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Your upcoming movie The Seductress from Hell - in a few
words, what is it about?
The film tells the tragic tale of a Hollywood actress who undergoes a horrific
transformation after being pushed to the edge by her psychopathic husband.
I consider it an origin story of a character inspired by the likes of
classic horror villains like Pinhead (Hellraiser),
Freddy Krueger
(A Nightmare on Elm Street) and
Michael Myers (Halloween). The
film is also a modern day examination of several topics and issues,
including capitalism, love, romance, marriage, the entertainment industry
and a lack of empathy in society. What were your sources of
inspiration when writing The Seductress from Hell? When
writing the screenplay, I was heavily inspired by horror classics I grew
up watching like the aforementioned films as well as films like The
Shining and Korean horror films like The Wailing and
I Saw the Devil, which are always an inspiration for me when approaching this
genre. Another big inspiration for me when writing and making the film was
the Japanese horror classic Audition,
as it also features a
psychological examination of a disturbing female villain. Joker was
a huge inspiration for The Seductress from Hell, as it tells the
origin story of a villain that I find fascinating and truly brilliant.
When writing this screenplay, I also listened to a lot of horror
soundtracks to get into the mindset for the film. What
can you tell us about your movie's approach to horror? I
would say that the movie’s approach to horror is a lot about the horror
of human beings and the terrible things people do to one another. It’s
also about how tragedy and trauma can change a person. When we meet Zara
at the start, on the surface she’s a normal Hollywood actress and
housewife, but as the film progresses we see the challenges of her
situation in life (barely making any money, having an abusive husband,
struggling as an actress in a challenging industry etc.). As the film
progresses, things get even worse for Zara. She eventually snaps and her
alter ego, the seductress from hell, is born. She goes on a killing spree
where she targets people that she blames for her transformation including
her husband and a selfish film producer she meets at a jazz club. It’s a
movie that takes a very cynical look at the entertainment industry,
capitalism, apathy, human nature and Los Angeles.
A
few words about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand? I
think my overall directorial approach for this film was one that tries to
examine the tragedy that can turn someone into a villain. Having met
thousands of different people in my life, one thing that fascinates me is
the backstories of what makes someone ruthless, what makes someone
compassionate, what makes someone egotistical, what makes someone humble,
what makes someone self-centered etc. My directorial approach always keeps
in mind entertaining audiences and trying to make them think. I worked a
lot with our lead actress Rocio Scotto during pre-production over Zoom
calls, lunches and rehearsals to prepare her for the role and what I was
looking for. I also worked with the other actors in the film to prepare
them for what I expected from a character point of view. Do
talk about The Seductress from Hell's key cast, and why exactly
these people? Jason
Faunt, famous for his iconic role as the Red Ranger in Power Rangers
Time Force and other appearances in the Power Rangers
Universe, plays
the male lead Robert Pereira. We made Jason an offer for the role as he
has an incredible onscreen charisma to him which I knew would lend itself
to appearing nice whilst having a lot of negative personality traits under
the surface. We were grateful he accepted the role and he was an
incredible collaborator.
For the title role of Zara Pereira, we received
1,800 submissions, and after dozens of self-tape auditions and quite a few
in-person callbacks, we cast the very talented up-and-coming actress Rocio
Scotto as we could see she had the emotional range to play such a
disturbed character. Raj Jawa plays Derek Urden, a Los Angeles
businessman. Kylie Rohrer plays his selfish and vain girlfriend Maya
Valentina. James Hyde, famous for the Netflix show Monarca, as well
as shows like Passions and The Young and the Restless, plays
misogynistic and shady film producer Jeffrey Delap, who becomes one of the
seductress’s victims after they meet at a jazz club. We offered him the
role because he has a naturalism to his acting which was perfect for a
nuanced villain. Andy Lauer, best known for the 90’s NBC sitcom
Caroline in the City, was offered the role of Officer Gerrard, as he
brought a level of humor to a role that traditionally wouldn’t be
humorous. What can you tell us about the shoot as
such, and the on-set atmosphere? The
shoot was quite challenging in the sense that it was an ambitious project.
We really had an amazing cast and crew. Our production designer Fabio Del
Percio went above and beyond with building a world (both before and during
the shoot) that the story would take place in. Khoi Nguyen, a very
talented cinematographer who I first worked with two years ago on a
commercial, had an incredible vision. As any film shoot does, we had our
challenges as there are a lot of variables that have to come together for
a shoot to go well. Luckily, we had a phenomenal team and it went really
well overall. Our unit production manager Oleksii Strykun and 1st AD
Roberta Sparta collaborated effectively to run a very efficient and
hardworking set. In terms of the atmosphere on set, one thing I always aim
to do as a producer and director is to run a set without egos; a set where
everyone is working together to create the best film humanly possible.
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As far as I know, The Seductress from Hell
is still in post-production as we speak - so how
far along is it, and any idea when and where the film might be released,
however tentatively? We’re
still heavy in the post-production phase. I’d say we’re currently a
quarter of the way to being picture -locked and after that, we’ll start
the coloring and sound design phase. I’ve extensively been discussing
music with our composer Elezeid, who I’ve been working with since 2015
when he scored my first professional film, the Barbara Nedeljakova
starring psychological thriller short film Just One Drink. In terms
of a release for The Seductress from Hell, our goal is to have it
play at film festivals in 2024 and be released (hopefully in theaters and
streaming) sometime in late 2024 or early 2025. Any future projects beyond
finishing The Seductress from Hell
you'd like to share? I’m
currently in development with another horror feature film called The
Tormentor, which is about a psychopathic CEO who invites his colleagues
over dinner with plans to torture them. That story was heavily inspired by
the Korean horror film The Wailing. It also features a lot of social
commentary and, like The Seductress from Hell, also tackles themes
like love, death, false hope, romance and capitalism.
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Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?
We have yet to launch our official website but you can check out the film’s
IMDb page here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28331533/
Here are all our social media pages as well:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/seductressfhell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theseductressfromhellmovie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theseductressfromhellmovie/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@seductressfromhellmovie
Anything
else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Thank
you so much for this interview. It is greatly appreciated! Thanks
for the interview!
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