Your movie Lost
in Vienna, Austria - in a few words, what is it about?
It's about love, passion and things that are not like they look at
first sight. With
Lost in Vienna,
Austria being a revenge thriller of sorts, is that a genre at all
dear to you, and some of your genre favourites?
I always liked Wes Craven's The Last House on the
Left, the film had a huge impression on me. I like to watch revenge
thrillers from time to time but I'm not that big fan.
(Other) sources of inspiration when writing Lost
in Vienna, Austria?
The work of David
Lynch, especially Inland Empire, Lost Highway and Mulholland
Drive, The
Trial by Orson Welles, The Roller Blade Seven by Donald G. Jackson and
Scott Shaw, The Prisoner (the 60s series with Patrick McGoohan), and of
course events in my own life. I once met a young girl who was a writer, she
wrote very sad poems. She a real sweetheart but so shy and sensitive. When
I heard that she had commited suicide my life fell apart. This film is
also dedicated to her memory. Lost
in Vienna, Austria at one point ditches its linear storyline in
favour of more associative storytelling - so what was the idea behind
that, was it intended from square one or did it only happen in the edit,
and how easy or hard was it for you to not just literally lose your plot
in the process?
It was in my script from the
beginning on. I wanted to make an homage to the films of David Lynch, very
surreal with a few plot twists. I never lost the plot because I always had
this story in my mind.
What can you tell us about your overall
directorial approach to your story at hand? I wrote 2 years on the script, added some
scenes and took out scenes that I thought would not be necessary to the
story. In July 2012 I was ready to start filming with a new camera
equipment, filter, gels and lenses. You're also
made the music for Lost
in Vienna, Austria - so do talk about the score of your movie for
a bit, and your musical influences? I needed a very dramatical soundtrack for that
film, so I performed very heavy string arrangements on my keyboard. As a
musician my influences are John Williams, Tim Buckley, The Doors, Jethro
Tull, Van Morrison. Also, you play the
lead in Lost in
Vienna, Austria - so what can you tell us about your character,
what did you draw upon to bring him to life, and did you write him with
yourself in mind from the get-go? Yes, I wrote the lead role
with myself in mind. Scott is not a real hero,
even if he looks like one in the beginning of the film, but he's more of a
complex character, and of course I put some scenes from my own life into
the script to bring him to life. Do talk about the rest
of your cast, and why exactly these people?
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I met my lead actress Julia Prock-Schauer on
the set of the film I did before, Blood City Massacre, in
which she had a small role, and I liked her performance, her beauty and her
expressive face so much that I offered her the lead role in Lost
in Vienna, Austria. Seth Raven had a bigger part in one of my earlier films,
Vampire City 2: Rock 'N Roll Zombies from Outer Space, and he
was so good in that film that I wanted him for the role of Frank
Househover, Julie's evil boss. He's a wrestler, so he knows how to produce
himself. I met Humugus, who plays Scott's manager Tom, at a bar where
Biggie Waite had worked as a waitress. Humugus is also a pro-wrestler and
a great guy to work with, and I've worked with both of them, Biggie and
Humungus, many times since we did Vampire City - Rock 'N
Roll Vampires from Hell. Many of the supporting actors came from a
casting agency, only Emanuel Nicolae Sereny was a real bartender, he was
the son of the owner and worked at that bar we were filming at. He was a nice
guy, so it took some time to get a performance out of him as a mean guy. A few words
about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? Although
it's a very dramatic film the shoot itself was one of the best and most
relaxing I've ever had. My lead actress Julia was so wonderful to work
with, a real pleasure. The atmosphere was very friendly. Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Lost
in Vienna, Austria? It was the saddest premiere I've ever had in Vienna. It was June and it
was cold and raining. Only a handful of people showed up at the theatre
and a lot of people disliked the film because it was a more serious film
and not a trash movie like my previous ones. Even filmmaker Houchang
Allahyari told me that he liked my trash films much more than this one.
The positive responses came from the USA. Art from the Underground Horror
Film Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma told me that he liked the film so much
that he screened it many times, later also at the Old Town Film Fest
there.
Any future projects you'd
like to share? I've just finished a
documentary about Vienna's young female music scene, The Sound of Young Vienna, which will have a theatrical premiere at the
Schikaneder Cinema in May (if Corona doesn't stop it). And I am writing on
the script for a film project in the style of Lost
in Vienna, Austria, the working title is Siren's Call. What got you into filmmaking in the first
place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject? I never went to
film school but I've always had a
love for films. I always thought it's way too expensive to make a film.
Then in 2007 I read Robert Rodriguez' book Rebel without a
Crew and it was amazing to find out that on his first film El
Mariachi he himself was the whole crew. He also composed most of the eoundtrack and
edited the film. So I tried to follow his footsteps. What
can you tell us about your past filmwork other than Lost
in Vienna, Austria?
After some disappointments with my first film Wild
Rebel I
wanted to do films that are just fun, so I came upon making some funny and
crazy trash movies: Vampire City - Rock 'N Roll Vampires from
Hell was released in March 2009 and was the first film that also got
a premiere in the USA at the Tromadance Festival in Indiana. Vampire City 2: Rock 'N Roll Zombies from Outer Space had its
premiere in Vienna on Halloween 2009 and also had a successful screening
in the USA at the Underground Horror Film Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In
late 2010 I met filmmaker Houchang Allahyari who made me an offer I
couldn't refuse: He would lend me his camera, sound and lighting
equipment and also his cameraman for my next film if I allow him to make a
documentary about me and film me while I'm filming my next movie Blood City Massacre.
Blood City Massacre came out in November 2011
and is also my most successful film on YouTube. The documentary was called
Robert Tarantino - Rebel Without a Crew, and it had its premiere
at the Diagonale in March 2013 and later had a theatrical release in
September 2013. You make films in Vienna,
Austria - so what can you tell us about the city's indie filmscene? Indie
filmmakers here in Vienna are
more of an island. They're not very communicative and hard to get in touch
with. They only contact me whenever I release a new film project and ask
me for financing their projects, which I have to deny them because my films are
all no-budget projects.
How
would you describe yourself as a director?
I'm very passionate, very caring and love to work with my actresses and
actors. Filmmakers
who inspire you? David Lynch, Orson Welles, Francis
Ford Coppola, Donald G. Jackson, Alejandro Jodorowsky. Your favourite movies? Inland
Empire, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, The Trial,
The
Roller Blade Seven, Hell
Comes to Frogtown, Amer, The Holy Mountain. ...
and of course, films you really deplore? My very first film
Wild
Rebel was meant to be a drama but a lot of things went wrong. My
camera crew left a few days before the filming because they got a paid job,
so I did it all by myself, all I had was a sound engineer whose equipment
could only be used indoors. On the first day of filming a storm came up
and ruined my camera equipment so I had to continue filming with a cheap
camcorder, actors showed up for one day and never came back, and I made so
many mistakes as a cameraman, I crossed the line too many times. But after
all the time, passion and energy I put into this project I had to complete
the film even if Wild
Rebel didn't turned out the way I wanted
it. The positive thing is that I've learned from my mistakes. Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, 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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My website:
www.wolfmorrison.com Movie
website: lostinviennaaustria.jimdofree.com/
Facebook
page: www.facebook.com/LostInViennaAustria/
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/wolf.morrison/ ...
and this is the Facebook page where I post updates of my new films:
www.facebook.com/Robert-Tarantino-Rebel-Without-A-Crew391858957580437/ Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? For
filmmakers: If you want to make a movie, go out, grab your camera and just
do it! Don't let anybody stop you! You don't need much money to make a
film, just passion, love and dedication! Thanks
for the interview!
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