Director / Writer Interview:

Melanie Ansley is waching you.....

At what age did you see yourself as a filmmaker?

I'm not sure I see myself as a filmmaker even now! I think of myself more as having an insatiable addiction to stories, and fancy myself being able to tell them. Certainly my earliest interest in film didn't lie in producing or directing. I actually wanted to be an actor, and the truth is that sometimes the bug still comes knocking.

Did you see yourself doing horror films?

I didn't see myself ever making a horror film until I took a genre studies class in university. I watched all the American classics, like 'Texas Chainsaw' , 'Hills Have Eyes' , 'Halloween' , you name it. And I think this made me appreciate the horror genre more. But it wasn't until I saw the deceptively simplistic Asian horror films like 'Ring' and 'Audition' that I thought I might be capable of making a horror film.

What inspired you to write 'Watch Me'?

I think getting more exposure to Asian films slowly got me interested in actually writing and directing a horror film. I'd grown up in Asia, but I watched mostly comedies or action flicks. My thinking about directing started, I think, when I watched 'Volcano High' at the Melbourne International Film Festival. 'Volcano High' wasn't a horror, but it really blew me away in terms of the quality of films that were coming out of Japan and Korea. I started watching a lot of Japanese and Korean films, amongst them horror. And I think I got really inspired by the Asian horror aesthetic, because it was so simplistic and yet was infinitely scarier, I felt, than the 'Texas Chainsaw' or 'Halloween' re-makes or what have you. And this really made me take a new look at horror, and whether I could actually film one.

Did you get investors interested?

The thought of getting investors barely even crossed my mind. Sam, the producer, and I wrote the script in the space of two months, we were itching to start filming and couldn't possibly have waited through the agony of scrounging up funding. Besides, who in their right mind would fund the first feature horror film of a young documentary producer? We decided to spare ourselves the heartache and just let me have my first go at directing a full length film.

How long was pre-production?

We had a two month pre-production period, where we ran through rehearsals and also bent ourselves backwards dressing various locations.

Was there any familiar faces in the cult horror film industry that came for the audition?

No, we got to meet all new faces. We had some great people show up though. The closest to cult horror to show up was one guy who had made snuff films his area of expertise, so to speak. He started telling us where all the best snuff film sites are, and how we could avoid having our computers tracked by the police when we went on them. To this day I don't know whether he was just in character or that was his real self. He was kind of like a real life Taku, actually!

What did you do for Tanya McHenry's audition to make you convinced that you wanted to cast her as an evil killing spirit from the internet email?

I think it was the combination of her lanky frame and pale skin. That skin, we knew, would look even whiter under a mane of fire-engine red hair. She'd also done quite a bit of modeling so we knew she'd be comfortable with her body, with experimenting with different walks and contorted movements. The great thing was her willingness to undergo make up and hair dye in order to look "freaky". Not many girls are willing to get made over into a demonic or ugly reinvention of themselves.

What was it like working with Sam Voutas as he had a perfect look for an internet scumbag?

Sam was a great asset, and not only for his scumbag looks! His filmmaking background was really invaluable, and because we've worked together so much in the past it was pretty fluid, we knew how to compensate each other. I think he's a great actor, and we both enjoyed letting him out of the director's chair so he could focus primarily on acting.

Can you tell us any details or memorable experiences shooting the film that you will always cherish?

I don't know about cherishing, but I knew that as the shoot progressed Sam Voutas and Frances Marrington did develop a good rapport, strangely enough through their stomachs. Often during dialogue Sam's stomach would rumble so loudly it would get picked up on the mic, and then Frances' stomach would reply! So sometimes it became quite comical trying to do takes when the two leads were having a gastronomic dialogue. We joked that we had 4 actors on set instead of 2.

What was the toughest scene to shoot?

There were a couple of scenes that were a little tricky, partly because of my insistence on doing them in one shot. The one where Redhead appears behind the sheet when Jared goes to replug his computer, for instance, we had to do over ten takes just to get the timing right. But I think for the lead, Frances, no doubt the torture scene was the hardest. She really did have her eyes taped open and her mouth gagged, so that her eyes were tearing and her mouth was numb. She was a tough cookie.

A scene I will always remember is the bathroom scene when Marrington is in the bathtub and so is McHenry as it had to be choreographed perfectly. Did you have to do many retakes as this was a strong scene?

I'm glad this came out as a strong scene. It wasn't so much the choreography that we had to get right as the timing. We needed to make it feel like Tess is in the bathtub alone, and then you drift, drift, drift until you realize that there's someone in the bath with her. It was that feeling of safety and then shock we had to create, and even though it was a large claw foot bath it still took some maneuvering to fit both of them in.

What film festivals did the film play at and what were the responses?

The film's played at the Atlanta, Phoenix, and Freak Show horror festivals, and is due to play at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival later this year. The feedback has come less from the festivals and more from the reviewers and general public who all generally seem to really enjoy the film and get a good scare.

It it being distributed to DVD as we speak?

Funny you ask, because we're in the middle of negotiating a DVD deal at the moment, I won't say who until it's all inked and done. But the goal has always been to get it out onto DVD, it's an entertaining little film that people should enjoy on a Friday night in with a bowl of popcorn and the lights out.

Will there be a sequel? I hope there will be.

I would love to do a sequel as long as there's the demand for it. So if lots of people watch the movie and say, hey, we'd like to find out Redhead's back story, who killed her? Or why the hell is Taku called "freakboy" anyway? I'd be more than happy to sit down and come out with a prequel or sequel. I think a lot of the characters in the film can have a lot more twists and turns.

Its not so much in common that there are women horror film directors or writers like you. Do you hope there will be more of them to show equal rights in the industry?

Definitely. It's a weird thing being a female horror director/writer, if I can call myself that. While there are several women's film festivals out there, a lot of them seem to subscribe to the traditional view of the female filmmaker, as in women should make films about emotions, chick flicks, or dramas and romantic comedies. When you come out with a film where you're slicing and dicing, and there's all this violence and blood, it's a little like you're the mousy, bespectacled girl in overalls and scuffed shoes at the local debutante party, where everyone else is dressed up in frocks and ribbons. You're just not the "nice girl" on the block, you know?

Whereas boys, it's expected that they're into violence and horror and blood and guts. But nice girls, they're just not supposed to like that sort of thing.

Are you making any more horror films?

I'm working on a few ideas at the moment, and hope that after Watch Me I might be able to sort out some sort of up front distribution deal for the next film. Sam and I are toying with the idea of a China set horror, either zombie or serial killer, we'll see which gets developed quicker!

Now for some fun stuff: What are your favourite horror films?

I'd be lying if I didn't include the Japanese 'Grudge' and 'Ring' series. 'Audition' also has to go down as one of the hardest to sit through films I've ever seen! Argento's 'Sleepless' and 'Suspiria' have prominent places on my shelf, and certain Spanish thrillers, such as Alejandro Amenabar's 'Thesis' and Guillermo del Toro's debut film 'Cronos' I definitely feel are amongst the most memorable and thought provoking horrors I've seen. I'm also a sucker for films with any kick ass female leads in them, so the 'Alien' series and 'The Descent' are chalked up there on my feminist fan board.

If you were a legendary filmmaker for one day whether she was alive or dead who would she be?

You know, this is a really interesting question, and not because of who I would want to be but because I really don't know how to answer it. And I think that's part of the answer, that I can't think of anyone because my mind draws a blank when I try and come up with legendary female filmmakers. Historically there's Ida Lupino and Alice Guy, but to be honest I haven't even seen their films, much less thought about being in their shoes. I think that's a depressing but realistic depiction of the drought of truly influential women filmmakers.

But if I could widen the circle to include actresses, then beyond a doubt I would love to be Katherine Hepburn for a day. To me she epitomizes the woman who always did things her way and was completely unapologetic and unabashed about it, in both her personal and creative life. Which even today takes a lot more balls than most people realize!

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Without sounding too cynical, I think perfect happiness doesn't exist, or if it did it would be a type of poisoned chalice. We all need a bit of unhappiness and pain to remind us of what it is to be happy, and fulfilled. So I guess perfect happiness would be sipping cocktails on a sunny beach, but knowing that the next day you're on a plane back to sub zero, urban conditions. That way your enjoyment would be at its zenith, knowing that tomorrow it will be over and you'll be longing for today.

What are your ambitions in life?

Wow, now we're really getting to the nitty gritty! I'd definitely like to make more horror films. Now that I've gotten my feet wet I want to try and make something bigger and better. Outside of that, I just hope I can hold onto the luxury and opportunities to be creative and continue to tell stories, either through film or through writing.