New and upcoming director Kurtis David Harder had two films screened during the recent Horror Channel FrightFest – Incontrol, which he directed, and Still/Born, which he produced. STARBURST had the pleasure of catching up with him during the event.
STARBURST: How has social media changed the landscape of creative writing?
Kurtis David Harder: I think it has changed how we live. The idea of living out of your own skin is interesting in this film. Samantha is a character who likes the idea of living without consequence.
Incontrol returns to the well-trod world of dangerous technology. Are you a phobe or phile when you deal with it?
Definitely a technophile. I am a product of the Internet era and I had a Mac OS 9 when I was younger.
How did you select your cast?
A lot of it was found locally. One of the actors was found in London and our leads, Anja and Levi, were found via our pool of talent. A big thing was meeting the actors and finding out what their intentions were.
What was the budget and schedule?
It was very low-budget and shot in twenty-three days with pick-ups. We had fifty-plus speaking roles and twenty-plus locations.
Given a bigger budget, what sort of story could you tell?
Every creative wants a bigger budget to achieve their aims. A limited budget forces you to become more creative compared to a bigger budget. It’s a good way to solve problems
Finally, what’s your next project?
I have a couple of scripts I want to get off the ground. Since Incontrol, I have completed four films, but don’t want to disclose anything at present.
Across his twenty-five year career as a film and television actor, Jason Flemyng has appeared in literally hundreds of productions including the likes of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, Jekyll and Hyde in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Azazel in X-Men: First Class – and a stint as the lead in ITV’s dinosaur drama Primeval. Now he’s moving into directing and September sees the release of his first feature film, the high-octane British vampire comedy/horror Eat Locals, which stars a host of British genre favourites such as Eve Myles, Freema Agyeman, Tony Curran, Daredevil’s Charlie Cox and with, you won’t believe it, a scene-stealing guest role for veteran Annette Crosbie. We spoke to Jason to find out how he brought this darkly-comic chiller to the screen…
STARBURST: Having enjoyed a long and productive career in front of the camera, what tempted you to move into directing and is this a long-term career change?
Jason Flemyng:That’s the plan! I never just sit in my trailer whenever I film anything, I’m always sitting by the monitor. My dad was a director; he did Dr Who and the Daleks and all sorts of great stuff so it’s sort of in the blood, but I’ve never been the sort of actor to sit in the trailer and I’ve always loved the process and been fascinated by it. My theory is if, as an actor, you’re never in fashion you never go out of fashion so it’s meant that I’ve been able to very diverse and do all sorts of different things which has been great and I’ve been really lucky in that I’ve been able to diversify – both in genres and also geographically. I’ve filmed in India, America, and Africa so I’ve managed to see all the different ways of doing things. My usual position is ‘slightly out-of-focus behind a very posh actor’ and it’s been great because with posh actors come posh directors and a lot of the time I’ve been able to sit and watch them. I suppose after about a hundred movies, I got to the point where I wasn’t exactly frustrated but I was like ‘that’s probably not the best call you’re making there, guv’ but it’s not for me to say. I’d just say to myself ‘that’s not the way I’d do it.’ That started to get stronger and stronger and I got more and more confident with it and then I bumped into my lovely producer Rod Smith who believed in me as well and after a couple of years of trying things out, the result was Eat Locals. So the plan is to direct more but it’s really a completely different language from acting. I think Eat Locals is a great film and I’m really proud of it and I managed to pull in lots of favours from some really great actors!
You mentioned your father who directed the – let’s face it – glorious 1960s Dr Who movies starring Peter Cushing. Do you think you’ve been influenced by him and did he talk about his work with you as you were growing up?
Unfortunately, Mum and Dad weren’t together, so most of what I’ve learned about that period was through the fact that after he passed away, I became obsessive about collecting all that Dr Who stuff and that became a real passion for me because it felt like it was getting me closer to Dad, who I didn’t really know much about. So I didn’t have any real experience of talking to Dad about his work but I love all the ‘Now in Technicolour!’ posters. Dexter just gave me a French one for my birthday…
How did you end up directing Eat Locals as your debut?
The truth is that Dexter and I set up a production company years ago called Coracle Films – a coracle being a boat that just goes round and round and gets nowhere! – and Dex was going to direct a film and I was going to produce it. But as time went on, while we were looking for funding, Dex’s directing career took a kick and he started rising in popularity and he was going to be dealing with bigger budgets. Eat Locals was always a budget-specific film written by Danny King who wrote Wild Bill, Dex’s first film and it was always written as a genre movie that we thought we could get funding for. So over the years, the budget would change from when people would go “It’s not going to be expensive enough, can you make it for thirty million?” and we were like “Yeeeeaah, maybe the vampires could be on the moon…” down to it being a radio play! It went from one extreme to the other and finally settled on where we were, which was basically a micro-budget British movie! But Dex was gone by that time, it was too late to use him so I thought ‘I’m gonna have to find another director or do it myself’ and I realised the only reason I wanted to produce and not direct was my fear of not being able to walk away at the end and go ‘well, it wasn’t my fault, I was just the producer.’ When you’re the director the buck stops with you and no matter how many excuses you make about the money and the time, no-one cares; you’ve just got make it work.
Eat Locals tells the story of an ancient coven of vampires holed up in a farmhouse attempting to recruit a new member into their group whilst being stalked and hunted by a secret military organisation. Yet the trailer suggests that we’re in for a slightly tongue-in-cheek comedy horror? How would you describe the film’s tone?
It falls a bit between two stools in the comedy/horror genre but we’ve tried with what we had to make, as a lazy comparison, something in the genre of Shaun of the Dead. It’s really a great excuse to put a big group of British actors together – some of them underused, some of them well-known – and letting them do their thing. One of the things I’ve learned from most of the directors I’ve worked with, Matthew Vaughn especially, is that if you cast well then half the battle’s done.
And that’s a hell of a cast. You seem to have cherry-picked some of the most popular ‘cult’ actors in the country…
Luckily in my iPhone, I have the numbers of half of British Equity and that’s been quite useful over the years. Charlie Cox was in the States and I said “I’m doing this film” and he said “I don’t need to read it, tell me where I’ve got to be and when.” It was really funny because Marvel were like “What are you doing? What’s this thing, we’re not sure you’re going to do this!” and Charlie was saying “Listen, I‘m doing it, so you just work out how you’re going to make it okay for yourselves.” Tony Curran and I have been friends for hundreds of years. Eve and Freema came on quite late but they were both great – the Doctor Who ‘fantasy’ connection between them all is a bit of a coincidence, it’s just the way it worked out but I’m glad of it because of my history with Doctor Who so I’m quite chuffed that we got a bit of Who represented. Annette Crosbie was a dream. I did my first job with her – Doctor Finlay – and she was playing an old lady then! I phoned her up and she said “Oh, I’m not sure, night shoots?” and I said “Annette, I’m begging you, you’ll be amazing” and she said “OK.” The first day she was sitting there quietly and I was a bit worried thinking that maybe she wasn’t going to have a good time and by the second day, she was the centre of attention and she loved every minute of it and had a little weep at the end. I was so chuffed, so relieved that I hadn’t put her through some ordeal at her age, but she loved it. She really embraced it, you can see from the trailer that at one point she’s wielding a full-sized hand machine gun!
Were you conscious of the fact that vampires have lost their ‘bite’ at the cinema since they were somewhat domesticated by the likes of the Twilight saga? Were you keen to make them proper monsters again?
I was aware that it was a genre that was a bit tired and that no-one was interested in but then I’m a director who’s not at the forefront of everyone’s mind when it comes to directing films so it seemed like a good marriage to do a film in a genre that not everyone wants to do and not everyone might want to see or that might be hard to sell. The thing about Lock Stock is that it’s a very violent film with no violence in it because they couldn’t afford it and I learned from that. Eat Locals is a film about rabid vampires who kill and eat voraciously but there’s not much blood in it and not much violence just because of the budget and because with the money I had, I didn’t want to try and make a slasher film with blood spurting against windows fired out from syringes and stuff, we’ve seen all that and it’s too easy to do.
Did you find it hard to take off your ‘actor’s hat’ when you were directing?
No, it was easy because you’ve got a rapport. I know what an actor goes through, I know exactly what’s important to an actor and I know exactly how it should be done. Each part in this film I played out in my head. But as I said, I learned from Matt Vaughn – cast strong and don’t cast anyone who’s going to need too much assistance in case you can’t give it. It’s hard for an actor to talk to another actor because it seems like such a crass direction to say “Look, that was great but can you do it quicker?” but that’s basically all I had to do with any of them!
Did you have a particular visual ‘look’ you were aiming for or were there any directors who especially influenced you?
I’ve been very lucky to work with David Fincher three times and my protection for myself to was to storyboard the whole thing. I watched An Evening with Michael Caine once and he said “If you see something you like, you steal it” so I’ve been building up a library of shots that I’ve wanted to use for 25 years so I nicked as much as possible. Time restrictions meant we had to shoot some stuff really quickly; in my storyboard, I’ve got eight shots but we’ve got time for two, maybe possibly only one – 45 minutes to shoot three pages of dialogue, how the fuck do I do that? So the time restrictions forced me into making decisions that looked like really great artistic statements to do it in one shot but really it was just down to the fact we didn’t have any time! There’s a great series of books by Christopher Kenworthy and one is called Mastershots, the Director’s Vision, a 100 Set-Ups, Scenes and Moves for your Breakthrough Movie, which is like a bible on how to shoot your first film and I just sat in the car with that and people would be saying “Jason, put that fucking book away!”
Was there a lot of material you didn’t have time to shoot?
I had this great guy called Jimmy Scribbles and he does all the storyboarding but to shoot the storyboard would have cost ten million so every day I’d stick the storyboard up and go “Right, this is what we’ve got, this is what we’re going to lose” and that was it really. I lost a lot of shots but pretty much every single frame we filmed is in the film. There’s not reams and reams of extra footage, the stuff’s just not there. We had to extend the credits just to get it up to 90 minutes so there’ll be no half-hour of deleted scenes on the DVD! To sell a film, it has to be 90 minutes and I was like “I ain’t got no more footage” so we went off and did a couple of reshoots on an iPhone up on Putney Common and that all went in!
Despite the time constraints and your low budget, there seems to be a lot of high adrenalin action stuff in the film.
Jason Statham came in and did a great one-shot fight, which he helped direct and then Tony Curran did the gag from The Great Escape with the motorbike, so we replicated that as well. There’s loads of good stuff in it. All the stunt guys came in for a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea, guys from the X-Men films and Vic Armstrong, one of the greatest stunt directors in the country, lives in the farm next door to where we were and he came down with his sons and did some stuff for virtually nothing; it was amazing. Dexter Fletcher’s in it, Nick Moran’s in it and Jason came and did the fight. Basically for press, I thought it’d be a good little gag to have the four Lock Stock boys reunited!
Sounds like you had a blast. Presumably, you’re up for doing it all again?
It was great, mate, it was fantastic; I love it and I hope you do, too. I’m up for doing another one, correcting the mistakes I’ve made and having another go. I loved every second of it, every single crazy exhausting second of it.
Eat Locals is released on September 1st and will also be available on iTunes and VOD.
With the firth season of The CW’s Arrow soon to be available on Blu-ray and DVD, we were lucky enough to grab some time with one of the show’s new additions, Juliana Harkavy, to discuss her character of Dinah Drake, becoming a card-carrying member of Team Arrow, and what lies ahead for the series as its sixth season gets set to premiere next month.
STARBURST: Were you much of a fan of Arrow and comic books in general before landing the role of Dinah Drake?
Juliana Harkavy: Well, my father worked for DC Comics when I was a kid, so I was always exposed to this universe. I was always intrigued by it but I was never an avid comic book fan, but I did feel a connection to it. The show itself, I had watched a little bit of it, but only because I’d worked with Audrey who plays Lyla, only because I’d worked with her on The Walking Dead. So I started watching for her.
How was the process of landing the Dinah role?
It was very fast and intense and exciting. It was all done within four days; I had my audition on a Tuesday or something, then I was in Vancouver first thing on Saturday morning. It was a whirlwind. And I didn’t know what the role was until I got it, so I was sort of auditioning blind.
Once you realised it was Dinah Drake, did you decide to research the comic book character or did you decide to almost go in cold?
I did a little bit of both. After I found out who the character was and I realised it was such an iconic character, I did go and look at the comics to try and find inspiration there; very small things, things I could draw from the comics. Then it was also important to try and make it my own, so it was kind of a little bit of both.
You mentioned how you realised how big the character was. With shows like Arrow, there’s a huge fandom behind it. How’s that been for you, and have you been taken aback a little bit by just how passionate people are about the likes of Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl?
Yeah, I was taken aback, but in a good way, though. It was cool to see people cared so much. Whether people had a positive or negative reaction to my character, it was just good to see that people are impassioned about it, that they care at all. It’s okay, you don’t have to love every character to love a show or care about it so much. As an actor, that’s very important and it feels good to be part of something like that. And also, they’ve been overwhelmingly positive. There’s been very little negativity, there’s been a lot of love, and it’s a really incredible fanbase. I’ve really started to care about them a lot.
When did the realisation really hit that you were now playing a bona fide superhero?
Well, the first time I did a Canary Cry was pretty awesome. They moved people back with ropes and there’s sparks flying, so it feels like you’re really doing it. It was a cool thing because the first time I did it everybody clapped, so it was sort of like an introductory moment for the character and for myself on the set. So that felt real, this feels real. Then when I put the suit on for the first time, that solidified it and I really felt like a hero.
Of course, there’s been two previous Canaries in the shape of Caity Lotz’s Sara Lance and Katie Cassidy’s Laurel Lance, but did you look to pull any inspiration from those two actors and characters in your own take on Black Canary?
You know, I didn’t see too many of their performances before I started shooting. Again, it was more one of those things that as I watched the show, little by little, as I kept going, I saw what they were doing and I started to understand the differences between them so that I could give Dinah her own voice and her own journey. It’s not something I try to watch too closely because I don’t think it should be about comparing, it should be more about honouring what Dinah is going through right now.
Now that you’ve officially joined the cape ‘n’ tights club, what can we expect from the currently-shooting Season 6?
We’re shooting right now, episode four. I think Season 6 is going to be a lot about rebuilding and coming together. People are going to be quite shaken up after what happened on the Island. So it’s going to be a lot of rebuilding and re-growing and everybody becoming stronger in their own way because of it.
For Dinah this season, there’s the prospect of more interaction with Team Arrow, the return of Katie Cassidy as Black Siren, and even rumours of a possible love interest for her. What’s got you most excited about this new season right now?
I’m really excited to keep building physically and getting stronger and training more. I’m also excited to have Katie there. That’s really exciting, so I’m really looking forward to that. That’s always fun. Then, you know, just really getting closer to the team; the team solidifying and becoming more with the new recruits and forming a new bond together. And that also happens on set, we’re actually becoming closer as a family in real life on set. So I’m excited to see that journey on the screen.
On a personal level, do you see this as a chance to put yourself out there as a role model for young children and young girls as such a strong female character?
Absolutely. I have to say, that’s probably the most important part of all of this for me. While we’re working in make-believe, it feels real to the little kids who look up to this character, to the little girls who look up to her as this strong woman. Of everything I’m doing on the show, that means the most to me as it can change a kid’s life. I remember it changed my life, the actors I looked up to when I was little. It makes a big difference to them. So that’s the biggest honour I have on the show, being able to be a role model for little children and little girls.
You mentioned earlier that you worked with Audrey Marie Anderson on The Walking Dead when you two were tied to the villainous Governor for a while. How was that as an experience to be involved in another hugely popular show?
It was an incredible experience. It was so much fun. It was a really good introduction to Arrow, which I didn’t even know I was preparing for at the time. It kind of exposed me to that big larger than life fanbase and the comic book world in a way that it was just two episodes but it was such a welcoming experience. Walking Dead, it was there as a stepping stone, yeah.
Season 5 of Arrow is currently available on Digital Download, with a Blu-ray and DVD release to follow on September 18th.
Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.
We caught up with Levi Meaden, star of Incontrol, to chat about the film and his views on technology and the filmmaking process…
Starburst: How did you get the part of Mark in Incontrol?
Levi Meaden: I’ve known the Vicious brothers for a few years now, and we have been looking for a project to do together. They called me up one day and said they were producing a low-fi thriller called Incontrol that was shooting in my hometown. I loved the script so I agreed to be in it and flew out not long after.
The film explores the dangers of new technology and, during and after viewing the film, the audience certainly will be questioning what is real and virtual. As an individual away from the acting world, are you comfortable with the way technology works today, with the advent of social media?
It’s a necessary evil these days I suppose, I’m generally a private person so I don’t like broadcasting my every moment. I also think we all over value our own opinions and feel the need to let everyone know them. But it’s here to stay so what can you do.
What was it like working with your fellow cast members and did you rehearse before hand?
We had a pretty tight shooting schedule so we didn’t get much time for rehearsals but the whole cast got along great; it was a tightknit group.
How long did it take to shoot the film and were there particular scenes that were challenging?
The whole thing was shot in just over a month. So it was extremely tight schedule wise. The final scene I’m in was one of the hardest because there were so many moving parts as far as where the character is at. As far as challenges during shooting, there’s a downtown date montage and that one was hard because we kept getting followed by people on the street trying to get in the movie.
What was your relationship like with the director and crew?
The director, producers and a lot of the crew stayed in the same house as us, so it was kind of like camp, got to know everyone really well. Still keep in touch with quite a few of them.
The film also taps into earlier offerings, which explore science in a similar way, like Flatliners, Brainstorm and Altered States. Did you ever see any of these earlier films?
I’ve heard the comparison to Flatliners a few times; I think it definitely shares some similarities. But yes I’ve seen Altered States and Flatliners, aesthetically I think Incontrol takes a cue from Primer as well.
You have recently been part of two high-profile franchise offerings, the excellent War For The Planet Of The Apes and the upcoming sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising. How does working on these movies compare with a more modest production like Incontrol?
I think what I’ve really discovered is that, regardless of budget, filmmaking is always testing Murphy’s Law. Otherwise the biggest difference is just the sets, those big budget films can really create a whole new reality, while smaller scale films like Incontrol has to be creative with what they have.
Do you have any pet projects of your own that you would like to do down the line?
One of my missions in life is to play John Constantine. Otherwise I want to do a remake of Highlander.
WithIncontrol getting its European Premiere at FrightFest 2017, what are your hopes for the film?
I just hope people get a kick out of watching it. There are a lot of twists and turns and I just want it to be a fun ride.
Finally, what are you most proud of with Incontrol?
I think I’m most of proud of how we pulled it off and got everything done. It was a small budget and tight schedule but I think we managed to pull off a damn fine movie.
With more than 20 years industry experience, Christopher Townsend is one of the most respected and sought after visual effects supervisors around. During his time at Industrial Light & Magic he worked on the Star War prequels and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and recently has been closely involved with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, most recently Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Starburst: You’ve worked on several Marvel films now, so is the challenge becoming greater to surpass previous achievement, or do advances in technology open up new options?
Christopher Townsend: I think the first thing that’s interesting, and challenging with these films, is that visual effects are there to support the narrative. Even on a film like Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, where almost 98% of the film features visual effects, – I mean we have virtual worlds and there are two virtual characters – even with a film like this the effects are supporting the story. Each film requires something different; creatively, artistically and technologically. Some films you come against problems you can only solve with new technology, and some you use what’s available. So, it’s not a matter of “What new cool thing can we do?”, it’s always “What does the film require or what does the director want?” That then drives us towards what we’re going to create. With a new film I’m starting soon I’ve no idea yet what challenges I’ll face. With Guardians 2 it was creating worlds that are so dense and massive.
You mentioned world building, so is it freeing to work on a film like Guardians 2 where you have the entire universe to work with?
One of the things we really wanted to do, and it sounds like a cliché now, was create worlds no-one had seen before. We didn’t just want to go to Morocco say and film there, as everyone would say “That’s Morocco!” Or go to a forest and just make it red. We wanted it to be different and not just a twist. Take The Martian for example. To me, while it looked great, it still looked like Earth and we didn’t want that. That said, we wanted it to look real enough that the audience could hang their hat on it that was grounded enough so as to be believable. That was the big challenge.
You don’t want audiences just to think the film looks great though, so is a close working relationship with the director and writers becoming more and more important?
Absolutely. James Gunn was phenomenal to work with. He’s very committed as a director, and as he wrote the script he was very attached to it. He’s also a visionary; he knew the story he wanted to tell and how to tell it. We worked very closely for two years, and that’s one of the advantages of my job – I’m one of the first on set and one of the first off at the end. He was also open to ideas and very collaborative on the film.
We have to talk about the opening scene. How do you even begin with something like that?
It took over a year just to do that shot, with many, many people working on it. You start with the script, and James was very specific. When he wrote the script, he wrote in the camera moves and was very descriptive with what was happening in the background. From there we started with story boards and pre-vis, which is a low-resolution version of animation. And the pre-vis took four to five months! Then we started with principal photography, and set up the moves and then you’re into post-vis and putting everything together. Only the do you send it to Framestore who finished it off, and they worked on it for ten to eleven months. For a three-minute scene it’s a huge shot.
Where do you see the future of practical and visual effects?
I think the advantage of shooting something real is, you have something real. If we can get something done practically then I’m an exponent of it. But some things you can’t do that with. We’re always looking for the best way of doing things, and I think a combination of the two will always be that.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray
Adam Green has credited FrightFest for launching his directing career. Hatchet had not had many screenings before its debut at the event a decade earlier and subsequent sequels have all had their place here. In person, Green is very much at home amongst the fans he makes his films for and on the occasions we have caught up at the festival, he has been welcoming and appreciative. We had the pleasure of talking to him during a break in the screening schedule at FrightFest 2017.
Starburst: Can you see an end to the ‘PG-13’ mentality in the US about horror films?
Adam Green: That’s a good question. I honestly don’t know. The success of Deadpool and Logan has made the studios realise perhaps that the audience has grown up and they are now giving them what they want.
Directing comedy and horror is a fine line. How do you divide it in your scripts?
They’re both equal. The key is to keep the comedy out of the horror. If the villain is a joke, then it won’t work. It’s tricky and can affect even trailers and previews. Some people don’t like comedy in their horror.
How has your relationship with Kane Hodder grown?
When Kane and I started, he was willing to take a chance. He doesn’t give up and he trusted me on Hatchet. That is the sign of a true collaboration.
Will we see a proper Douche Brothers film that isn’t a homage to other classic horror films and takes them to a new horror yarn like Hatchet?
What’s funny is that Neil Marshall says he will do one with us once we have a script. We made Holliston, our series, to prove we could do a sitcom and we do hope to turn that into a movie at some point. Who have you enjoyed working with the most acting-wise?
Joel David Moore, my co-director on Spiral and Ray Wise, who I worked with on Digging Up The Marrow. Working with Wise was like taking the ultimate master class. He would offer small suggestions and I would often forget it was he.
FrightFest continues to be a great foundation for your movies, but you do travel to several other events. How do they compare?
The biggest difference is that you can still be a fan and not be on the other side. At other events, you have a table. At FrightFest, you can be yourself and you don’t have to play the part.
You were very emotional in your on-stage intro before Victor Crowley about Romero, Craven and how your desire reignited to do Victor Crowley. The character is destined to gain affectionate notoriety like Freddy and Jason. Would you ever give him a love interest like Leatherface and Stretch in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2?
I actually think Victor has a thing for Mary-Beth. At the end of Hatchet 3, they are suffering for the same thing. When Mary-Beth delivers the urn, Victor is crying and it is the only time he does. He doesn’t realise it’s Mary-Beth.
Finally, reflecting on all FrightFest has done, how do you see the festival overall since your debut?
As a fan, it’s my favourite festival and it is less about studio films. As a director, even though Tribeca was the first place to show Hatchet, it wasn’t a horror festival. Fans here are so intelligent and smart and because of that, it is home every time I walk through these doors.
Read our verdict on the FrightFest screening of Victor Crowley right here.
Comedy/horror Double Date was one of the standout movies at this year’s Horror Channel FrightFest. We spoke to star Georgia Groome about her role…
STARBURST: What first drew you to the character?
Georgia Groome: It was the dynamic between the sisters. There is an interesting power play between the characters, and although heightened it is very much the older sister younger sister power struggle.
Was there any part of your portrayal that you were anxious about?
No, not at all. It’s all been fun and it is kind of interesting to play around with
If you could say anything to your character, what would it be?
Run away! Fun far away and move to Thailand. Get away from your sister.
Looking around this (an English country estate) is quite the location. Does such a location help your performance?
I guess. It is a pretty creepy building. The design of the building is fantastic. It really brought the movie to life. We’ve been doing night shoots, which are tough because I feel like I am running on American time, but it has been really cool shooting at night.
What was the filming like? Does any moment stick out as a favourite?
There hasn’t been one moment that has stood out. The team was really good and everyone got into the spirit of the film. The bloody murder scenes were pretty cool to shoot.
What has it been like to work with Kelly? (Wenham, who play’s her sister, Kitty)
Kelly’s great. We didn’t meet until the rehearsal. Everything we needed for our portrayals was on the page. Danny’s writing is really good. Because the writing is strong all the relationships between the characters came quite naturally.
How would you describe the overall vibe of the movie?
It’s weird. The movie is never quite what you expect it is going to be. It is very stylised, and cool. It really is weird in the best possible way.
What do you think movie goers should be expecting when they go to see Double Date?
Most movies now are remakes. There seems to be less good, original movies. Ben looked at good movies from the ‘70s while directing Double Date. The thing is it’s is not necessarily a horror movie. It is a throwback to the movies of the ‘70s that crosses genres.
DOUBLE DATE is in cinemas from October 13th. Read our interview with writer/star Danny Morgan and producer Matthew James Wilkinson here.
STARBURST caught up with the writer/star and the producer of one of the hits of this year’s Horror Channel FrightFest to talk about the horror comedy Double Date…
STARBURST: What was the idea behind Double Date?
Danny Morgan: The idea stemmed from the general nervousness I’ve had around women most of my life. I liked the idea that when the character got over his fear of approaching women the fear would turn out to be true. I was also attracted to the idea of a movie in which everything changes over the course of one pivotal night.
What do you think makes British horror unique?
Matthew James Wilkinson: Double Date is first, and foremost a comedy. We weren’t deliberately ploughing horror fiction. I wouldn’t want to create the definition of what is a British horror and what is American but in the past few years, I’ve noticed a shift away from torture porn and towards horrors that rely on fear through atmosphere. People are embracing movies that encourage the audience to use their imagination.
DM: The recent horror movies I’ve loved have been British. When it comes to horror, I think we tend to value realism over relying on a shock factor to carry a movie.
Was it difficult to maintain the right comedy/horror balance when making the movie?
DM: The balance did shift at various stages while writing the movie. Double Date is a comedy at heart, so we wanted the horror aspects to give it a sense of genuine danger.
MJW: The horror represents the jeopardy of the movie. But what I liked most about the script is that it made me laugh, and keep laughing. I liked the characters and found myself wanting to see them succeed. The heart of the movie is what kept me engaged. The horror is the cherry on top but the true entertainment comes from the banter between the characters.
Often a horror is let down by the characters putting off the audience. How did you keep your characters sympathetic?
DM: This was a big thing for me. It was important that all of the characters, even the girls were sympathetic. I didn’t want the girls to come across as two dimensional, especially Lulu who is the just going along with what her sister is doing to an extent. The heart of the move is important. Heart is why I enjoy watching films.
MJW: In the movie, we don’t have any characters who are just there to be kill fodder. What makes Danny’s characters great is that they are all flawed.
DM: Mitch (played by Michael Soccha) is kind of a dick, but at the same time he is also very vulnerable. As a character, he is very loveable.
MJW: We have a scene in which we see Alex’s dad, and it serves as a reality check for the character. They see the ghost of their future reflected back at them through their father.
Throughout the movie, the ghostly figure of ‘Daddy’ is a lingering presence over the girls. Would you say that parental expectation is a theme in this movie?
DM: The relationship between parent and child is definitely a theme in the movie, which came out quite naturally during writing. It can be quite tough for someone to live up to the expectations of their parents. I definitely tapped into some daddy issues that I wasn’t expecting of myself.
MJW: It is interesting that all of the main characters visit their parents at one point or another during the movie.
A pivotal scene in any horror movie is the moment when the main characters realise the danger they are in. How hard was this moment to get right, for you?
DM: It was quite difficult and it was something that changed over years of development and many drafts. I think it is more entertaining that the guys don’t know the danger they are in until the end of the movie, though Jim is a bit more aware. We wanted it to be very believable.
MJW: It was a hard thing to do because the story is quite crazy. It was difficult to get the pitch right so that it could be crazy, and still be believable.
Natasha Kermani is an Iranian-American director based in New York. Her new film, Imitation Girl, screened at Horror Channel FrightFest 2017. STARBURST had the pleasure of meeting her near the venue.
STARBURST: What fascinated you most when writing and conceiving Imitation Girl?
Natasha Kermani: I think I was more drawn to the alien story initially – stranger in a strange world, I suppose. I was also trying to figure it out from the POV of the creature.
Aside from a couple of sequences, the film is less reliant on FX than character. Did the story start out like that?
I have been making short films for a long time and we have a realistic understanding of what can or can’t be done. I don’t think it need effects. I was inspired by films like 2001 and Andrei Tarkovsky’s work like Solaris and particularly Stalker, where one goes through an emotional journey. I also had the benefit of a very talented leading actress.
Which brings us nicely to my next question about your lead in the film. Lauren Ashley Carter is excellent in the dual role. Tell us about your working relationship with her and how you textured her performance?
The key thing was I wrote it with Lauren in mind. We also have been friends for ages and had done other work before this. I like to write with people in mind, something you can do in indie films.
We actually shot both her roles six months apart, firstly the New Mexico scenes with the alien and worked with a choreographer to achieve her mannerisms. I write one to two character notes. I saw her as a curious, good-natured creature. Lauren is also very funny and smart.
The Last Starfighter’s Catherine Mary Stewart makes a welcome appearance in Imitation Girl. How did you come to cast her?
Well, Catherine and Lauren have been friends for years and previously did a TV movie together.
The locations play a huge part in the film. Where did you scout before making your final choices?
New York was always going to be New York and we had valuable knowledge. We landed on New Mexico, partly because myself and my producer Forrest McClaine have family there in Albuquerque. The weather was unreliable. I have a love of westerns and wide shots where anything can happen.
We worked with the Zia Puerblo, a native tribe and they were instrumental in getting a lot of the locations we wanted.
You are New York based. How has living in the Big Apple shaped your life and career?
It informs everything about who I am. I grew up in Brooklyn and upstate New York. The city gives me a positive outlook and every time I step out of my house I love the fact millions of people there are making it work.
What was the budget and how long did it take to set up the film?
It was micro-budget and we shot in nineteen days.
Julianna is a very conventional female character in the underworld she inhabits. Did she start out like that?
Yes, she did. She’s a character who wants something, but feels she missed the boat and is determined to get it back
Finally, you have a tender sex scene in the film. How did you and the actor’s prepare?
Sex scenes are the least sexy to shoot and are very technical. Sex is part of the female experience and it’s meant to be romantic. It’s a sensory experience. The shoot was very technical and took about eight takes, which is more than the average of three I do. You shoot what you need. You have to prepare and Lauren was very professional and prepared.
With the second season of The CW’s time-travelling superhero ensemble DC’s Legends of Tomorrow now available on Blu-ray and DVD, we were lucky enough to catch up with Maisie Richardson-Sellers to discuss landing the animal-channelling Amaya Jiwe/Vixen gig, the family feel of The CW’s Arrow-verse, and how important it is for her to be a role model as such a strong female character.
STARBURST: You worked with The CW initially on The Originals, but how familiar were you with the whole Arrow-verse?
Maisie Richardson-Sellers: I’d watched some of the episodes but I’d never really been aware of the scope of the comics. So when I got the job, they sent me a bunch of comics and I was, like, “Wow, a whole new universe!” Since then, I’ve been watching all of them; I love it. It’s such an incredible, supportive group, and I think there’s some really inspirational role models being created for generations to come. I’m really enjoying it.
Were you familiar at all with the comics or were you essentially going in cold in that regard?
I had read the comics, I’d watched the shows, so as soon as I started reading it , I had a lot of room to play with character development, which was great, and I also got to research the comic books that exist for Vixen. So I got to use old tradition for this strong female hero but add my own flair to her, which was great.
Did having an existing relationship with The CW make the process of landing the role a little smoother for you?
It didn’t help as far as I’m aware, I don’t know if they talked about it backstage. I was in London actually. I flew in and it happened to be on the day of the test. My friend was, “Come, come, there’s this great role coming.” I was jet-lagged and was dragged in, and it was a complete secret; I had no idea what I was auditioning for. So I walked in and I did it, and we got on amazingly, it went really, really well. It was only afterwards that I found out the character I was auditioning for. Of course, I said yes straight away. I love The CW as a family, what they’re doing at the moment in terms of diversity and female representation, so I was very happy to get that.
Maisie’s Amaya in action alongside Caity Lotz’s Sara Lance
You mentioned the family feel there. We’ve interviewed several members of the Arrow-verse over the past few years, and it just feels as if there’s this great family vibe amongst everybody and that everyone is just so sincerely supportive of one another. How was it stepping into that environment?
I think it trickles down. Everyone is so wonderful at the top that everything comes down. Everyone’s just awesome. We’re stuck in Vancouver together doing a superhero show, so we spend a lot of time together hanging out. Even in Atlanta or you go to Comic-Con and all the shows come together. So it is really like a family, and a lot of people have grown up on these shows. It’s a very sort of safe environment, and there’s a lot of interaction between the shows on The CW.
You touched upon Comic-Con, and with any show such as DC’s Legends of Tomorrow there’s a huge fandom involved. Was it a bit of a shock to the system to see just how passionate people are about these shows?
On The Originals I played a character who had already been played by Claire Holt, and on this show I play a character who is the grandmother of another character, so I was a bit nervous. But I was really overwhelmed by the positive response; people really gave me this space to prove myself, then they were really supportive. I haven’t had any of the negative side, so as far as I’m confirmed it’s a wonderful experience. They’re very passionate, and I hope we can do the characters justice for their sake. It’s good because it shows we’re making people think, which is important, and it shows we’re challenging ideas.
Your character is the grandmother of the previously-seen Mari McCabe incarnation of Vixen. Given that Amaya has the same powers and genetics, was there anything in your portrayal you looked to pull from Megalyn Echikunwoke’s Mari from her appearances in Arrow and the animated Vixen?
I think definitely for me one of the things that stays true to both characters is their strength and they have this unwavering sense of justice and of right and wrong; a really strong moral compass. So I really tried to bring that through. Then they’re both lone soldiers; they’ve both been through a lot and decided to sacrifice their whole lives to pursue what they think is right. That’s the same with Amaya, but then also she’s got the past to add. She’s a woman lost in time, and I think that’s something that over the course of Season 2 we see her slowly come to terms with as she begins to relax a bit and discover that there is a grey area – that just as powerful as being a superhero is being human as well. In Season 3 we’ll see that going further. It was really a launching pad for us.
Obviously, a key component of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is the concept of time-travel. How much fun is it to have that as such a heavy element of the show?
I love it! For me, acting is about portraying as many characters as I can in as many environments as I can, exploring as many worlds. The fact we get to time-travel means that every week we’re going to a whole new universe, the characters get to head there, we get incredible costumes. Also, we get to kick ass and be a superhero at the same time, so it’s a dream really for me.
Vixen as part of the Justice Society of America
Looking back, what was your favourite part of Season 2 personally?
I think for me it’s the journey. For me, seeing these human superheroes who are very flawed and fantastical go on their journey as individuals but also as a team. It’s the bonding of the team, the individual relationships, and time-travel, and definitely just fighting. Doing the stunts was really fun.
When was the moment where it really hit you that you’re now playing a true bona fide superhero?
It was probably the first episode – well the second episode, technically – where the JSA come in. There’s this scene of the JSA versus the Legends. I think that was the moment. We were all standing there in our leather, a boiling day, and we’re all just running around. I was like, “Okay, we’re basically just adult children living out our dreams.” It was awesome. Then seeing it come to life on the screen it was, “Wow, this is the real deal.”
Finally, is there anything you can tell us about the third season, and how does it feel to now have the chance to serve as a role model for so many youngsters across the globe?
I’m definitely back, I’m back as a series regular for Season 3, so that’s great. And it’s such a honour, to be honest, to play a character that people can look up to. It’s so important to have strong female independent characters who are just as strong as male characters. For young girls and young boys to see that this is what society is moving towards rather than it being purely ‘princesses’ while the males get to kick ass. Also, to be a woman of colour on screen, I think it’s fantastic it’s such a strong role. I think it shows that we’re moving in the right direction, and I just hope this opens the door for other productions to do the same, for people to want to do this and to see the power of it.
Season 2 of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.
Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.
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