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Your new movie The
Nurturing - in a few words, what is it about?
After an injury lands Daniel back in his childhood bedroom under the
care of his mother, his adolescent fear returns to haunt him.
Honest-to-God-question,
were you ever afraid of the "monster under the bed",
personally?
Before
I was an anxious adult, I was an anxious kid, so I was definitely afraid
of the unknown. I was always careful not to leave my foot hanging off the
bed for fear of what might grab it. What can you tell us about your
co-writer Michael Perkins, and what was your collaboration like?
Mike is a friend who comes from a comic book background. He runs the
indie comic publisher 215 Ink. When I was thinking about my next
project, I reached out to a few friends for short concepts that could be
done without a big budget. I got a lot of good pitches, but Mike's idea
- his original title was "Going Home" - immediately jumped out at me. It
ticked all my boxes and was very similar to something I would have
written myself. I embellished it with a few beats, but the core story
was all him. Do
talk about your movie's approach to horror!
I wanted to take a classic approach to building tension and sustaining a
creepy atmosphere, and pay it off with modern scares. For the classic, I
remember referencing The Changeling to Mike, and for modern, I looked at
The Conjuring and Terrified, which is a recent favorite of mine.
Since The
Nurturing is restricted to just one room - what were your
techniques to keep things visually interesting throughout?
It was definitely a challenge to keep the short interesting with
predominantly one actor in a small bedroom. Thankfully I had my friend
Neil Guliano as director of photography. Everything he shoots looks
incredible regardless of budget. I also lucked out because, for some
reason, my parents had virtually everything from my brother's bedroom
circa high school boxed up in their basement, so I utilized a lot of
that for the sports decor. Beyond that, it was just a matter of finding
the most effective angles to shoot. I really like the overhead view in
the final shot. Do
talk about The Nurturing's
cast, and why exactly these people?
I met Anthony Gaudette, who stars as Daniel, on a movie I assistant
directed called Long Night in a Dead City. We hit it off, and I knew I
wanted to work with him. He has acting chops, commitment to his work, a
great look, and a fun presence on set. As soon as I read the script, I
knew he'd be perfect for it.
Marty Smith plays his mom. I put out a virtual casting call and she was
among the responses. I was impressed by her reel, and she noted that
she's a mother herself so she could relate to the material. It was my
first time meeting her, but I definitely want to work with her again.
Hannah Fierman, who most people know from the movie V/H/S, plays
Daniel's girlfriend. Since the character only appears in a video call, I
thought it would be cool to get a little cameo of sorts. I have a mutual
friend with Hannah in filmmaker Torey Haas, who put us in touch. Hannah
recorded herself on her phone, and it worked out perfectly.
What can you tell us
about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
We shot for a weekend at my girlfriend's family's house in Scituate,
Massachusetts. The beach is right down the street, but we shot in
December so it was way too cold to enjoy it. I try to keep my sets
light, and the crew consisted almost entirely of friends with whom I had
worked before, so it was a lot of fun.
My memory that sticks out most in my mind involves my friend T.J. Frizzi,
who agreed to play the monster's eyes. I bought contact lenses for him,
not knowing until he struggled to put them in that he had never worn
contacts before. It was even worse getting them out; one of them got
stuck and came out in the shower a couple days later.
The
$64-question of course, where can The
Nurturing be seen?
The
Nurturing is available now on YouTube: youtu.be/RVwrL2JhXvk
Anything you can tell us
about audience and critical reception of The
Nurturing? The
Nurturing was accepted to the Boston Underground Film Festival and
was set to premiere there in March of 2020, but then the pandemic hit
and it was cancelled. It later played several online events, including Nightstream, which was really neat, but I haven't been able to see it in
a theater with an audience yet. I'm looking forward to that day! But I'm
happy to say that the feedback has been pretty unanimously positive so
far. I love when people tell me that one of the scares got them. Any future projects you'd like to
share?
I'm finishing up post-production on a short called Reverberance, which I
co-directed with T.J. Frizzi, whom I mentioned before, prior to the pandemic. It's
an ASMR-themed horror short. I used my stimulus money to buy some gear
so I can shoot some smaller projects by myself until everyone is
comfortable being on set again. Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever
else?
You can learn more about me and my projects by following @alexislegend
on Twitter and @brokehorrorfan on Instagram.
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Anything else you're dying to mention and I've
merely forgotten to ask?
Vasilis Zikos, an insanely talented artist from Greece who previously
created covers for several of Broke Horror Fan's VHS releases, made an
amazing poster for The
Nurturing. I sent him a crude mockup of the
concept, inspired by an old Demons VHS cover, and he knocked it out of
the park. It's far and away the coolest poster I've ever had for one of
my movies. Thanks for the interview!
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