Your new movie Devil's
Revenge - in a few words, what is it about?
A
family coming together to rid themselves of the evil curse that has
haunted them for generations.
How did the project
fall together in the first place? I work with Brian Perera, CEO of
Cleopatra
Records/Entertainment, and he
has Shatner signed on his record label and so we all met up and turns
out Shatner had a script that he’s had for years, so we talked about
making it and one thing let to another, and now the movie came out
yesterday. Every movie that gets made has a story, it’s always a
process, often a hard one. What can you tell us
about Devil's Revenge's
writer Maurice Hurley, and what was your collaboration like? Well,
sadly Maurice passed away in 2015, so I never had the pleasure of
meeting him. I hope he would like the movie and think I did it justice. A
few words about the rather gruesome demons in your movie, and how were
they created? And to what degree were you involved in their
creation/design? Vincent
Guastini is a super talented creature maker, him and his team have
worked on some huge movies, so we met up and discussed how we wanted the
creatures to look like, and it was a good collaboration, we’ve worked
together a few times, he can make some gnarly stuff and raw gore.
Do talk about Devil's
Revenge's approach to horror for a bit!
Demonic.
I also had a science fiction element in the story and atmosphere was
sort of alien-esque - so I embraced that. I love Star
Trek. But it’s
important to be thoughtful during the filming. But it’s hard to step
back sometimes. Taking risks, sometimes works great, sometimes bombs.
What can you tell us about your
overall directorial approach to your story at hand?
I
wanted to tell the story in the most meaningful way I could. I didn’t
write the script so I had to try and do justice to the script - I guess
it’s left to the audience now to decide if the movie is good or not. You
just have to talk about the impressive caves Devil's
Revenge was filmed in, and what were the challenges and the
advantages shooting there? And how did you find this location even? Those
caves were amazing. Some of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been
in my life. Kentucky is an amazing state. Louisville is really a great
place. That said, filming inside a cave is tough. Running power and
moving about in pitch black caves, ceilings low to need to crouch. I
wanted to capture the reality of being trapped in a cave. We had
locations department really help us find the caves. They can be hidden
entirely with only a tiny entrance.
Devil's
Revenge stars cult icon William Shatner - now what was it like
working with him, and how did you get him in the first place even? It
was fantastic to be able to work with such a screen legend. We became
friends. We got him because it was his original script - story by
Shatner, screenplay by Maurice, so in a way, he actually got us. The man
has a strong presence, super talented. What
can you tell us about the rest of your cast, and why exactly these people? We
had a solid cast. Jeri Ryan, Jason Brooks, Robert Scott Wilson, Ciara
Hanna, these folks deserve credit for working in real, deep caves,
filled with bats. They were selected because they each have their own
talent and energy for the roles. Do
talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere!
The
shoot was quite the experience. I was in Kentucky, Louisville for about
6 weeks. Great people down there. Making any movie is a challenge, and
this was certainly a challenge because of the locations. Finding all
sorts of caves, and dealing with permitting issues, it was a lot. The
people around me, Mike Meilander and Max Elfeldt, it was worth it. They
were my producers on location. We stayed in the same AirBnB, we hung
out, it was fun. I spent a lot of time tweaking the script. Brian Perera
deserves the credit for making this movie happen. He is Cleopatra
Entertainment, it was really cool of him to give the green light on this
movie. Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Devil's
Revenge? Too
soon to give a real answer. For the most part, the feedback seems to be
positive. That said, some people on the internet have certainly not
responded well. But I’ve learned there are always going to be people
that like or dislike what you do, or who you are. As an artist, if you
put your work out there, that’s how it has to be. That’s how you get
the real feedback, and hopefully learn from good criticisms. Any
future projects you'd like to share?
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Well,
I just had the pleasure of collaborating with Greg Filipkowski in terms
of opening up the West Coast office of
Vispol.tv. Greg
and Vispol are masters at making superb videos. So it’s a great honor
to be able to work with Vispol on commercials and videos. In addition
there is a movie I am about to direct in about a month. Can’t say too
much about it, too early, don’t want to jinx it. Your/your movie's
website, Facebook, whatever else?
I
would say to check out Cleopatra’s site:
www.cleopatra-entertainment.com.
Brian
and Cleopatra
are killing it now. They just picked up a James Franco
movie, The Pretenders. Anything else you're
dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I
would say to stay tuned... Thanks
for the interview!
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