Your upcoming film Terror Vortex - in a few words, what is it about?
It is dark noir psychological thriller about a detective on a serial killer
case that horrifically strikes close to home.
What were your inspirations when writing Terror Vortex?
Oh, noir films and psychological action thrillers like Seven, Shutter
Island, Inception, Darkman, and my own short film Catastrophic Denouement.
I love exploring puzzle mystery movies and those narratives of the unknown and
unexplained phenomenas.
Terror Vortex sounds like a quite ambitious project. What
convinced you you could achieve what you wanted on the very modest budget
at your disposal?
Well, ha ha. I think, with technology right now, story tellers like
myself can do more with less. We can easily create a world with in a
computer and make it believable. Plus, the power of collaborating with
people is a big one. Thank God for my friends and family for their support
and knowledge and willingness.
Also, Terror Vortex
seems to
demand quite a bit of effects work. Now how was all that achieved?
Oh, yes it has a lot of effects in this film. I'm still doing my duct
tape makeup effects ha ha. And, in this movie, because of my last movie, Wisconsin Project X people have been giving me
props - that has helped a lot. I've done a lot of digital matte effects work to create a
New York downtown city feel in the Missoula, Montana downtown area. It is
working out well. Plus, we use green screen effects when needed, but
mostly matte effects. I've been playing around a lot with the basic
digital special effects since my last couple of films like Midst. In
Midst we made it look like we were in
England, I digitally put the Westminster Big Ben Clock Tower behind one of
my actors with the use of motion tracking digital effects. We didn't even
use a green screen for that shot and it turned out great. So, I'm putting
what I've learned effects-wise from those films in this film.
What
can you tell us about your directorial approach to your material?
I'm really letting the actors bring to the plate what they want to see
in their character. I want to guide them and not box them in creatively. I
believe that is making a big difference on this film. I love keeping
everyone comfortable on set. So, there is lots of laughs, but we stay on
task and get things done. You
also play the lead in Terror Vortex. What can you tell us about
your character, and why did you pick yourself to play him? Yes,
ha ha, I do play the lead. My character is struggling with his marriage,
loss, and identity. Everything is against him and he wants to figure out
why. I picked myself because I love movies and being in them. Normally I
never get the lead in anything and this is my one chance to give it a try.
In my next film I won't be a lead, but will be in it. It is hard to direct
and act at the same time, for sure. But, man it is fun acting. Plus, this
character I play goes through a huge emotional arc and I wanted the
challenge. In these type of films sometimes it is silly to see so much
emotion with actors that are not professional. I admit, I'm not a top
actor, but I at least can still try try try. Maybe, just maybe in this
movie we will achieve that good emotional tone. Hopefully you won't just
see acting or actors acting and trying too hard at overacting; but
hopefully you will see true characters.
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As
far as I know, actors Trevor Graciano, Jack Runyon, Shawn C. Phillips [Shawn
C.Phillips interview - click here] and Chad Ackerman were never
actually on set with you during the filming of Terror Vortex
but
sent their performances in. Now how did that work, and why did you do it?
Well, it started with Shawn. Him and I had been talking about working
together on a project. I told him about
Terror Vortex
and told
him I would love for him to be in it. The problem was that Shawn lives in
California and I live in Montana. And, being a no budget film and didn't
have the necessary funds to get him up here to film. So, his idea was to
have him shoot himself in a small role and he would send it to me via the
web to cut into the film up here. I said that that would be great. Then, I
though, if I did that with him, why couldn't I do it with others. So, I
contacted my brother, Chad, and my friend Trevor to do the same thing. I
was glad to hear they wanted to do it. Chad filmed himself. Trevor got his
friend Jack and shot a scene with the two of them. Trevor and Chad sent up
their footage and now they are a part of the film. It has been working out
wonderfully. A
few words about the rest of your cast? The rest of the
cast, for those familiar with Wisconsin Project X will
recognize a lot of the same actors like Jesse Head, Tyler Wittenberg, Jack
Kolberg, Scott Ranf, Danielle Ackerman, Tim Kolberg, April Depee, Joel
Baird, and myself. They are best described as friends, family, and
Danielle is my wife. We also have a newcomer, Josh Meny. Josh is playing a lead bad guy. He plays our evil Doctor in the film. It was funny.
Josh's first day on set, I told him that he had to put duct tape makeup
effects on his face. He seemed surprised, but totally jumped into it.
That's how I welcome all my new actors ha ha. It is my initiation to being
in my films ha ha.
The $64-question
of course: When and where will the film be released, tentatively?
Tentatively if all goes well it should come out sometime in September
or October. I've showed it to Brain Damage Films and they were interested
in it, but no deal has been made as of now. I'll have to keep you posted
on that. Any
future projects beyond Terror Vortex
you'd like to talk about?
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Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned) |
The links below will take you just there!!!
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Sure,
my friends and I are planning to make a medieval film, which is in
development right now. And, I plan this summer to start shooting my film
(working title) Zombies of the Living Dead. Your/your
film's website, Facebook, whatever else? You can find out
more info at http://www.fastcoastproductions.com,
its IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2187099/
, and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Terror-Vortex/131209196997099?sk=wall
- and watch the teaser at http://www.youtube.com/user/TerrorVortexFilm/featured. Anything else
you are dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
Check out my film Midst, too at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_10f8yWkpY.
I just want to say thank you to my pals at MAPS Media Institute
http://www.mapsmediainstitute.com/
and MCAT http://www.mcat.org
- I've used people that I've met and received help through both these
organizations. They are awesome places! And, check out my actors and crew
by googleing them on the web because they make films or do other amazing
things as well. I'm always looking for funding too ha ha to fund my next
projects!
Thanks
for the interview!
No problem anytime, thanks for the coverage.
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