholme [Melanie
Denholme interview - click here] is one of those actresses that
can pull it off. I have several such projects in the pipeline right now...
Nikki Webster, Eirian Cohen, Jane Haslehurst |
What can you tell us
about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? I
think for almost everybody but me, it was a party. Judging from the amount
of cake eaten and banana suits worn. I cannot say how enjoyable it was to
do. The most enjoyable sizeable film I have ever made with the best bunch
of people. Simple. I may be called a dictator or whatever, but I love em
all and somebody has to shout (Michelle normally). Any
idea when and where the film is going to be released yet? At
present it's in post and will probably be out at the end of 2013. Any
future projects beyond Dead Walkers: Rise of the 4th Reich
you'd
like to share?
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Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned) |
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I am producing
several films and have my own pet project I am going to pursue (a film
noir thriller), but immediately I will be making a couple of documentaries
and planning Dusty the Demon Hunter, Lucifer's Child and a few others that
shall for now remain nameless, but one does involve Nazis... Your/your movie's website, Facebook,
whatever else? My personal
website is www.gardinersworld.com,
but the best place for folk to go to learn about everybody in the film and
what's new is www.awesometalentagency.com
or www.deadwalkersthemovie.com.
Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask? Yes,
I'd like to know whether you liked the Ultravox song Vienna or not and is
it always foggy there? Thanks for the
interview!
You sir are a Knight of the net.
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