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First of all, could you please sum up your latest movie Livestock
in a few phrases?
Livestock
is a film about a cult which is trying to grow but still
remain unseen at the same time, while two young women search for love
and success in their lives. There two worlds cross paths and we watch
the drama as it unfolds.
What were your main inspriations when writing Livestock?
I wanted to make a horror film that played more like a drama. I also wanted to
make something I haven't seen before. I really like all those old Hammer
horror films and Vincent Price movies. I'm also a big fan of Dario Argento.
Livestock has a
sort-of open ending. Do you plan to ever make a sequel?
Not
really, but the Idea has came up. I like those type of endings because you
can make up what happens. It feels more personal that way. A few
words about your cast and crew?
The cast and crew were great! They made the whole process smooth. I was lucky
enough to have Nolan Yee as my D.P. who's not only talented but a great guy.
Nicholas Potvin gave us a beautiful score. The cast came in wanting to work
hard. I can't say enough good things about them. Robert Hines and Irina
Peligrad are getting recognized for the great job they did at some festivals.
Fiore Leo who played Victor has such a great presence. He's a very talented
man. Also Michael Reardon and Johanna Gorton did such a great job. Johanna was
amazing when she needed to be scared on screen. I'm big into having people who
can not only act but come to the set and have a good attitude too. All the way
down they where very professional.
The film starts out as a fairly conventional gangster movie but then
goes into vampire territory via serialkiller thriller and survival flick.
How did you come up with that kind of genre mix? Well I
knew right from the beginning that I didn't want to make your
typical vampire film. I wanted to play along with the cult idea. I
thought if there was a cult like this in Boston today they would work
more like a mob so they can remain unseen. I could have went the other
way with the whole secret order wearing hoods and stuff but it felt
this would add a nice twist to the film. As far as the film going
serial killer thriller to survival flick - when I write a I just let it
play out.
Your favourite
gangster movies? This is a hard one. Donnie
Brasco, Goodfellas, Casino, Road to Perdition, The Godfather and yes all
three, A
Bronx Tale, The
French Connection... I don't know if that one counts as gangster.
It's
more about cops, but it's a great movie! Once Upon a Time in
America. I can keep going... maybe it's not that hard!! Jason Miller
(Producer) and Vincent Di Nunzio (Actor) can quote every line from Casino.
And of course, your favourite vampire movies?
Vampyres, directed by Jose Ramon Larraz, Nosferatu
- the original silent film and Herzog's version, Dracula with
Lugosi, Horror of Dracula with Christopher Lee and Dreyer's
Vampyr. I have to say I loved
Let the Right One in
and I just saw Thirst and thought it was a really good film
too. How
would you describe your personal take on the vampire myth? They
are Demigods, like Hercules. But with my
Vampires it was their mother who
was the God. Their Mother is the Hindu God Kali, who some say is a type of
Vampire God. In my story she wanted to birth a child so she found a
mortal. So they are like human but with some special powers and needs. I
did a lot of research and found a lot of things with big gaps so I filled
them in with a Vampire take on them.
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Johanna Gorton and Christina C.Crawford in Livestock |
With films and TV-series like
the New Moon-movies and The Vampire Diaries, vampires are
increasingly marketed to a young, female audience. Your thoughts on that?
Vampires can hold that image of the romantic stranger. They can be
powerful and mysterious. They can be good looking or ugly. They have the
perfect recipe for the classic love story but with a dark side.
Females like Horror too! And marketing it to a younger audience just
makes it safe, but in the end you still get your love story. I think
women have always liked Vampires, it's just making it's way around on a
mainstream level. You
worked on Livestock
as producer, writer and director. Which aspect of filmmaking do you enjoy
the most? Directing. I like watching it all play out in
front of me. A few words about your short Last Bet, Last
Mistake? Last Bet, Last Mistake is a film
written by Jason Miller and directed by me. It's about two men who started out in the same
operation, but now business and jealousy have ended old ties. Fiore
Leo and Michael Reardon are both in this one too. When the Livestock
DVD comes out this will be the bonus film. We made the film in 24
hours! It was a lot of fun. Also I think it's good to watch for Mike
and Fiore, to see how different their characters are to the ones in Livestock. Mike plays a funny and energetic take on a mobster
and in Livestock he's a rebellious brat with a mean streak. Fiore
plays a
cool and calm Clint Eastwood kinda guy and in Livestock he's a
nervous, but very powerful man. They do a great job in both films. Any other projects you have worked on you'd like
to talk about? I'just finished shooting a documentary about
the St. Agrippina
Festival in Boston's North End. It may seem like a huge jump to go
from a vampire film to religious documentary, but I like experimenting
with different styles of filmmaking. Also it's very personal to me
since I have a lot of family members who have been part of the
tradition for many years. When it comes out you will see that its not
really even a religious documentary, but more of a story of family and
tradition. Any future projects? Currently I'm
writing a script for another horror film titled Paint.
It's kind of a love triangle between an artist, a ghost and a
psychotic woman! I don't want to say too much without giving it away.
Also myself, Jason Miller and Nolan Yee have been discussing possible
collaborations on some other projects. How did you get
into filmmaking in the first place, and did you ever take any classes? I
took a few classes at School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Mass
College of Art in Boston. I've read numerous books on filmmaking and
also made lots of short films with Super 8 and 16mm. You
live and work in Boston. What can you tell us about the (independent) film scene there? It's
growing. Just last year Massachusetts passed a new tax incentive
for filmmaking and more motion pictures are being shot here, so I
think the more that happens the more the independent film scene is
going to grow. Its definitely a great time to be working here. How
easy/difficult is it to find actors and actresses willing to star in a horror
movie in your area? It wasn't too hard. There are a lot of
people who enjoy horror films,
but you still come across those few people who are against doing
horror films for some odd reason. Overall most of the actors around
here are eager to work as much as possible, so they won't limit
themselves. In my opinion actors shouldn't be afraid of doing horror
films because a big part of acting is about controlling your emotions
and horror films really put that to the test. A person can really show
off their talents (or lack thereof) in a horror film.
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Your website, MySpace, whatever
else? www.creepykidproductions.com
www.myspace.com/creepykidproductions
www.myspace.com/livestockmovie
Directors who inspire you? Dario
Argento, Mario Bava [Mario Bava
bio - click here], Stanley Kubrick, Federico Fellini, Michaelangelo
Antonioni, Sergio Leone, also Roman Polanski and David Cronenberg. Your
favourite films (not mentioned above)? Rosemary's
Baby, The Ninth Gate, The Good, the Bad and the
Ugly,
Suspiria, Deep Red,
Videodrome, 8
1/2, Blow Up, The Jacket,
2001: A Space Odyssey, Eyes Wide Shut, A
Clockwork Orange, Black Sunday, All the old
Universal
horror films and many many
more. And of course,
some films you really deplore? Nothing worth mentioning.
Bad films just shouldn't be talked about. I like to talk about the good
ones! Anything else you are
dying to mention and I've just forgotten to ask? Not that I
can think of. Thank you for taking the time to interview me! Thanks
for the interview!
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