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Your new movie Inner
City Rats - in a few words, what is it about?
Inner
City Rats
is about New York City and a handful of criminals and misfits
who live there. It ditches a normal structure and instead features a
“passing the baton” kind of plot that shifts from lowlife to lowlife
during the course of one crazy day.
Why
did you choose the anthology format for Inner
City Rats, and what are the advantages and challenges making a
movie that way?
I
never saw the film through the lens of an anthology, instead I saw it more
as a movie without a main character. In many ways I wanted to do a take on
Richard Linklater’s Slacker but instead of being about slackers, it
would be about criminals and instead of taking place in Austin, it would
take place in New York City. Eventually this idea morphed into something a
little different, but the intention is still there.
The
advantages of this kind of narrative structure were more apparent during
filming. We didn’t need any actor or location for more than a day or two
usually, and because of that we were able to keep production costs down.
The challenges were mainly during the writing stage. I would sometimes
find myself struggling to keep everything in the narrative “box” that
I created for the film. Every segment had to pretty much be a certain
length and each segment had to pretty much end a certain way, and this
proved to be a challenge at times.
With most of the segments of Inner
City Rats being crime stories of one sort or another, is that a
genre at all dear to you, and some of your genre favourites? The
crime film genre is something I’ve always been interested in, with a
special love for New York City crime films, and specifically any from the
1970s or early 80s. If you can show me New York City before it got kinda
scrubbed clean, I’m probably gonna want to watch it. Some of my
favorites include The French Connection, Superfly, Taxi
Driver, Mean Streets, Dog Day Afternoon and Thief. I have to mention 1992’s
Bad
Lieutenant as well, another masterpiece. (Other)
sources of inspiration when writing Inner
City Rats, and is any of it being based on personal experiences or
the like?
Luckily,
none of it is based on personal experiences, otherwise I probably
wouldn’t be here today. The only exception would be that I always feel
inspired anytime I’m walking down the streets of New York, and I’m sure
that found its way into the script. However, I didn’t write the film in
New York, I wrote it in Texas. Therefore, I listened to all my favorite
hip hop albums that reminded me of New York, both as a source of
inspiration and to just simply mentally place myself on the streets. All
in all, albums by Jay-Z, A Tribe Called Quest, MF DOOM, Mos Def and Nas
were more directly influential to the script than anything else.
What can you tell us about Inner
City Rats' brand of humour? This
movie never takes itself too seriously, and although we never go full out
comedy, I think everything can fit under the umbrella of “dark
comedy”. There’s a pretty wide variety of humor in the film from more
the raunchy dialogue in Track 3 to the awkward interaction between Stevie
and his guests in Track 4. Sometimes the
characters in this film end up in situations that are just so outrageous
and at times frankly stupid that you can’t help but laugh at them.
Quite a bit of Inner
City Rats was filmed in the streets of New York City - so what was
it like filming the exteriors there? It
really depended on the borough in which we were shooting. Brooklyn, and
specifically Bushwick, was really easy and we rarely encountered any
problems with pedestrians or anything like that. We minded our business
and people minded theirs and it went really smoothly. Shooting in touristy
Manhattan was a little trickier. The streets were busier and there were
way more people that we had to manage. Despite some of these issues,
there’s an energy that busy Manhattan streets provide that you can’t
capture elsewhere.
What can you tell
us about your overall directorial approach to your story (or stories) at
hand?
It’s
actually kind of interesting because this film was not a character-driven
film and really features zero traditional story/character arcs. This
shifted my directing to be more similar to putting together a puzzle. Each
individual scene was like a puzzle piece and had to connect just right,
tonally and pacing-wise. If the flow wasn’t there, the movie would fail.
So, I was constantly aware of this and it really shaped how I directed the
film. It was all up to the cast and me to put forth fully formed
characters in 10-15 minutes and to project the essence of who they were in
that short amount of time.
Furthermore,
I tended toward using medium and medium closeup shots as opposed to wider
shots when filming the main characters of each segment because it was
important to make them the focal point at all times. One of the few
occasions we used a really wide shot is at the end of Track 5 and it’s
when we finally let go of the characters and let them disappear into the
city, while simultaneously letting go of the narrative structure we had
seen up to that point.
Do talk about Inner
City Rats' key cast, and why exactly these people? The
why is easy: they’re all extremely talented people. Starting with Track
1, we have two rappers turned first-time actors, Radamiz and Madwiz. I
actually wrote the role with Radamiz in mind but had never met Madwiz
until Radamiz suggested him. I ended up casting him and he brought a
charisma to the character that elevated all of his scenes. I was truly
impressed with both of their performances as well as their commitment to
the film. Sean Stolzen, who plays Terrence in Track 2, was one of our more
experienced actors. He was incredibly professional (one of the best
qualities an actor can have) and the performance he gave made me want to
explore the character of Terrence even more. Track 3 features Len Nash and
Louis Bacigalupo as two drugged out Beavis and Butthead type characters. I
was incredibly blessed to have these guys take their roles and run with
them like they did. We had more improvisation in their scenes than any of
the other scenes by far and it was fun to watch. Track 4 features Connor
Dylan as Stevie, a paranoid and unhinged drug dealer. I was blown away by
his performance and the way he brought that character to life. Connor took
my dialogue to a level I never thought was possible and I’m very
grateful for that. Lastly, we have Nathaniel Ansbach as a good guy who
must save his younger brother. Nathaniel went into a zone and dominated
his scenes. It really was a one man show for a large section of Track 5
and Nathaniel delivered the goods.
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A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? The
atmosphere on set was usually relaxed and it was always fun. Of course,
some days were tougher or more stressful than others, but most of the
people who worked on the film said it was the most fun they’ve ever had
on set. Everyone knew we had a job to get done and we usually had no
trouble doing it. Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Inner
City Rats? We
have been getting overwhelmingly good feedback on the film. The critical
reviews we’ve gotten so far have been really positive. The audience
reception is even better than expected and we are reaching way more people
than I could have imagined. There’s no question this movie is slightly
polarizing though and there are certain people who are turned off by the
crazy style of the film. I’ve had people private message me saying I’m
now their role model and Inner
City Rats is their favorite film and I’ve
had people say it’s a bad movie that’s hard to follow and has no
point. I like hearing both sides, it means I made a real movie. Any future projects you'd like to
share? I
am currently in the early stages of writing my next film. It will really
be the opposite of Inner
City Rats because it’s looking like it’s
gonna be filmed in Texas, Arizona, and Florida and will definitely be a
character driven picture. It also will be a much larger scale production
than Inner
City Rats. As far as the plot is concerned, it will take place
in the 90s and there should be a darker vibe than you see in Inner
City Rats. What got you into making movies in the first
place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject? I
always created movies in my head from such a young age that I can’t
really say for sure, it must have been all the movies I saw growing up
though. It’s hard to see a movie like The Terminator or
The Matrix when
you’re a kid and not be inspired and excited by it.
I
went to the University of Texas at Austin for a year but left to make this
film. I spent most of my days doing pre-production from my dorm room and
casting actors through my computer during class. I never received formal
training because it takes about two or three years until they teach you
film-specific knowledge there and I was already long gone by that point.
My formal training really ended up being the making of Inner
City Rats and
all the lessons I learned from producing, to editing, to sound design were
only possible by going out and filming. What
can you tell us about your filmwork prior to Inner
City Rats? Inner
City Rats was truly my first film. I had never been on set before and had
never made a short film. This was also my first script. So, it really was
a sink or swim kind of scenario when I showed up to set the first day.
Luckily, no one knew my age when we were filming, and no one knew that I
had zero experience (or at least they acted like it). How would you describe yourself as a
director? Constantly
evolving and striving for the best, but always serving one master: the
script I want to visually transform and the characters that are present in
the story. If I can get everyone involved driving the same speed and in
the same direction toward that goal, from the actors to the crew to anyone
else involved, we will reach our destination. Filmmakers who inspire you?
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All the greats from Stanley Kubrick, Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese,
and Nicolas Roeg to John Carpenter, Alex Cox [Alex
Cox bio - click here], George A. Romero, and Walter Hill, but
I’d like to specifically mention Michael Haneke as being someone who
makes films that are hugely inspirational to me. But really, I could go on
and on about every great director; David Lynch’s Wild At
Heart contains some of my favorite dialogue ever written, and Paul
Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights
contains one of the greatest soundtracks you’ll ever hear. Your
favourite movies?
There
are too many to name, so I’ll list the ones that I grew up on and were
my first movie loves. These include The Cable Guy, Fright Night (1985),
Woodstock (1970), Dazed and Confused, RoboCop
(1987), Rock'n'Roll High School, and I’ll end with Walk the
Line. ... and of course, films you really
deplore? I
usually forget movies that I dislike so this is a hard question to answer.
After thinking for a moment, I think I have to say the remake of Suspiria.
I almost didn’t see it because Suspiria was always in my top 3 horror
movies of all time and I didn’t see a point in watching a remake of it.
However, I kept hearing all these great reviews it was getting so I
decided to take a chance on it. I wasn’t impressed and maybe aside from
the famous dance scene in the film, I didn’t enjoy it. I will say though
that I appreciate the fact that the filmmakers didn’t do a carbon copy
remake and instead went a different direction. Your/your movie's website, social media,
whatever else? The
movie’s website is InnerCityRats.com. You can find most information you
need about the film right there. Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask? The
soundtrack features some great artists from Radamiz, Madwiz, and Marlon
Craft (all great NYC rappers) to amazing musicians and bands from Honduras
(I’m half Honduran). Also, my brother created some incredible songs and
beats for the movie (under the name Surrenderallen), including the theme
song, and one of his tracks features a guitar solo that I played. Go check
out these songs on Spotify and anywhere else you can find music! Thanks for the
interview!
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