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| That's right, Mr. Frog, you can stroll to the most convenient local theater. No more need for fighting! |
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| Really, so close to human. With an ax. Humans like axes. |
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| Ghost Isopod! GHOST ISOPOD! |
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| Take the bike, Mr. Frog, it's your only chance to make the screening! |
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| Say, are you Yayan Ruhian? I loved The Raid! |
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| Never disappoint the frog. |
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| "Just let me finish my evil painting, and then we'll go." |
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| "Hey, let's look at some martial arts team-ups, Ti Lung." "Okay, David." |
“There was a new school [of pencak silat] that was experiencing quite a boom and I tried to enroll there … now it is called PTSD [Pencak Silat Tenaga Dasar] Indonesia. I finally became assistant coach and then I was summoned to Jakarta to become a professional trainer,” he said.
Unfortunately, he was unaware that his training to be a jury referee (wasit juri) in Jakarta would prevent him from participating in future tournaments. He was only told of the prohibition later when he tried to register for a tournament.
“It’s all right. If I can’t be an athlete, I’ll create athletes,” Yayan said, smiling.
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| Did you hear? Tonight's our last chance to see The Girl In The Photographs? |
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| Dapperly villainous. |
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| Fine, I'll take off my jacket, but only because there's two of you. |
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| Fit is crucial in a duel. |
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| Wu Jing has been framed and imprisoned for fashion crimes. |
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| And then there is Louis Koo. What is he even doing? Do you even recognize him? |
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| Listen to the nice woman with the knife. |
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| "That sounds pretty intense..." |
Brad Miska and I produced the first two V/H/S films together. With those films, we wanted to take found footage, something that felt beat to death as a trope at that point, and find a way to make it interesting and new. With Southbound, we wanted to do the same thing with the actual structure of a multi-director narrative-we wanted to make one world-one mythology with a connected, interweaving story. Brad had been in touch with the Radio Silence boys about it, and I reached out to David Bruckner, and then we had a V/H/S reunion of sorts on our hands.
With Devil’s Candy, I was working under producers Keith and Jess Calder at the time, co-producing some of their film slate over at Snoot Entertainment and basically trying to soak up as much filmmaking knowledge from them as possible. Devil’s Candy was one of the first projects of theirs that I read, and being a huge fan of The Loved Ones (which I learned about from Midnight Madness, of course) I was beyond excited to get to work on Sean Byrne’s film.
Yeah. Drink a lot of water. Really though, every day on set in any capacity teaches you something new. My route to directing isn’t the most traditional, I’ve had a little experience in a lot of different roles, which hopefully informs me as a filmmaker and producer. I think directing was the obvious transition for me after working in the anthology format for so many years now, which is so creatively collaborative by design, and you’re way more involved in shaping the overall vision of the film than in traditional features. Also, working with people better than you makes you better at what you do, it forces you to raise your game. So I surround myself with as many talented people as possible. I’m also lucky to have some really rad director friends like Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun) and Dave Bruckner (The Signal) and Evan Katz (Cheap Thrills) that I can learn from, who have all definitely pushed me at various times to get behind the camera myself. It was definitely such an ‘Oh, THIS is what I’m supposed to be doing’ moment the first day on set in that capacity.
Working with friends, always first and foremost. And you get to collaborate in a way that is not totally available to you with straight features. A feature is really a two to three-year process from development to the release of the film. And there’s so many great filmmakers in genre today. With these types of projects I get to work with a whole gang of talented filmmakers that I respect in that same window. Sixteen, actually, between the V/H/S movies and Southbound, which is pretty crazy. Watching the whole come together as greater than the sum of its parts--these separate visions that we’re helping to bring to screen to make one cohesive narrative--is one of my favorite things about the process. I’d also say I’ve made as many multi-director/multi-writer films as I have because of a love for the writer’s room working in TV, and the entire process of TV production. Particularly with Southbound, we were all coming up with this world together and structured production more like a TV series than a feature. We’d be in my living room once a week breaking story and talking themes, leading up to production. Same thing on set and once we got into the editing process. We’ve probably watched this film no less than 50 times through as a group since the rough cut.
Creepshow 2 and Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, particularly the Michael McDowell segment, "Lover’s Vow." That messed me up as a kid. In the Mouth of Madness is also at the top of the ‘probably fucked up my psyche at a formative age’ list. I probably have way less horror film background than one would expect given my filmography, ha. I was always more of a reader—I grew up on EC Comics, Stephen King, USA Up All Night, and pulp novels. I remember biking into town to the corner drugstore to get the latest Tales from the Crypt, Haunt of Fear, and Vault of Horror issues (I swear this was the '90s, not the '50s). But I tend to be more obsessed with anything that evokes a sense of creeping dread when it comes to movies, like The Sentinel or Repulsion or Picnic at Hanging Rock. I’m also fascinated by the dynamics of female relationships--there’s so much fodder there to mine-which I don’t think is explored enough in modern horror. I guess you can see that obsession in my part of Southbound.
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| Exploring the dynamics of female relationships---with DANGER! |
Complete pandemonium, hopefully? I’m actually really excited to see both of these films with the Ryerson crowd.
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| "Who likes art?" "We do!" |
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| I could use some inspiration... |
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| "And here's the Infernal Panopticon. And there's the guy who chops people up for eternity..." |
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| Don't be fooled by the cute bat head! |
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| Everybody in? Good, I'm locking the Gate to Hell. Watch your tails! |
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| It's like an infernal Pac-Man. |
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| Satan really overdid it on the people-eating. |
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| I don't even want to know what these dogs did. |
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| Bored now. |
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| Tony Jaa and Wu Jing throw down. |
已經係一個好完整的故事,無需要延續，如果拍SPL2的話，我同監製都決定重新開展一個故事，當然要保留一點SPL的感覺，我地選擇左保留他的宿命，他的命運這個主題，重新創作所有人物，係一個屬於的自己版本的SPL，今次我們有很多地方的演員，有泰國,香港，要將2個地方係一個主題下拉埋一齊好似幾好，我同監製決定用命運將２個地方的演員結合在故事中
At first, I told him that I wouldn't want to make an SPL movie unless we had a feasible story. And somehow we managed to put together all the characters and the story framework that you see in the current movie.
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| Tony Jaa and Unda Kunteera Yhordchanng |
其實每個地方的演員都好好，係好出色的動作片演員，當然我們會抽取每個演員特質，或我對每個演員的感覺，如Tony Jaa我不希望他演殺手，但我好希望他似他第一部作品《拳霸》中，單純直接的性格，另外吳京我希望他成為一個未見過的吳京，他以前經常很威風打人的，今次在命運的谷底裡慢慢掙扎上去，今次每個演員我都盡量有一點不同和鮮明的風格放在他們身上，希望每個人都特出
In fact, they are all good action movie actors. We were grounded in the characteristics of each actor or how I feel about each actor. For example, I don’t want Tony Jaa be a killer. I would like him to be a simple and headlong man, just like in Ong-Bak. Besides, I want the audience can see the other side of Wu Jing. He is always power and prestige in the past. This time, I want him down in the dumps and struggling. This time, I have tried a different and distinctive style on every actor, I hoped everyone could be outstanding.
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| Wu Jing, struggling. (Simon Yam in peril) |
一開始我們討論每一場戲的動作和我的要求，當然我們在現場會作出很多修改，有些想法一起創造，有一些場口是我決定氣氛，李忠志在我給我框框下發揮
We started to discuss the operation of each scene and my demands. We have made many adjustments on site. There were some ideas we created together. And there are some scenes were I decided to do for atmosphere, then he developed it.
每個跟我合作過的導演對我有很大影響，因為在他們身上學到很多，好似你們提到的Wilson Yip, Ringo Lam, Johnnie To 他們都對我很大影響
Those directors that I've worked with are a great influence on me. I learned a lot from them. As you mentioned, directors like Wilson Yip, Ringo Lam, Andrew Lau and Johnnie To. They have a great influence on me.
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| Zhang Jin and Tony Jaa. |
拍攝時，語言上都係一個挑戰，但對於我們來說都是要克服的，我想最大的難題是張晉，因為他根本不是泰國人，他要完全講泰文的對白，對他來說是一個幾大的挑戰，我覺得他學得很快，很有語言的天份，令到拍攝很順利
Language is challenge for us during shooting. But we have to overcome it. I think there was a big challenge for Zhang Jin. Although he is not Thai, he had to speak in Thai during shooting. I think he is very talented in language. So it made the shooting very smooth.
This is the most wonderful experience for any man or woman to go through. It’s like a modern Aladdin’s lamp—you rub it, in this case it’s a camera. You push a button and it gives you the things you want. News photography teaches to think fast, to be sure of yourself, self-confidence. When you go out on a story, you don’t go back for another sitting. You’ve got to get it. I have found covering stories as they happen . . . in my particular case I didn’t wait ’til somebody gave me a job or something, I went and created a job for myself—freelance photographer. And what I did, anybody else can do. What I did simply was this: I went down to Manhattan Police Headquarters and for two years I worked without a police card or any kind of credentials. When a story came over a police teletype, I would go to it. The idea was I sold the pictures to the newspapers. And naturally, I picked a story that meant something. In other words, names make news. There’s a fight between a drunken couple on Third Avenue or Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, nobody cares. It’s just a barroom brawl. But if society has a fight in a Cadillac on Park Avenue and their names are in the Social Register, this makes news and the papers are interested in that. I covered all kinds of stories from Murder Incorporated to the opening of the opera to a Cinderella Ball at the Waldorf. In other words, you take everything in its stride. The same camera that photographs a murder scene can photograph a beautiful society affair in a big hotel.You can see Weegee, there in the shadows behind Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler. But unlike Lou, who was all about the body. Weegee saw power in a shot that didn't just include a body or a victim. He saw power in the drama all around. From the same story at Bomb:
I try to humanize the news story. Of course I ran into snags with the dopey editors. If it was a fire, they’d say, “Where’s the burning building?” I says, “Look, they all look alike.” I says, “Look, here’s the people affected by the burning building.” Well, some understood it and some didn’t.Incidentally, you can listen to a recording of his discussion of news photography above, with some of his pictures, here. The Museum of Modern Art has a collection of his photographs. Getty has a lot more. You should go look at them. But let's look at a few.
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| "Saloon Brawl" (1942) |
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| "Charles Sodokoff and Arthur Webber Use Their Top Hats to Hide Their Faces" (1942) |
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| "Refugees from a Tenement Fire" (1943) |
