Your new movie 3 - in a
few words, what is it about?
It's
about a man and a woman who kidnap her alleged rapist in order to force
him to confess on camera, and how far they're willing to get that
confession. With 3
being a rape-revenge movie, your thoughts about the genre? And how do you
think your movie stands out of the crowd? I
love the genre, but there are so many good ones that it would be hard to
compete. 3 is less about the torture and more about the
psychological and moral dilemmas behind the idea of seeking revenge. (Other)
sources of inspiration when writing 3? I
watched Saw and Hostel as well. Not for the
torture scenes, but for the twists in those films. It was the reveals in
those movies that made me love them, not the torture itself.
To
what extent could you identify with Him or with Her in 3,
actually? If the film is successful, you're supposed to
identify with everyone at one point or another. You're not supposed to
know who to root for. Though playing more on the psychological side
of things, 3 does have its
visceral moments - so do talk about the more brutal bits in your movie for
a bit, and how were they achieved? And was there ever a line you refused
to cross?
I'll
be honest that, when I wrote it, I imagined the rape scenes to be more
brutal, but I just couldn't do it. I think that it's a phobia most
women have, because it is such a real possibility. In the end, I
think it still works, even if it's not as I had imagined it Location-wise, 3
is tied down to only a handful of rooms - in what way was that
restraining, in what way perhaps liberating, and what kind of a challenge
was it to keep things interesting with these limitations?
I
knew that my biggest challenge would be to make a film that would keep the
audience engaged despite the fact that it is mostly three people in one
house. It was easier in terms of filming since we didn't have to be
changing locations or even setups often. It was harder in terms of
cutting a trailer, because there wasn't a lot of physical action that we
could show without giving major plot points away. What
can you tell us about your overall directorial approach to your story at
hand?
For
me directing is 90% done in casting. When you're doing a feature film in a
couple of weeks and not a couple of months, you have to have the right
actors. Often you can only get one or two takes, so the actors have to be
at their best. These three actors were truly the best and completely
prepared. Do talk about your key cast, and why exactly these
people?
I
had worked with Todd Bruno and Aniela McGuinness before, and they were
excellent. They've also become good friends of mine over time.
When you're shooting a film, and the whole cast and crew is staying
together, you really have to like the people you're working with.
Mike Stanley stepped in after the initial actor couldn't do it, but I
can't imagine anyone else in the role. He was extremely professional and
fun to work with. He completely deserved his Best Actor award at
HorrorHound Film Festival. A few words about the shoot as such, and the
on-set atmosphere?
We
honestly had a blast. It was like summer camp where you just happen to
make a movie with your closest friends. We had many things go wrong
-- the basement where we were filming flooded and took out the power, we
had to shoot on a fake floor because the room was unfinished -- but we
always managed to have a good time.
The $64-question of course, when and
where will 3 be released onto
the general public? We're
talking to several distributors right now, so it should be spring or early
summer of 2018. Anything you can tell us about
audience and critical reception of 3
yet? So
far the reviews have been great, and the audiences at the film festivals
really loved it. One person came up to me at the Women in Horror
Film Festival and described going through every emotion like a roller
coaster in exactly the way I had intended. That was incredibly
rewarding. Any future projects you'd like to share?
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I am in pre-production on a film title Adam 13. It's a sci-fi
film so it's a little bit different than anything I've done before.
It still has some gruesome scenes so horror fans should still like it.
Anything
else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Just
to encourage your readers to give the indie films that they like a good
review. There are many trolls out there who don't take into account
what hard work we do on our films. One guy compared my last film to Twilight as if they were even in the same universe in terms of
budget etc. We need everyone to support indie filmmakers. Thanks
for the interview!
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