Welcome to the Vault!

Welcome to our second interview of the month for April, 2010. Our featured guest will be Andrew Moorman, director of horror/thriller Sympathy which release on April 27th.

I could tell you how and why I got into making movies, but getting into "the business"... As far as a breaking-in story I don't think I have one yet. Hopefully this one is still evolving. I've been making movies for some time now and have made money doing it, but I have yet to find a way to do this full-time. Nearly everything has been self-generated. I've had stints of working solid and supporting myself with filmmaking, but they're staggered between periods where I can't 'break in' to any formal institution of working this as a profession. Perhaps it's meant to be that way. Some of my favorite filmmakers have never become a part of that institution either, but there's this great documentary on Orson Welles that scared the shit out of me. He's in his final days, big as a house but still brimming with charisma and charm. He's puffing away on a cigar and suddenly says, "If I had to do it all over again, I would have stayed in the theater." The interviewer asks him how he could possibly say such a thing knowing he'll forever be regarded in the pantheon of great filmmakers. His answer, "I've wasted the better part of my life in a room with schmucks looking for money to make my movies." That's the part of being outside 'the business' that scares me. As for the why -- it's simply the only thing I've ever wanted to do. 

I want to use cinema to move people. That may sound cliche' or simplistic, but it's true. After five years of being in LA my aspirations still feel pure. I've had a peek behind the curtain and I know there's a little man back there now (he's an accountant, by the way), but I still fully believe in this thing -- a night at the movies. That's our OZ. It can be a a really magical, transformative experience and I want to spend the rest of my days creating as many variations of that night out as I can. I think cinema is important and I consider the creation of good, honest films to be a noble profession. Movies are a modern-day fire, one of the last remaining communal experiences we can all sit around and share in this ever-evolving age of isolated entertainment. I aspire to tell stories worthy of being told.

My idol is my father. He's a great and respected business man in the community, but more importantly he's that dying breed of American males who woke up everyday, put on a suit, and pounded the pavement. 99% perspiration / 1% inspiration; the real Willy Loman's. He raised a family, kept 'em fed, and was always there on Sunday to throw the ball or help me wax my classic car. He bought into the American dream and like most of that generation, I think, got shit on a little bit. Corporate America crept in and suddenly 25 years on the job and some 25 year old kid is telling him how to do it, but he beat the system. He beat it because the whole time he's got an outlet. He's a practicing artist (musician) and never let his art become a profession, that way it stayed pure. The balancing act was incredible and I truly idolize the way he pulls it off. Meanwhile, I'm under 30 and all outta whack with the balance of art and commerce. Perhaps that's just part of being young. There are days I feel like I'm a red jacket short of being a Nicholas Ray character.
As far as influences in cinema, there's a great deal of them. Influence for me comes from a thousand different angles. Overall I'd place the careers of filmmakers like Billy Wilder, Sam Peckinpah, Stanley Kubrick,Werner Herzog, David Lynch, Scorcese, Kurosawa & Sydney Lumet... these are a few at the top of my list. They have their own unique voice and their filmmaking is uncompromising. There are so many trap doors to fall in on the way to making a film and it seems these masters have averted them all and found the exit each time, which is coming out the other end with the story they set out to tell in the beginning.
There are also a few filmmakers who have created something special, I'd like to follow in their footsteps: George Lucas in northern California with Skywalker Ranch, Robert Rodriguez in Austin with Troublemaker Studios and Peter Jackson in New Zealand -- they've each created their own world where they can have access to the tools they need and work on their own creative terms. That's the ultimate dream, to build your own canvas and paint at will. They also set themselves up to collaborate & aid in the creation of other pieces of work they believe in. All in due time...

Initially I wasn't sure how to label this film in terms of genre, but I'm comfortable now calling it a 'classic suspense thriller.' It's not horror, but it has elements of the genre. Despite being pretty simplistic in scope it has elements of a lot of things. People have thrown around the 'grindhouse' label quite a bit, I suppose because it has a gritty look and feel. I actually like that reference because of the spirit in which those films were made. It's certainly, above all else, a truly independent film.
Expectations? You're gonna see a film that the people who made it really gave a shit about. This film is steeped in the passion of its creators and I think that translates in cinema. I suppose that's why people see indie movies and watch college sports -- there's simply something different when money exits the equation.
That and you'll get tits, machine guns, tons of explosions, a unique 3D experience and a free t-shirt. (I attended the William Castle school of marketing).
As far as comparisons -- I'd never attempt to play that game but I'm really enjoying these magical algorithms that Netflix, Amazon and IMDB use for their "If you liked this you might also like this..." feature. Netflix seems to think we're like The Killing, Memento & Body Heat, which to me are noir'ish mysteries and incredibly flattering films to be lumped in with. IMDB flatters us even more so with Psycho, Bug (for obvious reasons) and Wait Until Dark, which I hadn't seen and watched because of the listing and it's a great Audrey Hepburn/Alan Arkin movie (with one of the best marketing gimmicks in history). As far as Amazon's -- I think it's broken. Spring Break Massacre and Fraternity Massacre at Hell Island... the latter of which sounds way out of our league.

The best part was easily the creative freedom. From the time we had to make the picture to the tools and location at our disposal there was nothing forcing us to move in a direction we didn't like or cease to explore and experiment. As much as I'd like a big crew, 35mm camera and all the fix'ins of a big-budget movie, I'd sacrifice anything to have that freedom.
The worst part was not having a big crew, 35mm camera and any of the fix'ins. We ate Arby's beef n' cheddars, slept two to a bed, endured some pretty horrific shooting conditions and spent our own money doing it. I also HATE not paying people. On this film it was the only way, but there's a big difference between people working for you and people volunteering.
The hardest part was time. It just took a tremendous amount of time to get this film completed because of the lack of people working on it. Oddly enough though, I wouldn't change a thing if I could do it again. The way the film feels is a direct result of how it was made and I wouldn't want it to feel any different. I had a meeting at an agency in Hollywood and they asked me, "You have a million dollars -- how is this movie different?" I said, "It's not. Same movie only we all split $993,500." That agency coincidentally did not choose to represent me.  

Lots. My main objective with the DVD commentary was to give an honest depiction of what making an indie film is like, so there's a good deal of stories on the DVD commentary. Be sure to check it out. It was recorded very late and there was whiskey involved so we were all pretty candid with each other.
One that springs to mind (spoiler) -- we were shooting a scene where Marina's character, Sara, had to have a gun shoved into her mouth. I decided to do it in one long, unbroken take but I had a big concern with it, which was the gun. We had a prop gun, so after a month of everyone playing with it and having epic 'how many times can you spin this on your finger' contests it had lost its danger. Anyone who's ever fired a gun knows that the mere act of holding it in your hand feels insanely dangerous. Having a loaded gun in your mouth would be, well, fucking terrifying, so I needed to do something to reintroduce the element of danger that prop was supposed to represent. The gun did fire blanks, and we had never fired it, so a plan was hatched to setup the shot then all clear the set except for Marina and Aaron, who was going to be handling the gun. He was in character with her rehearsing the scene and then he shot the gun, which I think startled the shit out of Marina. She started to cry, as is my recollection, and we all rushed in quietly and immediately began shooting. No one talked until the scene was done. There's a bit more to the story but I'll save that for the commentary. By the way, reading that recollection makes us sound like a bunch of crazed bastards for what we put this poor girl through. When the profits for the movie arrive I'll pay for therapy.  

A writing partner & I have just completed draft 6,000 of a film that's finally ready to be made. We're going out with it very soon. Furnessville Pictures, the production company I formed for Sympathy, has expanded its collaborating artists pool and I think collectively we can get it made. I want to shoot it in a very interesting, non-conventional way -- essentially on the road. It's partly an American Road Picture in the spirit of films like Two-Lane Blacktop & Badlands that's ultimate a character study, dissecting the relationship between a father and son. It's also about an America that doesn't exist anymore. Then it becomes something very different, as the true meaning for the trip reveals itself. The tile is "Loss of Blood." I'm very excited about it. Very excited.

Horror: I love the older stuff. No genre is better at encapsulating a time like horror because it focuses less on the specifics of an era, like a period piece would, and more on the mood, which for me is how I connect with things. The Universal films of the 30s; Tod Browning's Freaks, etc.. Then the 50s horror films, which I think have a connection to the cultural zeitgeist that still hasn't been duplicated -- Invasion of the Body Snatchers is practically a Cold War allegory. Then of course the era of Hitchcock; Psycho being one of my favorites. The 70s & early 80s -- Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Rosemary's Baby & The Shinning being standouts. I also love foreign horror -- Argento, Miike, Dreyer, etc... And being that I was a kid in the late 80s/early 90s all this stems from the root level of my exposure to horror, which was through Freddy, Jason, Leprechauns & Gremlins. As bad as they are they still have a certain charm to them. That brings us to now, when we're just going to remake everything I mentioned.    
Sci-Fi -- probably the classics: 2001, Blade Runner, Alien, Tarkovsky's Solaris, The Matrix... I really liked Children of Men. I was an unabashed Trekkie as a kid. I'd love to make a Sci-Fi film one day. Space may be the greatest place to conduct a character study. I think Duncan Jones was on the right track with a film like Moon.
Action -- of the three this would be the genre I watch the least, but I do love a good, sophisticated action film. Heat is one of my favorites. The Great Escape, Bullit, The French Connection. I like the paranoid action thrillers of the 70s like The Conversation & Three Days of the Condor. Now is as great a time as any to reintroduce paranoid action thrillers.
I also love martial art and samurai films, some of my favorites being Five Deadly Venoms, Yojimbo, Seven Samurai & Drunken Master. And I'm a huge fan of Westerns as an action sub-genre; The Searchers, Once Upon a Time in the West, etc...
F*ck me I love movies.     

It defined the production. The way the film was shot, where I put the camera, the way the actors felt each morning when we began and each night when we wrapped was all a direct result of that room. It dictated everything. Dead flies in the lights, karo syrup caked in the carpet and the walls, in the middle of a barn that was either blazing hot or freezing cold... It was our four-walled hell. A set with a ceiling, real windows and real doors, we locked ourselves in for months and all slipped into madness. That room changed you the minute you walked in. It represented both endless limitations and endless possibilities; a haunting combination. But in the end it did so much for us. The claustrophobia was very real.  

The cast of this movie was as good as I’ve ever seen from a no- name cast, and  Marina Shtelen really could have a bright future in the business, where did you find these people? Any plans on working with them in the future?

During production -- no. During post production -- yes. Once I got it all in the edit bay and started putting it together I was terrified that the single setting, monotonous color palate and essentially real-time pace would lose the audience. Partially because of what we've been conditioned to expect from movies, which have virtually become strobe lights over loud noises. I feared breaking the conventions of cutting outside the room periodically or deconstructing time would make the film hard to stay connected to for a modern audience. I personally watch more old films than new ones so I'm conditioned for a very different editorial pace and  structure and I also love dialogue-driven films. I watch a film like American Buffalo or Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf and I think that's action packed, but I know I'm in the minority. I still think it's structured really intelligently by Arik to offer those 'big' moments' after being sucked into the intimacy of the characters and their intricacies. Compared to some of the modern-day horror, especially those French films were they virtually dissect their characters for 90 minutes there's little action and violence, but I don't really lump us in with those. On the other side compared to a movie like Psycho or Wait Until Dark we're a blood bath. Trust me though, I was very cognizant of how much dialogue was in this film and how it's more of the cat pawing at the mouse than eating it, but that was the film I wanted to make.

$6,500 got us from concept through creation. That put the movie on a movie screen in Beverly Hills, so for me that's the budget. However after it was acquired by a sales agent and subsequently a distribution company there was all sorts of extraneous bullshit we had to pay for; things like 'Errors and Omissions Insurance' that cost as much as the film did. All in though we're still under the catering budget for an episode of Will & Grace.
The good news is it's only getting better for indie filmmakers. With this DSLR revolution and insanely evolving technology I'm convinced someone's gonna remake Sympathy in high-def 3D with all CGI characters for the cost of our catering budget. It will be the first movie ever shot for less than a beef n' cheddar and it will look better than Avatar.

April 27th. That's this year. All the requiste sites -- Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, etc... It's on Netflix as well, but once you rent it you'll never wanna return it and that'll plug up your queue. Or you could just illegally download it. It's been available that way for 2 years...No, seriously, don't do that.

We're also all over the Internet --
SympathyTheMovie.com
Facebook.com/SympathyTheMovie
Twitter.com/SympathyTheFilm
Myspace.com/SympathyTheMovie

We may be offering some exclusive special features & contests online
so stay tuned to one of those sites.

Any questions shoot me an email at SympathyTheMovie@mac.com

Thanks, Tim. Keep up the great site!