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| How
long did your project take
to create, from conception
to final completion? |
| THE
CELLAR DOOR started shooting
in August of 2006 and premiered
at the Cannes Film Market
in May 2007. If you add
pre-production, numerous
script rewrites to fit a
wide variety of budgets
and fund raising; tack on
another 10 months. |
|
| Where
did your inspiration come
from? |
The
script actually evolved
from a previous vampire
script which Chris Nelson
had written. In the prior
script the first act was
about a guy (Herman) who
thought he was a vampire
and abducts a woman as a
source of food – this
first act was then adapted
into an entirely new concept
that became the feature-length
film THE CELLAR DOOR.
The vampire theme was dropped
and the character (Herman)
became a psychopath who
abducts women and chains
them in his basement to
try and get them to fall
in love with him. It’s
a very twisted sort of love
story. |
|
| Is
Horror or Sci-Fi your primary
creative interest? |
| I
love both Horror and Sci-fi
as they allow for more creative
freedom. But I must say
that as a Director I like
to bounce around from genre
to genre. After you spend
a year and a half on a horror
it’s nice to jump into
a comedy for a while. |
|
| Can
you describe a typical day
in the creative process? |
The
pre-production period for
THE CELLAR DOOR was the
hardest. We jumped back
and forth through a wide
range of budgets as funds
were promised then fell
through, then came around
again, only to fall apart.
But once the funding was
finally secured we developed
a very aggressive shooting
schedule that would allow
us to get the maximum amount
of coverage in the minimum
amount of time.
This creative choice put
a very large burden on the
DP, the lead actors, as
well as the production staff.
We averaged an incredibly
high amount of set-ups per
day. The pace and tempo
of this shooting schedule
was relentless. |
|
| Who
do you consider to be the
greatest horror writer? |
| For
me the greatest master of
horror/thriller is Hitchcock.
In all of his movies you
have incredibly real characters
placed in extraordinary
circumstances. I believed
from the moment PSYCHO begins
that Norm Bates was a real
person. For THE CELLAR DOOR
I wanted to explore the
banality of evil. That a
character like Herman could
live in a nice suburban
neighborhood in any town
or city. For me what is
truly horrifying is that
the serial killer on the
news could live just down
the block from me –
that’s horror. |
|
|
| Can
you recall the first horror
film that left a lasting
impression on you? |
Yes!
My parents took me to a
drive-in movie when I was
six years old. I can’t
even remember what the first
feature was, probably a
family movie, but the kids
were supposed to be asleep
by the time the late movie
started.
However, I just so happened
to wake up during the first
minute of the EXORCIST,
my Mother quickly told me
to close my eyes and go
back to sleep. But I didn’t.
You think the EXORCIST is
scary, try listening to
whole movie with your eyes
closed – that’s
terror! Needless to say
I was traumatized. |
|
| Who
do you consider to be the
greatest 'Master of Horror'? |
| Although
I love movies like “Silence
of the Lambs, Angel Heart,
The Shining and Cape Fear”
– I am a total sucker
for a good monster movie
such as “Jaws, The
Thing, Aliens, Dracula,
The Wolf Man, and The Hunchback
of Norte Dame” |
|
| How
did you find your cast? |
We
auditioned a lot of people
for THE CELLAR DOOR. But
early on we did a photo
shoot to create a one-sheet
to raise funds. Michelle
Tomlinson volunteered to
do that. As we worked through
the photo shoot I saw an
incredible depth of talent
in Michelle and knew she
was my lead female.
James DuMont did a table
read for us early on in
the process. But I didn’t
think he would be able to
play the role because of
his busy schedule, so we
auditioned a lot of Hermans.
During all the auditions
I keep comparing whatever
anyone else did to James.
Then one day out of the
blue James’ agent emailed
us wanting to know if the
project had been cast, because
James was interested. We
cast him on the spot.
James Dumont set out to
create a unique serial killer
– his character Herman
is the guy that lives next
door to you. That is so
much more difficult to play
than just the evil villain.
We have to believe that
this character is capable
of horrifying acts –
but also that he lives in
a suburban neighborhood
where no one would ever
suspect him – it’s
very creepy.
Michelle Tomlinson, who
plays Rudy, had to create
numerous emotional levels
of fear, terror, isolation,
resignation, desperation
and defiance. Sometimes
shooting all those varied
emotions in the same day
– quite a challenge.
What is so wonderful about
her performance is that
even in the moments of weakness
her character has this incredible
will to survive.
I felt extremely lucky to
get the cast I did for THE
CELLAR DOOR. . |
|
| What
is you most memorable moment
while making your film? |
| Having
the cast and crew sit around
at the end of DAY 1 looking
at the dailies and watching
them hoot and holler about
the great quality we got.
I knew at that moment we
had a movie! |
|
| Can
you describe your editing
process? |
| We
did some pretty major restructuring
to the first cut. We shifted
major scenes around to help
propel the movie towards
the climax. The Editor,
Franklin Peterson did a
fantastic job. |
|
| Did
you shoot on film or with
digital cameras? |
Yes,
we shot HD. I was really
pleased with the look and
quality we achieved on THE
CELLAR DOOR. I asked the
DP, Skye Borgman (who I
have worked with on numerous
projects) to push the HD
quality as far is it could
go.
A lot of filmmakers shoot
HD then ask the DP to try
to make it look like film.
We took the opposite approach
- we choose to push the
HD look as much as we could.
The funny thing was - that
while we were selling the
film several distributors
actually asked us if we
shot on film! |
|
| How
many members of your cast
and crew? |
| Seven
castmembers, thirty-five
people in the crew. |
|
| If
you could choose any famous
actors to work with on future
projects, who would they
be? |
| The
first actor who jumps to
mind is Peter O'Toole. Perhaps
because "Lawrence of Arabia"
is one of my favorite movies. |
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