Your new movie Antisocial
- in a few words, what is it about?
Antisocial
follows a group of friends on new year's at a party. Just before
guests show up a epidemic hits the world causing massive violent outbreaks.
The group is forced to barricade themselves inside with only social media to
help them learn what’s happening.
To what extent does Antisocial
mirror your attitude towards social media, and other sources of
inspiration when writing the movie? I have my issues with
social media, it’s not the platforms themselves but some of the people
using it. Saying that I’m sucked into it as well, it’s not easy to
ignore it, especially when it’s a huge way to connect with a potential
audience. What can you tell us
about your co-writer Chad Archibald, and what was your collaboration like? We’ve
been making films together for 6 years I think? Chad’s extremely
talented and I think we make each other better at what we do. When we
collaborate, one of us usually comes up with the idea and we pitch each
other, from there it’s about locking ourselves away and writing.
In
my opinion at least, Antisocial
is at its core a blend of slasher and zombie motives - do you at all
agree, and is either subgenre especially dear to you?
It’s kind of funny cause I never really wanted to make a zombie
movie, it’s not that I don’t love them, it's just so hard to bring a
fresh vision to the genre. I usually tend to lean more towards
psychological horror films than zombie or slasher.
Your
movie is mostly restricted to just one location - so what can you tell us
about your location, and what were the advantages as well as challenges of
such a restriction? We found our location a month before
shooting, it was downtown Toronto. It was 2 months away from being torn
down so we were able to paint, build walls pretty much completely change
the aesthetics of the house. Jason Brown our production designer took over
really changing every room. The advantage right off the bat is money. We
didn’t have to move so that saved us a lot of money. I'd say the biggest
challenge to shooting is revisiting rooms over and over and trying to make
them look different or shoot them in a certain way to give a different
vibe… keeping it fresh was a challenge. What can you tell us about
the actual shoot, and the on-set atmosphere?
It was tight.
We had a lot to shoot in a short amount of time. We had a really dedicated
crew. We would shoot during the week then myself and the DOP Jeff Maher
would shoot pick-ups in his basement. It didn’t really stop for the core
crew for the month. A few words
about audience and critical reception so far? We premiered
at Fanatasia to a sold out crowd, that reception felt the best so far. So
many genre fans, laughs and scares at the right times. Like most horror
films we get people who love it or hate it. It’s been mostly positive so
far. Any future
projects you'd like to share? I’m working on a few
scripts right now with other writers along with Antisocial 2 with Chad
Archibald. We might go to camera as early as March. What got you into
filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal education on
the subject? I’ve always wanted to make movies. My
parents got me a VHS camera for Christmas one year and I’d shoot
something with friends every weekend. After high school I went to OCAD and
did their 4 year film program. What can you tell us about your filmwork
prior to Antisocial
and your evolution as a filmmaker?
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I directed a bunch of
music videos leading up to this while producing features of other
directors. The last three years, up until Antisocial, I was mostly just a
producer, writing here and there on the side. I think it was the right way
to go. I got to work closely with John Geddes (Exit Humanity) and Jesse
Cook (Monster Brawl) who have now become friends, this helped me
prepare as we all learned from every shoot. Filmmakers who inspire
you?
I’m kind of all over the place with questions like
that… Lars Von Trier, Spike Jonze, P.T. Andderson… Your favourite movies? Again,
all over the place…Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Antichrist… ... and of
course, films you really deplore? Remakes that shouldn’t
be made… Your/your movie's
website, Facebook, whatever else?
https://www.facebook.com/AntisocialTheMovie
Thanks
for the interview!
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