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An Interview with David Axe, Director of Bae Wolf

by Mike Haberfelner

January 2022

Films directed by David Axe on (re)Search my Trash

 

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Your new movie Bae Wolf - in a few words, what is it about?

 

Bae Wolf is a weird, queer and subversive retelling of the Beowulf legend.

 

What inspired you to base your movie on the Beowulf myth, and what can you tell us about your research on the subject? And while we're at it, why the gender cbange?

 

I was inspired by the set -- a live-action roleplaying facility in Trenton, South Carolina that was convenient to where I live (Columbia) and affordable in my budget. When a resource like that presents itself, you'd be dumb not to take advantage of it.

 

Other sources of inspiration when writing Bae Wolf?

 

I was also inspired by one of my favorite books, Grendel by John Gardner. A postmodern twist on the Beowulf legend and a great political polemic.

 

What can you tell us about your movie's approach to the fantasy genre?

 

The story is what makes it fantasy. I mean, there are monsters, a dragon, swords, helmets, a horse, et cetera. The trick is pulling off a period fantasy on a very small budget -- $37,000 in our case. Fortunately, EastWind, the LARP facility, did a lot of the work for us. There's a mead hall and several castle wall sets. And the owner, Sherman Gills, hand-makes armor and weapons. Toss in a few high-concept monster designs -- Grendel, his mom and a dragon -- and you're in the fantasy business.

 

Where was Bae Wolf actually filmed, and what was it like filming there?

 

We shot 90 percent of it at EastWind in Trenton, South Carolina. Plus there were pickup shots out in the woods around Columbia, South Carolina and in my friends' backyards. We dressed a friend's basement as Grendel's cave and the mead cellar.

 

What were the main challenges of making a movie set in 500 AD, and on a budget, too?

 

The great thing about making a silly horror-fantasy is that it doesn't need to be realistic, per se. Bae Wolf is enthusiastically anachronistic. The dialogue, sensibilities and humor are modern. That said, we spent a lot of our money on armor, weapons and monster costumes. So we had to stretch what was left. After paying cast and crew, I didn't have enough money for a director of photography, so I shot Bae Wolf myself with my BlackMagic 4K. It's always hard to direct and shoot at the same time. On one hand, I know the shots I want and shooting myself eliminates a layer of communication and delegation. On the other hand, my workload doubles.

 

Do talk about your directorial approach to your story at hand!

 

Bae Wolf is fairly conventional, structurally. We build the world and introduce the problem -- Grendel -- in the first couple scenes. Beowulf shows up and you immediately know something's up with her. The rest of the movie flows from there. Our heroes have to solve their Grendel problem and their Beowulf problem. In terms of the picture, my coverage was mostly traditional. Wide shot followed by opposite over-the-shoulders. We got weird only when we were out of time or some actor failed to show up. That would force us to get creative with angles. When you see long, unbroken shots with goofy angles in Bae Wolf, it's because we're masking a body double or because we were shooting at 2:00 A.M. and everyone was exhausted. As far as my direction to actors went, I told everyone to play it big. There's no advantage to subtlety in a movie like this.

 

What can you tell us about Bae Wolf's key cast, and why exactly these people?

 

The whole movie hangs on Jennifer Hill as Beowulf and Morgan Shaley Renew as Freawaru. I wrote Beo with Jen in mind -- and she nailed it. Big energy. Big feelings. She's got an improv background so she knew how to play the comedic beats. Morgan as Frea was a last-minute recasting. The original actress caught Covid a couple days before production. We were in a real bind. Fortunately, Morgan had read for the part and still knew it. She came in on no notice and totally slayed. Morgan saved the movie.

 

A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?

 

It was a tough one. Everyone had the Covid jitters, of course -- and vaccines weren't widely available. So we masked up. Still, Covid got one of our actors right before the shoot. Another showed up on set with a necrotic spider bite and we had to put him in the hospital. On day one, I had to recast a lead role and rewrite the script to eliminate the spider-bit actor's part. The weather was forgiving, thank God, but everything else was sheer chaos. I'd hired a new lead makeup artist and she turned out to be the very opposite of a teamplayer. She was actively combative. She didn't seem to understand our time and resource constraints and refused to give us camera-ready actors on time. Worse, she would walk into shots while the camera was rolling. She interrupted one scene to berate me, in front of everyone, because someone had peed on the seat in the bathroom. That's when I finally fired her. Production got smoother once we got her off the set.

 

Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Bae Wolf?

 

The response is pretty positive so far! Which is weird, because I've grown accustomed to making unpopular movies.

 

Any future projects you'd like to share?

 

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In February I'm shooting a bizzaro sci-fi Western called Acorn. It's about a filmmaker who gets a cancer diagnosis and sets out to make her last movie. It goes badly. And there's a man-eating tree. I also produced Shawn C. Phillips' new movie Woods Witch [Shawn C. Phillips interview - click here], which just wrapped.

 

Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?

 

Follow me on Twitter at @daxe 

Watch Bae Wolf on Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/642841/bae-wolf

 

Thanks for the interview!

 

© by Mike Haberfelner


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Thanks for watching !!!



 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!