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Exclusive Interview: Joe Zaso
By Jonathan
Stryker
Joe Zaso is a one-man
show. Founding his own production
company, Cinema Image Productions,
22 years ago, he has worn many hats in his time both in front of and behind the
camera as a writer, producer, and actor.
A horror fan for many years, Joe will be seen in Giovanni Pianigiani's DARKNESS SURROUNDS
ROBERTA, a giallo-inspired thriller due out soon on DVD. House of Horrors.com met with Joe last year
to discuss his career and his new projects.
Jonathan Stryker: You were born in Queens, NY. How long did you live there?
Joe Zaso: I lived there until June 1977 when EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC was
released, then I moved to Manhasset Hills which is a posh name for New Hyde
Park, and now I live on the south shore which is Rockville Center. It's great because it's only about a
half-hour from Manhattan. It's an area that looks like Manhattan and that's why I like it. It's like Brooklyn Heights.
Jonathan Stryker: Was acting in your blood when you were a
child?
Joe Zaso: I always liked movies in general. I actually
started as a filmmaker first, and acting really was something I pursued more in
my teens. When I started acting
legitimately after college I found that it was hard to get legitimate roles in
big things, so I would produce my own movies with my own colleagues. I figured I would give myself the work and
then before you know it I was going back and forth between producing and
acting.
Jonathan Stryker: Tell me about your earliest memories of going
to the movies.
Joe Zaso: The very first movie I ever saw in a theater
was WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE
FACTORY. I was three years-old when
I first saw it, and many of my relatives took me to see it over and over. You
know, I saw it about four times in the theater, and it was back in the days
when they'd re-release movies.
Jonathan Stryker: That's amazing. I didn't get to see it until I was about six or seven years-old, even then it
was just on a black-and-white television.
Joe Zaso: I even remember seeing television ads for ARNOLD (a comedy with Stella
Stevens and Roddy McDowell from 1973). I
was a really demented child! (laughs)
I remember spelling out movie titles with plastic letters on a metallic
board. I spelled out DOG DAY AFTERNOON on this thing I
had, I was crazy!
Jonathan Stryker: (Imitating Al Pacino) “I'm a Catholic, and I don't wanna hurt anybody, y'understand!
No Alarms!!” (laughs) Oh, my God!
I used to do the same thing with STAR WARS and THX-1138!
Joe Zaso: (laughing) Yeah, I remember asking Santa
Claus to bring me movie marquee letters for Christmas! I actually got these recently from someone
who got them off of Ebay and gave them to me as a gift. So, I guess it's safe to say that cinema is
in my blood!
Jonathan Stryker: Did you ever go to drive-ins as a kid?
Joe Zaso: Believe it or not, I've been to one drive-in
and it was not too long ago, up near Cape Cod,
and it was a 30th anniversary showing of JAWS. But as a kid, where I lived on the Island there was only one drive-in, called the Westbury, and I almost saw THE FLINTSTONES there in 1994. I never really got into it as a kid. I felt it was cool at times once I saw how it
worked, but the only time I went was for JAWS.
Jonathan Stryker: You formed your own production company at age
16. How did you do this?
Joe Zaso: I made these little underground indie movies
and decided to make my company official and I called it Cinema Image Productions and I did a
film called MALIGNO, which is Italian for malign. I figured if the word SUSPIRIA couldn't be explained,
neither could MALIGNO! (laughs)
So, I'd escape the funky-sounding name.
It means something! It's
evil! But, I did that when I was 16, and
now the company is 21 years-old. So the
name of the company is still Cinema Image Productions, and I just kept it that
way.
Jonathan Stryker: The bulk of your filmography is horror
films. What attracts you to horror?
Joe Zaso: I like dark subjects and it's interesting, I
just made a film called BARRICADE
with Timo Rose, and I'm not really a gore fan, to be honest with you. BARRICADE
is one of our most successful movies.
But, I just like the whole dark subject matter. I love Euro-horror, psychological thrillers,
I like Brian de Palma. I'm not a science-fiction fan at all, if you
give me spaceships and laser blasts I'm bored in seconds. With psychological thrillers, I have to know
all the characterizations, you know, what drives people to do what they do...I
have to know what compels people to do things, and the movie really has to have
a really good story. That's why I like
“whodunits”.
Jonathan Stryker: You
work often with Raine Brown. Do you look
for projects together?
Joe Zaso: With Raine, it was a complete accident. I did a film with her called ANGEL'S BLADE and at that time
I had really not heard of her, but some of my colleagues knew who she was. So, we became friends on the set. Months later I was preparing to make BARRICADE and I really wanted to
have her in it. I asked her if she
wanted to go to Germany
and she said yes. As a result of BARRICADE, I started making DARKNESS SURROUNDS ROBERTA in Italy, and I asked her if she wanted to go to Italy
for a week and she said yes. It's a
complete coincidence and accident that we keep working together on something or
other. She has worked on other movies
with people I have worked with, so it's kind of this incestuous thing where
Raine is the It Girl of Horror.
Jonathan Stryker: She has done quite a bit: WOODS OF EVIL, AUNT ROSE, HORROR, and SATAN'S PLAYGROUND.
Joe Zaso: I know, she and I work in the same circles,
so it's inevitable that we kind of end up working together. I don't know what's next, but…we’ll see!
Jonathan Stryker: You’ve been in some particularly brutal
films, such as the aforementioned ANGEL'S
BLADE and BARRICADE. Do you find it hard to perform in scenes
where you have to be terrified?
Joe Zaso: I would like to play the hero because I'm
always playing the villain. Playing the
hero is tricky because…I always have women protecting me because they're tough
and I'm tall and they're short and the other problem is that I can't run
without looking ridiculous! The fact
that I have an athletic build does not mean anything. But, I must say that it is very tough with
the brutality scenes. There is a lot of
choreography that has to go into it because I'm so klutzy.
Jonathan Stryker: Who are the people in the industry you
admire, and who would you like to work with given the opportunity?
Joe Zaso: I would love to work with Woody Allen, even though now his
films are getting shaky. Dario Argento is my hero, so
that's a definite. Tim Burton. Joe Dante. I love Robert Altman who is no longer
with us. And the great actors and
actresses from the 1970's. That's why it's
so wild when I come to these horror conventions I see people like Betsy Palmer and Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni and to
think that at one time I watched movies they were in, and now there's a
real-world possibility that I can work with them, it's incredible.
Jonathan Stryker: What’s your favorite Robert Altman film?
Joe Zaso: I tend to keep watching A WEDDING over and over again.
It's really entertaining. It’s not a
great movie, but it's fun.
Jonathan Stryker: For me, I love THREE WOMEN. I think that's an amazing film.
Joe Zaso: THREE
WOMEN, I tell people that if you don't know Altman, this is something to
watch. It's long and it's odd. I liked NASHVILLE. Not a big fan of MASH, of the film or the show,
I just wasn't into them. H.E.A.L.T.H. was another
one. I remember watching that one on HBO
and you can't find it anywhere. But, for
me he's hit or miss.
Jonathan Stryker: What are some of your favorite horror
films?
Joe Zaso: My absolute favorite horror film is Richard
Donner's THE OMEN. Even though I know that there are a lot
better movies than this, it absolutely petrified me when I was seven years-old. Watching it on HBO made me cry. THE
EXORCIST and JAWS never
bothered me, but THE OMEN
really terrified me.
Jonathan Stryker: THE
SHINING is my favorite.
Joe Zaso: Really?
I think Kubrick is the most overrated director in the world.
Jonathan Stryker: Check, please!! (getting up)
Joe Zaso: Sorry, I just don't like him!
Jonathan Stryker: (Laughs) He’s actually my favorite
director!
Joe Zaso: Yeah, I liked FULL METAL JACKET, but I thought
BARRY LYNDON was very slow,
it put me to sleep. I liked THE SHINING. I actually like Michael Winner and people look
at me like I'm crazy.
Jonathan Stryker: What, do you have a death wish? (smirking)
Joe Zaso: Nice! (laughs) He has a pace about his movies,
and Kubrick's movies move like lead, and that's why I can't get into them.
Jonathan Stryker: I saw BARRY LYNDON in New York in June 2007
and I loved it. I saw it on laserdisc
back in the 90's but seeing it in a theater on a new print, it was
gorgeous. I discovered over time that I
had a propensity for watching long movies, and as long as it's interesting, it
can hold my attention. My friend
(filmmaker and professor) Bryan
Norton tells me you like CURTAINS,
one of his favorites. When did you see
this film?
Joe Zaso: I saw it on HBO, and then later on that Vestron Video copy. I remember Samantha Eggar hissing, “I'm an
actress!” I loved Lesleh Donaldson on
the ice, running from the killer with the sickle. That was great. I loved Lynne Griffin, she was funny. I love Canadian horror films. They seem gutsier. They'll put kids in danger like in THE BROOD, they're really
ballsy. I love the music and the camera
moves.
Jonathan Stryker: Tell me about DARKNESS SURROUNDS ROBERTA. By the way, I love the title.
Joe Zaso: DARKNESS
SURROUNDS ROBERTA is my latest feature and it is a giallo. I love the giallo film very much (as
evidenced in 5 DEAD ON THE CRIMSON
CANVAS) and after getting to know some Italian film makers, I thought it
would be great to make a giallo
in Italy
with Italians. It was a hectic little
shoot, but rewarding. Mainly, I love
thrillers from the 1970s and I hope to mesh the tastes of modern horror
audiences (the SAW crowd) with the sensibilities and tone of those 1970s
movies.
Jonathan Stryker: Looking forward to it, Joe.
Joe Zaso: Thanks!
DEMON RESURRECTION
will be out soon, too, so look for that!
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Exclusive Interview: George A. Romero
By Jonathan Stryker
|
Source:
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Feb 12, 2008, 1:33
PM
|
George A. Romero is widely considered to be the godfather of the modern zombie film. To his credit he has amassed a filmography and a Maverick reputation over a 40-year span that more or less deals with the fallibility of Man, the chaos of a society unprepared to deal with a specified disaster, and the effects that the media has on the human condition.
House of Horrors.com caught up with George at the offices of the Weinstein Company in New York City last week. He was in town to promote his latest film, DIARY OF THE DEAD (not to be confused with the 1976 film of the same name with Hector Elizondo), a terrific return to his roots which is scheduled to open in limited release on February 15, 2008. Look for a review of DIARY this week here on House of Horrors.com.
George is a congenial and approachable man who seems surprised at being regarded as the creator of the modern zombie film. The self-described Michael Moore of Horror, George discussed his new film, his career and the newer methods by which filmmakers are making films today.
Jonathan Stryker: Do you see the emergence of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT-style of filmmaking becoming more prevalent now with the advent of better and more economically-priced high definition 24p cameras?
George Romero: Well, BLAIR WITCH was a while ago, and I'm surprised that a lot of people are still referring to that. Yeah, it seems to me a bit of a new world, this CLOVERFIELD-style. Maybe it is part of this whole new wave of filmmaking.
Jonathan Stryker: It seems that a previously cost-prohibitive world of opportunity has opened up to filmmakers now. With the release of films like Adam Rifkin's LOOK which is told through surveillance cameras, and Matt Reeves' CLOVERFIELD, which is similar to BLAIR WITCH in its use of P.O.V. by eschewing conventional narrative techniques to tell the "story" as it's actually happening, it seems that there's a big thrust to get the "here-and-now" of information on video, especially in the context of your latest film.
George Romero: With DIARY, as far as the hand-held stuff is concerned, that was the only way to go. It is essentially about everyone becoming reporters. With movies like (Brian De Palma's) REDACTED and others like CLOVERFIELD and a few others that are out there, everyone seems to be aware of the camera upon us. "I am a camera," you know? It's really just a lot of unmanaged viewpoint all over the place. It's aware of the blogsophere, it's an awareness that people are out there throwing information at us. Or least opinion. You know, that's the real danger.
Jonathan Stryker: How do you like shooting on high-definition? Do you prefer to shoot on film?
George Romero: I like it very much. It's much easier to do. And particularly in the case of DIARY, we had 20 days to shoot it. And the whole object in shooting any movie is to get off the set as quickly as possible. Anything that expedites and helps you do that is great. Just getting in and getting out and getting off the set because being on the set is what is costing you money, man. It's much easier to light also. You can light it flat and then fix it later on in postproduction, it's really amazing. There's almost no limit to what you can do with it. I love the look of film, really. But, in order to light for film, you really do have to cram the set a certain way and when time is of the essence you simply don't have that luxury. You really have to get a shot because all you can really do later is affect it in an overall way. When we shot LAND OF THE DEAD we shot on 35mm but we transferred all of the material onto high-definition and we did post-production on high-definition. So, we were able to do a lot more with it in post than we would have on film. But actually shooting the raw material in high-definition is incredible, because basically what you have is raw. You can do anything you like with it! You can add shadows to where there weren't any or you can lighten another character's face; you can make that corner of the room darker.
Jonathan Stryker: The sort of versatility must be wonderful.
George Romero: Oh, it's terrific! Because you can just get in there and just shoot the scene flat.
Jonathan Stryker: (agreeing) No elaborate lighting needed.
George Romero: Yeah, just give me an exposure, and then fix it later on! And also, computer graphics (CG), you know, you point a gun at the zombie and then add in the blood splatter later on. Now, I'm a purist among global mechanical stuff such as squibs and all the materials that we use for creepy scenes. However, that style of filmmaking takes time on a film set. The squib explodes and splatters against an area where it wasn't intended, so now you have to clean the actor up, redress the set, and pretty soon 45 minutes have gone by and it's costing you money. So it's so much easier shooting on high-definition and adding in effects later - it's a real time-saver. That's one of the main advantages to shooting in high-definition. I really do love the look of film. But, high-definition, you can get it to look real close to film these days. And I've never been a purist in that way. You know, people always say you have to see a movie "big." We don't make movies "big," we make movies watching them on the set on a small monitor. (laughs) How come they have to see it "big"? (laughs)
Jonathan Stryker: Did you do any of the actual shooting of this film yourself?
George Romero: No, not at all. I did this pretty much the same way I did all of my other films. I watch the action on a video monitor. In some instances, the actual actors and actresses did their own shooting, but for the most part it was me off in the corner and I'm watching a video monitor.
Jonathan Stryker: How did you cast the film?
George Romero: We looked at a lot of people whom we just cast the way we normally would. We had them audition for us. Shawn Roberts was in LAND OF THE DEAD, so I had worked with him before, and another actor in the military scenes I had know from before. The rest of the cast were people who came to casting sessions. And the reason why we cast young people is because the script really called for college students. Which brings up another point: I basically did DIARY because I wanted a vacation. Despite the fact that Universal let me make the film I wanted to with LAND OF THE DEAD, it was a very grueling shoot. So, I originally was going to make DIARY as part of a film school project. I was going to make it at Full Sail, which is a film school in Orlando, FL that I have lectured at from time to time and I also taught a film class there. I was going to go down there, man, and hit up a couple of dentists for about a quarter of a million dollars and make this film completely under the radar. It was going to be a DVD release, if it got released at all. I wanted to go down there literally into it as a student project and see what would happen. I was going to roll the dice on that. And it's really only because I wanted to reclaim whatever that energy was, you know, when I was first starting to work in doing it with friends and doing it for the love of it because of what we wanted to do at the time. I just wanted to reclaim that. So, we did DIARY for $2.5M.
Jonathan Stryker: Will your next film be a continuation of the zombie theme? Do you plan to follow up this film with something similar?
George Romero: I don't know. If there's a sequel to this film it will be a direct sequel for the first time. Other films that I have made are not direct - you know, the characters aren't the same, but the phenomenon sort of goes on where the zombies are sort of evolving in the first one. I could see doing a parallel development here if there is another one. There is talk right now of doing a sequel.
Jonathan Stryker: Where do you see the progression of the zombie theme from this point?
George Romero: I don't know. I don't care. (laughs) To me, the zombies are - I love playing with the idea of developing some - not intelligence, but developing some more motor skills. Basically working with memory and being able to function.
Jonathan Stryker: Reasoning, perhaps?
George Romero: Well, I don't know about reasoning, but at least being able to function. But other than that, the zombies are just The Disaster, they don't particularly represent anything - they could be a hurricane, they could be an avalanche, or whatever. They are just The Disaster that is out there, you know? My films are about how the people cope with it, or how they fail to cope with it. And that to me is the most interesting aspect of it. The zombies are just always out there. (mock fright and ghoulish laugh) There's this storm outside!
Jonathan Stryker: George, thank you for your time!
George Romero: Hey, no problem, man!
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Exlusive Interview: Robert Englund - KILLER PAD
By Janet - The Fan Girl Next Door
Source:
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Feb 6, 2008, 9:39
PM
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Robert Englund, all around nice guy and horror icon was kind enough to
speak with me yesterday morning to promote his new directorial effort
"Killer Pad". This horror comedy comes out February 5th on DVD. Go pick
it up today with a 6 pack of beer and a pizza. Robert wants you
too...Really...Just read and see!
Fan Girl: Hey Robert
Robert Englund: Hi Janet how are you?
FG: I'm great how are you?
RE:
I'm good, I'm a little jet lagged I was in Italy for 10 days scouting
locations for a kind of horror fantasy I will be directing. It's easier
coming back then it is going there.
I'm on daylight hours and I'm happy to be talking about "Killer Pad"!
FG:
First let me say it is an honor speaking with you. I have a 13-year-old
nephew who thinks I am very cool for interviewing you.
RE: Aw, well tell him I'm a nice guy. I promise I won't come and get you in your dreams while you take a nap!
FG: You do realize your going to live on forever, right?
RE:
Well you know it�s so strange, I worked for years in the theater. I was
maybe a good 10 to 12 years in Hollywood before I did the first Freddy.
But I established myself as a character actor. I played best friends
and side kicks a lot. Then, through no design of my own, the one two
punch of being in a hit science fiction show, "V" on television. Then
this little horror movie directed by the brilliant Wes Craven became a
legitimate hit. Then it became an iconic horror movie of the latter
20th century.
You know it's just one of those things you can
never plan but it is kind of ridiculous to try to control it. So I just
sort of embraced the phenomenon, you know. And here I am eight
nightmare on elm streets and 70 some movies later acting and directing
and I am as pleased as punch.
FG: Absolutely, we are too.
RE:(laughs)
FG: Now you have "Killer Pad" coming out February 5th
RE:
You know its interesting, a professional associate of mine who produced
a film I loved years ago called "Suicide Kings" and has since become
very successful in the business, Wayne Rice. Probably most famous for
"Dude, where's my car" which was a huge giant teen hit that introduced
Ashton Kutcher and Sean (William Scott) and Jennifer Garner to the
world among other things such as "Duuuude" and �Dudisms�. Wayne was
very successful in teen films and he wanted to have a little fun with
combining a bit of horror, horror spoof and be a teen comedy. It�s kind
of a challenge because we actually made it PG 13 . We wanted to make it
for what I call 'boys without drivers licenses'.So we adapted it for
the evil spawn of my Freddy fans, you know their kids who really
probably cant sneak into "Saw" but they could have a lot of fun at this
one between going to a Judd Apatow film, you know?
We just got
an amazing cast, extreme low budget but we got to shoot it up in the
Hollywood hills and it has got a bit of a Faustian theme to it. My
hapless three stooges sort of make a deal with the devil only they
don�t know they are. Three guys from the Midwest that come to Hollywood
with a wind fall from an operation gone wrong on their beloved pet dog.
And they rent this house which just happens to be a portal to hell!
FG: Of course!
RE:
(laughs) the great theme of the movie is just how much denial they will
go through you know to see their party through and the best thing
about it is this extraordinary cast. We were in Hollywood and we had
to shut down up on Mulholland drive a little too early for my taste and
squeeze the budget in other places but I just had the most
extraordinary cast and crew. You probably know Daniel Franzese?
FG: Yes, I do
RE:
From "Mean Girls" and also that wonderful film "Bully" and then I was
able to pick some of my favorite guys off of TV. I got bobby lee from
"Mad TV" who continually makes me laugh every Saturday night. My wife
and I and the dog cuddle up and we can�t wait to see which new
character Bobby Lee is going to uncover. My new favorite is Bobby Lee�s
'24' where they spend 24 hours with him. Yeah, and he always wants to
get naked, he is just a bad boy. We also got Hector Jimenez from �Nacho
Libre� to sort of be my angel guardian to the portal.
He
desperately tries to convince the guys to not rent the house or use the
portal but they don�t listen. They just want to get laid. I have a
great cameo by Joey Lawrence, very self deprecating, he plays sort of
an A list star at the party, really on his way to play poker with Toby
Maguire. We got TV�S Andy Milonakis to jump on board and a great young
actor from �whose line is it anyway�, sort of doing my animal house,
you know a crazy animal from the Midwest who is trying to test himself
and to test his faith by going to one last party.
FG: Kind like '�Superbad� meets '�House�
RE:
Yeah! I tell you we were really going for silly but we also sort of
got this . . . the new innocence, the new move is a little metro
sexual, you know they talk about popular culture too but we didn�t want
them to be glib and cynical because we had to manipulate them so much.
It was kind of a fine line, we kind of wanted also, because it�s a low
budget comedy, it�s not a new movie to go see the new digital effects,
it's intentionally cheesy. We wanted to have a bit of a retro feel.
Kind of an Abbott and Costello meets Frankenstein and you know, a
three stooges thing.. You know there is a golden rule about the master
shot in comedy. It saved me money but in comedy you like the body
language in comedy, you want to let their bodies react especially if
you've got talented people.
If you watch old episodes of Sid
Ceaser or old episodes of Mary Tyler Moore you watch how long Carl
Reiner lets his characters stay in long shots so you can see the body
language. So, I really enjoyed my three leads and a lot of tight
masters to really let themselves feel they are in something like �A
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum�, Kind of a musical
comedy, a physicality. I think it payed off. you know Eric Jungmann and
Danny, I filmed it a little separate from my leading man ....Shane
McRay who is sort of my loveable dolt and who they consider to be the
small one. They really did some remarkable work and i think it's great
for young audiences to get to see that kind of comedy. You get your
dose of the kind of cynical hip stuff from a lot of the talented guys
working today like Judd Apatow but my guys are a little dumber and a
little bit lamer and definitely more innocent
FG: That�s going
to be refreshing to see because there isn�t anything out there right
now that mixes horror and that comedic element.
RE: I love the
glib and cynical but I also kind of wanted to preserve this plot, this
Faustian theme. I really couldn�t have hip cool LA guys or really cool
hip New York guys. I really had to make these guys from like a junior
college somewhere in Southern Illinois.
FG: Right, you really don�t want it where they have seen it all and done it all.
RE:
Right! You know we did find some cultural references, some things they
could have because everyone watches TV and 'Entertainment Tonight' and
knows about People magazine but with them it's sort of like to make it
specifically lame, something happens like when they drive across the
country their suitcase falls out the back of the car and they don�t
notice they have lost their boxed set of Gilmore Girls. It doesn't mean
they are metro sexual it just means they probably really like the
daughter. Because they think she's.... HOT.
They like Alexis Bledel
FG: Yeah, she's very cute
RE: She is the good girl too, she doesn�t invoke tramp
(laughs)
FG: I trust there will be audio commentary on the DVD?
RE:
Yes. You know I LOVE DVD audio commentary and the making of but every
time they ask me to do it i'm catching a plane or I�ve just been up for
48 hours acting, you get in there and you know you can react but your
memories are weird. Like I can remember the burrito I had that morning
at 8am and you feel weird but it�s always kind of funny. I remember
doing the one from �Freddy vs. Jason�. Ronny Yu and I had just done
the entire sound check, you know I had just been doing all the
breathing and groaning and the Freddy laugh to kind of spice up the
sound check and Ronnie had been laying this music mix and everything
else and Ronny was kind of falling asleep and my mind had just turned
into one big mind fart.
I feel bad because if I could do it now,
one morning when I have been sitting around on my butt all week and I
have had a couple of Starbucks, I would be great! You know you just
never get asked at the right time to do it. I feel sometimes that the
fans get let down a bit. But I think this turned out all right, they
edited it right.
FG: I'm sure it turned out fine
RE: Oh .
. . we used a special new HD camera called the 'viper'. It had only
been used once before for the film "Zodiac" and we were using it on a
comedy which is really a first. And specially for me because I'm a
techno weenie, I'm great with jokes and scripts and words and drama and
shapes and actors and casting. I could go to camera school for a year
but I like to surrender to a guy who has been doing it for 20 years. I
can talk a little bit about lenses and ratios and filters but it�s like
when you learn just enough of a foreign language to sound like a child.
I don�t want to be that guy on the set.
I�ve been on enough sets
to know what that sounds like. The new guys on the block, you don�t
want to be that guy. So what I know is what I want to use. You know
this movie is not a fancy movie, it is a quick 85 minute comedy. Get in
and out, laugh and eat some cold pizza and drop the movie off at the
mom and dad video store in the morning.
I'm so proud of my cast
and the writing, we've got some great music in it too. We've got some
Master P on board and there is a wonderful, wonderful rap back beat
cover of the old Madness song "Our House", 80's but done with a rap
back beat and interpretation and of course the title song, we had been
singing it for 6 months . . . I hope the fans like it. It�s got some
great nasty lyrics, very infectious too.
FG: Were there any memorable moments that happened on set that you could share?
RE:
You know there were weird things that happened. We have this
phenomenally beautiful actress named Emily Foxler who plays the lead.
She needs to go from innocent to my devil woman! She had to wear these
devil wings and I think they look great in a theatrical way when she�s
morphing, but I could see this motor on her butt [that helped the wings
move] so I always had to keep her ass out of the shot. So that became
my fixation for 48 hours it was like 'try to hide Emily�s butt' because
it had this motor stuck to it. Also, just day in and day out ,you know,
we ruined so many takes because Eric and Danny and Shane are just so
fun, and I had to hold them back a bit because it�s too easy to fall
back into that hip humor.
They have to remain buffoons and they
need to stay in denial about what is going on around them. You know
watching Andy Milonakis I was nervous because Andy has worked on MTV
where he is in total control. He�s like Woody Allen, he is one of the
few people who can do exactly what he wants. And I had to tell him
stuff and he was such a little pro. I was so pleased with his stuff.
There were weird days... We had Hector Jimenez vomiting his out heart
over and over again so we could get it covered from different angles.
Sam McMurray, I have been a fan of Sam McMurray's. I produced a play
that was written for him by John Patrick Stanley who won the Oscar
for....
FG: ....Moonstruck
RE: Yeah! I have always wanted
to hire Sam again, I have been such a huge fan of his ever since I
discovered him in the Coen brother�s comedy �Raising Arizona.� I could
have just done a whole movie with Sam�s character. I feel bad I had to
cut him down to one scene, which is what it is in the script, but
everything I cut out was great stuff. I think my favorite day was when
he and Danny and Eric went off on a kind of a metro sexual jag, it got
a little . . . we had to call legal! It got a little dangerous but it
was really a great, great improve. Funny, I never laughed so hard in my
life.
Also, we sort of had a rough day with the animal house
stunts at the party. The crazed seminary student finally succumbs to
the beautiful catholic girls and tries to do an insane dive into a pool
in the Hollywood hills. We just e couldn�t quite get it right and after
two takes you�re really into some big money with the stunt man there.
It was at night and it was a pretty decent high fall but my editor Eric
got around it because it had to be just like we wanted it, it had to be
funny. And on one of the takes the stunt man just clipped the branches
of a little tree, just enough to where it is in the shot. And along
with the impact shot we got our funny stunt. That was a long night and
a scary night. We were watching the clock and you�re always worried
about safety in those situations even though we had a great stunt man
and a great stunt coordinator. As a director you do get worried but
it�s like that Rolling Stones song ,�It's only rock and roll.�
In
a teen comedy you don�t want anyone to get hurt. No one was hurt, no
animals were hurt in the film, you'll understand that when you see it.
Oh, and a couple of girls got bad skin from the makeup. But they can
live with it, just break out the Clearasil. Believe me I know.
FG: I must ask you, what are your feelings on the "Nightmare on Elm Street� remake from Michael Bay's company,Platinum Dunes?
RE:
You know I literally got back from Italy last night and I'm over there
and i'm out scouting locations...I mean I knew this was going to happen
because of the success of the remakes like Rob Zombie�s �Halloween�
which I really enjoyed. And the success of the �Texas Chainsaw
Massacre� remake which I really enjoyed. It just seems logical to me. I
mean the original �Nightmare on Elm Street� is a classic and it always
will be.
FG: Oh Absolutely
RE: But I remember when we ran
out of money on that film and New Line had to give away some of the
video rights. This was in the very beginning of the video tape
revolution and we took that money to finish the film. So I have always
wondered if we would have had two million instead of one million or we
could have had five million to make it. And because that story is so
great and the shape of that story is so strong, I'm not worried about
it being overly done with special effects. I'm not sure, I was in Italy
and I'm not sure if Michael Bay is producing or directing.
FG: I believe he is producing with Platinum Dunes
RE:
I think the responsibility will lay with the hot young director. To
know when to push the envelope with horror and the gore and when to
really exploit the digital effects, I think for the kind of surrealism
that the film requires. Because that�s what so wonderful about dreams
and the dream state.
You can really get away with a wonderful
shift of reality and that�s where I, if I were doing the project, would
like to have fun manipulating. With the new technologies that we have.
But I don't think I would change the story much. That is the problem
with some of the great effects films now. They are a little story weak.
You can tell they think they can fix some of the story problems in
post. The fact is that almost never works. You can only fix a badly
shot scene, you can sometimes make wonderful enhancements with the sky,
the clouds or twinkling lights. That always helps a scene be more
romantic, more atmospheric but you can�t save a film with special
effects that has gone wrong with the story. And �Nightmare on Elm
Street� is such a strong little story.
I know we shot three
different endings and whoever is writing or directing really needs to
pick that ending out right. They have at least two or three ways to go
with the very ending. I remember the various ones that even Wes shot,
they were quite different. But essentially the one that exists now,
that the entire movie has almost been a prophetic nightmare of Nancy's,
warning her of what is about to happen. It will immediately begin
almost right after the movie ends. Because, of course, at the end
Johnny Depp pulls up to pick her up for school in the morning. So none
of it has really happened yet.
FG: Are you a little worried about Ben Affleck playing Freddy Krueger?
RE:
(laughs) Nah., I have had a great run. I mean literally 48 hours ago I
was auditioning some of the top actresses in Italy for my film. I have
found a great lead . . . I'm not allowed to divulge names . . .
FG: Awwww
RE:
BUT someone amazing is playing the patriarch in my film, someone whom
we all love...someone who has probably been in some of the more
successful franchises in the world. If I said James Bond, Lord of the
Rings ...... (voice gets lower and lower in a very amusing tone) . . .
of course i'm only suggesting..
It�s an Italian, Canadian and
Spanish production so i'm off to plan it in a couple of weeks. To get
some casting done. I'm hoping the good fortune we have had in the last
48 hours will come to fruition in March April and May . . . and we'll
end up in a little Italian hill town. It's inspired by a short story
about a fallen angel.
FG: That sounds interesting
RE:
Well, I want it to be scary and atmospheric but I want there to be
some really shocking thrills and I want to introduce a new monster in
it. Really a great romance, a dark romance, almost gothic. I got my
hands full but you heard it here first!
FG: Oh good, well thank you!
RE:
Oh yes! I think I'm going to have my fallen priest. My priest without
faith will make love to a dead girl. Scary stuff. But when I talk about
that I mean sleeping beauty, snow white.
FG: (fake gasp) right, right
RE: (amused by my reaction) some great shit
FG: (laughs)
FG:
You know there is something I had heard that I have always wanted to
ask you about. Is it true you auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker?
RE:
NO! I don�t know where that comes from. I talk about my old pal Mark
Hamill. He was sleeping on my couch back in those days. He kept the
kitchen in his Hollywood apartment, he was such a bachelor, his kitchen
just got disgusting. He didn�t want to do the dishes. There was like a
month of dishes in there. And my ex Janice Fischer, who wrote "lost
boys" would hang out with us, mark and I, and we would call our agents
together and compare notes on Hollywood.
You know I always
thought then that Mark was the funniest guy in Hollywood. I don�t think
I ever laughed so hard in my life than in those years i spent hanging
out with Mark. Mark was up for Luke Skywalker, not I. I had gone across
the hall in a military shirt and my sleeves rolled up all tan and I was
very big and buff then, i'm a surfer. And I had gone up for the part of
the surfer in "Apocalypse Now.�
FG: Wow, I never knew that
RE:
Yeah, and that part I believe is played by Joe Bottoms and because of
the military shirt, it's like the military type shirt that Harrison
ford wears in "Star Wars", you know? I was called across the hall to
read for Han Solo, I don't think I read I think it was just for a
meeting.
They brought me over to look at me. I was too young
because Han Solo was supposed to be older than Mark. Kind of like an
older brother. Older and wiser and I didn�t look that much older than
Mark . . . so, that's the story. I didn�t read for Luke Skywalker. I
don�t even think I read for Han solo. I actually wanted to read for
the cook, the Freddy Forrest part in "Apocalypse Now" because back in
those days I had been the go to guy for young southerners. I starred in
three or four movies playing southerners. But I wound up being brought
in as the surfer because it was on my resume that I surfed. I think I
was too old for that part.
Back then because I was hanging out
with Mark, I knew all of the stores and all of the gossip, in fact when
Mark got back from doing "Star Wars" he was probably one of the few
people who knew how really big it was going to be because Mark is such
a genre fan himself. I mean there are literally old famous monster
magazines with letters in them from a little boy named Mark Hamill
FG: Oh that's sweet
RE: Yeah, well that how long he's been a fan, of course back in those days a lot of us were trying to be a little bit snobby
FG: (laughs)
RE:
(snickers) it took years to actually confess my love for the genre. And
how much certain movies.."Forbidden planet,� "Horrors of the black
museum,� you know as a child, how much those movies meant to me.
"Twilight zone" and "The Outer Limits.� You know you want everyone to
think you�re an intellectual and that you like all the important
intellectual works and believe me I do, I have a very diverse taste in
things. I can go see "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and one day I
want to see "Saw 4".
I like everything. It took me a long time
and Mark encouraged me to kind of make peace with that, those memories
inside of me. I literally remembered about six months ago, as a child,
going to my godfather�s house and he was a huge salesman with Simon and
Schuster. The biggest guy west of the Mississippi and he had rooms and
rooms of coffee table books. I would pull out the same book every time
I had to go over there and it was "Life Magazine Goes to the Movies.�
and I would turn to the horror section. I remembered a couple of images
and I'm 8 years old. One of them was Frankenstein by the lake with the
little girl and the other was a series of pictures of Lon Chaney, the
man of a thousand faces, all in different makeups.
I looked at
that article and those photos of Lon Chaney and I remembered him
talking about how he took the film around a hard boiled egg and put it
over his eye to make himself look blind. Technically that was the first
contact lens. I remember that, I was so obsessed with that. Then things
change, you discover girls, surfing, whatever I was doing. I have
wondered now, for the past six months if that was in my subconscious
when I was excited about doing the original 'Nightmare' because I was
excited about doing it for the challenge and the makeup and because I
really thought Wes was a genius. I had enough instinct to know how
special Wes was just from talking to him once at the interview because
he was such a great storyteller.
FG: You just knew something special was there
RE:
Yes, it's weird, I'm able to acknowledge, talk about how I loved horror
and science fiction and fantasy as a child and I remember it. As well
as loving Shakespeare when I was a young actor too. I credit that to
Mark Hamill and Wes Craven because they really taught me to respect it.
FG: I don't think people realize you have a stage background..
RE:
Well thats what I was going to be. There was this huge moment of time
in the late 60's where regional theater was beginning to blossom. The
progressive work as well as the classic and in the late 60's and early
70's you could live really well on a stage actors salary in a lot of
places in America. My god, I had a place in Malibu, in the early 80's,
that only cost $250.00 a month.
FG: Oh, your kidding me?
RE:
No, real estate really has gone crazy. I always tell young artists that
is one of things that is different now. You know you hear about actors
from the 40's, 50's and 60's living in New York and sharing an
apartment and each was paying 65 dollars a person. When I was stage
actor I worked in some really beautiful summer stocks and community
resorts,in a couple of major cities back east, and I always imagined I
would get a great little house, outside of town and walk to the
theater. And I really kind of wanted to be that person for a while but
then I discovered there was just as much politics in the theater as
there is in Hollywood and I was sitting up very late one night watching
a Roger Corman movie on television and drinking some wine to calm
myself down and I noticed on the credits for the Roger Corman movie it
was all my friends I had gone to school with in California, behind the
camera . . . on this film.
There was another film called "Boxcar
Bertha" which was directed by another young unknown by the name of
Martin Scorsese. And I knew a lot of the guys on that crew too.I had
run into the same crews on the plays I had been doing. I remember
having some envy but I thought 'my god if i'm putting up with bullshit
in the theater I may as well go back to California and put up with it
there and make a little money'
Im really happy I did it, I think it was the right decision
FG: Well I think so too
RE: (laughs) Yeah
FG: Who is someone you have always wanted to work with but haven�t had a chance to yet?
RE: I just got back from Sundance, before Italy and I attended the premiere of �Red.�
FG: Oh, the Jack Ketchum Novel
RE:
YEAH! And I got to pull my marks with two actors I really admire,
Amanda Plummer and Brian Cox, the original Hannibal Lecter. I starred
in a movie with Henry Fonda in 1975, 1976, and my girlfriend was played
by Susan Sarandon. Now its 2008 and i'm hanging out with Brian Cox and
he is someone I have always wanted to work with.
There are
things that come as surprises too, you just never quite know, like
working with the kids on "Killer Pad" was great for me. It made me
young. It actually broadened my perceptual horizons on comedy and how
to do comedy and how to listen to young people and what they bring to
the table with their point of view on what is funny. You know i'm
getting a little old now, I am an old dog.
FG: Awww, stop
RE: (amused) But I still have a couple of new tricks left.
FG: Oh good
RE:
I even have a couple of old tricks left that I haven�t shown anybody
and that's kind of fun . . . You know I'm like you and everybody else,
i'm a fan. I mean i'm going to vote for the Oscars. I just got back and
I�ve got my ballot in the kitchen. I love actors, I'm actually
disappointed that a couple of people didn�t get in there. You know I
love actors. I don�t understand why Casey Affleck isn�t up for best
actor.
FG: I don�t get that either
RE:....I'd think he
would have been up for best actor. There was also a performance, it was
also a genre film, you might be aware of . . . Now I love everyone
that is up for best actress . . . last year a young woman was up for a
film called "The Departed" and even though this year it was a genre
film and it was a very classy genre film, called "Joshua.� Without a
doubt the most wrenching performance I saw this year from an actress
was Vera Farmiga in "Joshua.� As a sort of yuppie, rosemary's baby
mother. Her tits go dry and she doesn�t lactate and goes neurotic and
Sylvia Plath over the course of the movie. It was like watching Gena
Rowlands!
I thought it was some of the most amazing work I saw
all year. Like Maggie Gyllenhall's work was overlooked in "Sherrybaby.�
I know these are small films but there are small films nominated this
year and I don�t feel it's the academy's fault as much as sometimes
films just come out too soon I think. It�s that timing thing, I'm
telling everyone I know to go see "Joshua" because I really liked it.
FG: Yeah Sam Rockwell is in that
RE: Yes!
FG: He is an amazing actor
RE: Sam Rockwell is too good, he's never the same. Nobody knows who the hell he is because he is just too damn good! (Laughs)
FG: He's a great character actor
RE: Oh Yeah
FG: Robert. I really appreciate you talking to me
RE:
Thanks! Please, tell all my fans that have been around for a while that
"Killer Pad" is probably the movie they will want to go buy or rent for
their kids.
FG: Absolutely
RE: And if you discover it on
pay per view or cable, let me tell you when it's raining out or it's
snowing out and I know it is in a lot of places, it's the perfect beer
and pizza movie. I guarantee you'll laugh!
...laugh and tap your foot
FG: Oh!
RE: maybe even jump once or twice
FG: Thanks again for talking with me, I really appreciate it
RE: Thank YOU Janet
See "Killer Pad" directed by Robert Englund, now available on DVD
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INTERVIEW: Kenneth J. Hall
By JANET
Source:
|
Jan 21, 2008, 8:46
PM
|
Kenneth J. Hall is a writer, producer, actor and director who has been
in the movie making business for 25 years. It would be quicker to list
what the guy hasn't done. He even has special effects experience on his
resume. His experience is vast as is his knowledge on the business
itself and where it is going. The people he has worked with over the
years reads like a wish list that anyone in the genre would have in
their top drawer.
His list of creative credits include, "Ghost
Writer", "Evil Spawn", "Terror Night", "Ghoulies", "Carnosaur", the
horror short "Night Visit" and "The Halfway House" starring Mary
Woronov (Eating Raoul). Kenneth is also CEO of BV Entertainment
Inc.,an independent production company looking to take the genre into
the future. Recently, Mr. Hall was gracious enough to answer my
questions.
1. What are your 5 favorite movies of all time?
I have so many
favorites that the answer to the question changes daily, depending on
my mood. One title I can watch over and over is the original Howard
Hawks version of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. I feel the same way
about THE HOWLING, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, and
Carpenter�s THE FOG. Of course, I have a lot of guilty pleasures not as
respectable but also highly watchable, like THE GREEN SLIME, BEYOND THE
VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, ALLIGATOR, FOOD OF THE GODS, and FLASH GORDON
(Yes, the one with Sam Jones).
2. What qualities make a great B movie actress?
It
consists of more than the ability to take off her clothes and die
onscreen (though those are admirable traits). She should capable of
handling a challenge. If she�s given something out of the norm and
still rises to the occasion. When I wrote NIGHTMARE SISTERS, I thought
it would be fun to have the three reigning scream queens � Linnea
Quigley, Brinke Stevens, and Michelle Bauer � start out as a trio of
homely nerds before transforming into hotties. All of them were
delighted to be able to play something different and did a
fantastically funny job.
3. What movie scared the crap out of you as a child?
Without
a doubt, it was the hag in the basement scene from THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED
HILL. My brother and I were so terrified that we didn�t stay through
the end of the film, which was very unusual for us. Of course, we saw
it again years later and loved it.
4. What was it like working with Mary Woronov in "The Halfway House"?
She
was an absolute delight. We hit it off at our first meeting. She�s six
feet tall and can seem as intimidating as the characters she plays, but
we share a similar wicked sense of humor. She is very professional and
got along great with the rest of the cast. She told me she didn�t need
for us to rent her a private trailer for the shoot because she had a
lawn chair. I thought she was joking. She arrived on set with a cheap
folding lounge that she set up in a corner and read on when she wasn�t
working.
5. What has been your worst moment on a movie set?
I
always try to forget those. The first film I wrote was a thing called
THE TOMB. It was so low-budget that I wound up having to do props on
the show. Now that�s an extremely hard job and I had no idea what I was
doing. I misplaced a key prop and one of the producers reamed me in
front of the crew for it. I later cornered her privately and told her
that regardless how I�d screwed up, it was uncool to berate me in front
of others. She didn�t say much then but we later became friends. In
fact, she first introduced me to Dave DeCoteau.
6. If you had unlimited funds, what kind of movie would you make and who would you cast in it?
I
grew up watching the Corman/Poe movies with Vincent Price as well as
the Hammer Films with Cushing and Lee. It would be a lot of fun to do a
period gothic horror film with coaches and castles. As for cast, I
would put in all my favorite actors from the past� those who are still
living anyway!
7. Who has been your most favorite person to work with?
I
can�t narrow it down to one as there have been so many good people over
the years. It was also an honor to work with the late Jack Palance. My
effects company made a peg-leg for him when he played Long John Silver.
He also could be very intimidating but turned out to be a very sweet
man. Though I was only a volunteer extra on a Jeff Burr film way back,
it gave me the opportunity to work with Clu Gulager, whose work I�ve
always enjoyed. He and I are still friends. George �Buck� Flower was a
wonderful character player who used to leave dirty jokes on my
answering machine. Of course, there have been a few actors who I have
not liked but diplomacy prevents me from naming them.
8. You have worn many hats in this business over the course of your career, which one has been the most fulfilling creatively?
Having
the control I had on THE HALFWAY HOUSE - being executive producer,
director, and writer - was absolutely the most fulfilling. After that
project, I could have gone back to being a writer/director for hire but
I�ve held out for the right opportunity.
9. Who do you see taking independent horror to the next level and into the future?
Well,
I�d like to think that would be me but I won�t be that presumptuous!
Seriously, I�m relieved that some of the recent torture/horror films
have bombed. Just because SAW made money, there�s no reason for there
to be hundreds of inferior rip-offs. Besides, if it continues to be
about how much more nasty and violent things can get, there will be the
same ratings and censorship problems that occurred in the 80s. That was
the reason horror films all but died out during the 90s and I�d hate to
see that happen again. I would prefer for some humor and fun return to
the genre.
10. What is up next for you?
As I said, I�ve
been holding out for a situation where I retain significant creative
control. To that end, I have a couple of partners who are putting
together funding for a slate of films. In essence, it will be our own
production company. We will be starting with four features, two of
which I�ve already written. I will be directing a couple of them as
well as co-producing all of them. Look for more news about this soon!
Thanks Kenneth!
See "The Halfway House", directed by Kenneth J. Hall, available now on DVD
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Exclusive Interview: Bear McCreary
By Jonathan
Stryker
Bear
McCreary should change his name to Busy McCreary. At 28, he has amassed an impressive body of
film scoring work that would make any contemporary envious. Best known for his exciting score to the
Sci-Fi channel’s BATTLESTAR
GALACTICA, his name is also familiar to horror fans as the talent behind REST STOP and WRONG TURN2: DEAD END. All of these terrific scores are available on
soundtrack CDs.
Bear was kind enough to take time
out of his busy schedule to talk with House of Horrors about his current and
upcoming projects.
Jonathan Stryker: You were born in Fort Lauderdale, FL. What was life like growing up in Florida?
Bear McCreary: I actually grew
up in a town near Seattle, WA.
It’s called Bellingham,
WA and it’s the last town before
the Canadian border. It’s about the
farthest you can go and still be in the continental United States. Although it was a great place to grow up,
there really weren’t too many opportunities to score films there.
JS: Really? Nobody is knocking down doors in Bellingham, WA
to score films?
BM: No! (laughs)
So, I had to come down here to Los
Angeles to pursue my career in scoring films.
JS: Did you go to the movies often?
BM: Yes I did, but I was so
young and I was taken to movies before they really meant anything to me. One of the first movies that I saw that
really blew me away was BACK TO
THE FUTURE. Sometime later I caught
up with WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?,
and the Alan Silvestri score
was just wonderful. It hadn’t even
occurred to me that both of those films were scored by the same person. I just remember thinking, What is this crazy
music? I just thought it was great. And then I got into the sort of epic sci-fi
scores, like STAR WARS and STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE and
similar films of the 1980s, all that stuff caught my ear at that time. I basically started seeing as many movies as
I could, and eventually when I was in high school I started listening to the older
classic scores from the golden age of cinema and that sort of cemented my love
of the medium.
JS: When you were a child, home video was really
starting to take off as a viable medium for people to watch movies. VHS rentals were all the rage. Did you grow up seeing a lot of these
influential films on videotape?
BM: Well, it is true that I did
see quite a few movies on video. But it
was really about going to see these films in the theater that really made me love
movies. Seeing them on video was
something that I did simply because you could watch them over and over and
watch them on your own time and there was something really cool about
that. But I really prefer to see movies with
other people in a theater.
JS: I agree.
I’m grateful to home-video because now we can own and watch our favorite
movies over and over again, but at the same time I really do prefer to see
movies projected in the theater on film.
And I love the audience paticipation, getting people riled up during
Lamberto Bava’s DEMONS was
such an experience! (laughs) My friend and I had the whole audience
yelling and screaming, and there is no substitute for that. I’ve really only seen a handful of films in
my life where I felt a connection to the other people in the audience. STAR
WARS being one, of course, and SUPERMAN THE MOVIE to a certain
extent. And I miss that. I wish that there was more of that. Elmer
Bernstein is one of the most prolific and greatest film composers of our
time, with a filmography almost as long as Ennio Morricone’s who scored
over 400 films. How did you come to work
with him?
BM: I actually met him when I
was in high school in Bellingham. He owned a yacht out there, and I ended up
meeting through him through a mutual friend. I managed to get him to listen to
some of the music that I wrote. Later on
I discovered that people sent him demo discs all the time, but he didn’t have
much free time so he didn’t really listen to them. But he made a special exception just for
me. He was impressed by my music, and
that began a 10-year relationship that lasted through the time that I spent
living down here in Los Angeles. Initially I sat in on some of his classes
that he taught at the University of Southern
California, and this was even before I had the chance to even take
them. Then, I started working for him
over a couple of summers by detailing and categorizing all of his scores and
manuscripts, and he had boxes and boxes and closets full of this stuff. I had to organize all of his work by year, by
film title, etc. Then a few summers later I did some orchestrations for
him. For example, I took the KINGS OF THE SUN, which was a
film that he did in 1963 with Yul Brynner.
The recordings had been long lost, the actual orchestral scores had been
long lost and the only thing that really remained were his original handwritten
pencil sketches. So I went through and re-orchestrated
the entire film and put together concert suites for him which he performed all
over the world. In fact, one of the last
recording sessions that he ever did just before he passed away was a recording of
KINGS OF THE SUN based upon
the re-orchestration that I had done.
It’s actually part of the Film Music
Collection box set that is available now.
It was so cool to have the opportunity just to be able to look at his
sketches. I mean, forget about being
able to re-orchestrate the music, just to be able to go through these years
worth of documents was really quite something to see. I would be flipping through all these
documents and I would spend many an afternoon looking through the scores to GHOSTBUSTERS, THREE AMIGOS, and ANIMAL HOUSE. It was just amazing seeing this incredible
music that came together. Just to see his
original material was an incredible learning experience.
JS: I love his reworking of the Bernard Herrmann score to CAPE FEAR, and I love what he
did for SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. Another of my favorites is Jerry Goldsmith.
BM: I met him once, and it was great. He’s definitely one of my heroes.
JS: His scores for THE OTHER, THE OMEN, ALIEN, and POLTERGEIST are among the best
of the genre. How did the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles come to be
your university of choice?
BM: I did a lot of research when
I was in high school, and I basically wanted to find out what the number one
school was for studying film music, and that’s the one that came up. So, that’s where I went from 1997 to
2002. I got my degree in Composition and
got a minor in Recording Arts. I was
also active in their film scoring program.
To say the least, I was insanely busy the whole time I was there. I actually scored over 30 student films
there, too. These films provided for a better
learning experience than anything I could get in the classroom. Just collaborating with people and dealing
with the types of questions on a daily basis was invaluable. One of the interesting things about it was
that I told myself even though it was frustrating and hard, that once I got into
the big leagues I wouldn’t have to deal with this kind of crap. And the funny thing was when I got the chance
to see Elmer and other composers at work, they were all dealing with the exact
same questions from directors that I was dealing with from the 19-year-olds in
school! So, I realized that it didn’t
get any better, but this is the way it is.
And the thing that was obviously cool about this was the fact that all
the experiences that I had all ready gone through working on student films
would now be totally relevant to working in the big leagues.
JS: That must have come to quite a shock to you.
BM: At that point my life it
certainly was a shock to me. It was
actually a relief afterward because I realized that everything that I was doing
on short movies would be relevant to the much larger projects that I would eventually
take on.
JS: I think that the same is probably true of the
Roger Corman school of filmmaking. Some
of the actors and directors and film editors who cut their teeth working for
Roger Corman learned how to get a film done on time and under budget.
BM: Exactly.
JS: Directors like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford
Coppola, Ron Howard, Jonathan Kaplan and Allan Arkush all started working on
ultra low-budget films and ultimately ran into the same issues on bigger
movies. How did you come to score the
new version of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA?
BM: Bob Kane, from my association
with composer Richard Gibbs (he scored the pilot miniseries), I worked for him
when I got out of school. I was his
assistant and I also wrote queues for him when we were working on projects that
had an intense deadline – and BATTLESTAR was no different, trust me – and I had
developed a relationship with the BATTLESTAR filmmakers who Richard knew, and
when it came time to do this series Richard went back to doing feature films
and I got to pick up right where he left off.
JS: Your music to BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is much
different than Stu Phillips’s score to the
1978 series of the same name, which is symphonic and bombastic in a John
Williams sort of way. Are you a fan of
the original series?
BM: I'm not a fan of it only
because it was just a little bit before my time. It was off the air by the time I was born in
1979 and when I was old enough to watch TV it was gone completely. But, I am fan of the music and I firmly
believe that Stu Phillips’s score is the reason why the show has remained in
the hearts of so many fans. I really
believe his music elevated that show.
The acting was good, and the effects were good, but I really believe
that it was that music that elevated the show to that level where people really
remember it.
JS: If you look at STAR WARS and you take away John
Williams’ music, what do you really have?
My introduction to film music began in a big way with STAR WARS. Was Alan Silvestri the composer you really
were taken with?
BM: It's hard to say. I would definitely say that Alan Silvestri
and Danny Elfman were my greatest influences.
And John Williams as well. Alan
Silvestri was the first really big composer I noticed. BACK TO THE FUTURE and PEE-WEE’S BIG
ADVENTURE really piqued my interest.
JS: I love James Horner’s music, too. He’s done an incredible amount of films. I love WILLOW in particular, and ALIENS of course.
The first movie I saw with the score with BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS. I saw that in a theater in 1980. I remember being quite impressed with the
music at that time. Are you a fan of
horror films?
BM: I am, actually. And it's
been great to have worked on a few of them so far, such as REST STOP and WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END.
JS: What are some of your favor of horror films?
BM: I love the horror films of
the 70’s: THE EXORCIST, THE OMEN, those kinds of
films. The horror films of the 80’s
generally don’t do as much for me. I
love the EVIL DEAD films are great. THE OMEN is a fantastic score.
JS: Have you seen David Schmoeller’s TOURIST TRAP?
BM: No, I haven’t.
JS: Pino Donaggio wrote a great score for that
film, and for Nicholas Roeg’s DON’T
LOOK NOW. One of the things that
sort of annoyed me about the 1980s was the fact that so many movies were
abandoning full-fledged scores in favor of popular music to take its
place. So, the scores than I grew up
listening to, these great movies and amazing orchestral scores, would now sort
of take a backseat to just having popular music on the soundtrack. And this is also reflected in the soundtrack
albums of the day.
BM: You’re right. In a way, it was the beginning of the end of
the melodic horror film score, which I think all through the 1990s and even up
to the modern day has just reached an incredible point where the horror music
is just sound design, and after the first 20 minutes of the film or so the music
is – all the cards are on the table, you know?
It's as dissident and angular as it is going to get. It almost sounds
like a jackhammer outside of your window.
Honestly, I was very hesitant to do a horror film for this reason, but I
talked to the director of REST STOP and asked him if we could try something
more melodic and thematic and I mentioned these films from the 1970s. He himself actually referenced DUEL, the Steven Spielberg
film. So I said that this was a really
cool place to start. And he was really
excited by the prospect, so it turned out to be a really fruitful
experience. REST STOP turned out to be
one of the most fun projects I’ve yet done.
JS: I love Billy Goldberg’s music for DUEL. It's a very minimalistic score. I don't even think it appears for more than
15 minutes in the film in total and it's a shame because to my knowledge it's
never been available as a soundtrack album in any way shape or form. But I think what it was just great. Really creepy. Your score for REST STOP is delightfully
creepy and also poignant, and I’m glad to see it available as a soundtrack
album. How did your approach to this
project differ from that of a weekly series?
Did you have more time to do this score, or was there still a deadline?
BM: I was on an extremely
intense deadline. That's just the bane
of Indie medium to low-budget projects.
There's no getting away from that.
The main difference was that I had to develop the material in ways that
were different from what I am used to.
On BATTLESTAR, I can plant a musical seed that pays off later. For example, if I know that there's a storyline
(or two) that's going to be headed in a certain direction I can squeeze in
certain ideas and themes early on and have them come full circle toward the end
of that story arc. The payoffs can come
later in the next episodes or next season.
But in the film, it's totally different.
You have a 90-minute story, and anything that you want to do with those
themes you have a very limited amount of time in which to do it. And in a way it's more fun, because I can
really take that material further. For
example, Nicole’s theme, which is in almost every single queue for REST STOP, as
is the driver’s theme, because it was such a small self-contained film, it
there was the cat and mouse theme prevalent throughout. The driver’s theme and Nicole’s theme are constantly
at war with each other in music. But, in
the TV show that has an entire story, so I can be a little more subtle about.
JS: Have you seen WOLF CREEK?
BM: No I have not.
JS: Oh, my God.
What a movie! François Tétaz wrote a score that
is very creepy, tense and ominous. It’s
available as a soundtrack album. I would
highly recommend seeking this one out.
BM: Definitely.
JS: How does your score to WRONG TURN 2 differ
from Elia Cmiral’s score to WRONG TURN?
BM: When I was ready to score WRONG
TURN 2, Joe Lynch the director told me to hold off and not watch the original;
I hadn’t seen it. He didn't want my
score to this film to sound just like the original score in the original
film. WRONG TURN 2 is a full orchestral
score and is much different from the original: it sounds a little bit like REST
STOP with bluegrass music, mandolins, banjos, and other instruments. We also used dissonant synthesizers and
vocals. Ironically, it's similar REST
STOP in its instrumentation, but it's also nothing like REST STOP. The soundtrack
CD is now available.
JS: What is your favorite film score?
BM: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Elmer
Bernstein.
JS: How many soundtrack albums do you own?
BM: Over 2000. I have collected soundtracks since I was a
kid. And then you get to a point where
you forget which ones you have!
JS: What is next for you?
BM: I’m scoring two new
television series: EUREKA
and TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR
CHRONICLES, which airs in January on Fox.
JS: Great!
Looking forward to hearing those as well.
BM: Thanks!
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