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| MOVIE ENTRY |
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| title: |
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UNREST |
| directed
by: |
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Jason
Todd Ipson |
| location: |
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California |
| official
website: |
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Asgaard
Entertainment |
| synopsis: |
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When
a first year medical student is
haunted by the spirit of her cadaver,
she learns the cost of medical
school could be her life.
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| runtime: |
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88
min. |
| screening: |
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Film
Program 20 [ refer
to schedule ] |
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| Q&A
with Jason Todd Ipsen |
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| How long did your project take to create, from conception to final completion? |
| I
met Chris Billett, the co-writer
of UNREST, after reading
his script THE OATH. It
was passed to me by a reader
at one of the agencies with
a ?high recommend? rating,
but was a large movie. So
I called him up and asked
if he would be willing to
meet on something a little
smaller.
We got together and hit
it off, trying to combine
the details of Aztec Mythology
with the haunting sensations
of being trapped inside
of a haunted hospital.
Chris wrote the first
draft in about four months,
and then we switched off
back and forth rewriting
and rewriting until we
had a script that was
hauntingly creepy, yet
truthful to the actual
world of medicine. All
in, it took us 2 years
from idea to the film?s
completion.
James Huntsman, founder
of Brownie Films, and
I met up shortly after
starting production and
merged to form Asgaard
Entertainment. We brought
Jaime Burke (formerly
of Twentieth Century Fox)
over and began an ambitious
first year operation in
during which we will complete
four films. UNREST is
the first of our films
released under the Asgaard
Entertainment label and
will be domestically released
this November (06).
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| Where did your inspiration come from? |
I
had heard a story about
how there were 2-3 dead
bodies in cargo on every
flight. Apparently a lot
of the latinos that work
for the airlines were highly
reverent when unloading
the bodies, and I thought
it was an interesting contrast
to medical school where
students were forced to
distance themselves from
death.
When I was a medical student,
the days were so filled
with studying that I used
to go into the Gross Anatomy
lab to do my dissections
at around 2 or 3 in the
morning. At that time, you
could really feel the spirits
in the room watching you
as you cut through the flesh
to expose the anatomy. It
was haunting at first, and
then over time, it became
normal.
The feelings never went
away, but the reverence
did. By the second month
my group would order pizza
and eat it in the lab while
doing our dissections. There
was a surprising lack of
reverence for the bodies.
People used to cut off different
parts so that others could
not study, and I always
thought that was a terrible
violation of the donation
that was made to advance
science. Yet it was part
of the survival mechanism
to get through the reality
of life and death that stared
us in the face. |
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| Is Horror or Sci-Fi your primary creative interest? |
This
is an interesting question.
When I directed UNREST,
I was just coming off of
another horror film, and
was in preparing to follow
with another horror film.
However, I have since directed
a romantic comedy, and find
it to be a much happier
place.
In order to do a good job
at horror, I feel you really
have to be willing to embrace
your dark side. I love being
terrified, but I do not
necessarily love the depression
that horror puts me into.
I kind of approach filmmaking
like pulling teeth. You
don't ever want to lose
your teeth, but you don't
want to leave one rotting
in your mouth either. That's
probably a terrible analogy,
but very true.
I love horror films, but
enjoy being in a happier
space too. |
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| Can you describe a typical day in the process of creating your film or screenplay? |
I
approach my career like
I did my previous career.
In a typical day, not even
in production, I wake up
at 5:30-6:00. I'm in my
office by 6:30 at the latest
so I can get work done before
the daily barrage of phone
calls. In the old days,
I used to get home around
9-9:30, then get up and
do it again. Now I have
a son, so I really try to
get home by 6:00 so I can
have evenings with him.
During film production,
the hours are worse. I go
to bed around 11:00 and
am up by 4:00. This usually
lasts 10 weeks. The actual
process is to wake up and
go over the shot list and
storyboards for the day.
I find that by sleeping
on it, I think of all sorts
of problems that I can fix
before we begin the day.
Likewise, I try and review
the script after a day of
shooting to prepare for
the next day.
Unfortunately (or is it
fortunately), I tend to
rewrite the night before
we shoot, so everyone always
has to be on their toes.
I literally threw out three
scenes on EVERYBODY WANTS
TO BE ITALIAN the night
before, and showed up to
set with entirely different
ones. |
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| Who do you consider to be the greatest horror writer? |
| Probably a cliché, but I'd say Stephen King. He really jars my mind. |
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| Can you recall the first horror film that left a lasting impression on you? |
The
first horror film that left
a lasting impression was
"The Changeling." I was
in the fifth grade and went
to Greece on a vacation.
In the hotel room they played
movies, and I came across
it. I watched it and literally
had nightmares for the next
six months. I wish I hadn't
Recently I went back to it, and it was not as scary given our standards today, but to a young mind, it scared the hell out of me. |
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| Who do you consider to be the greatest 'Masters of Horror'? |
| I think the masters of horror are the masters of cinema. The scariest films for me are the ones that can get in your head. Those are THE SHINING or ROSEMARY'S BABY. Hence, I guess Kubrick or Polanski would be my choices, and not surprisingly they are great in other genres as well. |
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| How many participants comprised your crew? |
| We had a full feature crew. I think 140 people worked on the film when all was said and done. |
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| How many castmembers? |
| There were 14 principal cast members, and then hundreds of background. We shot in a hospital that was filled at times. |
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| How did you find your cast? |
My
producer Julio Bove found
our casting director, Lisa
Hamil. She was a casting
associate on a number of
horror films (as well as
Nick Cassavettes' films),
and was ready to get her
break.
She put a breakdown in,
and we got 20,000 headshots.
She waded through them all,
then auditioned the ones
she thought had interesting
credits or looks. I saw
about 75 of those. I was
very grateful to be independently
financed by people that
were more concerned with
making a great movie than
having a "name." Hence I
was able to cast the best
actors that auditioned,
and I think it really shows.
Corri English, Scot Davis,
Joshua Alba (Jessica's brother)
and Jay Jablonski were awesome.
In fact Jay was so great
that I wrote EVERYBODY WANTS
TO BE ITALIAN for him, so
we've now done two films
together.
My company, Asgaard Entertainment,
is of course a SAG signatory.
As we become more known,
it becomes easier to get
agents interested in putting
their clients in our films
because they know we are
making high quality projects,
regardless of budget. Casting,
like a career, is an evolution. |
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| Can you describe your editing process? |
| We did 11 cuts until we picture locked. I had final cut, but that doesn't mean that you can stop at 1 cut. A director must kill their babies. |
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| Did
you shoot on film or with
digital cameras? |
We shot on 35mm film. Asgaard has so far stuck to a philosophy of doing 35mm projects because film still has a unique look. In part because it is not as clean or crisp. For UNREST we decided that it was important to look beautiful, yet not crisp like high-definition often is.
We skip-bleached the negative after to make it have a de-saturated and stylized look. Though we have now done five 35mm as a company, we are, ironically, looking forward to high definition. The main reason is because of the easier postproduction process, as well as the ability to cut so many dollars out of your budget. It's just a matter of time, and not too far off at that. |
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| If you could choose any famous actors to work with on future projects, who would they be? |
I'm trying to work with Ralph Fiennes on a project in the near future. His agent has promised me a meeting if I will fly to London. I love Mr. Fiennes, and cannot wait to work with him.
Luckily I've got solid representation at this point, and they are working to get great actors attached to some of the projects I'm involved in. However, I love loyalty, and love the auditioning process. So a lot of my actors will be repeats I'm sure. I've done 3 films with a guy named Ben Livingston who is one of the best (if not the best) actors I've ever had the pleasure to work with, and I'll always use him. Same goes for Abner Genece, Derrick O?Connor, Marisa Petroro, and Jay Jablonski. If you know you like and can work with someone, keep using them! I can't wait to work with Corri English, Scot Davis, or Joshua Alba again. |
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