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Your new movie Mary
- in a few words, what's it about?
Without spoiling anything major; the horrors of online dating.
What were your sources of inspiration when writing
Mary, and is any of the film
based on personal experiences? Ultimately, I wanted to pay homage to one of my favourite sub-genres,
the slasher, while trying to implement elements that flip the standard
tropes on their head. Although I have used online dating apps in the
past, thankfully I have never encountered any of the experiences seen
in this film. What can you tell us
about Mary's approach to
horror? Mary is a slowburn. The type of approach that I have with horror,
including my past projects, always gravitates to the tension filled,
dialogue driven, and suspenseful stories that keep the audience on
edge until the final moments. Mary's whole selling point is based off
of its unexpected plot twist. We needed to make sure it was executed
to perfection, otherwise the audience wouldn't care.
A few words about your overall directorial
approach to your story at hand? As a thriller with slasher elements, my primary focus was on "how can
we make this stand out and be different?" There needed to be a reason
to tell this type of story, something that one might call conventional
and familiar, and do something totally unexpected with it. I made sure
my co-writer understood that. Do talk about
Mary's cast, and why exactly
these people? Lanisa Dawn and I had previously worked together on another project of
mine, so the chemistry and rapport was already there. Fun fact: The
original actress I had initially cast had dropped out not long before
shooting. Lanisa answered the call and was willing to come on board as
my lead, even though she was currently on vacation in Los Angeles. She
literally got onto a flight the first day of our shoot, and had landed
in Montreal about an hour before her call time was scheduled. It
couldn't get any more last minute than that, and I truly believe she was
meant to partake in this project and play the role of Briana. This was
the first collaboration between myself and Alex Gravenstein, and it
will certainly not be the last. A true gentleman, extremely talented,
and a hard worker. These were the elements that made me want to work
with him. I will not speak on that ''other'' performer, as I intend to
keep them a secret ;)
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What can you tell us about the shoot
as such, and the on-set atmosphere? 3 days of intense work! We had a smaller crew of about 7 people (not
including cast), and they put their 100% maximum effort, despite
longer set up times for shots. For our second day, our crew began
setting up at around 4PM, and we had wrapped the following morning at
7AM. True warriors, every single one of them, cast included. Everyone
was there to work, and it shows in the final product. The
$64-question of course, where can
Mary be seen? Having made its world premiere at
Fantasia on July 19th, we still have
quite a few festivals to hear back from. My fingers are crossed, and
if all goes well, you will be able to catch a screening in a city near
you. Once our festival run is complete, we hope to get a small
distribution deal with an online platform, as we would love for the
public to get a chance to enjoy our film.
Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of
Mary?
For those select few who had seen it prior to its world premiere
at Fantasia, generally were very impressed. During the premiere itself on
July 19th, I was very happy with the audience reaction. They had reacted
appropriately to every single beat I had set up. All the jump scares,
creepy insert shots, twisted story elements and the chaotic ending got
legitimate reactions from the crowd, and I couldn't have been happier.
Any future projects you'd like to share?
I have been developing Baptism for several years and am finally going
to move forward with production, with the hopes of shooting in 2027. Not
going to give any story elements away, but this is a project I am
so excited to have come to life, because we hold up a mirror to certain
members of society, and it is definitely going to offend and piss off a
lot of people. Looking forward to it.
What got you into filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any
formal training on the subject? I knew from a very
young age that I wanted to be involved in the world of cinema.
Storytelling has always been my passion. I had first experimented with
different forms of art, until I eventually found myself wanting to create
as a filmmaker when I hit 18. I had begun shooting $0 budget, amateur
short films where I used to cast my close friends and family members in
roles, as those were the resources I had at my disposal back then. I had
done that until about 24-25, and eventually enrolled in a private film
school as I wanted to take the craft seriously and begin building my
career as a professional. It's been 9 years since I've been doing it
professionally, and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. What can you tell
us about your filmwork prior to
Mary? I have produced, written and directed
4 previous short films. My most successful being Samhain (2019), which got
me some good media attention in my own city, while doing a solid job on
the festival circuit, being selected at 7 out of 11 we had submitted to. How would you describe yourself as a
director?
I'm someone with a clear vision and a no nonsense attitude. I am
open with my cast, and am always willing to listen to their input and
creative ideas, but I will never completely falter away from my story
and vision. When there's downtime on set, I take the time to talk to
everyone, crew included, to make sure they are well taken care of and
are feeling their best on my set. It is extremely important to me. In
terms of storytelling as a director, I am someone who loves mystery.
My stories always unfold like an onion; the more you watch, the more
layers are peeled back and the story is unraveled. Keeping the
audience on edge and engaged through dialogue is what I love to do.
Filmmakers who inspire you?
My three major influences in no particular order: Martin Scorsese,
David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola.
Your favourite movies?
I would be sitting here for hours, naming you every single favourite film
of mine, but in a nutshell: Godfather 1 & 2,
Apocalypse Now,
Taxi Driver,
Black Christmas,
Halloween,
and the list goes on. ... and of course, films you really deplore?
Without directly speaking negatively on certains films that I do not
enjoy, truthfully I believe cinema as a whole has vastly strayed away
from the high standard it once was. It has become a diluted and
lifeless art form, where focus is made primarily on marketing reach
and how popular a film becomes, rather than the quality of the product
itself. This is not a jab at Hollywood directly, as it has always been
a business since day 1, but even on an independant level, films seem
more focused on the hype it can get, along with "pretty"
cinematography, rather than immersing the audience in a story that can
potentially change their perspective on things in a positive way,
something cinema was once capable of doing. I hope this can change.
Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?
IMDb page for Mary:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34306002/
IMDb page for my portfolio: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9401831/
Thanks for the interview!
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