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Your new movie The Handler
- in a few words, what is it about?
The Handler
follows Ryker Dune, a Marine who came home and got in contact with
a mod boss Vinnie to do odd jobs for cash. As Ryker realizes there is no
way "out" of this nightmare life, he purposely throws a job, and
Vinnie seeks revenge by sending a swarm of mercenaries after him to finish
Ryker off.
What were your sources of inspiration when writing The
Handler?
It
should be no surprise to anybody who has seen the film that my influences
are mostly the action films from the 80s and 90s; from the cheesy
oneliners, to the nonstop action feel - I wanted to throw it back to
that where people could kick back, grab some popcorn and enjoy an
entertaining film and escape into some nostalgia with it.
To what extent could you actually identify with The
Handler's protagonist Ryker, and the desparate situation he's in? That's
an interesting question and I would say I don't really identify with him,
but he does kick some serious ass in the film! :) What
can you tell us about The
Handler's approach to the action genre? I
wanted some things to be purposely over-the-top. If you're looking to
break down this film in pure logic and realism, go somewhere else because
you're supposed to suspend your disbelief at some points too, that's the
fun of it and the escape into films of this genre.
The
Handler features more than its fair share of fight scenes - so do
talk about the stunt work in your movie for a bit? It's
a good opportunity to give a special shout-out to Matt Erdems who was our
fight coordinator and also played the role of Lukas in that epic
fight scene towards the end. We went through all the fight scenes and he
helped draft them out with my supervision and was so damn important in the
film and really worked with Chris Levine [Chris
Levine interview - click here] in such a short amount of time to
get him in the best fighting shape he could be in, and I feel it works. Do
talk about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand! This
was actually one of the most enjoyable filming experiences I've had. All
the cast and crew were completely in tune with our objective, and we knew
every single day we had a crapload of action and fight scenes to cover
and it went really smoothly I think from the shared trust of everybody on
set. My right hand man was Chris Levine (Ryker), who I trusted to carry
this film and he trusted me to make sure he doesn't get hurt, haha.
What
can you tell us about The
Handler's key cast, and why exactly these people? I
had worked with most of the key cast before including Chris Levine,
Michael Pashan, Adam Carbone, Rachel Alig, Cathy Baron and more so the
trust was already there and I was well aware of their talent too. They
were all very easy to work with, and when you are on such a tight schedule
like we were on this we need all hands on deck, and they powered through
brilliantly. Couldn't be more proud of all of them. You
of course also have to talk about the film's main location, and what was
it like filming there? I
had shot at this location before but I literally wanted to utilize every
single room and part as if it was Ryker's own "playground", and I
feel this gave me an opportunity to be very creative with some of the
fight and action scenes. We had drone shots, steadi-cam and others and the
freedom to do so, so it was a fun ride shooting there for sure. A few words about the shoot as
such, and the on-set atmosphere? I
honestly feel very fun, positive and stress-free. We shot this a few
months after Covid hit, so you would think a lot of people would be on
edge like crazy, but thankfully not only did nobody get sick, but it was a
fun time where all of us I think were relieved just to get back on set and
start working on something creative.
The $64-question of
course, where can The Handler
be seen?
This
link has all the platforms it is on:
https://linktr.ee/
thehandlermovie
But
for somebody who doesn't want to copy and paste that, it is on Amazon, iTunes, Google
Play, YouTube for pay, Vudu and more!
Anything you can tell us about audience and
critical reception of The
Handler? I
think if you are looking for an entertaining indie nonstop action film
this is the film to see. If you are expecting a multi million dollar
studio film, then yeah you might be wanting to look somewhere else, but
again this film is very straightforward in its approach and meaning, and
it was purely meant for entertainment to the audience and my hope is they
want to rewatch some of the cool fight scenes, etc. Any future projects you'd like to
share?
A
few weeks ago I wrapped on my feature film The Sweepers, which is another
suspense thriller film I'm very happy about, and we should have a picture
locked cut of the film by the spring.
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Your/your
movie's website, social media, whatever else?
facebook.com/michaelmatteorossi
twitter.com/michaelmatteoro
instagram.com/michaelmatteorossi
Anything
else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
I
want to thank the cast and crew again for all their hard work, and of
course the audience and people who go out of their way to watch the film
and take the time to rent or buy it - it means so much and helps indie
filmmakers like myself, thank you!
Thanks for the interview!
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amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
