Your new movie Crucify -
in a few words, what is it about?
It's
a psychedelic trip into the afterlife, as two teens trapped in a haunted
crime scene are forced to confront their demons.
Now how did the project fall together in the first place?
The
ideas for J's scripts usually begin with an inciting image. For Crucify,
she
envisioned grand, cathedral-like interiors, bathed in neon hues emitted
through stained-glass windows, with red crime scene tape crossed over
every door. She imagined what horror could have taken place in such
a location, and thus the premise for Crucify was
born.
J., what were your sources of inspiration when writing Crucify?
I
wanted to create a psychological joyride, so I was inspired by the
relentless pacing of Don't Breathe, one of Paul's and my favorite horror films.
We
also love the stylistic elements of John
Wick and Argento's Suspiria, so
I always had those visuals in the back of my mind. The
philosophical and looping nature of Arrival was
also a big influence. As well as the music, which stayed with me a
long time after I watched it. To me, the musical scales in the film
resembled a staircase... the notes ascend and descend, never-ending. That fueled my idea of the staircase in Crucify
being the portal to an
alternate reality, transporting you from past to present; heaven and hell
and everything in between.
During
the writing process, I listened to Alan Walker's Faded on repeat, a song
I came across when researching real life crime scenes. Seeing those
bleak images backed with such a beautiful song reinforced to me that you
can find beauty in darkness. Something I tried to relay in the
script.
Paul,
what were the challenges of bringing Crucify
to the screen from a producer's point of view? Filming
in predominantly in a single location, with a small cast to manage, did
help prevent dire challenges. However, even with the few locations
we did have, we had two cancel on us on short notice which meant we had to
quickly source new locations that would work for the film. In Crucify, the locations
are almost like a character themselves, the look needed to be very
specific for the story, so finding the right houses was challenging.
The interiors of two different houses were used to create the look of the
haunted crime scene house in the film. Crucify
doesn't exactly follow a linear narrative and is often very associative in
storytelling - so what were the intentions behind that, and how easy or
hard is it to not just (literally) lose one's plot making a movie this
way?
The
intentions came from J's love of symbolism and desire to include meaning
in everything. From the water, to the colors, to the costumes,
everything adds to the themes of love and loss; death and rebirth.
As the elements are all drip-fed to you, they eventually build and lead
you to the bigger picture. It may take repeat viewings, but when you
finally get it, hopefully it will be all the more rewarding and
meaningful. And even if you don't get it, hopefully it has helped
you view things differently or encouraged deeper thought. As
changing the way we think is the only way humanity can continue to grow
and evolve.
Crucify is
definitely not a linear story. It's structured more like an endless
loop, which goes back to those cyclic themes above and the idea that we
can all be trapped in a state of purgatory at times. With nearly 200
scenes, it was a complex shoot. Our shot list was very heavily
detailed and comprehensive, which we followed closely during the shoot,
because we knew changing or omitting one shot or scene could cause a
butterfly effect in the rest of the film. Keeping
to that shot list and schedule to a tee was really key to obtaining all
the pieces of the puzzle we needed, which J could then put together in
post precisely, utilizing the screenplay like a step-by-step instruction
manual for the assembly.
Do talk about Crucify's
approach to horror for a bit?
During
the sound design, we were conscious to exclude any music, rises or hits
that sounded "familiar" or "common" in horror films.
We wanted to create an unusual, uncomfortable atmosphere that feels
foreign and otherworldly.
There's
a quote that J loves: "Hell is empty. And all the devils are
here." We never have to look very far for horror in our world
and we are often our own biggest monsters. So to help bring that
idea to light, it was important for us to portray horror in a different
light, to turn that refraction back onto ourselves, for a more haunting
effect that lingers on the soul.
What was the collaboration
between the both of you like on set? While
we share a lot of the same tastes and views, we think very differently.
Paul is much more logical and pragmatic, whereas J is a lot more
philosophical, she's very much a dreamer. What works well with us is
that we fill in each other's weaknesses. Paul is great with the
technical side so on set he would be in charge of everything technical.
We have an agreement that the screenplay writer will always have final say
on creative choices, so while Paul was taking care of the technical
aspects, J finessed the creative ones. What can you tell
us about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand?
During
casting, we explained to the actors that our approach for this project was
to not give them the full script in order to maintain the element of
surprise and to also not overwhelm them or let them overthink the jumping
narratives of the story. Instead, the cast were only given excerpts
with their scenes so they could learn their dialogue. We didn't want
them knowing what was "waiting for them" behind the door or
around the next corner. When you know what to expect, some of that
magic behind the eyes is lost, because you're already anticipating and
waiting for it to happen. You're no longer reacting. You're no
longer in the moment.
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For
each of the cast, J also wrote and designed a detailed character
"bible", complete with images, quotes, meanings behind their
names and motivations for each of their scenes, so by the time the actors
came on set, they were already fully engrossed in their character and
could react in a way that was truthful to that character's story. Because
the cast were focused more on their characters instead of the plot, it
resulted in much more genuine performances. We rarely ever did more
than one or two takes. And when we did, it was usually for
technical.
Do
talk about your key cast, and why exactly these people?
Because
we were casting remotely, we viewed the shortlisted actors' audition
videos side by side to see how they would look on-screen together, to get
an idea of their potential chemistry. We wanted each couple to
complement as well as contrast each other, having that yin and yang
combination in both look and personality really brings their scenes to
life.
Dylen Michael Guiry, Shanel Maida, Alina Lapteva and Dorian Shine all gave stellar auditions, as did all of the
actors on our shortlist. They're all very talented. Dorian can
speak five different languages and even voiced most of the demons in the
film. Alina embodied Willa completely, she can take one look at you
and convey all her heartbreak and pain through her eyes. Shanel was
our youngest actor, yet she was able to demonstrate such restraint in her
emotions, like the old soul Raven needed to be. Last but not least,
Dylen was incredibly brave, he gave his all for every take, every shot,
every scene. His commitment is outstanding. That boy is
absolute fire.
A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
We
shot for 19 days and shoot days were relatively short, we never went over
8.5 hours as to not tire out the actors. The only exception was on
the last day where we had to combine two shoot days into one. We
tried to keep the atmosphere calm and relaxed for the actors, and let them
wait in their individual rooms in between scenes while we set up the next
shots. Lighting took the most time, as we lit all scenes with
colored gels so contrasting color temperatures were baked into the footage
which J could then later enhance and manipulate in post.
Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Crucify?
It
was only released a couple of weeks ago so you're actually one of the
first people to watch it! Crucify
is also soon to be released on Troma
Entertainment's streaming
service, Troma Now.
Any
future projects you'd like to share? We
were set to start filming our sophomore feature this week, however, that's
now postponed until the travel restrictions in North America are lifted.
The film is a New York based dance drama starring Yves Mathieu East. Now
Crucify
isn't the first movie you've worked on with one another - so what can you
tell us about your previous collaborations, and how did you first meet
even? Crucify
is
our debut feature film, but we have worked on many shorts together before
that. Most of them were genre-based, horror, action or sci-fi.
We are actually partners in life as well as work and met in London, UK
when J was on a working holiday over there. Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever
else?
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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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We
don't do social media, but we always update our production company website
with our latest projects: http://pacificfuturefilms.com
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? We
live in a world today where it's so easy to listen to the masses, to do
and think like everyone else. But sometimes you need to block out
that noise so you can hear yourself. Listen to your instincts, your
own voice, that's where you'll find the weird and wonderful. And if
you're here on Mike's site, you'll surely agree the weird
and wonderful is something we need more of. Thanks for the interview!
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