Your new movie Poison
Lover - in a few words, what is it about?
The film is about a couple who from a distance look like a
normal everyday married couple, however we learn there is more going on
behind the door than we first see. Poison
Lover
follows the breakdown of a
once loving relationship that slowly turns into anger, reject & hate. What
were your sources of inspiration when writing Poison
Lover? I wanted to make a dark moody piece
of film & have a love for giallo movies - which is where part of my
inspiration of this film came from, especially the work of filmmakers
Dario Argento & Lucio Fulci [Lucio
Fulci bio - click here]. To what extent can you actually identify with either
of your movie's leads?
Rami Hilmi’s [Rami Hilmi
interview - click here] character
Jonathan I can certainly identify with, in which he discovers something
that plays on his mind and instead of confronting the situation there and
then he lets it brew inside himself making it become more & more of a
problem - not that I would go to the extent of trying to kill someone!!!!!
With Poison
Lover being restricted to one flat and two actors, how limiting
but maybe also liberating was that for you as a director? I
love simplistic films, especially as I get to concentrate on the smaller
details which I feel in this film are very important. I felt quite free in
the space & I got to play with some real character driven pieces, I
did not have to cram loads in to move the story along. I really did not
feel limited, I actually went about making the film strictly limited so we
had a sense that these characters were away from everyday life and were in
fact prisoners of their own marriage. Connected
to the last question maybe, what can you tell us about your location, and
what were the advantages and challenges filming there?
The
location was actually a family member's home and I had complete use of it,
so I was not really restricted with it. I was able to take my time setting
up the shots I wanted and could use the house to its full potential. A
small disadvantage is that as it was not a built set I had some tight
hallways and rooms I was working with to set all the lights and camera
equipment up in, but over the years I have got used to filming in very
tight spaces so it was not a too bad problem. Do
talk about your cast for a bit, and why exactly these two? And since
neither is a newcomer to your films, what can you tell us about your
previous collaborations?
Over the last
year I’ve worked with Samantha Keller [Samantha
Keller interview - click here] on quite a variety of horror
related material and she shares the same interest in the same kind of
movies I do and gets where I am coming from with my vision which helps a
lot. She has thrown herself straight into a role and gave it even more
than I hoped for so I thought she would be a great choice for Poison
Lover as it gave her a chance to do even more with her acting as this piece as
I’ve said is more character driven rather than a stereotypical scream
queen which I had been guilty of throwing her into - so I thought it would
be nice to show more range to her as an actresses as she does have more to
offer than standard damsel in distress!
Rami Hilmi [Rami Hilmi
interview - click here]
& me go many years back. We have become great friends and he really is
a fantastic actor to work with, he is very diverse and again I thought he
would be perfect. Although I have cast him many times as a villain
character I thought the character of Jonathan in Poison
Lover was a bit
more complex and more human than some of the other outrageous characters
I’ve had him play. What's appealing about working with Rami is his
complete professionalism and he really is a team player, I love pushing
him to his limits as an actor - he might not be so happy about that! But
he has always given me the results I wanted, and does go that extra mile to
help bring my vision to life - I actually couldn’t imagine anyone else
playing the character quite as subtle as he did - he was my perfect
Jonathan.
What can you tell us about the
shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
As there was
only 4 of us on set - myself, Rami, Samantha & my wife Sharon helping
out behind the scenes, it
was quite a tight ship. Everyone got along, had fun, it was a very easy
going atmosphere, we had all worked together before, had built friendships
up and trusted each other to do the best job we could. I would go as far
to say it was one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever had on one of my
sets.
The
$64-question of course, when and where will the film be released onto the
general public? I’m excited to say that this
film is going to be one of the segments on the feature film anthology Die
Gest: Flesh Feast coming out in 2017, which will also contain
another little short film I made called Inner Voice. Anything you can tell us about audience
and critical reception of Poison
Lover yet?
|
Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned) |
The links below will take you just there!!!
|
|
|
The film has been very well
received, and is looking to be the best reception I’ve ever had for my
filmmaking so I really am over the moon with it. Any future projects you'd like to
share?
I’m currently back behind the edit suite
with a few new short films coming out in 60 Seconds 2 Die: 60 Seconds to
Die 2 & Baadasssssploitation! [Badasssssploitation
interview with Shane Ryan - click here] feature film anthologies. Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else?
www.jasonimpey.co.uk
www.facebook.com/jason666films
Thanks for the interview!
|