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While Denise Richards is still making all kinds of movies and television these days – with the romcom Love Accidentally coming to Amazon Freevee on July 15 – many folks know her best from late ’90s roles in films like Starship Troopers, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and the infamous thriller Wild Things. It’s the latter of those films which has recently been released on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Arrow Video, along with a slew of extras. To celebrate its release, we hopped on Zoom with Richards to discuss her output from that era and its recent reappraisal.

STARBURST:: Did you ever think you’d see the day where Wild Things would get such a deluxe treatment such as it has with this Arrow 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray?

Denise Richards: No, and I cannot believe how many years it’s been since we’ve filmed it, too, but it’s exciting.

There have been quite a few Blu-ray releases of many of your ’90s films put out lately, like Wild Things, but also Tammy & The T-Rex and Drop Dead Gorgeous, all within the last few years. How does it feel for you to be revisiting all these films?

It’s actually fun and it brings back a lot of fond memories of a lot of them and, you know, they’ve definitely changed my career. It’s been fun to think back and the times I filmed them.

You’ve done brand-new interviews, for each of these releases. What sort of prep do you have to do to go back and recall these things that you know happened two decades ago?

I just try to remember, just by asking questions and really try to think. Luckily I can remember certain things, but it’s funny–I’ve said this in other interviews–when people ask me, “What was it like actually filming?” I always remember a lot of the stuff off-camera and where I was in that part of my life at that time and remembering different things that way too. It’s fun to go back and think about different times.

Different actors have different opinions on their past work and whether they want to go back and rewatch it but, when these things get cleaned up and remastered, are you ever tempted to go back and rewatch the movies just to see what they look like now?

No, I don’t like to watch my work at all. I’m sure it’ll be wonderful and they’ll do a great job with it and it’ll look really good, but I have no desire to watch it. I’m sorry.

 

For fans, these are fresh in their mind. They’re something to which they’ve been attached and seen a bunch. But it’s understandable that, for some actors it’s like, “No, this is the thing I did once and now it’s done. Would you want to go back and see what you did when you were in your 20s?”

Well, I don’t even like seeing or watching stuff that I do now. I don’t watch my work–most of it. These I did because I went to the premiere, but I really do not like to see. Some actors don’t watch their work and some will hold a screening or a little party.

Is it rewarding to see the movies you made during this time reappraised as cult classics? Yeah. I actually am. I never would’ve thought that when we were making them and, especially this many years later, to still have people enjoy watching them. It’s really a wonderful feeling and I feel very blessed to be part of a lot–all of ’em. I’m very grateful and it does feel good and it’s rewarding. I’m very thankful that people still love watching ’em. I just don’t want my kids watching some of them, that’s all. [laughs]

Oh, of course. We’ve never really approached this with anybody who’s been in like a genre film or anything, but the idea of seeing one’s parent engaged in risky business type behavior – that’s just gotta be one of those things where you’re just like, “I’m very proud of what I did,” but also like, “Yeah no.”

Yeah. I never thought when I shot Wild Things, “One day my kids might see this,” because I wasn’t married and didn’t have children at the time, so I wasn’t even thinking that. And now, having teenage daughters, I will say they, they have no desire to watch it, which is good. They would tell me. They’re very honest. So I’m glad that they don’t wanna see it.

Given the reappraisal of some of your films over the years, are we due for a second look at Undercover Brother on its 20th anniversary this year?

I think so. That was a fun movie. We had so much fun doing it. It’s so camp and silly.

It’s so great that you say that because it seems like so many of the movies that you’ve been in are quite fun. They might be very out there. They might not necessarily be based in reality, but it seems a lot of the movies we’ve been talking about the last few minutes were fun movies. Was that what attracted you to them?

Yeah, I think so. I mean, I have a good sense of humor and I love that a lot of them are very tongue-in-cheek. When you can have fun on set, filming and acting with each other and laugh and be paid for it, it’s such a great part of the job. It’s something that I love. They are fun and we can make jokes – you know, they’re silly. It’s a different environment on set than when doing something where you’re having to be really emotional and cry. Those are great too, and great for being an actor, but it’s always fun to laugh on set.

What projects do you have that you’re working on now that you can talk about?

I have a movie that’s gonna be on Amazon, July 15th. It’s called Love Accidentally and it’s a little romantic comedy. It’s cute. It’s a feel good movie. And I have a couple other projects too, that I finished. I’ve been busy. It was interesting working during the pandemic. It was a whole different environment on set, too, but I’m glad that we were able to still work and put material out there for people to be entertained and enjoy.

Wild Things is out now on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

STARBURST caught up with director Rob Schroeder to talk about his directorial debut Ultrasound.

 

 

 

Enter a realm of uncertainty in which nothing is as it appears in Ultrasound, a dark puzzle-box sci-fi that has earned comparisons to the work of Christopher Nolan and recent cult classics including Memento and Primer.

 

 

When his car breaks down, a young man, Glen, spends a strange night with a married couple which takes a bizarre twist, setting off a series of events destined to change all of their lives. At the same time, in a nondescript research facility, medical professional Shannon begins questioning her role in a bizarre experiment, fearing that she’s doing more harm than good. Elsewhere, an attractive young woman is feeling emotionally wrecked by a secret romantic arrangement that feels like textbook gaslighting. How these seemingly unconnected incidents converge is only part of the mind-bending mystery…

The debut feature from director Rob Schroeder (producer, Beyond the Gates) and starring Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser, Ultrasound has played at Tribeca, Fantasia, and London’s FrightFest film festivals, where it has been acclaimed as a striking, hallucinatory work and a future cult classic.

Ultrasound is on digital download from June 20th.

Jumanji meets Escape Room in horror-comedy Gatlopp: Hell of a Game. One night, four friends reunite for a nostalgic evening of fun and games after a decade apart, in the hopes of forgetting the pressures of adult life. With mischief, booze, and mayhem on the cards, are they playing the game or is the game playing them? With their lives on the line, the group must face their inner demons and come together by the time the sun rises or be forced to play the game for eternity – in hell. Gatlopp is written by Jim Mahoney and is directed by Alberto Belli; Mahoney also stars alongside Emmy Raver-Lampman (The Umbrella Academy), Jon Bass, Sarunas J. Jackson and Shelley Hennig. We caught up with Emmy to find out more about the film…

STARBURST: How did you get involved in this project, and what most attracted you to this story?

Emmy Raver-Lampman: I got involved towards the end of the summer of the year we all forget – 2020, which is when Jim Mahoney and Alberto, the director, reached out to me to gauge my interest in playing Sam. I had an awesome meeting with Alberto and we talked about his work, and what his vision for the movie was, and he was so excited. I thought the script was wildly creative, and funny, and I just loved the dynamic between these four friends. So, I jumped on! And I knew that they were shooting in LA and since it was in the middle of COVID, I didn’t really want to travel, so was happy to be able to work from my home city.

It was really wonderful to meet them and connect, and to hear their vision and their journey with the project. And then I said yes! And within a couple of days, I was on a Zoom doing chemistry reads with Troy, which is when I got to meet Sarunas. Then maybe a couple of days later, Jon Bass was attached. It was very quickly shaping out to be an awesome group, so when we all met in person on the first day, we just completely hit it off.

That must have been a relief! What was it that excited you about the role of Sam?

First of all, I think she’s really strong and independent, and really career-driven… and she’s a woman of colour in a position of power, which we need more of. So, I was really excited to portray a woman in that position; and I also think that she’s sassy, and she’s quick, and she loves to poke fun of these three men that she knows so well.

I see a little bit of her in myself in that way: you know that I love you if I make fun of you. I’ll troll you a little bit – it’s part of my charm [laughs]. And so, I think I was really interested in finding the dynamic between these characters… I think that’s a huge part of anything that draws me to a lot of the characters that I get – it’s about the opportunity to portray those relationships to the other people involved in the project. The character of Sam is so meaty – the relationship she has to her work; her bizarre relationship wit Troy that’s hard to decipher; and then there’s the heavy amount of guilt that she’s carrying about the loss of her mother. I just think that it was really brilliantly written, and I was really excited to delve into it all.

 

 

This boardgame movie subgenre that Gatlopp belongs to seems to be having quite the resurgence in recent years, with films like Game Night, Escape Room, Battleship, the Jumanji remake all finding big audiences. Do you have any theories as to why that might be?

I think Jumanji is such a cult classic. It was like a zeitgeist, this huge movie in my childhood. I remember going from being really young when it terrified me, to then being obsessed with it. I think it’s this idea that you get lost in a boardgame… I’m a big boardgame player, I grew up playing boardgames with my family a ton. And during COVID, I had a weekly Catan online night with two of my really good girlfriends; so now, I’m obsessed with Catan. And all I want to do is have people over, order tacos, and play Catan. But I think that’s why people love games like Dungeons & Dragons, it’s this idea of getting lost in a world that is not your own, in which there are endless possibilities. And it’s also about this feeling of nostalgia for a lot of people.

And then with this movie, you have that Jumanji aspect where the board is alive, and you have an Escape Room aspect where you’re inside the game. Then you add alcohol, what’s not to like?

COVID and lockdowns have definitely reignited many people’s love of boardgames.

That and puzzles. I’ve always loved puzzles, but I was doing a 2000-piece puzzle per week during the pandemic. I would just turn on a TV show and sit at my dining room table doing puzzles until like, 3 in the morning. And like, I go to bed at 9. I hadn’t gone to bed at 3 since I was in college, and here I am doing puzzles!

I would also say that with boardgames, playing Catan every Monday night with my two friends was the thing I looked forward to every week. It pushes you to communicate. We spend so much time in our devices and in our phones, and even though we were all thousands of miles away, it was a way to connect. And even when we transitioned back to seeing people, I was inviting people over and we would still sit around the table playing Catan. So really, I’m just glad boardgames are back!

I hope your games of Catan were a little tamer than Gatlopp!

I mean, I don’t know! People get really spiteful when they’re playing Catan! But what’s Catan without a little bit of spice? But it’s definitely not as intense as someone getting shot in the leg with an arrow.

 

 

Having filmed this under strange circumstances, do you recall a favourite memory on set, or a scene that you were really excited to tackle?

There’s so many. I really loved the dance scene. Learning the dance was a bit stressful – I mean, it’s an indie film, so there’s never enough time. We were learning the dance with the choreographer the night before, then rehearsing it up to the second we were filming. I luckily have a performance and dance background, but Sarunas, Jon and Jim do not, and they were absolute troopers. We learned the dance in two hours, which was high-stress, but I was so impressed with them and so pleased with that whole Jazzercise sequence.

I had really bad heartburn and indigestion the entire time we were shooting this movie, and it was because I was laughing so hard. Just constantly in a state of acid reflux, because I would to set from 7 in the morning until 10 at night, and we spent the whole time laughing at each other, at the movie, at the choices that were being made, and just at the general ridiculousness of what we were doing on any given day. I had a bottle of Tums in my bag just because my heartburn was so bad! I just couldn’t stop laughing.

One scene in particular is after Jon’s character Cliff gets shot and he’s lying on a table, and there was a wild snafu with the blood mechanism that was attached to his leg; and then Jim’s character Paul gets banished to hell, and the whole thing was so chaotic. I think there are several moments where, if you watch closely, you can see the corners of my lips quivering. It took everything in me not to laugh; Jon was laying on the table, completely covered in blood for four hours, and he was miserable. And we were all standing over him laughing!

Man, I laughed. We shot the movie in twelve days, and those came towards the end of an intense, really heartbreaking, confusing, complicated year, and it was really nice to have this.

It’s interesting that Gatlopp is this supernatural fantasy with slight horror elements, that’s really funny with lots of heart – which is exactly what The Umbrella Academy is, a lot of the time. What is it in these roles that draws you in, and what do you look for when selecting projects?

I think the genre aspect of it all surprises me. I’m still wrapping my brain around the genre itself, and I think I’m just really attracted to complex, interesting characters that keep me guessing and surprise me, that are well-rounded and that feel genuine in their emotions and in what journey they’re on. Generally, I’m drawn to the character first, and I’ll look to see if I can find a way into the character. Then, I also really enjoy working in the fantastical space, whether it’s horror, supernatural, or sci-fi. I’m really enjoying using my imagination with these projects. And you really have to trust the creatives, and trust the process.

At times you’re standing there and it’s like, “What are we making? Are people going to find this funny?”. You learn to trust the people helming the thing. And it was the same with Umbrella Academy. During that first season, we were really questioning, “Are people going to watch this? There’s a talking monkey, and these siblings have the weirdest powers, and there’s so much going on!”

And even taking it back to Hamilton, I almost didn’t audition for it because on paper, it sounded like the worst musical of all time! Like, a musical about the Treasurer of State, that’s rapped all the way through? No one’s going to see that. You just have to trust the people whose vision it is, and give as much of yourself as you can, then just hope for the best. That’s art. I think in a weird way, we’re all gamblers. We put our energy, our time, our bodies and our spirits into these things, and it’s just a matter of crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. For me, it’s always about being able to walk away feeling like I did the best I could do. Everything else is a bonus.

And it’s just a bonus that these have turned out to be massive hits! As a last question, if you were to have a night in drinking with your closest friends, – aside from Catan – what boardgame would you bring out?

Clue. It was a toss-up between Clue and Scrabble, but I’m a true crime junkie so I love a good murder-mystery.

Signature Films and Signature Entertainment presents Gatlopp: Hell of a Game on Digital Platforms from June 27th.

 

After successful festival screenings, comedy thriller Night Drive is heading to Horror Channel in the UK. We caught up with co-director Meghan Leon and lead actor and genre legend AJ Bowen to find out more about the film…

STARBURST: AJ, what drew you to the project and Meghan how did you come up with the story?

AJ Bowen: What drew me to the story was Meghan informing me that she’d written a script and written a character for me to play. That sounds like a joke, but Meghan and Brad [Baruh – co-director] and I had worked together before and we all get along really well. Meghan and I share really similar sensibilities about the types of films that we watch. Although I watch a fair deal more horror than she does. But our tone and our sense of humour are very similar. And so when they called me and told me that we’re going to make a movie, the answer is always going to be yes, so it was absolutely a no brainer. It was helpful that the script was great, but I would have done it anyway, even if it was shit.

Meghan Leon: Brad and I have worked together for about 12 years. We do a lot of behind the scenes stuff for films and documentaries, and he had directed Dead Night, which AJ and Sophie [Dalah] both starred, and we wanted to co-direct something together. I had been on the set of Dead Night with him and he appreciated my support and input and so it seemed like a good opportunity to work together, and we knew he wanted to work with AJ and Sophie because they have such a good rapport and are incredibly talented and just really chill and roll with a lot of crazy, crazy stuff happening on the set. For the longest time, I haven’t owned the car, and prior to the pandemic, I’d take rideshares so I always had that as a setup in the back of my mind. When Brad and I were trying to think of something pretty self-contained and that we could finance ourselves, it seemed like a good setup for the two of them. Thankfully, they both really dug the script and were really game to be trapped in a car with Brad and me for long periods of time. Brad and I wrote the story together and he was the one who came up with the third act twist. So we ended up backwards engineering the script to lead into that a little bit. And, yeah, that was, that was kind of how it all came together

Meghan, what was it like co-directing with Brad?

ML: It was pretty great because Brad is pictures and I’m words. So he shot the film, so he was able to really focus on the camera and the look of things and I was able to focus on AJ and Sophie. Because I also edited the movie that really helped us streamline what we needed and what we were going to shoot and there wasn’t a lot of stuff that we shot that we didn’t need, because we were able to kind of, kind of look into the future as far as like how things are going to be cut together. So it was a really good partnership because it really played into both of our strengths, and I don’t think either of us ever felt like we were pulled in too many directions on set, we were able to focus on the task at hand, which, when it’s a small shoot like that, it’s definitely a luxury to have somebody else to help make decisions with you.

AJ, your chemistry with Sophie is amazing. What was it like working with her again?

AJ: It was nice not having to play a grown person’s father again! Because yeah, there are some years between us but with Dead Night I was like, “This is making me feel too old”. But when we worked on Dead Night, there were a lot more characters on screen. And there were some sequences that become tricky pretty quickly, like from an editing and cinematography place because of coverage. Sophie and I, without even really discussing it, built up this father-daughter relationship that was happening whenever the cameras were rolling whether or not we were being covered. Especially in sequences like a dinner table where there’s a bunch of people sitting around, we were doing these things we were having unspoken conversations between the two of us, just in case there was an opportunity if they needed to throw the camera or cutaway at any point in time, there were things that were still logical there were just two human beings sitting there looking down playing Sudoku or whatever. And it was a good energy. And so, with this one, I’m getting to really play together in a very heightened, antagonistic way, and sort of discuss in a more dramatic fashion you know like generational differences. We already share a lot of interest when it comes to like food and music. But there are going to be differences because I’m Gen X and she’s whatever the newest one is. And, and so getting to play that out in real-time, was great, and, and it was, it was especially good, because like Meghan was saying the crew was so small I mean, if there was a lot of stuff where Meghan and Brad were in the backseat and Sophie and I were in the front and that’s 80% of the crew and cast and so getting to have everybody together made the whole process feel purely collaborative, and that that helps with things.

Meghan, were there any challenges with directing just two people for the most film?

ML: Not really. I had written the script for them, and obviously, Sophie is nothing like her character at all, but I knew the cadence of their voices and how they were able to fluctuate energy in the scene. It was pretty easy. As far as all of the challenges in the movie, the actors were at the bottom of the list.

AJ: Thank you!

ML: They were both really game, we had some weather problems, and obviously we’re trapped in a car together for long periods of time. Even when we did rear projection on a set, or on a stage, they were sitting in the car for most of the time and were able to just kind of roll with it. We had pretty unseasonably cold and windy weather, we had some flat tires, some really large mountain dogs and stinky goats and things like that, and everybody was game and rolling with it. One of the things that I’m really proud of with this film was that we were able to really make our days, and there weren’t any days where we went into crazy overtime or anything. Even though it was a small crew we were able to keep the hours really safe and short for everybody.

AJ: Yeah, I don’t think there was even one day to be honest where we took what the full day would be for a movie at this budget level. We were always done early. There were things that were acts of God and whatnot, you know like a tire blowing out on a super fancy car means you can’t just change it. When you’re 110 miles away from the closest place, well that can burn your day.

AJ, what’s it like to drive and act at the same time?

AJ: Shitty. But it’s a developed skillset. I’m into the technical components of filmmaking, and they are what drive my performance. So I always want to know what the shot is; I always want to know what the lens is; I always want to know what you’re trying to cut to because it’s going to impact what I do. There have probably been like a dozen movies where due to budget or whatever, we had to figure out how to drive a practical car with a camera on the hood with a light blasting you in the face, usually with somebody else in the car and being open to the camera, while also not wrecking the car or the camera or the people. And that can be terrifying at first, but to me, it’s really no different than actors who can sing or dance, it’s just a developed thing it’s like learning how to do it and I’ve been this one particular weird obscure skill on the resume is from years of doing it, and so it was never really stressful it, and especially when you’re working with like a small crew. There were shots when Meghan and Brad are in the backseat and Sophie’s with me and we’re driving, it makes it possible to be rolling on that and then if a car starts coming down the road and its lights are going to mess up a shot, you can just pause and drive. And then once that’s clear, it’s cool and we can just keep rolling with it. That also really helped us with efficiency.

What was the worst experience you’ve had in a taxi?

ML: I had a Lyft driver once who asked me if he could put on the country radio station because his dead sister’s ghost was in the car. Then he started talking about how our how we don’t really exist. We’re all just an avatar, and this is a simulation and our bodies are on another planet, and how he’s played this game multiple times before, so he’s probably going to win in this round of the simulation. Part of what makes you able to win is practising sexual purity and not doing drugs, and when I got out of the car, the last thing he said to me was “Remember sexual purity”. I immediately contacted Lyft and said this guy thinks there’s a dead woman in the car, this might not be a safe situation for people if he’s like hearing voices from his dead sister.

AJ: I don’t have anything to match that so I’m just not going to say anything at all!

Meghan, you’ve worked a lot on the Disney documentaries, what are they like?

ML: They’re great. We get so many hours of behind the scenes footage, and it’s really cool, you get to be a fly on the wall for all these films and see how they’re put together and take a lot of lessons from it without actually having to go through the slog of being on set or anything like that. It’s certainly been really enlightening. One of the cool things that Marvel does with their shoots, is that if a story’s not working, they’re very open to shooting additional stuff and not being married to an original story. I think that a lot of times when you’re trying to tell a story you get married to your original idea. And so there’s something reassuring that even people at the top of their game are able to have some humility and say, “No, this isn’t really working, let’s figure out another alternative”. It’s been a kind of bare-bones film school but it but it’s cool to be able to spy on these sets in a way and see all the goings-on, without having to work the crazy hours and everything,

What’s next for you both?

ML: I’m still plugging away on these docs. Brad and AJ and I are jonesing to do another movie, part of the concern, of course, is the pandemic and dealing with all of the safety protocols and everything, especially with an independent movie it’s just so difficult. I think we’re all in a holding pattern, hoping that things are kind of normalised a little bit.

AJ: A lot of writing. I have a seven-year-old at home so as far as the pandemic goes, I got to become like a de facto kindergarten and then first-grade teacher against my will. And to second what Meghan said, as far as I’m concerned, the perfect world scenario is that Meghan and Brad and I just keep making movies together and grow as collaborators. Whatever we end up shooting next I guarantee Meghan will have written it, and then we’ll get it and Meghan and I will argue with Brad that it’s okay that it’s funny. It doesn’t have to be just a straight-up slasher movie. That’s our creative process, we lightly argue with each other about what a thing is and then we figure out creative ways to shoot it. And then we end up talking to people outside of the United States about it, two or three years later, it’s kind of awesome.

Night Drive is available on digital platforms now. Read our review here. The film screens on Horror Channel on June 11th.

Tune into Horror Channel on Sky 317, Virgin 149, Freeview 41, Freesat 138.

We caught up with composer Jeff Cardoni to chat about scoring the documentary Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off. You can check out the interview below…

 

 

You can stream the documentary on NOW.