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Your upcoming film Victimized - in a few words, what is it
about? Matt
Miller has spent his entire life living in the shadows of his brother.
He believes if his brother were to disappear then so would all his
problems. What were your inspirations when writing Victimized
- and is any of the film based on personal experiences?
My favorite type of film has always been the suspense
thriller - part drama, part mystery and part horror at times!
Of these films my biggest influence has been from Alfred Hitchcock.
I loved how he mixed all of these elements with smart storylines.
I’m not Hitchcock but when I took story development back in 2002
I knew exactly what type of story I was going to create.
It was a semester long project - and Victimized was born.
The story to Victimized unfolded more and more as Matt Miller was
developed and brought to life. We
were taught the best way to write something is to write what you know.
However, I do not want anyone to get confused thinking this is an
autobiography or something like that, because it’s not.
I don’t even have a brother.
Even though some of the characters and dialogue are a combination
of things from my life, they are an exaggerated combination making the
story fiction. Like an actor
or artist, observation is the key to writing a good story with good
characters. For example, the
character of Mrs. Higgins is loosely based on a combination of a few
people, a little bit from each of them to create my fictional character.
And the name came from the second phone line my parents had at the
house - people would always call asking to speak to Mrs. Higgins!
Those types of things are what put a personal touch on the story.
Michael Kenneth Fahr
as Matt Miller |
How
would you describe your directorial approach to Victimized?
My approach to directing is to relate to the actor as
much as I can, allowing them to creatively bring their own uniqueness to
the character. I also don’t
mind some improv as long as the point of the scene comes across
correctly. Because it
was my screenplay I knew what the film should look like and what the
actors should be doing and thinking from the stand point of the writer, not
just the director. You
have cast yourself as the lead Matt. Why, and how did you
approach your character? Yes I play the lead Matt Miller.
Since I wrote Victimized, I always had myself as the model for
Matt. I always wanted my
script to be made into a movie one day and I wanted to play him.
I didn’t have a specific way to approach Matt because it was a
character I understood very well inside and out.
In a way I was Matt, I could become Matt very quickly.
He has quite a few sides to him, both good and bad, like real
people do. I wasn’t writing
a generic good guy or bad guy role. I
wanted him to have layers, to be complex.
This is a character I would want to play even if I didn’t write
it for myself, and it’s a part I don’t think a lot of people would have
expected me to play. So
when I knew I was going into pre-production for the film there was never
any question in my mind who would play Matt.
I knew it would be me.
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Matt's brother in question is
played by Cuyle Carvin, right [Cuyle
Carvin interview - click here]? What made him perfect for the
role, and how would you describe your on-screen chemistry? Yes,
Cuyle Carvin plays Josh Miller. Whenever
casting a role, the first thing that makes anyone perfect for it is the
way they look. Do they
fit the description of the character, is it the right “look”.
Then you hope there is talent to go along with it, and that was the
case with Cuyle, he fit the role and was talented.
I didn’t like the other actors that auditioned for the role of
Josh, something was missing. Once
I saw Cuyle’s audition, I knew I found Josh Miller! It’s funny because he’s nothing like the character, if anything
he made the character a lot more likeable.
Off screen I get along with Cuyle great, he has a great sense of
humor and he’s very easy to talk to.
But on screen I had to really focus because our two characters do
not like each other at all!! The
chemistry on film turned out just as it was supposed to, two brothers that
are stuck in the same space with each other, that can’t stand to be
around the other one and would prefer the other to disappear.
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A
few words about your leading lady Sarah Nicklin [Sarah
Nicklin interview - click here] and her character? Sarah
Nicklin plays Sarah Thompson, Josh’s girlfriend.
The character of Sarah tries to be the peacemaker between the
brothers. I don’t want to
talk too much about her character because I don’t want to give any plot
away, but this character is the second lead.
Sarah fit the role so well and she was a trooper the whole time.
She came on board 2 weeks before filming began after needing to
recast the role. She showed up
ready to work hard and knew her lines with very little time to learn them.
I got along with her very well and she was an easy actor to direct.
Sarah and Cuyle complimented each other nicely and both were very
helpful as far as input on rewrites a few hours before filming a couple of
their scenes. Your
executive producer Dustin Hubbard [Dustin
Hubbard interview - click here] also plays a role in your movie.
What can you tell us about Dustin Hubbard the actor, and what was your
collaboration with him, as both actor and executive producer, like?
Dustin Hubbard the actor…
hmm… Dustin’s first
choice is not to act. Haha. When
I brought up the idea for him to play a small supporting role in the film,
he didn’t say yes right away. It started as an idea on my part and I told
him to think about it. The
more I thought about it, the more I knew he would work for the supporting
role of Jonathan Kennedy and I tweaked the character to fit him better.
He read the part and agreed to do it because it was a smaller role.
There were also a few things that happen during his scenes that
really excited him to film. My
collaboration with him as far as an executive producer was to really help
me during pre-production on the film and to be on set with me for the 9
day film shoot. I was playing
the lead and directing and I needed another set of hands and brain with
me. He assisted me with
various things from casting (securing Cuyle Carvin) to script-supervising
scenes during production. I
had worked with him once before on his project For Christ’s Sake,
so we both knew how the other was going to operate.
He’s great to bounce ideas off of. A
few words about the rest of your cast and crew?
The
rest of my cast was awesome and my crew was awesome as well.
I thank them for all their hard work.
Big THANK YOU to Jesse Murphy, Ellen J. Pilch, Ron Phippen, Michael
Omiecinski, Mark DeBenedictis and Pete Lucibello and to my new cast
filming the flashback scenes later this summer.
I’m sure that Ellen J. Pilch’s character, Mrs. Gloria Higgins
will steal all the scenes and become the favorite!
A huge thank you to my crew as
well, the film wouldn’t have come together without the hard work of my
DPs , Nolan and Bryan, make-up artists, Lauren and Lisa and my sound
guys, Gunnar and Frank! Also
all my production assistants, and craft services. What can
you tell us about the actual shoot and the on-set atmosphere?
The
actual shoot was 9 days at the end of April in Connecticut.
It was 30 degrees outside and maybe 40 or 50 degrees inside while
filming. The story takes place
at night so filming had to be done between 8pm and 5am when it was still
dark out. On set everyone was
doing their best and ready to work and it was COLD, especially the outside
scenes. The worst was when the
wind picked up and people would be shivering until they heard action.
I’m amazed you don’t see me shaking in half of my scenes and
that the camera didn’t pick up any breath in the air.
The temperature was the reason some scenes had to be rewritten on
day 3 prior to filming. Everyone
got along nicely and was able to work with one another very well.
During the day people slept, ate, hung out or rehearsed, and of
course on the days when Cuyle was there he would go for 3 mile runs!
Did I mention it was cold?
J
The
$64-question of course: When and where will the film be released? My goal is to have it released in 2013 and at the
latest would be early 2014. It
is in post-production now being scored and sound edited and all that fun
stuff. It will have a premiere
in CT and FL and then hopefully be accepted into various film festivals! Let's
go back to the beginnings of your career: You started out as an actor,
right? What got you into acting, and did you receive any formal training
on the subject?
Well I guess I started out as an actor. Haha I
actually started out as an artist and went to college for illustration
(storytelling through pictures) and studied photography and acting at the
same time. My formal training
consisted of studying theater and improv at the New England Academy of
Theater and Florida Studio Theater as well as a few other places.
There isn’t one particular thing that got me into acting.
I love movies and I had always wanted to try it.
Once I did, that’s what I wanted to do.
So for me Victimized is a combination of things I learned in
illustration, theater, story development and photography. In general, how do you approach a role?
Any techniques you'd like to share?
The
first thing I do is to figure the character out.
I have to accept them for the way they are.
I’m there to be the character, not change them or judge in any
way. That being said I don’t
consider a character as being “good” or “bad” or anything else, I
do not put a label on them for any reason.
I do tend to be a little method about my roles - I try to relate
them to some experience I’ve had to bring that side of me out for the
character. What can you tell us
about your early experiences in the filmworld? That the fundamentals of acting are the same for both
film and theater. The only
real difference is a live audience or a camera and learning how to play to
both. My early experience in
film was a challenge because I wasn’t used to the camera being in my
face and it was hard to make sure I wasn’t looking directly at the
camera. Like anything the more
practice you have the more you get used to it.
Every film set gave me a wealth of knowledge and I’m still
learning. I think the film
that really helped me adjust the most to the camera was Brainjacked.
Would you
like to talk about some of the films you've been involved with?
Sure,
I have two feature films that I acted in that are on DVD now, Brainjacked
and Herschell Gordon Lewis’s The Uh-Oh Show!
[Herschell Gordon Lewis
bio - click here]. I have also acted in other features that are not yet released
as well as a handful of shorts. For
a list of everything I’ve done check out my IMDb page:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2859567/ What
made you eventually take up directing with Victimized? Honestly,
at first I didn’t know if I was going to direct it.
I wrote it and I wanted to play Matt, that I knew.
I got to thinking more about it and I figured no one knows my story
and characters better than me. I
had done some assistant directing in college for a play so I figured I
would be able to handle the challenge.
In the end what made me direct was because this story is like my
child and I just didn’t trust anyone else enough to see my vision my
way. If you have a vision with
something, follow it, no one’s vision is better than your own.
Any
future projects you'd like to share? I am always looking for new projects, so more may be
coming but I can share that a film I will be acting in this year is a
comedy called Limo Driver. Actors, writers,
directors, whatever who inspire you? Alfred
Hitchcock, Walt Disney, Kevin Williamson, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey and
Jackson Pollock. Your favourite
movies?
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Feeling lucky?
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Psycho,
Beauty and the Beast, Scream, Milk, Sunset Boulevard, I Know What You Did Last
Summer, Heartbreakers and If Only. ... and of course, films you really deplore?
I will really watch anything as long as it doesn’t
bore me. Who am I kidding, even
if it bores me I will sit through the whole thing hoping it gets better.
I hate not watching a movie until the end if I started to watch it.
The genres I’m not excited about are war films and sci-fi
(alien/space stuff). Your
website, Facebook, whatever else?
www.facebook.com/victimizednow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYoTQHrjARU
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1496035/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michael-Kenneth-Fahr/249630781108
www.twitter.com/michaelkenneth
www.thefilmranch.com Anything else you are
dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I
think I covered everything! If
I forgot something… oops!
J Thanks
for the interview!
Thanks for having me!
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find Michael Kenneth Fahr at adultvideouniverse.com
