Emily,
at age 12 you directed, wrote, shot, and edited
the low budget zombie movie 'Pathogen'.
Did you have any sense of the time at what an
amazing accomplishment that was for someone so
young?
At
the time, it just felt like more of a challenging
experience than my short films, but essentially
the same deal. However, I think not knowing how
big the project was became a major factor
contributing to why I was able to finish it.
Having a goal (and not being distracted by the
limitations) was a huge part of Pathogen that I
was unaware of- but now I'm glad it was there.
Finishing Pathogen made me realize how much I
love making movies.
How did you
come to know this much about filmmaking at such a
young age?
One of
the things I've learned making movies is that the
best way to learn is to, well, make more movies.
I always take what I learned with the previous
project and apply it to the next. I also learn
from the movies I watch, and I try to watch as
many as I can. You can never learn too much,
especially with how much technology is changing
nowadays.
Were your
folks a bit upset that you were making this movie
about zombies or are they pretty cool with the
horror thing?
My
parents didn't have a problem with the zombies;
in fact my mom really liked the genre. My dad was
bit concerned with how big the project sounded,
but I kept assuring him that it would be all
right. Of course his doubts were reasonable, but
he was still supportive throughout the process.
So with your
film it sounds like it was mostly your friends
helping you out with acting in the scenes and
stuff. What did you learn about motivating and
being in charge of groups from making this movie?
How did you keep it all together?
Honestly,
being 12-years-old and in charge, I know I wasn't
able to keep it all together all the time. But I
can assure you I learned from that. One thing I
learned about being in charge is that you have to
be confident about your vision, but not bossy or
controlling. Filmmaking is a collaborative
effort, and every job has an important part in
bringing it all together (seriously, it can fall
apart like dominoes). It's important to be
assertive, but in a way that will make people
want to follow you (and not feel like it's
because 'they have to').
If you could
tuck one memory of making that film into a time
capsule to preserve what would it be?
I think
the best moment of making a movie is when you
feel that somehow it will all come together in
the end. For me, it was the scene at the end of
the movie when the main character leaves the
grocery store and there is a horde of zombies to
meet her. We didn't have as many zombies as I'd
hoped for, but my friend Neil brought a jib (to
do a crane shot), which ended up making the final
scene look awesome. Seeing the last shot of the
film (and how cool it looked with all the
zombies) really made me feel like the movie was a
real movie, and not just a bunch of scenes we had
filmed.
What is your
favorite way to kill a zombie?
From
Pathogen? Probably the kill with the knitting
needle to the eye. From another movie? Recently,
it would probably have to be the Banjo kill from
'Zombieland'. My dad makes and plays Banjo, so
it's good to know that there are plenty of
possible zombie killing weapons in my house if
I'm stuck during zombiegeddon.
So tell me
about the documentary they made about you called 'Zombie
Girl: The Movie'. How did that
come about?
The
documentary filmmakers (Aaron Marshall, Erik Mauk
and Justin Johnson) saw my posting on
austinactors.net when I was casting, and thought
the process of a 12-year-old girl making a zombie
feature length film might be a good subject for a
documentary. My family had a meeting with the
filmmakers, and we all agreed that it would be
okay for them to follow us with the cameras.
They're nice guys, and had a very
'fly-on-the-wall' approach to the doc. They saw
me making mistakes, but didn't stop me.
Ultimately I had to learn the hard way, but I
think they were right in letting me make those
mistakes on my own.
What was it
like to see yourself as the subject of a
documentary? Is there anything in the movie you
wish wasn't included or anything you wish was
included that was skipped?
I know I
didn't think a lot before I said some things, and
there are certainly moments that I wish weren't
in there. I know I was trying to be goofy for the
camera some times, and now it's forever on film,
haha. However, I think they did a good job with
what they decided to include.
Have you
always been a fan of horror?
Honestly,
I was scared of almost everything (from the guy
dressed up as Chuck-E-Cheese to Halloween) until
I was 11-years-old. I had never seen a horror
movie all the way through until I went to Harry
Knowles' (of Aint It Cool News) annual movie
birthday party called Butt-numb-a-thon (which
takes place at the awesome Austin movie theater,
The Alamo Drafthouse). I loved watching movies,
but I had never had such a fun experience as
watching 24 hours worth of movies of all sorts of
genres, both vintage and new releases. That is
where I saw the Australian zombie movie Undead,
which made me realize that horror movies could be
both silly and scary. I had been thinking about
starting a feature film, but Undead made me want
to make it a zombie movie.
You've also
wrote and directed 'Party Killer',
which sounds promising. Tell me a little
something about that.
It was
our final project for 8th grade film class. I
don't think it was unreasonable for my middle
school to be wary of a slasher film (because all
the film class' short films show at a school-wide
film festival), so we had to promise limited
gore. This was the year Grindhouse came out,
which my whole group loved. To make the movie
acceptable for the film festival, we decided to
make it ridiculously silly (with a
grindhouse-style), so the bits of gore that we
had to include weren't taken too seriously. We
got away with the project, it came out all right,
and it was a ton of fun to make.
I also want to
hear the details of your latest project
'The Retelling' which again this
time you directed, wrote, and produced.
It almost
felt like a totally different experience than
Pathogen. This time I was working with a crew
(about ten people, eight of which were under
18-years-old including camera, sound, and
lighting), and professional actors. I also
budgeted the film ahead of time, but ended up
having to make the film severely under budget
(only raised $10k, budget should have been $20K).
There were many new problems I had to face with
this project, but I'm very proud of everyone
involved and their hard work. It actually took
three years, while Pathogen only took two.
So when you do
all this - the directing, writing, editing,
producing, etc. What do you feel is your biggest
strength and where do you think you need to work
a bit harder?
I feel
like my biggest strength is directing, though I
have a lot of fun with writing too. I'd like
directing to be my main focus though, and I'm
working on pursing it. Editing might be my
biggest weakness, but it's always fun to put the
footage together and see the scene really come to
life.
Do you have
any other projects lined up you would like to let
the www.racksandrazors.com readers know about?
Right now
I'm working on a horror comedy script.
What was the
first movie you saw that scared the hell out of
you?
This may
be a weird answer, but 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure'
- Large Marge.
Any horror
film you would LOVE to remake?
I can't
think of any off hand because I wouldn't want to
change any of the horror movies that I love.
Maybe a horror movie that isn't so good?
Okay, we're
pulling into the Emily Hagins' Drive In. What
three horror flicks are on the triple bill for
tonight and what goodies are they going to be
serving up at the concession stand?
Hmm, this
sounds fun! I'd have to pick a theme first,
right? I guess it would be teen horror. The
movies: 'The Monster Squad', 'Night of the Living
Dorks', and 'Fright Night'. Concession stand: fun
movie food- candy, popcorn, sodas, milkshakes,
burgers, hot dogs, and vegetarian options.
What scares
you in real life?
Snakes
and spiders. Living things without bones.
Emily, do you
have some long term goal regarding your
filmmaking?
Just that
I plan to keep making as many movies as I can,
and tell good stories.
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