Your new movie Bethany - in a few words, what is it about?
Bethany
is the story of a young woman who inherits her childhood home from her
late mother. She then has to come to terms with her past, and most
importantly, with the imaginary friend she once had in the house. From
what I know, Bethany was pre-sold to a distributor under the
condition that it's going to be a ghost story - so is that a genre at all
dear to you, and some of your sources of inspiration? I
have always loved ghost stories. I feel like ghost stories are a MASSIVE
part of horror. I remember how people would always tell each other ghost
stories. I think it's scary because on one hand it lets us know there is
some life after death but on the other hand we find it can be terrible.
It builds us up and breaks us down. I'm very inspired by Asian ghost
films.
When
it comes to ghost stories, there are usually two approaches, effects-wise,
the one that says less is more, and the other that says more is even more
yet - so which approach does your movie follow? We
take a little from column A and a little from column B. This
movie is a character study, so you may not see an overload of traditional
ghost effects, but that being said we had an amazing effects team that put
together some incredible builds, so there will be plenty to keep the
audience guessing and jumping for that matter.
Stefanie Estes, Zack Ward, James Cullen
Bressack |
What can
you tell us about your co-writer Zack Ward [Zack
Ward interview - click here], and about the writing process as
such? Zack
and I hammered out the first draft of the script in about a week, it
really just came to us. That said, it went through several revisions
after the fact to get it to exactly where it needed to be, but this story
came to us fast and we let it fly to the page. Do talk about your film's approach
to horror as such for a bit! Bethany
is a horror film, plain and simple. We’ve got our main character
struggling in an old haunted house, with a lot of twists and turns
throughout. Also, we’ve got some real shocking scares and of
course a gallon or two of blood, so get ready. A few words about your
movie's look and feel? Our
DP John DeFazio gave us an amazing look to Bethany. The entire cast,
lead by Stefanie Estes [Stefanie
Estes interview - click here], really bring impressive performances and the look
that DeFazio created will be fantastic. It's very colorful yet
scary. I wanted to make something beautiful be terrifying. That's actually
kind of the theme of the film, darkness within beauty. Hopefully it feels
scary. I know working with John DeFazio, who is a genius behind the lens,
has really made this film's look something very special. John and I have
done a few projects together now and we really understand one another's
sensibilities. What can you tell us about Bethany's
key cast, and why exactly these people?
Stefanie Estes |
Our
cast is amazing and I was super blessed to have them. Stefanie Estes
was an incredible find as this was a hard role to cast. She really
brings it in an impressive way, natural and beautiful, your heart will
break for her. Shannen Doherty I’ve worked with on several
projects, and as always she’s fantastic and equally brings it. She’s
a great friend and a great actor. Tom Green was our diamond in the
rough. Not only did he bring a dramatic flair that I think
everyone will love, but he’s incredible to work with. He might
just steal the show. This is Tom like you have never seen him before. Zack
Ward [Zack
Ward interview - click here] also brings something amazing and unique to his character that I
think people will really connect with. Obviously Zack was very involved
with the project. Do talk about
the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? We
had a fast shoot, only 14 days, so it was a little hectic. Our crew
was amazing, however, and got the job done in a clutch way. Making
films is always hard, but when you’ve got dedicated and talented
individuals in every department it makes it a whole lot easier, especially
as a director. I’d say overall the atmosphere on set was
fantastic. The
$64-question of course, when and where will Bethany be released
onto the general public? Soon…
I will have way more info soon. Any
future projects you'd like to share?
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I
just wrapped a grindhouse horror project called Deadly
Reunion, which is going to be ridiculous in all the best ways. I
also just finished shooting Limelight, a gritty Hollywood drama
about becoming a star in Hollywood starring Jenna Jameson, Paul
Vandervort, Jonathan Lipnicki, Brit Shaw, Sean Kanan, Keith Coogan &
Kirsten Nelson. Your/your movie's
website, Facebook, whatever else? We don't have one but
keep an eye on my Twitter @jamescullenb Anything else you are
dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
Catch
my film Pernicious on VOD right now on iTunes and Amazon among many other
places! Thanks
for the interview!
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