The Creators of LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM Get STAGE FRIGHT!

If you attended a film festival in the past two years or so (including this one), you may have seen The Legend of Beaver Dam, the twisted lovechild of writer/director/songwriter Jerome Sable and his collaborator Eli Batalion.  This crazy little musical blew the roof off the Ryerson when it premiered here at the Festival ahead of the raucous FUBAR 2 back in 2010.

Well, Sable and Batalion are back and are at the helm of their very first feature - Stage Fright - which is set to start shooting right here in Ontario on Sept 6, according to Deadline (by way of Twitch).  Described as a "story of a snobby musical theater camp terrorized by a blood-thirsty masked killer who despises musical theater' (I'm thinking Glee taken to its logical, ultraviolent end), this project is drawing major talent, including the likes of Minnie Driver and Meatloaf.  

If Legend of Beaver Dam blew you away back in 2010, you'll definitely want to check out Stage Fright!

@thesubstream - Midnight Madness '11 Ep. 01: The Raid!

Last night was the opening night of TIFF's Midnight Madness program, and relatively speaking it was a pretty low-key affair, at least until the ass whippings started. Seems that programmer-genius Colin Geddes wants to do something a little different this year, and so far we've got to say that we're intrigued... To start things off he screened The Raid, an Indonesian martial arts film that featured non-stop kinetic action sequences, and yes, plenty of dudes getting kicked in the face. Check out our coverage of night one of MIDNIGHT MADNESS!

Full coverage and reviews at www.thesubstream.com

Machete Maidens Unleashed Intro & Q&A

I'm sure many of you think that if you miss a first screening then you miss all the fun. Here is some video from the SECOND screening of Mark Hartley's Machete Maidens Unleashed to prove you wrong. Some of you will remember Mark from when he was here a few years ago with the Australian Exploitation Doc Not Quite Hollywood. He is in the Real to Reel program this year. But don't let that scare you, Colin was the one who picked it and it is a rollicking good time!





Machete Maidens Unleashed screens:

Saturday, September 18, 12:30PM, AMC7

You can purchase tickets from the official TIFF website.

John Carpenter's The Ward Premieres Tonight!

Whoever thinks that the first weekend of TIFF is where are the action is didn't realize that John Carpenter's The Ward premieres tonight. This marks the first time in NINE years that bonafide genre legend has gotten behind the camera and the third time in the last few years that Midnight Madness Alum Amber Heard returns to TIFF screens. Amber was here last year with The Joneses and blew the Ryerson away a few years back playing the lead in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. See everyone tonight!

John Carpenter's The Ward screening times:
Monday, Sept. 13. 11:59pm Ryerson
Sunday, Sept. 19. 12:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 1

Tickets can be purchased at the offical TIFF site.

Midnight Producers Part 4: Jason Blum and Steven Schneider - INSIDIOUS

This the forth in the ongoing series, Meeting the Producers of Midnight Madness 2010.

When the news broke that the producing team behind the hugely successful Paranormal Activity and the writing and directing team of hugely influential genre film Saw were teaming up to work on Insidious there was obvious excitement from the horror community. These heavyweights of genre cinema decided their partnership together would be best suited outside of the studio system in order to best help James Wan bring his vision to the big screen.

Let me introduce you to Jason Blum and Steven Schneider, part of the producing team behind Insidious.

Jason Blum opened Blumhouse Productions in the fall of 2000. Throughout his career, he has cultivated a reputation as a tireless advocate of independent film, and as a skilled producer adept at securing compelling new material and cutting-edge talent and forging deep relationships with studio executives, agents, writers, directors and actors. Since opening his own company, Blum has produced six feature films that demonstrate his unique taste and creative sensibilities. With keen business savvy, and a sharp eye for art house fare, he is constantly striving to expand the Blumhouse Productions slate of films.

Could you talk about how and why you formed your production company Blumhouse Productions?

Jason Blum WHY -I loved making movies and one of my dreams in life was always to have a single purpose company that does just that. HOW- I spent the first ten years of my career working for people who were very successful and I used that time to learn as much as I could always keeping in mind that eventually I wanted to work for myself.

Looking at your filmography you have recently become a producer in the past couple of years, how did you become a producer? What attracted you to the job?

Steven Schneider I grew up in New York City reading comic books and watching horror movies. After ten years (!) of grad school working on various degrees in philosophy and film theory, I found myself missing pop culture more and more. So I started writing and editing books on genre cinema - in particular horror movies from around the world. But to that point I'd still never thought about transitioning into film production once. Then, in 2002, Roy Lee (producer of The Ring, The Grudge, The Departed, etc.) reached out to me because he'd seen some of my books and wanted to know if I had any ideas for horror remakes. After this initial phone call, things immediately started clicking into place. My long-term girlfriend had already begun a successful acting career, and I just wasn't feeling excited about my dissertation work anymore. So later that year, Katheryn and I made the move to Hollywood, and I've been producing full-time ever since.

I've read that you are a strong advocate for independent film. What draws you to producing projects outside of the studio system?

Jason Blum I like making movies for studios and independently equally as much but the two jobs are entirely different. Making studio movies the Producer for the most part answers to the studio first and goes from there. Independent movies allow the producer only to help the director realize his vision without any other factors. Both are fun complicated jobs.

What attracted you to producing Insidious? How difficult was the financing of the project?

Steven Schneider On the heels of Paranormal Activity's success last year, my partners on that movie (Jason Blum and Oren Peli) and I entered into a slate deal with Alliance Films. (The head of Alliance, Charles Layton, had previously worked with Jason at Miramax for years, so they already had a good relationship.) The basic idea of the Alliance "Haunted Movies" slate is to make a number of very scary horror movies on very low budgets; and to work with amazing filmmakers who are excited to trade bells & whistles for creative freedom. As for Insidious, James Wan and I sat down after Paranormal came out, and as soon as he pitched me the idea, I was in. Loved the concept, loved James' vision for it, and couldn't wait to get started. Fortunately Jason and Oren agreed, and Alliance was totally supportive. Insidious is the first Haunted Movies production, and the Paranormal Activity-Saw combination is lethal!

What for you are some of the keys to making a package to present to investors and/studio executives?

Jason Blum There are only 4: Script Director Cast Budget If your budget is low enough and you script, cast, actors are compelling even now there is money out there to make your movies.

What unique challenges did you face in bringing Insidious to the screen?

Steven Schneider I think everyone involved would agree that the biggest challenge with Insidious was just making sure we could help enable James and Leigh (Whannell) achieve their amazing, ambitious vision for the movie given the relatively miniscule (by Hollywood standards) budget. But with the help of an incredible, passionate crew of true professionals - including Albert Cho, Aaron Sims, John Leonetti, Jeanette Brill, Rick Osako, Annie McCarthy, Jennifer and Tom Spence, Kristin Burke, and all of our wonderful actors (Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne Barbara Hershey, Lin Shaye and many others) - we were fortunately able to achieve it. At least we think we have - you tell us after the premiere!

Insidious screens:

Tuesday September 14th. 11:59 PM RYERSON

Thursday September 16th 3:00 PM AMC 9

You can buy tickets from the official TIFF website

Red Carpet Photos from James Gunn`s SUPER!

Photographer Ian Goring was on the red carpet for the most bat-shit crazy superhero movie you're ever likely to see - SUPER on Friday night! Check it out!

Super screening times:
Monday, Sept. 13. 9:30am Varsity 8
Saturday, Sept. 18. Scotiabank Theatre 4

Tickets can be purchased at the official TIFF site.

Midnight Producers Part 3: Keith Calder - BUNRAKU

This is the third installment in the ongoing series Meet the Producers of Midnight Madness 2010.

Let me introduce you to Keith Calder. Mr. Calder arrived on the film scene as an executive producer for the Midnight Madness film All The Boys Love Mandy Lane. In subsequent years he has also produced such films as "Battle For Terra" and "The Wackness" and is executive producing Walter Hill's next film St. Vincent. Bunraku marks Mr. Calder's return to the Midnight Madness programme.

1) It has been five years since you produced All The Boys Loved Mandy Lane. What changes have you seen in the business side of the film industry in those five years?

In all honesty, it's hard for me to separate my own personal experience from the overall business. When we shot ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE, I was a year out of film school. I thought I knew how to make movies, and I thought I knew how the film business worked. Here I am five years later, and I realize that I'm only just starting to learn how to make movies and how the film business works. It's hard for me to tell how much the film business has changed, and how much of the perceived "change" is just me understanding the film business better. But with my current understanding of the film business, I'll try to answer as best I can. The biggest change I've seen in the film business over the last five years is that it's now easier to get talented people to want to work on your independent film, but it's harder to sell your finished film.

2) Bunraku was financed outside the studio system yet attracted top name talent,. How did so many name actors sign onto the project?

We had a pretty hefty package of material that we presented to actors when we approached them to be in BUNRAKU. We had the screenplay, and a DVD of concept art, previz, and style clips. On top of that, Guy Moshe is obviously a talented and compelling director and the actors were drawn to the idea of working with him on the film. I think that a lot of the actors were taking a big risk coming a board an independent film like this, but their doubts were answered after a couple days working with Guy, the rest of the cast, and our incredible crew.

3) There is always pressure for a film to perform well in the BO and I'm sure this pressure has increased ten-fold in recent years. Does this pressure ever affect the vision of a film? Is there ever a temptation to make a film more mainstream and more accessible?

The short answer is easy: Yes, there is always a temptation to make a film more mainstream and more accessible.

The long answer is more complicated. With every film I produce, I try to make a classic of the genre. It may sound egotistical to say that, but I think there's no other way to be successful in this business. You aim for greatness, so if you fall short you still have a good film. If you aim for "good-enough", you'll end up landing at "piece-of-crap". So with a big independent film like BUNRAKU we took on a huge risk, but we only did so because we believed it had the potential to be a classic of the genre. It's too soon to say if we landed close to our mark, but when your goals are that lofty you start to worry less about "accessible" and "mainstream". "Accessible" and "mainstream" are really sub-goals of "awesome" and "great". If it's great enough, then it becomes accessible. If it's awesome enough, then it becomes mainstream. So yes, I always try to make my films mainstream and accessible, just not by dumbing them down or sacrificing the craft.

Bunraku screens:
Saturday September 11th 11:59PM Ryerson
Tuesday September 14th 10:15PM Scotiabank Theater 2
Friday September 17th 5:00PM Scotiabank Theater 2

You can buy tickets from the official TIFF website

Midnight Producers Part 2: Ted Hope - SUPER

This is the second in an ongoing series, Meet The Producers Of Midnight Madness 2010.

Let me introduce you to Ted Hope. He is a producer that has many years of experience in the film industry and he is very generous with the vast knowledge he has acquired through his experiences.

In the late 1980s, American independent film burst on the scene with the promise of new visions, new stories, and new approaches. Ted Hope was among the first producers to emerge from the pack and one of the few today consistently delivering vital and exciting new work. With partner Anne Carey, Hope is the co-founder of New York production company This is That. In six years, This is That has produced seventeen features. A survey of Hope’s work, numbering over fifty films, includes many highlights and breakthroughs of the last two decades. Ted’s films have received numerous awards, including three Academy Award Best Screenplay nominations.

1) You recently wrote that there are two determining factors on how your films are made: superior quality of the material, and the willingness of the collaborators to make great sacrifices. In regards to Super, could you talk about some of the sacrifices you and your team made to realize the film?

Super was a wonderful example of team work. We communicated our limitations to everyone before they signed on, and with only one exception, everyone recognizes that we were in it together. Indie filmmaking is a demonstration on the interconnectedness of all things. If you go over on the wardrobe budget, it means you can't license the music you want at the end of the day. The cast and crew got this. No one had anything beyond the essentials. We were lean and mean, a rapid Super shooting machine. It was always about the movie and not the perks. The crew had the best housing -- and Miranda, James, and I had the worst.

This isn't the kind of movie that gets made every day and every one indicated that they knew it was a privilege to be part of it. Yet, you can't ask people to do their best work and truly give their all, if such an example of commitment wasn't embraced from the top down. James Gunn's enthusiasm, passion, and preparedness was infectious. He was first to arrive and knew what he wanted. He made his process transparent and was the first to enforce the necessity to move fast. The team organized so well around him that we never had to sacrifice quality.

2) We have seen most of the studio "independents" fall by the wayside recently. It seems to me the film business is becoming huge studio productions and small DIY films. What is your take on the current state of the film-making business? Do you foresee anyone stepping in to replace medium budgeted productions?

It's true that the middle ground has vanished. I feel fortunate to have been able to work at a time and at a pace that I have been able to establish a track record of quality films produced at limited budgets that deliver profitable results. It is going to be really difficult to create challenging work unless it embraces minimal budgets or utilizes audience appealing genres. It is really surprising to me that there are not more companies committed to the space that once was occupied by the likes of New Line & Dimension. With the polarities of content and budget prominent in the industry today, actors are struggling to find roles that allow them to truly create unique characters in unique situations. It is the best time to cast challenging material that I have ever experienced. Good actors need good work. I have been really impressed with the quality of actor-centric genre films from all over the globe this past year, from MOON to HOUSE OF THE DEVIL to THE SQUARE to THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED to THE PROPHET to ANIMAL KINGDOM. These are awesome films with real audience appeal, albeit not at the largest numbers but at defined, easy to reach, internationally appealing strands. There is good business to be done, and new technologies to deliver it. Once folks on all sides realize where we really are right now, audiences are going to experience a golden age of great work.

3) You have also written that "being a film producer requires abandoning the concept that you work for a living." Could you elaborate on this?

I was very fortunate to start producing when I did in the late '80s. The business had changed and the mainstream infrastructure failed to acknowledge it for almost a decade. I benefited for fifteen years by that oversight. The film business has changed again, but our methods, models, and work still is based on practices of many years ago. We are not living and working in the present. Our work currently is not able to extract it's full value from utilizing the current practices and platforms. Because film is currently a capital intensive growth-focused industry, we will forever be experiencing boom and bust cycles, and the tragedies that come with it. Those that have the capital generally establish footholds and gates that allow to maximize earnings from the labor and art of others -- they take the risk and reap the benefits as a result, or at least that's the structure of the world we work in. Creators and artists are first concerned with getting their work made; this desire makes them vulnerable and they are exploited. Early on, I was asked whether I was a filmmaker or a businessman. I thought I could be both, but when you care first and foremost about your film, you are willing to make great sacrifices to get your movie made. I work to get my movies made -- and still can earn a living doing that. IMHO, movies are too hard to make well to make anything other than what you care about. Once you reveal you care, you are open to being exploited, even by your partners. Even if I am not being fairly compensated, I am still happy to be able to support myself and all the others I employ, by working at creating movies I am passionate about. I would shoot myself if I had to create the crap that is generally passed off as entertainment these days, but you can earn a living producing it! At least, I still have that choice!

SUPER screens:
Friday, Sept. 10 11:59pm Ryerson
Monday, Sept. 13 9:30am Varsity 8
Saturday, Sept. 18 6:00pm Scotiabank Theatre 4

You can buy tickets from the official TIFF website

Midnight Producers Part 1: Peter Block - JOHN CARPENTER'S THE WARD

This is the first in an ongoing series, Meeting The Producers Of Midnight Madness 2010.

Don't let the big name talent fool you, the ten films that make up this year's Midnight Madness programme have all been made outside of the traditional Hollywood studio system. These ten independent features have all faced their own challenges and the standard ones of not enough time and not enough money. I recently had the opportunity to pose questions to the producers of the films so please follow me as we Meet the Producers of Midnight Madness 2010. Let me introduce you to Peter Block.

Mr. Block, formerly was President of acquistions and co-productions of Lionsgate. In 2008 he formed A Bigger Boat productions in order to produce and distribute genre films and television.

1) What did you learn from being the President of Acquistions & Co-Productions at Lionsgate that informed your decision to form your own production company A Bigger Boat in 2008?

What I had learned in my time at Lionsgate, and as far back as the early '90s when I found that a company could actually exist on a slate of straight to video horror titles, and sometimes you discovered fantastic new directors, such as Guillermo del Toro, "Cronos" and Peter Jackson "Dead Alive". I also learned that the horror audience was vibrant, dedicated and social. Whether the films were good or bad, was often not nearly as important as whether there was a great death scene, or even a really bad line-reading. The audience showed up again and again and shared their experiences with one another.

By 2008, I had spent the better part of a decade at Lionsgate, and had been able to chart its course into the genre world from the arthouse circuit; I can still recall the great conversation when we were able to convince Chairman Jon Feltheimer that (a) "House Of 1000 Corpses" really was an arthouse movie (perhaps one for an outhouse crowd), and (b) that he should never watch it. So began a great trajectory beginning with "Cabin Fever", right here at TIFF, which allowed us to not only play in the genre sandbox, but to dig deep for hidden gems that other studios wouldn't touch, like "Devil's Rejects", "Hard Candy" and "The Descent". After spending time finding and producing commercial (Saw, Crank, Open Water) and critical (Crash, Girl With A Pearl Earring, Fido) successes for the company, I had a chance to fully delve into the indie producing world, while at the same time further exploring some of my genre sensibilities. There were stories I was still interested in telling, and directors (like genre-fave Adam Green, new-comers like Mark Tonderai and the legendary John Carpenter) that I wanted to work with. Plus, in A Bigger Boat, I already had a great company name picked out and, with the help of my pal Tim Williams, a fun animated logo...

2) The Ward was made outside of the studio system, what were some of the unique challenges this presented?

The Ward was made outside of the studio system for a variety of reasons. Firstly, we (my partners at Echo Lake Productions, and I) wanted to entice John Carpenter to direct the movie, and we knew John was partial to his independence (we found out later that that sentiment extended to "from producers" as well!). Secondly, the industry was changing. Studios were less interested in lower budgeted genre fare, in favor of tent-pole releases with name stars to drive ticket sales, and with it corporate earnings and stock prices. Along those same lines, most studios are more interested in keeping cost commitments as low as possible, preferring to explore co-production ventures, off-balance sheet financing, and pursuing post-production acquisitions over pre-production financial commitments.

So, while no studio came aboard before we made The Ward, it did open up some possibilities elsewhere. Many foreign territories have distributors with output deals with different Hollywood studios, and their offerings reflect largely what the studio feeds them. So your film doesn't always end up with the right distributor overseas, but rather the one with whom the studio has a pre-existing relationship. We got to approach each territory separately, and our foreign sales partner --- Glen Basner's FilmNation --- did a masterful job setting us up with enough pre-sales overseas --- to distributors excited at the prospect of a new John Carpenter film --- that we were able to finance the movie, albeit with less than John or we hoped. And so began the search for where to shoot, a decision complicated by the ever-changing exchange rate of the U.S. Dollar. So initial explorations of Toronto and Winnipeg eventually gave way to a terrific team in Spokane Washington, which had an unknown production team but a great tax rebate program. But in then end, it all comes down to not the elements you don't have, but the quality of the ones you do, and we have a great story, a camera-friendly and talented cast, and a director who knows a thing or two about the art of the scare. I'd say we're doing ok.

3) I recently spoke with David Cronenberg and he said that in today's climate your past track record does not matter anymore. Each film has to be tackled as though it was your first project. You yourself have an impression track record, how are you finding the business of raising money for a project?

I think David's right in some regards, but let's not forget: he's David Cronenberg, and he's done some of his most outstanding work lately with "Eastern Promises" and "History Of Violence". So I could disagree and say his body of work makes him ever-relevant, and at the same time his recent work is so strong that anyone would love to have the opportunity to be involved with a new project. But overall he's correct and it's as much a function of the "what have you done for me lately?" mentality as it is a matter that studio needs (and studio personnel) are ever-changing, coupled with the collapsing of industry windows and revenue streams.

Moreover, movie years are like dog years: by the time your movie gets made, released and finds it's way to a studio (non)profit statement, another 600 films have come and gone through theaters, to say nothing of those that bypass theatrical altogether. By the time you want to make a follow-up to your movie, the first one has been released and critiqued, amortized and analyzed, and most likely already replicated enough times so that's it's either deemed a classic or already forgotten. And all of that is further enhanced by the fact that everyone's always looking for a reason to say "no"; rarely does anyone get fired for not green-lighting a project, but the corollary isn't always true. So you've got to make sure your successes are recent enough to stay relevant in an ever-changing marketplace, and you've got to have a package that demands a "yes" when both economics and job preservation dictate otherwise. In other words, I'm no longer the guy responsible for "Saw" or "Open Water" or "The Descent"; I'm just the guy who this year made "Frozen" and The Ward and released "The Disappearance Of Alice Creed". And I'm hoping I can still get the director of "Scanners" on the phone.

John Carpenter's The Ward screens:

Monday, Sept. 13. 11:59pm Ryerson

Sunday, Sept 19. 12:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 1

You can buy tickets from the official TIFF website

LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM's director + co-writer, Jerome Sable!

I'm glad to see that The Legend of Beaver Dam is starting to get some mainstream coverage before its premiere at Midnight Madness this week and I can't wait to see the reactions this awesome little film is going to garner from the always-rabid Midnight audience. I had a chance to chat with the director and co-writer of this bloody Canadian rock horror opera, Jerome Sable to find out a little more about the film.

Jerome Sable: director & co-writer of The Legend of Beaver Dam

Q: Can you talk about how the script for Beaver Dam came about and if/how it evolved over the course of production? A lot of the dialogue comes off very naturally - was anything improvised?

A: Batalion and I were batting around the idea for a horror musical for a while. One day, we were talking "What if's" and we thought, "What if the ghost story being told around the campfire actually came true?" So we thought that could be interesting-- and of course we added, "And what if, when the ghost arrived, he terrorized everybody through heavy metal?" But yeah, your question about the dialogue is right on-- since Seán Cullen is so good at improv, we made sure to do a few takes where he just let 'er rip, and that obviously ends up being the stuff we use in the film.


Q: How hard was it to work with someone with an ego the size of Sean Cullen’s? What's he like on set?

A: That's like me asking you, "How long have you been asking trick questions in your interviews?" or better yet, "How long have you been beating your wife?" Oh-- I guess that's not fair, since technically you guys aren't married. WTF? I love Seán Cullen. Batalion and I both are huge fans, and we were flattered to work with him. The guy's a musical comedy powerhouse. The hardest part about working with him is adding the accent on the "á" in his name for our press release.


Q: Was Cullen always in mind for the lead? What was the casting process like for the role of Danny, and what made you land on LJ Benet in the end? Is it true that the actors that didn't make it were summarily sacrificed to Stumpy Sam?

A: Cullen was indeed our Pathmaster of choice. He was attached to the project before we even got the funding, and he's a big part of the reason this thing got made in the first place. The casting process for Danny was exciting because we got to work with the amazing casting director Laura Adler, who brought us the cream of the crop of young talent in L.A. We had kids coming in who blew us away (the lead kid from the Lion King on Broadway, for example), and it was tough competition! We were thrilled to be able to cast L.J. Benet in the end. Actually, it was dicey at first because L.J. also had the lead in Seussical the Musical the same weekend but they got his understudy to fill in for him. L.J.'s awesome-- love that kid. And as for Stumpy, well, we auditioned tons of actors and even lead singers of metal bands for the role, but no one came close to Rick Miller. This guy's a heavyweight vocal talent, and he can literally do anything with his voice. All we said was, "Hey, can you give us Robert Plant and Robert Englund at the same time?" and yyyyiiieeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh-- Stumpy's pipes were born!


Q: Legend of Beaver Dam is one of the more high-profile shorts to premiere at TIFF in recent memory. What’s it like to be walking the red carpet at Midnight Madness as a short film director?

A: Truly flattered and honoured-- I mean, really. Batalion & I both are fans of nearly everybody we're now billed alongside-- it's preposterous, really. We are indebted to Colin & Magali & Alex and everybody at TIFF who are giving us this 15 minutes of fame-- or 12 minutes, actually. Okay 10, plus the credits.


Q: What made you decide to do this film as a musical and what were the biggest challenges?

A: Batalion & I are both musicians and composers and most of our stuff is musical. The biggest challenge for this one was doing production vocals live, on location, in the woods. We really wanted a live sound from the actors, and so they wore ear-wigs (wireless inner-ear monitors) and belted it out take after take. They really gave it their all. Also shoutout to Kyle Riabko, the prodigy blues guitarist from Saskatoon who shreds like it's nobody's business on the soundtrack. He's played on stage with guitar icons like B.B. King since he was 12 years old, and he was nice enough to hop on the Beaver train for an afternoon and share his magic with us. That sick guitar solo during the end credits? That's Riabko wailing.


Q: Is it true that Cullen despises children and that his eagerness to do this project sprung from that sentiment?

A: Yes.


Q: What was your inspiration for the look of Stumpy Sam? Were there any other horror films that inspired this movie?

A: Absolutely--the whole fun of this story was we were mixing every urban legend villain we could--Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Candyman, Beetlejuice, Bogeyman--so we were inspired by everything and everyone. We worked with special effects makeup wizard Hugo Villasenor (who had just come off J.J. Abrams' Star Trek), and, since we were on such a shoestring budget, we "frankensteined" the makeup from different prosthetic labs around town. Hugo is a perfectionist, though, so he first designed it on a dummy head and we tweaked it until it was just gross enough.


Q: Is there anything else you're looking forward to at Midnight Madness or the Festival in general?

A: Everything. The MM lineup looks sick this year. Everything looks amazing. In fact, I've made them all into one movie in my head, like a mnemonic device, so I don't forget about any of them: The Super Insidious Chef and his II Vanishing Red Buns Stake The Ward.


Q: Where are you planning to take the film after TIFF?

A: We're on a lucky streak-- honoured to be in Austin Fantastic Fest, Sitges. Everything will be on our online promosexual feed: The web: http://stumpysam.com FB: http://facebook.com/stumpysam Twitter: http://twitter.com/stumpysam


Q: Anything else you'd like to say to Midnight audience to prepare them for Legend of Beaver Dam?

A: Um... stick around for Fubar? No seriously-- we can't wait for Fubar, especially since our good friend Terra Hazelton is in it. Shoutout to Terra! Wooohoo!!!! Okay I'll stop now.


Q: And finally, out of anyone you worked with on Beaver Dam, which two people would you pick to be joined to you in a Human Centipede?

A: Okay dude, seriously? You just caused a bunch of sick thoughts to cross my mind. But fine. Let me dignify that with some kind of response. Hmm.... That would probably have to be my co-writer Batalion and picture editor Nick Musurca, since, after all that time cooped up in the small confines of the cutting room together for weeks, ingesting and digesting Panda Express in close quarters without ever getting a breath of fresh air, well... it wouldn't be that much of a change. And if there's anything I fear more than demented German surgeons, it's change.

The Legend of Beaver Dam shows ahead of Fubar II

Thursday September 9 11:59 PM RYERSON
Saturday September 11 12:00 PM VARSITY 8

You can purchase tickets from the official TIFF website.

Fighting Words From Bunraku's Men of Action

Clayton Barber and Larnell Stovall

In digging to find out some more about the genesis of Bunraku, which has its World Premiere at The Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday September 11th, I tracked down the film's Stunt Coordinator Clayton Barber and Fight Choreographer Larnell Stovall and posed them some questions.

Clayton Barber - Stunt Coordinator:

How did you get involved with Bunraku?

CB: I first got involved by meeting Guy Moshe through a mutual friend, we met at a bar, and we started talking about film; more specifically the films of Jean Pierre Melville, Takeshi Kitano, Sergio Leone and Akira Kurosawa, and that’s what lead to this thing. He had this script he’d been working on, I read it, and I said wow, great story, it had everything I was looking for- it had a lot of action, and I was an action guy. As our conversations progressed, we would study everything we could, and that’s how my journey began on Bunraku.

Everyone involved from the top down, brought a vision, and I tried to keep the integrity of that that vision, the best I could, and hopefully I did a good job. You do the best you can, and you’ll make some mistakes, but in the end you’ll usually come out okay.

GACKT draws his blade in Bunraku

What was the biggest challenge in Bunraku, and did it's unique story setting work for or against the stunts?

CB: The biggest challenge was the amount of action in the film, we had over 20 something fights, some small some big, but also within the world that Guy created because he was very specific that each fight would have its own story, the fights have a very certain rhythm. He was keen on trying to find a uniqueness in each fight. Guy was very specific, he wanted them to be very minimalist but impactful. In his philosophy: less is more. Not over gratuitous action for action sake, he wanted make sure the moves had meaning. We watched films like Hidden Fortress, all the Kurosawa movies, Sergio Leone, just to get inspiration for rhythm and tone, and stillness of the frame and I think at the end of the day, we might have pulled it off.

Were any of the actors particularly Gung-ho about doing their own stunts on this film, and do you ultimately have to say "no" to overzealous actors on some occasions?

CB: Always you’re going to have that moment- but 95% of the time, I had all the actors do it. And I requested that of them, because it takes away from the reality of the picture if you use a double. Moves are moves until you put them into a story, so we wanted to train them for the specific moves for our story and allow them to express themselves within that context.

On this movie I was very adamant that Josh Hartnett, GACKT, Woody Harrelson and Kevin McKidd did their own action.

All the actors were very game on trying to do their own stunts as much as possible, and this was a plus in doing the film.

Josh was willing to train even before the movie, GACKT was training in Japan before he took off to Romania. We put them both through hardcore programs before they even got to set. Guy wanted the actors to do most of their own fighting and stunts, just like the classical films we referenced, for example Toshiro Mifune was doing his own stunt work, he had a physicality and Guy wanted that with his principals. A lot of the fight scenes felt like musical numbers; so a lot of it feels like we are on a stage. We'd nitpick segments to try and enhance them, but we still wanted to make sure we dealt with each piece as a whole, so we could film it as a whole.

Part of our method was there was no right or wrong way, just “a” way, and we listened to the actors, to their notes, how they saw the character and really tried to give them lee-way to add to the creative process behind the scenes. But ultimately, every single move, every nuance, came from Guy’s vision. He was very involved in the choreography, which is a rare thing. He would act it out, say this is what I want. That was a blessing, because he brought a very specific vision to the action. The action to Guy was the movie. Guy was a conductor and this was a musical, and the musical numbers were the fights.

If you're in this business, you must have nerves of steel! What type of stunt tends to give you the biggest rush?

CB: Difficult question. It’s hard to pin point a particular stunt. Every stunt is dangerous. All the injuries happen wen you’re doing the really the simple things, take nothing for granted. The biggest things you sweat the most, but they mostly turn out okay, because they are well prepared. Sometimes when you try to make something up on the spot, are rushing, are not planning, and wing it, that’s when you get nipped in the wing. We made it through Bunraku with no major injuries at all. The gods were in our favor and I was happy.

Josh Hartnett sends GACKT flying in Bunraku

Larnell Stovall - Fight Choreographer

LS: On Bunraku you had to tackle an enormous amount of fight scenes-- how do you break it down and keep it creatively fresh?

I remember during the 1st day of rehearsals Clay brought out a sheet of paper, no, make that 3 sheets of paper and they were ALL filled from top to bottom with each fight that needed to be choreographed. Although I did read the script, seeing the actual number of fights (I think 28 overall) in front of me all I could do was laugh hysterically and Clay soon joined in thereafter laughing at the task ahead of us.

I am grateful that Guy Moshe only had a few request every now and then which made me become more confident with what we were doing and in my ability to create fights that line up with the directors vision which is very important to me. This was in early 2008, well before I was known as a fight choreographer due to Undisputed 3 and the MK Rebirth short so it was important that every fight was a crowd pleaser yet remained true to the story being told.

Undisputed 3: Redemption (Larnell Stovall - Fight Choreographer)

To answer your other question though, we had a fantastic team that helped me with the fights also. With the script being so well written it was actually pretty easy to keep the fights feeling fresh due to the settings and styles each character had.

With MMA becoming more and more mainstream, and the audience becoming more and more aware of this, how does it affect the fight choreography - Do you find that mixed martial arts is replacing single style fight disciplines in films?

LS: Well MMA does affect how the audience views movies now unless its fantasy/superhero genre/sci-fi etc. It all depends on the script, every action/fight movie does not have to cater to the MMA audience but if its in the script then it has to be respected and brought to life in the safest most entertaining way possible. There is still room for movies like Bunraku that go against the grain when it comes to action/fight scenes, if I am correct there is barely any MMA in it at all maybe a few locks here and there. I hope there is a sequel, can’t wait to see what Guy comes up with next for the world of Bunraku.

What aspect of your job do you enjoy the most?

LS: I enjoy the challenge of coming up with unique fights or putting story points in a fight that did not exist in the script (if I have the liberty to do so). In most fights you start not to care who wins due to you don't feel invested in the actual fight. It feels bland or random moves are thrown in there to try and wow the audience or impress your peers. There needs to be a story, a turning point, something where the audience enjoys the ride and there is a payoff, then the fight has value and remains memorable.

How is Mortal Kombat: Rebirth doing now? Looks amazing, any news?

LS: Thanks, Kevin Tancheron did an amazing job with that short. I am honored that I was a part of it (I think its at over 12 million combined hits now) and I hope when its time to do the actual film the fans and non fans will be pleased. Currently there is no news on that right now, I'm sure there's a lot happening behind the scenes but I probably wont become involved with it until its time to create the fights again. Whenever it goes I hope J.J. Perry is available because he was the reason I became involved with MK Rebirth to begin with. He was busy on another project when Kevin contacted him and he recommended me to step in on his behalf.

Questions for both Larnell Stovall and Clayton Barber:

How did you two start working together?

LS: I think Bunraku is our first project where we actually worked together. I knew of Clay because the stunt community is very small in L.A. and most of the martial art stunt guys know each other. If I remember correctly Clay came to the 8711 facility and watched me Choreograph fight scenes for a test shoot on an underground comic book character by the name of "ROMP", shortly thereafter he asked me to read the script for Bunraku. After reading it, I immediately wanted to be a part of it, although I had no idea he would trust me to choreograph this huge undertaking of a movie.

CB: Ditto. (laughs) I concur! That would be the story and I’m sticking by it. Bunraku was our first pro endeavor together. I saw him working in the gym, had been talking Guy for a year before that, and I mentioned we’d need a wonderful fight co-ordinator. What struck me about Larnell is that he had a unique passion, a plethora of film knowledge, and I thought this guy’s got it, and I knew he could compliment what we were doing, and it was a good break for all of us, it made our team full circle.

Josh Hartnett lands a flying punch in Bunraku

What's the most profound career advice you ever heard, or have you come up with your own mantras to succeed in this tough field?

CB: Take any job and every job, because no job is above or below you, it’s just a job and the goal of a stunt man is to work, and you must have gratitude to the little jobs because they are what get you the big jobs.

LS: I have heard many things and received some great advice but at the end of the day I simply say put your trust in God not in man and be prepared for the many challenges you will face in this industry.

I saw on imdb that you both did stunt work in the endlessly hilarious Black Dynamite -- is there any film where we can watch you fight each other?

LS: Yeah that was a great film. Michael Jai White did a great job on that, and I hear there will be a part 2 soon. Oh, you can see Clay and I fight as soon as we get our next film together and have a disagreement.... (laughs) Currently we both are enjoying being behind the scenes and creating opportunities for others to prosper and express their gifts/talents on screen.

CB: (laughs) And I can’t wait for that next film. It was a blessing working with Larnell, we are in the process of trying to open up new avenues, and I hope to keep working with him, keep creating. You’re only as a good as your last job, you’re as good as your team, we have a great team, and hopefully we can keep it going.

Bunraku Screening times:

Saturday, Sept. 11. 11:59pm Ryerson

Tuesday, Sept 14. 10:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 2

Friday, Sept 17. 5:00pm Scotiabank Theatre 2

You can purchase tickets from the official TIFF website.