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Your new movie Mark
of the Beast - in a few words, what is it about?
Thomas Edward Seymour: A
man desecrates a native shrine and is then cursed by a silver faceless
leper from within the woods. His friends then hunt the leper and torture
it to try to get him to lift the curse. To me Kipling is asking the
question how far would you ruin yourself morally to save your friend.
It’s an anti-torture film but aims to play as an old fashioned monster
movie. Jon and I were influenced by classic monster films and Italian
horror from the 60’s and 70’s. What
inspired you to adapt a Rudyard Kipling-short story - and what were the
challenges of translating this circa century old story set in India to the
contemporary rural USA? And do you hold a special fondness of Rudyard
Kipling's work to begin with? Thomas Edward Seymour:
When I first moved
to New York I needed a job right away so I worked at the Strand Bookstore.
I came across the Kipling’s story and thought it was just great
material. Like Beowulf, but had some important themes about torture and
religion. To me it wasn’t that difficult to pull the story out of India
because it was really more about the people than the region and it was a
small story. We tried to confuse the time period. You might assume that
the film took place anywhere from the late 60’s to modern day. There’s
almost no technology, the only car you see is from the 60’s and
people’s clothes tended to look like older fashions. The weather was
warm climate and part of the cast had southern accents. We were going for
a mysterious time and place to some degree and I feel like people either
buy into the reality or they don’t.
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Jonathan Gorman:
We had talked about trying to find a classic work that was in the public
domain and was not too overdone. Tom had come across the story and emailed
it to me. It is a really cool and creepy tale. He decided to adapt it and
try to modernize the story and blur the time period in order to make it
work with our budgetary constraints. My favorite Rudyard Kipling tale is
Rikki Tikki Tavi, the one about the mongoose. I can't say that I have a
particular fondness for Kipling, but what I am familiar with I enjoy. Thomas, you've written the
script together with one of the film's stars and producers Sheri Lynn - so
what can you tell us about your writing process and your co-writer as
such? Thomas Edward Seymour: Well
I wrote the rough draft myself and tried to keep as much of the original
dialogue and narration as possible. Two of my hero’s are Frank Darabont
and Morgan Freeman. In The Shawshank Redemption you had Morgan Freeman’s
character speaking this wonderful poetic and sensitive narration, but when
he was among his friends in the prison or in crisis he would speak like a
normal guy. You know, swear and such. Freeman did this in Million
Dollar Baby as well. I thought that with Kipling’s story I could do the
same thing. Be regal in the narration and real in the dialogue. People
either love it or hate it. My friend Sheri Lynn functioned more as an
editor cleaning up my messy grammar and tweaking a few scenes. She was a
great help as always.
Your main claim to fame (as a duo) so far has
probably been the rather comedic trio of Bikini Bloodbath-movies -
so what prompted you to try your hands on the rather serious story of Mark
of the Beast?
Thomas Edward Seymour: I
think that you’re right. If anyone knows who the hell we are it’s
probably because Bikini Bloodbath 1-3. Those movies were so much fun. I
haven’t done a feature length drama since Everything Moves Alone in 2001
when Elvis Mitchell of the New York Times took a shit on my career. I had
done genre blenders like Land of College Prophets and London Betty but I
really wanted to take a step forward in my career and I felt that the
material I could create would never be good enough. In a sense I
looked again to Frank Darabont. He took Steven King’s stories and adapted them to perfection.
Shawshank, Green Mile, The Mist. When you
can’t make progress in the budgets you get, you try to find ways to make
progress. That was the thought process anyway. Jon Gorman is a great
directing partner and I think he wanted to try something different in his
career as well. But please don’t think we’re getting all serious on
you. We’re supposed to start writing Bikini Bloodbath 4 soon. Jonathan
Gorman: Tom and I are really big fans of Hammer Horror and the
films of Paul Naschy [Paul Naschy
bio - click here]. We wanted to get involved in a project where we
could create that kind of atmosphere and look. We wanted to really focus
on the lighting and longer takes. While comedy is our natural habitat, we
have always wanted to try our hand (or hands, as the case may be) at more
serious horror. I for one see Mark
of the Beast very much in the tradition of drive-in monster movies
of old - something you would at all agree with? And what can you tell us
about your movie's directorial style as such? Thomas
Edward Seymour: Yeah,
I’m a big of the Frankenstein. Well, the 1931 Boris Karloff one
[Boris Karloff bio - click
here], not that
weird one that Edison did in 1910 [click
here]. I also really like Creature from the
Black Lagoon. Jonathan Gorman: Yeah, we did sort
of view this as our first creature feature. While the leper may be a man,
he has been disfigured over time to become something that a human cannot
easily identify with. He is something to be feared because he is human but
also something other. What can
you tell us about your movie monster, and the film's at times quite
uncomforting special effects? Thomas Edward Seymour:
Leigh Radziwon is a
dear friend of ours. Jon and I sat down with her and brainstormed about
how the creature should look but she really took the ball and ran with it.
I have never worked on a set with such an amazing special effects makeup
artist. We owe Leigh a lot. I believe we got positive reviews on sites
like yours and Ain’t it Cool or articles in Fangoria specifically
because of Leigh’s hard work. It took over 8 hours to turn Marc Bovino
into the Silver Faceless Leper. Leigh had three assistants working the
whole time and they never seemed to ever take a break. It was an
exhausting long ten day shoot.
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Jonathan Gorman:
The monster was envisioned by Tom and brought to life by Leigh Radziwon
and Marc Bovino. Leigh created the make up effects and Marc delivered a
wonderful performance as "the beast". Leigh and her team would
spend hours getting Mark into the beast make up ( I think it took 6 hours, and longer on the first day). When
Mark had the
head piece on, he could only see out of a very small, obstructed hole with
one eye. He would have to be led around set. Marc never complained and
always delivered in his performances. The idea for the make up was to
obscure the features enough to give the main characters the ability to
torture the leper. If the leper is a beast and not human, then torturing
it would be a little easier for our characters to push themselves into. Your cast is led by horror
icon Debbie Rochon [Debbie Rochon
interview - click here], who of course has also been in your Bikini
Bloodbath-movies - why her and what is it like working with her? Thomas
Edward Seymour: She
has wonderful ideas and helps to improve every project she is in. She
worked with Sheri Lynn on her scenes and she had great ideas for her
character. I am very proud to call her my friend. She has had such a large
part in the success of Mark
of the Beast. She is one of the most important
figures in the American contemporary B-movie and underground film
movement. She has acted in over 200 films. She’s an incredible actress
and a good person and to me that matters most.
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Jonathan
Gorman: Debbie is the best, she has always been great on and off-screen. We love working with Debbie. She has a great sense for comedy
which has aways worked great in the Bikini Bloodbath films. We
wanted
Debbie for Mark
of the Beast for many reasons, but most importantly,
because we knew she could handle the role. Debbie was great on set as
usual, offering us tips on how to get our actors to the right level of
intensity, and she asked questions about her character to help get herself in
the right mindset. She is a wealth of knowledge and a pleasure to work
with. She really gave a great performance, just like we knew she would. What
can you tell us about the rest of the cast of Mark
of the Beast, and what made them perfect for their roles? Thomas
Edward Seymour: What
happened was when I read the story for whatever reason I pictured the
Fleete character as Phil Hall and the Strickland character as Dick Boland.
I always thought Dick had the face a 60’s/70’s actor. That sort of
full, “man’s man” look, and I knew Phil Hall would be able to deliver
lines like “I’m gorgeously drunk” and nail it. I don’t think I had
to update any on Fleete’s lines from the original story. With Debbie’s
character I left it pretty much the same as the short story. Though the
role was written for a man. It didn’t really matter to me. A hero is a
hero. I just had to tweak a few minor details.
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Jonathan
Gorman: Dick Boland played Strickland. We have worked with Dick on
2 of the Bikini Bloodbath-movies and London Betty -
all of which were comedies. Dick
brings a level of intensity and commitment to everything he does. He was
the perfect Strickland. He did a great job and he is always really
invested in the characters he plays. Phil Hall has worked with us many
times before. He is a fantastic character actor. He was our first choice
for the role of Fleete. He plays an excellent drunk and he is up for
anything (including full frontal nudity, and being tied to a chair under
hot lights while being pelted with salt, water, oil and worms). Sheri
plays Strickland's wife and has worked with us on all of the Bikini
Bloodbath-films and London Betty both in front and behind the camera. Sheri has
predominantly done comedy with us, but she is an intense person and is
incredibly focused. We knew she was up for the task. Mark
of the Beast is confined to merely a handful of locations and a
limited cast - I guess first and foremost for budgetary reasons. In what
way was this limiting or actually inspiring, and what would you have done
differently had you had a bigger budget at hand? Thomas
Edward Seymour: We
shot the whole film at my friend’s mother-in-laws. It was this camp or
sorts. It had the cabins, the pond, the forest. We didn’t have to waste
large amounts of time driving around to change locations. We decided to do
longer takes with more blocking and less coverage. Similar to how older
films were shot. You know, not all the hyper-cutting and such. This
actually let us concentrate on the actors and lighting more. We were going
for that tattered old horror film look. Some people love the look of this
film, some people don’t but it wasn’t by accident you know? The shoots
are always extremely hard on me physically. Very long days, lugging around
lights and camera gear. Having to keep the entire story arch of the film
right at the tip of your brain to make sure the actors never stepped
outside on your vision. Shooting a film in 10 days beats the shit out of
you and I’ve done it 8 times now. I had to DP half the film and my
friends Greg Kissner and Aaron Syler were able to DP the rest. I do have
to say however that I feel because we knew we were trying to make a little
feature horror film, I think it’s the closest I have ever come to making
a film that looked how I imagined it. If I could have done it different I
would have hired a full crew and shot over the course of a few months. I
probably would have kept the same cast. More and more these new
“A-lister” actors are becoming so boring to me. I mean what the hell!
Why does everyone in Hollywood films have to be so fucking young and
beautiful. Most Hollywood films are totally unbelievable to me. Oh look a
gang of male models are eating in the cafeteria in the Twilight films. Or
hey Andrew Garfield a guy who looks like he stepped out a Calvin Klein ad
is getting picked on in high school in the new Spider-Man movie. That dude
would never get picked on! If those bastards in Hollywood ever re-re-make
The Shining … again - do you think they will cast someone who looks like
Shelly Duval or someone who looks like Jessica Alba? Jonathan
Gorman: The smaller cast is definitely budgetary, but it also
allows us more time to focus on the characters and their performances. It
also allows more time to construct shots and sets, and to focus on
lighting and creating atmosphere. With the Bikini films, there is never
enough time, you are always scrambling and re-writing and rescheduling.
With this film, we were able to get the entire cast to commit to the time,
there were very few (possibly only one - that I can recall) reschedules. We
had more crew than cast for the first time ever on a set. It was a great
experience.
What
can you tell us about the actual shoot and the on-set atmosphere? Thomas
Edward Seymour: It
was pretty light and friendly. There was a boys cabin and a girls cabin.
Most of the folks were from the Bikini Bloodbath films so we were all
wondering if we would even be able to pull off a serious horror film. As I
remember the first scene we shot did not go so well. We didn’t even know
we had a film until the end of that first day. It was stressful and people
worked hard but it was friendly and pretty light for cast members
considering the subject matter. Jonathan Gorman:
The shoot was in a beautiful location out in Voluntown, CT - Still Waters
(http://www.retreatcenterct.com). We lived out there all together for 10 days. It really got
the cast and crew in the spirit of the film. We would wake up, eat
breakfast and begin to work. At night we would swim in the lake and
barbecue. Everyone would hang out around a fire nerding off about movies. As
far as I know, the film has only come out not too long ago - so what can
you tell us about critical and audience reception so far? Thomas
Edward Seymour: So
far the reviews had exceeded my expectations. There was a strong fear that
we would get our ass handed to us for taking on a Kipling story. Some of
the larger horror reviewers and magazines like Aint’ it Cool, Film
Threat and Fangoria have really gotten behind the film. I think
Rue Morgue
is a doing a piece on the film soon. I would say on average about three
out of four reviews I’ve come across are either positive or neutral.
Haters are gonna hate but you can’t change that. Some negative reviews
have incorrect information like claiming the DVD has no special features.
One review actually throws other larger review sites under the bus just
because they liked my film. The internet is strange place. People will
bash you, try to demoralize, deprofessionalize, delegitimize you, take
your pick. Getting bad reviews is not really a big deal to me. I just
don’t like when they say things that are factually incorrect.
I’m
not sure what they get out of it, the bashing I mean. They complain all
day long about terrible Hollywood films and then throw Indie filmmakers
under the bus just as they’re starting off while they’re refining their craft or trying to get bigger budgets. Indie filmmakers do not have
tons of money to pour into marketing to counteract reviews. So on the
internet, critics have the power, not to destroy Hollywood films but to
destroy Independent films. I wonder if they realize that? When my film
London Betty was finished I tried to get some reviews online before
seeking distribution. For the most part the reviews were very positive but
the first review I got, they gave it a C or something and it was cited by
a distribution company I was trying to place the film with as one of the
reasons that they wouldn’t take it because they weren’t sure it would
do well critically. Even though many of the reviews to follow were strong
the company was no longer interested but by then we had different deal
with Maverick Entertainment, so we went with them.
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Jonathan Gorman: It is a mixed bag, as it has been with
all of our films. I have seen some great reviews, some terrible reviews
and some inbetween.
Let's
go back to the beginnings of your careers - what got you into filmmaking
in the first place, and did you receive any formal education on the
subject? Thomas Edward Seymour: When
I was around 12 I started shooting Super 8 films. Just after highschool I had a public access show and in College I
finished my first feature Thrill Kill Jack in Hale Manor starring Carmine
Capobianco. I think we had a 200 dollar budget. It is a terrible film,
Carmine was good though. I graduated from Northwestern Connecticut College
with a degree in Visual Communication. I stared working for CBS News as a
staff editor after that. Did that for four years. Did work for places like
NBC Universal Digital Studios, Fisher Price, IGN, College
Humor, all the
while I was doing little feature films on the side. Mark of the
Beast is
actually my 8th feature. I’m working on a new Feature length
Doc called VHS Massacre with filmmaker Kenneth Powell and David
Leute right now. We are
co-directing. It’s been a lot of fun so far.
Jonathan
Gorman: For me, Evil
Dead 2 was the first film I remember watching
and thinking: "I can do that." I remember loving it and
watching it over and over again. I remember reading anything I could get
my hands on about Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. The way they talked about
making Evil Dead 2 sounded like so much fun and so possible. Tom started
making movies way before me. We became friends through his brother (and Bikini Bloodbath
producer) Bruce Seymour. I went to screenings of Tom's movies and we had
always talked about doing a project together and eventually we made Bikini
Bloodbath. I took a history of film class at Emerson College, but my real
training was on the set and watching as many movies as I could get my hands
on. What can you tell us about your filmwork prior
to Mark of the
Beast? Thomas Edward Seymour: Between
Black20, IGN and College Humor I think I’ve done over 50 shorts. For
Indie film I’ve directed 8 features. I did a lot of popular mashups back
in the day. Some of these are kinda low-fi but they’re kinda funny. You
may have seen them before.
Cake
Town - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gNqiSkd1M6k
Battle
of the Batmans - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSkSDNl1w4E
Uwe
Bolls’s Contra - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-W_TvrOmiwgoogle.com
Quantum
of Bonds - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deNG0SW3aDk
Eastwood
and Aliens - http://blog.collegehumor.com/post/6797540977/eastwood-aliens-the-good-the-bad-and-the
Jonathan Gorman: I played a couple of dead bodies in some
re-shoots for Land of College Prophets, I worked in the art department on
a film called Second Chances about a crippled girl and a
crippled horse, I played a drifter in a short called Texas
Kiss (no one will ever see that, my good friend and the director of
the short, has suppressed any copies of it), I played Jesus in a short
called What Would Jesus Do, I co-wrote, co-produced, and co-directed the
Bikini Bloodbath trilogy, I was the 1st AD on London Betty and I played an
old man in London Betty named Stanley.
Any future projects you'd like to talk
about? Thomas Edward Seymour: Well
I’ve been co-hosting the New York Cine Radioshow
for the past year with Kenneth Powell and David Leute. We have so much fun doing it we decided
to team up to direct a new feature length Documentary about the B-movies
and the home video era called VHS Massacre - it should have all the
bloodbath gang including Debbie Rochon, Lloyd Kaufman and Carmine
Capobianco and Jon Gorman but we’ll see. We’ve been working on it for
the past few months. Also I think Jon and I will write Bikini Bloodbath 4
at some point and see where it takes us. Jonathan Gorman:
Tom and I have been kicking around Ideas about Bikini Bloodbath 4. There
are always other ideas kicking around, but nothing slid as of yet. You both also tend to appear in front of the
camera on occasion (as you do in Mark
of the Beast) - so what can you tell us about yourselves, the
actors, and do you at all enjoy this? Thomas Edward
Seymour: I do
like acting but it’s very hard to do well when you are directing. I’ve
stepped back from acting a bit but I have friends who occasionally ask me
to act and I suppose if a cool role was offered to me I would do it. I
think my friend Greg Kissner wants me to act in his new feature Viking
Vs Zombies (http://www.vikingsvszombies.com/)
and I’m gonna be in our new doc as well. Jonathan
Gorman: Tom acts, he is really good at it. He has been honing his
craft over the years. I am more of bit character, the biggest role I have
had to date was Stanley in London Betty. It was a lot of fun. I enjoy
being in front of the camera, but I prefer being behind it. I have also
been a random thug who gets killed and has no lines in 3 shorts by Curtis
Spieler. I like to get out in front of the camera, but I can not really do
anything all that serious. How would you
describe yourselves as directors? Thomas Edward
Seymour: I feel
like I will always be learning and trying to improve. I think I’m
getting pretty good and making a compelling feature for under 10 grand. It
would be great if one day I’d be offered a gig to direct Puppet Master 8
or Universal Soldier 7 or something. Beyond that I’m not sure if I’m
really in sync with what the studio system is creating these days. Too
much CGI, mindless action and model actors. Too little real sets, real
creature effects and normal looking people in films these days. Jonathan
Gorman: I think Tom and I function really well as a team. We are
interested in a lot of the same styles of film as well as having the same
sense of humor. We are able to step in and step back depending on the
needs of the moment and for the most part, we tend to do it pretty
fluidly. There are aways hard times on any film set, especially low budget
film sets, but Tom and I always help each other through. Filmmakers who inspire
you? Thomas Edward Seymour: El
Mariachi by Robert Rodriquez was a real inspiration. A great film for 9
grand. Sin City was great too. An actual good use of CGI for once. John
Carpenter and George Romero are gods. I wish I could be as talented as
Ridley Scott.
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Jonathan Gorman: Sam Raimi, Jean-Luc Godard, Lloyd Kaufman, Sam Fuller, William
Castle, Terence Fisher [Terence Fisher bio - click
here], Lars Von Trier, the Coen brothers, Wes Anderson.
Your favourite movies? Thomas Edward Seymour:
I love
films like Blade Runner, Shawshank Redemption, Cinderella
Man. I love
Hitchcock’s Rope, Frankenstein (1931),
Logan’s Run. To be honest I
love bad actions films from the 80’s like The Best of the Best, Blind
Fury and Robot Jox. I’d love to work with Rutger Hauer some day. I’ll watch almost anything directed by Ridley
Scott
or Terry Gilliam. Nolan is great too. The Following, Memento,
Prestige.
Aronofsky’s Pi. Dario Argento’s Opera. Tommy Wisaeu’s The Room (I
seriously like that movie). Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. Jonathan
Gorman: Royal Tannebaums, Evil
Dead 2, Halloween
(John Carpenter),
Port of Shadows, Pierrot Le Fou, Melancholia, Pick-up on
South Street, Le Samourai. ... and of
course, films you really deplore? Thomas Edward
Seymour: Magic Mike. Because my film Mark
of the Beast came out the same week and on the
web and in all the stores the only thing you would see it Magic Mike
coverage - and because of alphabetical order Magic Mike was always first.
Some websites just said “Magic Mike and other releases this week” and
the other releases were Blade Runner 30th Edition, my film and
others. It was as if Channing Tatum’s dong itself was covering over
the DVD release of Mark
of the Beast. Fuck you Channing…fuck you. Your/your movie's
website, Facebook, whatever else? Markofthebeastfilm.com,
Newyorkcine.com. Thanks
for the interview!
Thanks for reaching out to us, we really appreciate it!
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amazon.com
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find Rudyard Kipling's Mark of the Beast at adultvideouniverse.com
