Your new movie Marvelous
Mandy - in a few words, what is it about?
It’s
a
about
a single dad’s (Harvey)
devotion
do anything to make her happy constantly looking for love and even though it’s
too
good to be
true
he ignores all the red flags.
How
did the project fall together in the first place, and what can you tell us
about Marvelous Mandy's
writer Brentt Slabchuck, and your collaboration with him?
Marvelous Mandy was created in 2015.
Brentt
and I have a very unique relationship. We fundamentally see a lot of
things eye to eye, of course
we
have disagreements, but we don’t
let
that get in the way of things. We compromise on a lot of things
as
well, we are both big fans of storytelling.
To
what extent can you actually identify with Mandy - and/or Harvey for that
matter?
I
think every male
in
the world can identify with Harvey, because we have all been through a
certain part in our life where
we
were attracted to the wrong women. I myself can’t really relate to
Mandy, but I’m
sure
every man
can
relate to the fact that they have dated someone a lot like Mandy.
What I especially like about Marvelous
Mandy is the rather eccentric colour chart it uses - care to
elaborate on that aspect of your movie?
Myself,
my fiancé/partner, Samantha Stengel, and our screen
writer,
Brentt Slabchuck, broke down the dynamics of Mandy, since she has such a
colorful personality,
for
different moods. That’s how we used the colors to determine her mood.
That why it starts off bright
and
fades toward the end because when her reality is being threatened it
dullens her mood. With
Harvey,
since he was a very lonely individual, a lot of his colors were grey and
blue to set the tones to his
moods.
What can you
tell us about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand?
It
really all depends
on
the story and its content. With Marvelous
Mandy, it was mostly about
finding the theme of the film
and
going from that aspect. Such as showing the father (Harvey) and daughter
(Clementine) bond and
Mandy
being the outsider ruining it, trying desperately to keep her world
perfect.
You
also play the role of Mandy's boss in Marvelous
Mandy - so how did you approach the character, and was it actually
written with you in mind already?
Yes,
all of the characters that were written, already
had
a person in mind for that character.
Do talk about the rest
of your key cast, and why exactly these people?
I
chose all the characters for each
part
mainly because they fit the part. I chose Paula Solinger [Paula
Marcenaro Solinger interview - click here] because she had a
very strong audition. She
wasn’t
exactly
what we were looking for originally, but her audition was very strong and
I couldn’t
ignore
how strong it was. I chose John Stottman because I saw an oddly close
relation between Harvey
and
John, as far as venerability. I chose Kenna because she had a beauty to
her and also had a very tom
boyish
side to her and I didn’t want Clementine to be a girly-girl because of
the fact she doesn’t
have
a
mother
figure in her life. We auditioned many, many girls to play the role of
Clementine, but when we
saw
Kenna’s audition for Clementine, it blew me and Samantha’s mind. What can
you tell us about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
The
on-set atmosphere was
very,
very calm. Everyone was eager to help and wanting to help make a quality
product. It was so much
fun
too. I’ve
never
been on a set where a lot got done, Samantha kept everything in order and
organized,
and we were always ahead of schedule. Marvelous
Mandy was the first time I
have ever had
an assistant director/production manager to keep these things together. And
let me say it makes a very
big
difference when you have a good assistant director and production manager.
When I started off in
film,
I wore almost every hat in the production myself. And now I have a really
strong crew.
Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of
your movie?
As
far as our target for our
audience,
it was originally younger groups who find interest in thrillers, but
after the release of our film, Marvelous
Mandy was enjoyed by a wide range of individuals of all ages. It was
incredible. My critiques
of
our film, I wish we could have gotten better transitions to the next scene
and better audio. I was not
happy
with the audio. But, after all, no film is essentially perfect.
Any future projects you'd like to share?
Yes.
My next film is a new crime drama, Payday. I will be filming
it
next year in March. We have a wide margin of talented people for the cast:
Melantha Blackthorne [Melantha
Blackthorne interview - click here],
Bishop
Stevens, Tiffani Fest, Derek Babb, Lara Jean Mummert, Colton Wheeler. As
for our crew: Our director
of photography/editor is a very talented individual, Anthony Pesce and our
sound engineer,
also
a very talented individual, Erik Kyr. I am very much looking forward to
this project. My partner
Samantha
and I are very excited because crime drama films are right in our ball
park of favorites.
What got you into filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive
any formal training on the subject?
I’ve
always
been interested in filmmaking. I grew up in a great time in the 80’s
where a lot of great films
were
made. Directors that inspired me are Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg,
Ridley Scott, Quentin
Tarantino.
No,
I had no training, but I will quote one of my favorite directors: “I
didn’t go
to film school, I went to
film”—Quentin
Tarantino.
What can you tell us about your filmwork prior to Marvelous
Mandy?
My
films before Marvelous
Mandy,
I lacked a depth of storytelling. But each film that you do, you kind of
find yourself and your
style.
The more films that you do, the more you’re
not
settling for less or being a “yes
man”.
You learn
to
take control of what it is you want and how you’re
going
to do it. And each time you learn more and
more.
How would you describe yourself as a director?
At
first, I wouldn’t
have
known how to describe myself. I
learned
over the years that I am an “actor’s director”.
I know what it’s
like
to be an actor, and I know
how
important it is to make your actors comfortable. We give them the role
after all, so I let them study
their
character and then just direct them into the right direction. But when you
give them the freedom
of
becoming that character, I believe 100%, you get a much better product. I
learned to not “over-direct”.
Because you don’t
want
a bad relationship between yourself and your actors.
Your favourite movies?
Pulp
Fiction, Forest Gump, Django Unchained, American Beauty, Casino, Jurassic
Park,
and The Sixth Sense.
... and of course, films you really deplore?
I
really don’t
wish
to answer this question, because I
understand
the complications it takes to make a film, and understand that no film is
perfect.
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Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
https://www.facebook.com/marvelousmandy103/
http://leglesscorpsefilms.com/?s=marvelous+mandy&post_type=product
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to
ask?
Nope
I think that’s
everything!
Thanks for the interview!
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