director Horror Movies

I recently wrote a review of Resolution, an Indie Movie that totally blew my mind. I have watched it again since and can honestly say it is one of my favorite movie of recent years.

After my review was live, I exchanged a couple of emails with Aaron and both him and Justin agreed to answer a few questions about the movie, their inspiration and what’s in store for them next.

It’s not everyday that you will read about Before Midnight, V/H/S 3, Breaking Bad, End of Watch, Preacher and ScaryMovie 2 in the same article, so enjoy!

First of all, How did you guys meet?

JUSTIN: We were extremely lowly interns at RSA, Ridely Scott’s commercial production company. We were barely interns, like a step or two below that. There’s actually no word for how unimportant our stations were. But we were two dudes making more films on our own, DIY, as anyone getting paid 100,000 times more than us.

AARON: There was an instant mutual respect for each others’ work ethic, which is the pretentious way of saying that we both work so often that we don’t get to go out and meet girls. But yeah, when we met he said he was a writer/director, I said I wanted to be a director/cinematographer, and we’re both producers by horrible, horrible necessity. Slowly a partnership was borne from the depths of hell.

What are the movies/directors that inspired you to become filmmakers?

JUSTIN: We make sure it doesn’t bleed into our work, but, Peter Jackson, Richard Linklater, Zack Snyder, Haneke, Alfonso Cuaron, Danny Boyle…

AARON: I have hilariously big-budget tastes that a lot of people don’t expect, although I think it’s clear from the movies we make that I’m into a ton of eclectic movies. I don’t like any one kind of movie or director, I just like good movies. Verbinski, Spielberg, Cuaron, Jackson, that kind of stuff. Star Wars. Jurassic Park. I had absolutely no scope or depth of experience with movies when I was 14 and decided to become a director. It was more about how fun it was to make stop-action action figure movies than how much I liked watching The Matrix.

Where did the idea for Resolution come from?

JUSTIN: Where I grew up in San Diego the only reason people went into the woods was to shoot guns, do drugs and avoid paying their taxes. Also, a fascination with fringe supernatural phenomenon like thoughtography and Tesla’s dabbling in it.

AARON: Justin wrote it, but I was attracted to the insane, fascinating concept behind the way we shoot the whole thing that is derived from the story itself (that you find out at the end). Also, a character component that I hadn’t seen before. Those things combined and I was onboard.

Resolution is the perfect example of a well-made low budget Indie movie with a smart script and excellent casting choices. But would you have done anything differently if you had a bigger budget?

JUSTIN: Would have wrote a different script at page 1 probably, only in the sense that the budget always informs the storytelling when I write. I realized real quick that no one gives you money to go make unique movies until way, way down the line. It takes a long time to become the Coen Bros., and if you want to do quality shit, hedging your bets, you better write stuff that you believe in that worst case scenario you and your best buddies can just go make it.

AARON: Paid our crew more? We can say with confidence that we made exactly the movie we wanted to make. All our cast and crew members were our first picks somehow, and we just made sure we were making a movie that didn’t overreach our grasp. We have a big problem with movies that look like they’re wearing their dad’s shoes and jacket. If you can’t hit it out of the park 100%, scale back. There’s a reason JJ Abrams’ movies cost a lot of money. That money ends up onscreen.

I really loved the chemistry between Peter and Vinny. Did you put any of your own personality traits in their characters?

JUSTIN: Nope. None. Only personal thing in there is I have thought about forced intervention on friends with substance abuse problems, but doesn’t everyone do that? But if you knew Aaron in real life he’s an EXACT composite of that golden retriever and the wankster junkie friends.

AARON: You find the relatable thing in everyone you direct, or it would be hard to get onboard with them, and the audience would have the same trouble. I see myself a bit in Michael’s self-righteousness sometimes. And I see Justin a lot when I look at terrifying stoic Native American landlords.

Anthology movies are back in force now and with the success of movies like V/H/S 2 would you consider being a part of V/H/S 3 (after all, Resolution could be considered as the ultimate found footage movie)

JUSTIN: Dude we would LOVE to do a segment for V/H/S III. We spend a lot of time coming up with segment ideas just for fun. We’re up to 357 concepts I think. Those movies are just so cool. They remind me of like a rap song posse cuts because genre fans will sit around and argue who had the best segment. And thank you for getting the RESOLUTION found footage thing!

AARON: What an awesome idea. YES, we talk about doing anthology stuff all the damn time.

What movies have impressed you the most, recently?

JUSTIN: Before Midnight, and you know what I saw The Dark Knight Rises on a plane recently and loved the hell out of it. Thought it was ballsy. Dug End Of Watch. And the storytelling in Breaking Bad blows my mind.

AARON: I just saw Before Sunrise for the first time and oh god I love bring in love so much. A movie with such an untraditional structure and leaning so hard on CHEMISTRY and knocking it out of the park. Incredible. Thank God movies like that exist. To everyone that makes movies: make more movies that are untraditional.

Is there a movie that you would have love to make/re-make

JUSTIN: Batman.

AARON: Nope.

What about a book/comics adaptation?

JUSTIN: PREACHER!!!! It’s our bible. Aaron and I would make a profound HBO mini-series out of that. I’m man enough to admit the Jesse/Cassidy stuff in the final book, capped off with the way the Tulip romance is resolved, well, it made me…

AARON: It made us both cry. I called him when I read “the part” that makes people cry. We went and got some scotch together then went hunting. We’re men.

To the studios/rights holders/Garth Ennis/CAA/whoever: GIVE US PREACHER, PLEASE! We will do SO much right by it.

Tell us more about your next project(s)? Are you planning another movie together?

JUSTIN: A whole bunch. There’s 3 written that originated with us and several in development. SPRING is next, but Showdown at the Cataclysm is starting to get some heat. And Strata is always on the verge.

AARON: Whereas RESOLUTION was a bromance, SPRING is a romance. Naturally with plenty of new mythological ideas and genre elements, but the character connection is front and center again. It’s about a man who flees the US for Italy where he sparks up a really natural romance with a girl who we come to realize has something really…really wrong with her.

Last but not least, what’s your favorite Scary Movie?

JUSTIN: The Exorcist.

AARON: Probably the second one.

I’d like to thank Aaron and Jason again for their time and awesome answers. If you wanna keep an eye on these guys, you can follow them on twitter: @AaronMoorhead and @JustinHBenson

If you want to check out Resolution (and you should) you can buy the DVD or watch it on instant video here.

Following my post on Silhouette’s Crowd Funding project, I have exchanged couple of emails with Silhouette’s Director, Bertrand Cazor and he agreed on doing an interview. Below is the full transcript:

What are the movies that inspired you to become a director ?

In the beginning, there was the desire to tell stories. It started with literature (I have long tried to write novels) and comics (I wrote a lot of scripts for friends doing comics, none of them have made it to tuition yet). The first real movie experiences for me (like many people from my generation), were Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, films from Spielberg / Amblin. I was 10/12 probably, the first time that I felt a real connection with what was happening on the screen. It was simple but not simplistic, popular without being populist. In short, it connected with me 🙂

Besides, having an older brother, I also got an “alternative” art education more rock based, through comics like Metal Hurlant and films for which I was probably too young. Anyway, it gave me a good foundation and I want to thank my bro for that!

Who are the directors that you admire ?

As I said in the previous question, originally, directors such as Spielberg & Lucas. Then, less mainstream directors such as Scorcese (I’m a big fan of Taxi Driver) or Coppola.

As I grew up and started to watch more and more movies, I discovered the cinema of Hitchcock, Polanski, Argento, Leone, Cronenberg, Carpenter and others, but I don’t want to sound like « another tarantino ” who knows any Z-movies.

In addition, I am very fond of directors who do not lock themselves in classic formulas. Let me explain: I love a director with a universe of its own, who has a true singularity. This is why I love Danny Boyle, David Slade, Refn or David Fincher, Aronofsky. Going to the movies to see a formulaic popcorn movie does very little for me! I want to see an identity, even if I end up not liking it!

What do you think about the state of Genre Movies in France

I think we are still at the early stage of genre movies in France. We need to find a way to industrialise the production process without losing our artistic edge. Even if many have inner qualities, a lot of French Horror Movies lack singularity. For me there is a definite lack of research in terms of scripts and of course, the producers are way too cautious.

Furthermore, I believe we tend to follow the american trends too closely, when we should (i’m insisting a lot on this but I think it is essential to do so) work on what makes us unique.

Spanish directors have found their way. You can feel the heritage of spanish culture in the way they tell their stories. I sincerely believe that our culture is vast enough so that we can do the same.

Lastly, we should be less protectionist and try to do more english speaking language co-productions. This would allow us to get bigger budget. How many times in France have I heard people saying : « This frennch movie looks fine… but let’s go watch the american one because we are sure we will get what we paid for »

A new generation of directors is coming and I think things will change. There is talent, plenty of ideas, and enough motivation to get there. There is no reason why it should not work.

You wrote the script for Silhouette as well. Where did you get your inspiration from ?

The pitch came form a need to tackle personal topics. Based on this, I knew also that I had to do a genre movie. But it could have very well be a comedy if I thought it was needed. For me any movies is a genre movie.

The script was much longer at the beginning but I made some edit to get to the current version.

Why did you chose crowd funding to finance Silhouette?

Crowd funding allows a project like Silhouette to eventually become a reality. There is clearly no way this movie would have found fundings through the usual channels with genre movies not considered bankable at the moment in France.

Nonetheless, financing through Ulule represents only one part of the project. We have found some producers willing to help us but we need this funding to be sure we can keep the story’s integrity.

And I have insisted, since the beginning, that I wanted to get our backers as close as possible to our team, through the making of directed by Bruno Cailloux and the daily diaries. This is the least we could do and who knows, it might even create some vocations.

Could this short, if successful, become a full length feature film ?

Even if I’m currently develpping some other features ideas, Silhouette could indeed become one itself.

Keep in mind though that Silhouette was first and foremost written as a standalone short movie and not as a demo reel for a potential full length feature.

So, even if this could happen, I have other movie and even series ideas:)

What are the movies that have impressed you recently?

I’m extremely busy right now ( not only with Silhouette but I’m also directing some music videos), so I don’t have as much time as I’d like to go watch movies in theaters.

But my last shock : Cloud Atlas. It’s not an easy film to get into but I really appreciate the movie’s complexity, which is very rare these days and should be underlined.

I also really enjoyed The Tall Man from Pascal Laugier who, for me, is one of the few French genre director to have found his voice. I’m really glad he has found his public and give me a lot of hope for the future.

I was impressed with Drive as well and this film confirmed everything good I thought about Refn.

Finally, without being great, I like the production system in place for movies such as Sinister and Insidious (Horror within a broken family based on good casting and atmosphere). Those are good movies made for a larger public. !

And in Spanish, I did find Insensible from Medina very well made.

Last but not Least, what’s your Favorite Scary Movie?

It changes, depending on when you’d ask me this question but let’s say that, right now, I’m feeling very close to Polanski’s cinema and in that case, from his underrated movie « The Tenant ».

I’d like to thank Bertrand Cazor again for his time and if you’d like to help him and his project, go to Silhouette Ulule’s page Here.

director

Interview with Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, Directors of Resolution

Interview with Bertrand Cazor – Director of Silhouette