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Your new movie Lost
in Terra Dimension - in a few words, what is it about?
The
story line is about two sisters that lost touch for years, Spacle and
Zeandra. Spacle always knew Zeandra was out there. Zeandra was kidnapped
by Dom-X and his henchmen when she was a child, and a fairy rescued her.
They finally reunite in a dream world that ruthless Dom-X traps them in.
Eventually they get out with the guide of the fairy warriors and with the
help of other characters.
What were your sources of inspiration when writing Lost
in Terra Dimension?
When
the movie was in development, Kat Lehto and Lizelle Gutierrez had an
initial conversation about the film before they started writing and
filming it. Lehto is a huge fan of Harry Potter and was able to add
creative fantasy input to the film. Gutierrez had a dream and loves
fairies, which was a key element to the storyline.
Do talk about your movie's approach to fantasy
for a bit, and what were the main challenges of making a genre epic like
yours on a budget?
The
greatest challenge was the project being low budget, bringing cast and
crew together, and finding locations. Lehto and Gutierrez are so thankful
for the cast, crew, and to post-production who put their passion in the
film! You can find additional cast- and crewmembers' names and
information on IMDb. Their mothers and Gutierrez’s mother-in-law were a
big support system during the making of the film.
Another challenge was finding people to work on a low budget film for
post-production! Gutierrez and Lehto had to put puzzle pieces together
stating, “ we are so thankful our post production team made it work!”
Vasilios Alagiannis did the editing of the film, Kevin Morris did the
virtual effects, and Ly Vui did the sound; Vui added additional editing
and virtual effects. These three people worked countless hours, giving up
nights and weekends, thus saving the feature film! Gutierrez and Lehto
could not express the amount of gratitude to these individuals for putting
the final product together during post-production.
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Lizelle Gutierrez |
What can you tell us about your overall directorial approach to
your story at hand? Gutierrez
and Lehto have been working in the movie industry for years. Both Lehto
and Gutierrez were born in the theatre. They were able to direct the film
from being on set and observing other directors, producers, actors, and
crewmembers on various projects. Plus, as Theatre majors from the
University of California, Riverside they both worked as crew, and acted in
theatre productions. In the university, they studied acting, set design,
screenwriting, history of dress, and Shakespeare. As you can see, some of
the inspiration of Lost
in Terra Dimension came from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream. They have also worked in a variety of commercials,
independent films, and short films. You can see them as featured
background actors in TV shows. You also play the two leads in Lost
in Terra Dimension - so what can you tell us about your
characters, what did you draw upon to bring them to life, and did you
write them with yourselves in mind from the get-go? Gutierrez
and Lehto have a strong bond, not only because they share the same
birthday with Harry Potter, but because they are like sisters. Lizelle had
a dream that both sisters were separated near a train station, and the
sister looked like Lehto, and they were trapped in another dimension.
Kat Lehto |
Do
talk about the rest of your cast, and why exactly these people? Lehto
and Gutierrez wanted to take a different approach than to audition their
actors. Being in the film industry is tough. Both have faced rejections in
the film industry. They are aware of the superficiality, bias, favoritism,
prejudice, and discrimination rooted in the industry. They chose the cast
they felt in their heart were going to be perfect for the role and did not
want to put them through the pain of the audition process. For example,
when Lehto and Gutierrez met John Moamar on set, he felt perfect for the
role of Dom-X. Telda, the lead fairy, Zoey Grayce was the perfect vision
Lizelle had when casting a strong maternal figure who would guide Zeandra
out of the dimension. And of course, there was no better role than Colin
Shull for Maxion as Zeandra's love interest. Every actor fit perfectly in
their vision from the fiery red hair of Mika Cigic to the tall stoic
figure of Stan Divranos. The rest of the cast did amazing in getting into
their roles and we are so thankful for their contribution to the film. A
few words about your collaboration on Lost
in Terra Dimension, both during the writing stages and during the
shoot? Gutierrez
and Lehto both provided equal collaboration in Lost
in Terra Dimension on
a macro level. They both directed the film, produced the film, and scouted
locations. Lehto was mostly in charge of making sure the shoots were
scheduled, the cast and crew were together. Lehto has been mostly in
charge with the publicity, advertisement of the film, and making sure it
made it to film festivals! Gutierrez wrote most of the script, cast the
actors, recruited crew members, and got a significant set/location of the
other scarier maze location that the sisters were sent to as punishment;
and scouted other shoot locations. Gutierrez and Lehto always joked that
Gutierrez was the perfectionist one, but Lehto was the one who pushed for
the film to get completed and released!
Since Lost
in Terra Dimension isn't the first project you've worked on
together, what can you tell us about your previous collaborations? And how
have you two first met even?
Their
previous ongoing collaboration is the webseries Fabulous and Fabulouser.
This
project is more comedy-focused inspired by Dumb and Dumber! Gutierrez and
Lehto are having fun with this project and hope it will continue growing.
During the initial stages of production, Fabulous and Fabulouser was
featured on Funny or Die!
Gutierrez
and Lehto met at UCR on the set of another film project. They lived close
at the time, and their love for acting and filmmaking blossomed into a
wonderful friendship that is still thriving today.
Back to Lost
in Terra Dimension: Where was it actually filmed, and what was it
like filming there?
Filming
was hard because while one acted the other filmed. They were lucky to have
fellow crewmembers, family and friends help them film too! They both had
to think critically not only of each other but take in account all the
cast. They lucked out in shooting locations by finding several locations
that allowed ample space for filming. Talking about original and guerrilla
filmmaking!
Holding
for sound was one of the big challenges since they would have to hold for
people and other noises that would interfere with sound. Gutierrez and
Lehto wanted to make this film visually appealing by proving so many
locations in the Southern California area.
What can you tell us about the shoot
as such, and the on-set atmosphere? On-set
was calm, however wearing so many hats with such a big cast and crew did
get the better of Lehto at times; Lehto said, “shooting was hard when
you were behind the camera one scene, then had to jump into acting for the
next scene in the same day.” They were grateful that all the cast and
crew were devoted to the project and really believed in its success. The $64-question of
course, where can Lost
in Terra Dimension be seen? YouTube
and Amazon Prime! Anything you can
tell us about audience and critical reception of Lost
in Terra Dimension?
Gutierrez
and Lehto wanted an action, fantasy and adventure epic film that was not
only appealing for adults but could be watched by the whole family. This
film has magic, fairies, good guys, bad guys, and a scary dimension filled
with clowns! They
were lucky enough to get superb reviews online. They hope with more
publicity they will grab some more audience and get more valuable
feedback. Lehto said “after all this is our first feature and we are
looking to grow as filmmakers.”
Any future projects you'd
like to share?
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“I’m
always looking to film and collaborate with fun like-minded
individuals,” said Lehto. Your/your movie's website, social media
whatever else?
Website:
https://lostinterradimension.com/
Amazon Prime page:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B09WB1Z7Z7
Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask?
Lehto
would like to point out, yet again, the locations. She strived to make
sure they were vast and different between scenes and said, “It would
have been easy to just pick one location and always shoot there, however
that would have been boring for a movie this long, so I wanted to make
sure we had many locations that were visually appealing.”
Gutierrez
made sure a diverse cast and new talent shared the spotlight. Gutierrez
stated, “I want to give people from all walks of life a chance to
flourish in this film because as a Latinx and woman I understand the
challenges that people face in the entertainment industry. Also, as the
underdogs of the entertainment industry, we cannot keep waiting around for
a casting director, director, or producer to cast us. We have the right to
create, to embrace our talents and to show other people’s talents to
this world. There are so many talented creative actors who have so much to
offer in the entertainment industry!” Gutierrez's
message for other actors and creative people, “do not be afraid to
produce and create. Embrace your beautiful talent!”
Thanks for the
interview!
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