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Your new movie In the Hands
of Fate - in a few words, what's it about?
In the Hands
of Fate centers around Donovan Harlow, the reluctant hitman recommended by street
hustler Vic Giovanni to work for drug kingpin Rocco Scaletti. Rocco hires
Donovan to kill a thug who’s been doing business behind his back.
However, things spiral out of control when Ashe Winters, a witness to the
hit who Donovan let live, later steals money that Vic took from Rocco. To
make things more complicated, she seeks the help of an old friend,
Charlotte Woolfe, who has since joined a cult headed by the egomaniacal
Jeramiah Smith. Now Donovan must hunt down the junkie girl he previously
spared in a chaotic tale, where everyone’s life is in the hands of fate.
What were your sources of inspiration when writing In the Hands
of Fate? I had a lot of inspiration behind In the Hands
of Fate. In 2019 when I was still in college, I made my first short film Crossfire.
So, not long after, I wanted to take some of the characters from that
short and expand their stories into a feature. I also did another short
film about a hitman letting a witness go that was actually also called In the Hands of Fate.
I decided to merge that scene into the feature film and use it as the catalyst for the plot.
Around the same time, I had also watched the movie Bad
Times at the El Royale. What struck me so much in that movie was the inclusion of a Manson-style
cult that shows up out of nowhere and flips the entire plot on its head.
To this day, Chris Hemsworth’s performance in that film is my favorite
of his. Needless to say, I loved the idea of the cult showing up so much
that it was a direct inspiration for Jeramiah and his family in my movie.
It’s also no secret that I’m a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino and his unique
approach to cinema. If there’s one director I could point to as my
biggest influence in my own style, it’s him. Hence, I polluted my movie with references to films ranging from Pulp
Fiction to Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood.
However, it wasn’t just other films that inspired the plot for In the Hands
of Fate. The central character Donovan was largely inspired by the video game Grand Theft Auto IV’s protagonist
Niko Bellic, albeit without the eastern European nationality.
Do talk about your movie's approach to the thriller genre!
I wanted to take a From Dusk Till Dawn approach
to In the Hands
of Fate, and combine multiple genres together. However, instead of taking bank
robbers and vampires, I wanted to merge gangsters and cultists.
As such, the movie plays as two separate, but connected, timelines that
ultimately merge in the third act. The first part plays as more of a
traditional gangster movie before it truly turns into a thriller by the
end of the second act when the cult is introduced.
A few words about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand?
As a director, I really like to give my actors space to play with their
characters and the lines they’re given. There are times where I get a
little picky, such as Donovan’s iconic line where he drops the title of the movie. However,
often, I like to take a step back and allow the cast to find themselves in
the characters. A prime example of this is the way Steven Scionti portrays
Rocco Scaletti. Steve speaks fluent Italian, so, before we commenced
principal photography, he asked if I would be okay with him improvising
some lines in Italian for the film. Naturally, I gave him a full go-ahead
on that, and as a result, Rocco felt more fleshed out and real than I had
initially written. Another
directorial approach I like to take with the cast is to have long talks
with them about their characters. As an actor’s director, it’s
important for me to go into great lengths at helping the cast learn about
the character they’re portraying and that character’s backstory. One
such example is the dynamic between Donovan and his ex-wife Amber. Prior
to stepping foot on set, I talked with Adam Joseph Turner and Heather
Bayles about their respective characters to go into the dynamic of their
marriage and why things fell apart. I went to great lengths to tell each
of them their feelings toward one another and why they felt that way. And
the best part is I talked to them privately and asked them not to share
the notes I gave them with the other. Ultimately,
my goal as a director to help bring the story to life is to work with the
actors to flesh their characters out in the most natural ways possible. I
want the actors not to play their respective character, but to become that
character. What can you tell us about In the Hands
of Fate's key cast, and why exactly these people?
So, the first person I have to mention is Steven Scionti, as he was the very
first person I cast for this movie. In fact, I cast him before I even had
a finished draft of the script. I met Steve while helping on crew for
another movie that was shooting in Cleveland called Calendar.
While on set with him, I instantly was taken back to my days working on Crossfire,
and I just saw Rocco in him, even when just having a casual conversation
with him. Steve and I hit it off immediately, and he was ecstatic not only
to act in In the Hands
of Fate, but also to help as a script consultant. In that role, he provided me
amazing feedback on the early drafts of the screenplay.
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Steven Scionti isn’t the only actor I met on set for a different film. In the Hands
of Fate’s lead actor Adam Joseph Turner was acting in a zombie movie called Scavenged
when I met him. I liked Adam right off the bat and knew I wanted to work with
him. However, there was one scene in particular in Scavenged
that told me he had to play Donovan. The intensity in his performance of a
monologue that paid homage to the Negan lineup from The
Walking Dead left me with chills while on that set. So, as soon as we wrapped, I
offered him the part. Once
Adam and Steve were both on board, I had to hold auditions to fill the
rest of the main parts. Keith Migra sold me immediately for Vic Giovanni,
not only because of his amazing character-work, but his dedication as
well. A short sidenote for context is that I like to hold my auditions
live over Zoom. It’s the best of both worlds between getting the
in-person interaction of a live audition and the convenience of a remote
self-tape. So, I have Keith in the audition, and he keeps freezing and
disconnecting. He’s also on set for another movie while auditioning for
mine. So, rather than just move on to the next guy, we rescheduled for a
different time when he could have better service. Sure enough, Keith shows
back up and absolutely nails what I wanted to see out of Vic.
The first day Keith came to set, he brought along his girlfriend Megan Reneau
to hang out. Well, right then and there, I saw Charlotte. Megan is a
seasoned actress and stuntwoman from Canada, who moved to the United
States. She is one of the most talented and professional women I’ve met
in the whole industry, and she encapsulated everything I wanted out of
Charlotte, while also helping to choreograph some of the action scenes.
Sofia Bianchi as Ashe… what I can say about her is that she was the very first
actress to audition for that part, and everyone who came in after her had
to compete. She set the bar so high with her emotional range that, while
there were other great actresses who auditioned, nobody held a candle to
her. She was flawless and is the emotional anchor of the film.
Speaking of setting the bar very high, I have to talk about Joseph Legion Slade.
When I announced I was casting for a cult leader who would be delivering
three long monologues, you can imagine the overwhelming response I got in
terms of submissions. That part just screams “actor bait”. So, Joseph
had a lot of competition, but I liked him right from the beginning. His
first approach at the character was more Shakespearean. However, one
simple note to go more Southern televangelist, and he quite literally
brought the words to life. It’s like he wasn’t even a real person
anymore, but was literally the manifestation of the words I wrote down in
the script. And he carried that same energy throughout the production.
Also, a special shoutout goes to him for memorizing eight pages worth of
monologue to deliver in one day. If we weren’t fighting the horrific
sounds of plastic tarp slamming against wind gusts, we would’ve had all
of his sermon scenes done in one take.
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We can’t forget Tony Wynn, either, as Tyrell Clinton. Tony is another actor
with so much heart and dedication. In his audition, he went out to a local
library to make sure he had good internet, and each day he was on set, he
drove over four hours from his home just because of his dedication to the
craft. That dedication shows through his performance as well. Tony, in
real life, is a gentle giant. At seven-feet tall, he is the sweetest, most
humble man on the planet. But once he steps into character, he’s scary
as Hell! His size, paired with how intense and vicious he can get in his
delivery, made him the perfect Tyrell. Nobody could touch him. It was a
lot of fun, and a bit intimidating, getting thrown around by him in the
movie. For the record, I’m a short little dude. I
could keep going on about the rest of the cast, but this would never end.
Everyone in this film is fantastic, and I’m beyond honored to have
gotten to work with such amazing talent. You
also appear in front of the camera in In the Hands
of Fate - so what can you tell us about your character, and
about yourself as an actor in general? So,
it’s no secret that apart from being behind camera, I love to also be in
front of the camera. However, I’ll say that directing, operating a
camera and acting all at the same time can be a bit challenging.
Therefore, whenever I’m in the director’s seat, I prefer to give
myself more of a smaller role. With In the Hands of Fate,
I wanted to reprise my role of Rocco’s dopey but loyal goon Larry from Crossfire.
It was another way of my first feature film coming full circle with my
first short film, and it’s a part I could center toward being comedic
relief. I already talked about how fun it was shooting my scene with Tony
Wynn, where I had him call me racial slurs and throw me around. However,
the funny story with that is when he exclaimed how he’s never talked to
any directors like that before. I
also had a lot of fun in my scenes with Adam Joseph Turner, Keith Migra
and Steven Scionti. I’m very happy to say that my scene with them at the
end of the film garnered a lot of laughs and was many people’s favorite
moment from the film. When
I’m not directing my own movies, I also like to act in other people’s
projects. To me, apart from being fun and something I genuinely enjoy, it
helps me get more into the mindset of the actor and gives me more
experience when I am directing. It’s easier to give notes to an actor
when you’re an actor yourself. Do talk about the
shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere!
Before directing my own feature film, I always heard people talk about film sets
as forming a family with your cast and crew. I wondered how true this was,
but after going through that experience, I learned it is so true! There
were so many great and funny moments working with everyone, and all the
same, there were some very low points and very tough challenges we had to
overcome. However, through everything, the highs and lows, the bonds I
formed working with the cast and crew are as strong as ever, and I’m
happy to say they’re my film family to this day.
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I’ve shared a great deal about my close relationships with the actors already,
so I want to shift focus and share a little about the bond I formed with
one of the film’s cinematographers Richard Russell. The way I met
Richard was by reaching out to him on Facebook to make a deal. See, at the
time I was planning to shoot In the Hands
of Fate last year, he was planning to shoot his first feature film
Shadows of Thewlis. As it would turn out, we also shared some of the same actors. So, I
thought to make both of our lives simpler, rather than compete for
scheduling, we could each help each other out on our respective films. Ultimately,
he had to push Shadows of Thewlis back,
though we’re about to start shooting it this year. However, he did come
on board for my film to help as a camera operator. His first day running a
camera on my set led to one of the funniest on-set stories of the entire
production. I needed to get a good shot of Sofia vomiting into a toilet at
the motel we’re filming. Well, Richard had the idea to lie in the
bathtub to get a closeup perspective so we could really catch the action.
Our special effects artist Charyssa VanBogelen made some amazing vomit, so
I wanted to see it clearly. So, here we are, Sofia hunched over a toilet with fake vomit in her mouth and
Richard lying in the bathtub next to her with his camera. Well, before we
call to roll cameras, he kicks the faucet and turns the shower on. Next
thing you know, he’s soaked. Fortunately, his camera was safe. But he
went right back in the tub anyway to get the shot, albeit now with a towel
wrapped around himself and a lot more caution about where his feet were.
Since then, Richard was an integral part of the production and was there for
nearly every consecutive day on set following his first outing at the
motel. The running joke is that I’ll squeeze him into the tightest spot
possible to get “The Shot”. However,
something about working with Richard is that the two of us are on very
similar wavelengths, and we just click when it comes to our visions. He
and I are able to bounce off each other with ideas, and everyone around us
compliments us on our teamwork together. As far as we’re both concerned,
from this point on, he’s always going to be my director of photography
on my films, and I’ll always be his DP on his.
The $64-question of course, where can In the Hands
of Fate be seen? You
can watch In the Hands
of Fate right now for free on the streaming app Fawesome. Fawesome is a great platform that’s free to watch with ads. You
can download the Fawesome streaming app on any Roku device, as well as
directly on a Samsung Smart TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire
TV, LG Smart TV, XFINITY, Google Play Store, Microsoft Play Store or even on
Xbox. For those who’d like a physical copy of the movie, I will be selling DVDs
very soon on my website samfronsman.weebly.com.
Anything you can tell us about audience and critical
reception of your movie?
So far, most people who have seen In the Hands
of Fate have really loved it! I absolutely love your review of the film, and other
people who watched the movie also gave some great feedback. Some of my
favorite reviews came from skeptics who admitted that they didn’t think
they’d like it at first or that they didn’t think merging a
traditional Mafia story with a cult would mesh well together. To hear that
I shocked people is truly awesome for myself as the writer and director.
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I’m always curious to hear who people’s favorite characters are as well. A
lot of people really love Donovan and Rocco. However, just as many people
rave about how much they love other characters like Jeramiah, Tyrell and
even my character Larry. I just think it’s cool when I ask people and
get such wildly different answers. When one person tells me their favorite
character was the drug dealer that Ian Arnold played at the motel, and
another person says how much they loved Alex DeCourville’s performance
as Robert, it makes me smile because it shows that everyone in the movie
left a strong impression on people.
Any future projects you'd like to share?
As we speak, I’m in the early stages of development on my second feature film Crimson Night.
My new movie will be a detective thriller that follows two homicide
detectives as they investigate a string of vampire-themed murders. In developing the screenplay, I committed to authenticity in the police-work
within the narrative. As such, I teamed back up with In the Hands
of Fate star Adam Joseph Turner, who when he isn’t acting, is a homicide detective
for Shelby, Ohio’s police department. I also partnered with another
actor with extensive law enforcement experience, retired Cleveland, Ohio
detective James Bellanca, to bring a sense of realism to the script. To
further the authenticity, I also cast both Adam and James to play the leading roles in the film.
I’ll be shooting the proof of concept for Crimson Night later
this year and also holding a crowdfunding campaign for it on IndieGoGo.
What got you into filmmaking in the first
place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject?
I first got into filmmaking while I was in college. I went to school for
media production initially because I thought I wanted to get into radio
broadcasting. However, after getting on-air experience through our
student-led radio station, I realized that wasn’t for me. Fortunately, the University of Mount Union’s media program is all-encompassing, so I
didn’t have to change majors to find my true passion. I took a
filmmaking class originally just because it seemed fun and would help me
earn some credits towards my major. However, from the moment I started
writing my first short film Crossfire,
I fell in love. While making that movie, I realized what I want to do for
the rest of my life. So, it was a no-brainer that my first feature film
would also be a love letter to my first short film that helped me discover
my purpose in the world. Now, I can’t imagine a life where I’m not making movies. It can be
stressful, but it’s just so damn rewarding. And I’m addicted to it! What
can you tell us about your filmwork prior to In the Hands
of Fate? Okay, I’ll skip over Crossfire
because I’ve talked about that enough. My second directorial effort was
another short film One Hell of a Ride. Like Crossfire, I produced One
Hell of a Ride while I was still in school. It’s a horror movie that deals with the themes of
domestic violence and alcohol abuse and the consequences that come with
it. As proud as I was of that movie, there was a time where I didn’t
know when I’d ever be able to work in film again after graduating.
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Once I graduated college, I struggled getting any kind of work, let alone work
in my field. To put it simply, being from small-town Ohio with a degree in
media production isn’t exactly a ticket to quick success. So, I ended up
taking some part time work as a scare actor for a local haunted house
called Factory of Terror. It was while working here that I met Andrew
Chapman, who at the time, had just finished his first movie Scavengers. Andrew
opened up a lot of doors for me to meet and network with other talented
professionals in Northeast Ohio’s independent film scene. And through
this, I entered a world I never knew existed beforehand. From there, I
helped out on crew for various independent productions like Hell
Van, Calendar and Scavenged.
I also worked on a variety of shorts, including my third directorial effort
Hang in There. How would you describe yourself as a director?
For me, I tend to wear multiple hats on set. I often split my brain between my
creative vision and the logistical practicalities of working on no-budget
productions. However, the best balance to that is to always step onto set
with a solid gameplan. I’m the type of director who spends a lot of time
in pre-production. I’ll spend a year in development and pre- before ever
setting foot on set because I want to make sure that once we’re in
production, we do things right and stay organized.
A wise man named Michael Render once said, “Don’t fix it in post. Fix it
in pre.” That’s what I live by. Things will always go wrong on set,
but I’d rather adapt an already established plan than wing it from the
get-go. Staying organized actually helps keep things sped along so that I
do have more flexibility to try new ideas. Being ahead of schedule means I
can maybe try something new with the actors or try a different camera
angle. Those are luxuries you can’t afford if you go onto set without a
plan and end up fighting a ticking clock because of it.
Filmmakers who inspire you? Other
than Quentin Tarantino, I’m also hugely inspired by the likes of Robert
Rodriguez, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese and Brian DePalma. Outside of
neo-noir crime thrillers, I also love horror movies, and some of my
favorites in that genre include the likes of Rob Zombie, John Carpenter,
Sam Raimi, Ari Aster and Wes Craven. For the record, I do like both
versions of Halloween.
You cannot compare them, as they are apples and oranges and each do
something different with the Michael Myers mythos. I will die on that
hill. Your favourite movies?
I’d have to say that my all-time favorite movie is From
Dusk Till Dawn. Tarantino and Rodriguez make an amazing dynamic duo, and I like to say
that Richard Russell and I have that similar dynamic. Blending a neo-noir
crime thriller with a vampire B-movie grindhouse style film shouldn’t
work, but it does and does so beautifully.
Other movies I absolutely adore are Pulp Fiction,
Reservoir Dogs, Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, Taxi
Driver, Goodfellas, The Wolf of Wall Street,
Shutter Island, Planet Terror, Scarface,
Blow Out, Body Double, Fight Club, Seven, Midsommar,
The Devil’s Rejects, A Nightmare on Elm
Street, and I’ll end things on the first movie I ever obsessed over when I was
just a wee little lad, Small Soldiers. I know I left some out, but these are just some of the movies that stick
out to me as some of my biggest influences.
... and of course, films you really deplore?
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Honestly, I can’t really call out a specific movie that I can’t stand. However,
there are certainly genres that I just don’t vibe with. I do not click
with any kind of romance movies or musicals. There’s nothing wrong with
liking those types of movies, but I need some action in the films I like. The
only movies I genuinely can’t stand are films that try too hard to send
a message and come off as preachy. Every movie has something to say, or
else there’d be no point making it. But there’s a difference between a
subtle message told in an entertaining way and preaching to the audience
to push an agenda. This proliferates a lot of modern movies unfortunately.
The only modern trend worse than this is the obsession with Hollywood at
making endless sequels, reboots or comic book adaptations. I want to see original stories.
Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?
My website: https://samfronsman.weebly.com/
In the Hands of Fate Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089475344491
Crimson Night Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573651978159
My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samfronsmanofficial/
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@fronzproductions
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
I just want to say thank you for this awesome interview! And also thank you
for the great review of In the Hands
of Fate. It’s great to see low-budget indie movies get some love. I genuinely
believe that’s where the future of cinema lies. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for giving me this opportunity to
have a platform to talk about In the Hands
of Fate and help get the word out. I appreciate it more than you can imagine.
Thanks for the interview!
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