Your movie GoatSucker
- in a few words, what is it about?
In a few words, it's a monster in the woods movie, with a lot of twists
and turns that one might not expect from this kind of movie.
With GoatSucker
being a movie touching the Chupacabra-legend,
did you do any research into that aspect of your movie?
Oh yeah, I've been intrigued about the El
Chupacabra legend from the
first time I heard about it many decades ago. So I was already familiar
with most aspects of the legend, but did delve a little deeper into the
history of it, primarily for the expert scientist scene in the movie.
Basically,
GoatSucker is
a monster/slasher movie hybrid - so are you a fan of either or both
genres, some of your genre favourites, and what do you think makes GoatSucker
stick out of the crowd?
Absolutley! I grew up with monster movies. Dracula,
The Wolfman, Frankenstein,
The Mummy, these types of movies were on all the time when
I was kid. I always thought monster movies done right were a blast!
The
thing that sets GoatSucker
apart from most movies of this type is the
fact that there is a movie here without the GoatSucker. These
characters weren't created to be fodder for the GoatSucker. These
characters create a movie in and of itself. If there was no GoatSucker,
we'd still have a movie. Throwing the GoatSucker in on top of that is
what brings this to the next level.
Other sources of inspiration
when writing GoatSucker?
I always wanted to do a monster movie. The El
Chupacabra idea was
mysterious enough where it left a lot of leeway for interpretation and I
absolutely LOVE the English translation: GoatSucker.
What
can you tell us about your movie's approach to horror?
It's a legit horror movie, but horror on its own can't last 90 minutes.
There have to be interesting characters and motivations that drive them,
and an overall plot. GoatSucker
has these things and also has a lot of
twists and turns that I don't think everyone will see coming.
You
of course also have to talk about the goatsucker costume itself for a bit,
and to what extent were you involved in its creation? The
GoatSucker creature make up was created by Chris Cook and he did a
fantastic job. Although we don't make a point to show the GoatSucker in
full very often, the makeup job for the creature is one of the more
extensive ones we've ever done. Do
talk about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand! And
with GoatSucker
being an early movie of yours, how do you think you have evolved as a
director? I'm there to guide the story and characters in
the direction I envision. The cast of GoatSucker
really took to their
roles quickly which made that much easier. This movie was a lot of fun to
shoot. Of course the more you do something the better you get, but
most everything with the shooting of GoatSucker
was smooth even for one of
our earlier movies.
What can you tell us about your key cast, and
why exactly these people?
They were fantastic, weren't they?
We held open auditions for the majority of the roles and we were
thrilled with our options.
One interesting side note on casting was the role of Eugene. Neil Vowels
plays that part perfectly! However, I had originally cast someone else
to play that role, but he had to pull out a few weeks prior to shooting.
I offered the role to someone else who I know would have done a good
job, but he wasn't available, so we were planning on holding another
audition to fill the role of Eugene. PJ Woodside [P.J.
Woodside interview - click here], the co-producer and
other half of Big Biting Pig Productions, happened to be acting in the
stage play The Wiz and told me I needed to come and take a
look at the guy who was playing the wizard. So I went down and caught
the final dress rehearsal for the show and this guy was perfect! I loved
him! And this of course was Neil Vowels, and the rest is history. This
is just one of those examples of things working out like they were
supposed to in the end. Neil is wonderful as Eugene. I'm so glad
it worked out the way it did.
A few
words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
This was an exterior shoot for the most part. To avoid rain, we opted to
shoot most of it through July & August. And let me tell you, July
and August in Kentucky can be hellish! However, we really got lucky with
the weather. No rain issues on any of our shoots and the weather was
very cooperative. The only mega-hot day I can recall was the day we shot
the Mr. Walters/Marvin & Scientist scenes. It was over 100
degrees when we shot those scenes, and if you look at them, you'll
notice everyone is directly under the sun most of the time. You'll
notice Tom Dolan (Mr. Walters) & Marvin (Logan Nance) dripping with
sweat if you look close. That's not make up folks!
Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of GoatSucker?
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Most people really get a kick out of it. GoatSucker
is a lot of fun. I
remember once GoatSucker
was showing at midnight at a film festival and
the showing was standing room only. I got the impression that people
weren't expecting it to be very good, but as the movie went along, I
could see them all getting sucked into the story. By the end, this group
of folks who weren't expecting much were standing up and cheering.
Any future projects you'd
like to share? After 10 movies in 9 years, PJ Woodside [P.J.
Woodside interview - click here] and
I have decided to take a little breather. But we'll have some news coming
in the not too distant future. Your/your movie's website, Facebook,
whatever else?
Website:
http://www.bigbitingpigproductions.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/bigbitingpigproductions
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BigBitingPig
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/bigbitingpig/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/bigbitingpig
Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask?
People unfamiliar with Big Biting Pig Productions
may be wondering a bit
how many movies we've done, since I've referred to GoatSucker
as one of
our earlier movies: GoatSucker
was our 2nd movie. It was originally released on DVD in 2009.
We recently remastered it and released it via streaming. Overall we have 10 movies, our last one
It Lives in the
Attic was released in 2016. Most of our movies are available to watch for FREE on Amazon Prime!
Go to our website to find out more about us and all 10 of our movies!
Thanks for the
interview!
Thank you!
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