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Your new movie Bloody
Ballet - in a few words, what is it about?
Bloody
Ballet is a story of a young dancer, Adriana Mena (Kendra Carelli),
who’s inner traumas from childhood gain resurgence after the jealousy
and tension of gaining a lead role in the ballet play The Nutcracker. What
inspired you to set Bloody
Ballet in the world of ballet, is that an artform you're
particularly fond of?
Ballet
is my favorite type of dance because of its beauty combined with
demands of staying in almost unrealistic shape. I felt it was the
perfect sport in which would represent Adriana’s life path… for like
attracts like.
I think I'm not the first to
notice Bloody Ballet
is somewhat reminiscent of classic giallos in style and story - so was
this a conscious decision from the get-go, and some of your genre
favourites?
It
was always the plan to try and replicate the classic giallo films of the
late 60’s to early 80’s. Though the films in general don’t speak to
today’s social norms, they were extremely enjoyable films.
Favorites
would be most of the giallos of Sergio Martino like The Case of the
Scorpions Tail, Fucli’s New York Ripper
[Lucio Fulci bio - click here]
and of course Dario
Argento’s and Mario Bava’s masterpieces [Mario
Bava bio - click here].
(Other) sources of inspiration when writing Bloody
Ballet? Other
inspiration came from Matt Cloude who is a huge fan of giallos but classic
slashers as well. He designed the killer’s look which to me is very The Red Queen Kills Seven Times. That too is a great film. What can you tell us about your
co-writer Matt Coude, and what was your collaboration like?
At
first we hit it off famously. Both Matt and myself are very much into
horror and very knowledgeable, so that was extremely fun developing the
film in the beginning.
Do
talk about Bloody Ballet's
approach to horror! Bloody
Ballet is going to be special to a lot of fans. A lot of people have
commented that it’s the first giallo in a long time that actually FELT
like a giallo. That was the whole goal… not to make it modern but to
create a bizarre story that would fit in the Suspiria
world, like Tenebre and Inferno. However since not everyone knows that, I
get “The story was confusing.” For all the gorehounds among my
reader, a few words about the bloody bits in your movie, and was there any
red line regarding violence that you consciously refused to cross? The
special effects in Bloody
Ballet are all practical in camera effects which
I always prefer. Our approach was to draw out the kill scenes and make
them as gruesome as possible. Joh Harp and Matt Patterson did an extremely
solid job on coming up with many of the setups.
What
can you tell us about your directorial approach to your story at hand? For
this film in particular, I allowed as much improvising as possible to
create as natural of dialogue as possible. The two main leads are best
friends in real life, so it was nice to allow them to carry on conversation
naturally. Another approach I like to take is to set the scene before the
actors… I believe in strong locations in film to bring out the best in
both my crew and talent. Do
talk about your key cast, and why exactly those people?
First
I’ll start off with Kendra Carelli. She played Adriana in the film.
Anyone to watch Bloody
Ballet will agree that she pulled off an
outstanding performance for a script that was changing all the time. She
has a lot of heart and she will go far in the industry. I’m glad to have
worked with her.
Debbie
Rochon [Debbie Rochon
interview - click here] is one of my favorite actresses/actors (which ever you think is
proper) to ever work with. She has amazing ideas and is as versatile as
they come. I hope to work on another film with her in the future.
Rob
Springer has that Ian McCulloch (Zombi
2) swag to him and a fantastic
personality. Rob is one that will go above and beyond to deliver what you
are looking for in a character. He was also in my last film Bombshell
Bloodbath, which is an Italian style zombie film… think Fulci meets the Re-Animator.
Tatiana
Russell gave me my favorite scene in the movie when her eyeball was ripped
out of her head (sorry for the spoiler). Tatiana doesn’t get talked
about much in interviews of this film, but she is absolutely brilliant in Bloody
Ballet.
A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
The
atmosphere on set was definitely a tight group of passionate filmmakers.
Most of us had worked on projects in the past and there was certainly a
small crew bond going on. Kevin Welch with his upbeat AD skills kept us on
schedule, and I’m so grateful to have had him a part of this project
among many others.
Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Bloody
Ballet? For
the most part the reception of Bloody
Ballet has been amazing! People who
“get it” get it. People who don’t understand classic giallos
don’t get it haha. I think it’s normal to get a divided room, humanity
in general can’t agree on most things. BUT the important task is
inspiring those who love these type of films, that I know we have
succeeded at.
Any future projects you'd like to share? Right
now there isn’t an exact project that is in the works, some scripts and
some digging for rights. Hopefully I will have something to share soon…
In the meantime check up on IMDb or follow on social media. I’m excited
about whatever it ends up being though because I’m itching to make
something special for the fans and myself alike. What
got you into filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal
education on the subject? I
did go to two film schools but what really got me into filmmaking was
borrowing my fathers VHS camera and shooting backyard films either by
myself or with friends. What can you tell us about
your filmwork prior to Bloody
Ballet?
Most
of my work prior to Bloody
Ballet was DP work though I did direct a zombie
film in 2014 called Bombshell Bloodbath. That film was extremely fun
and it was a great experience overall. I also run my own production
company for commercials and sports.
How
would you describe yourself as a director?
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As
a director I want to be able to communicate with the entire crew. I told
myself before I ever directed a project that I needed to have the ability
to at least understand everyone's position on set. That being said, I can
relate to actors, I can operate a camera and light a scene, I can perform
audio mixing, I can write scripts, manage and select location and edit a
film.
As
a director I want to be able to be able to collaborate with every department
and I do.
Filmmakers
who inspire you?
There
are so many. One I’d have to say is Danny Boyle. 28
Days Later, in my
opinion, is a flawless film.
Your
favourite movies?
28
Days Later, The Beyond,
Suspiria, Day of the Dead and any showa
Godzilla
film (not really but really).
...
and of course, films you really deplore?
Deplore…
Hmmmm, I can’t think of anything I despise enough.
Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
http://www.fantasmamovie.com
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4729642
https://www.facebook.com/FantasmaMovie
Thanks for the interview!
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