Your upcoming movie Project Skyquake - in a few words, what
is it about?
According
to the synopsis of Project Skyquake, after strange trumpet-like sounds in
the sky have been reported at locations around the world, a wannabe
journalist sets out to investigate with her best friend, but they soon
find themselves facing an encounter with terrifying results.
What were your sources of inspiration when
writing Project Skyquake? Beyond
the mystery itself, which does seem to have some basis in reality, I was
influenced by character-driven science fictions and mystery films, stories
where only two or three actors carry the film on their backs such as
Monsters by Gareth Edwards, The Endless, The Vast of Night and
The Fare. Judging from what I've
read, Project Skyquake sounds like a horror/science fiction hybrid
- is that at all a correct assumption, and what can you tell us about your
approach to both genres? I
like to describe it as a science fiction road movie. Although some scenes
have the potential to scare you quite easily, the horror elements are not
in the foreground. I would have preferred to focus more on the mood and
the suffocating atmosphere, and I think that this skyquake phenomenon
itself made things a little easier. What can you tell us about your
overall directorial approach to your story at hand? Once
again, I chose the found footage subgenre, as I think this approach is
very appropriate for the story and the mystery that drives it. It’s
enough to recall those many amateur footage clips on the internet. Of course,
scenes were also filmed in the traditional way, with a number of
atmospheric locations at our disposal especially the beautiful scenery of
Norway. Among
others, Project Skyquake stars Hollywood veterans Tom Sizemore and
Robert LaSardo as well as Hellraiser's
Simon Bamford - so why them, what was it like working with them, and how
did you get them even?
Actually,
I wrote Scott’s character with Robert LaSardo in mind. He's a very
unique looking actor, he's often hired to play antagonists, but in my
opinion he's an incredibly versatile actor and I think that those who see
and hear him in the film will be surprised by his performance.
Tom
Sizemore is a true legend, just think of Saving Private Ryan or Heat. We
had already finished filming Robert's scenes when I learned that his agent
was also representing Sizemore. There was a small role that I hadn't found
the right person for yet, so I rewrote it a bit. I didn't know at the time
if he would even say yes to my request. In the end, the collaboration came
together, which I was very happy about. It was really a great experience
to see such great actors bringing the characters I had written to life.
The
reasons behind choosing Simon Bamford go all the way back to my childhood.
At that time, I often went to the nearby video rental store to rent films
and after a while my parents didn't check what I was watching, or if I was
home alone in the summer, I basically watched what I wanted. I spent a lot
of time looking at the VHS tape of Hellraiser
before I rented it, and then
I found out at home that I had rented Hellbound: Hellraiser
II, because
that was the only one the store had. Then later, of course, I watched all
the episodes, but the second one still holds a special place in my heart
to this day. I knew the lines by heart, after a while I looked for the actors
on social media, and now I had the courage to contact Simon, who was happy
to accept the role. I enjoyed working with him, he’s so powerful in the
movie.
Do talk about the rest of Project
Skyquake's key cast, and why exactly these people? The
two main characters are played by Laura Ellen Wilson and Laura Saxon, with
whom I have worked on two of my previous films, The Poltergeist Diaries and
I Hear the Trees Whispering. Besides the fact they are extremely talented
actresses, the deciding factor was the incredible chemistry between the
two of them, since they're good friends and they even directed a film
together (In Bluebell Wood), so they worked perfectly together on screen.
I let them improvise several times because of that, and it was a joy to see
them bring scenes to life. A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? We
had nine days of shooting in total in four different countries (Hungary,
Norway, UK, US). Robert and Tom’s scenes were filmed first in two days
and the majority of filming with the two leads and a skeleton crew was in
and near the city I live in. A second unit filmed Jon Vangdal Aamaas’
scenes in Norway in a single day and they did an absolutely fantastic job. From
what I know, Project Skyquake is still in post-production - so at
what stage are you, and any idea when and where the film might be released
onto the public yet?
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We
complete it this week. Right after that it will have its festival season
and if all goes well it will be available worldwide at the end of 2022. Any future projects you'd like to
share?
Currently we work on turning our 2020
short film Aftermath into a feature film
and I also started writing my
next script titled A Stranger in the Woods, which will technically be a
single-location mystery horror. Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever
else?
https://www.facebook.com/projectskyquake Official trailer:
https://youtu.be/6FrNhfdtZQA
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14883936/reference/ Thanks for the interview!
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