Nate, why not start is off with a visual and
describe the room where you are answering these
questions?
I'm
in the office in my apartment - white walls
covered with movie posters and a gold album that
a friend gave to me. Behind me is a bookcase
filled with DVDs and a rack full of CDs. In front
of me, there is a collection of office and
video-related machines, including, of course, my
computer.
Let's talk about 'Tales
From Beyond'. How did the original
concept for the movie differ from the finished
project?
The
initial concept was for the four writer-directors
(myself, Eric Manning, Josh Austin and Russell
Scott) to direct a series of low-budget
"down-and-dirty" shorts. Each month we
would pick a new genre and all four of us would
shoot our own piece inside that genre, thus
giving us a breadth of experience in a short
period of time. Instead, we ended up shooting one
feature comprised of four interconnected shorts
with a lot higher production value (and for a lot
more money) that took twenty months to produce-
and another two years to be released!
I want to hear
how Adam West came to be involved in the film as
the introducer of the tales?
From
the moment we decided to interconnect the four
stories to form a feature, we had wanted to
attach a name actor to one of the bookstore roles
in order to enhance our marketability. So when it
came time to cast the sequence, we put a notice
out via Breakdown Services (the same service used
by all the major studios and television networks
to solicit submissions from agents and managers),
keeping our fingers crossed that the notice might
resonate with somebody. Since actor\rquote s reps
work off commission, ultra-low-budget films such
as ours rarely generate any traction with them-
there simply isn't much money to be made for
their clients (and, hence, themselves). But we
got lucky! The breakdown caught the eye of Adam
West's agent and she submitted his headshot. We
sent her the script; she liked it and passed it
on to Adam, who also liked it! (On set, Adam
would later pull me aside and tell me that he
loved my words. What a compliment!
And as a devout
Batman fan I need to know: what is something
about Mr. West that surprised you?
He not so
much surprised me as impressed me. He was a
complete gentleman and an absolute professional.
No ego. A complete joy with which to work. And
very spry!
I was reading
something about your making of the 'Tales
From Beyond' where you mentioned the
importance of having a good amount of money for
post production costs. Could you explain that a
bit more clearly for all the filmmakers out
there?
I worked
crew on low-budget indie films for years. A
mistake I saw repeated over and over was that the
filmmakers, either in a desperate attempt to get
the film in the can or in the misguided notion
that they could do a great job on their own for
free in post, would spend all their money on
shooting. With no funds left for post-production,
the film, if completed at all, would look and
sound terrible. So budgeting properly is critical
for creating a good movie.
What exactly was
the process from finishing the film to getting it
picked up for distribution by Anthem Pictures?
We
started off by sending submissions to various
festivals, eventually playing five and winning
two (ShockerFest and ShriekFest, receiving the
awards on the same night in 2004). That gave us
the ammunition to land a producer's rep,
Strategic Film Partners, in mid-2005. It took
almost another year before they were able to hook
us up with Anthem, and then another three months
to work out the details of the contract.
Nate, if someone wants to
pick up a copy of Tales From Beyond what is the
easiest way to go about doing that?
Probably
the best way is online; I've seen it listed on
numerous sites, including Amazon. But many
brick-and-mortar stores carry the disc, too
So if you were
going to make a 'Tales From Beyond 2' what
are some of the things you would do make the
entire film production process easier this time
around?
Having a
film already out on DVD alone should make it much
easier! Ideally that would not only allow us to
raise money to fund the film from outside
investors (we paid for 'Tales' from our own
pockets) but also allow us to shoot for a
significantly higher budget. Secondly, we would
shoot straight through, instead of on nights and
weekends.
You're also one
of those writer/director/actor/producer
guys...which of these three roles gives you the
most pleasure and professional satisfaction?
Directing,
and then acting. Each brings a different form of
satisfaction, so it's tough to name just one.
And other Nate
Barlow projects you would like to give our
readers a heads up about?
I'm in
post on a documentary short entitled Jamboree,
about an extracurricular public school music
program. I'm working on several feature film
scripts that I would either like to direct or
sell, whichever opportunity presents itself
first.
Do you recall the
first movie you saw that scared the shit out of
you?
It was
'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'. Not the
film as a whole, but the scene where the priest
reaches into the human sacrifice's chest and
pulls out his heart.
Okay, we're
pulling the car into the Nate Barlow 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?
'The
Shining', 'Psycho', and the original 'Omen'. As
for concessions, I'm not a big fan of the junk
food fare available at most theaters. For drinks
I would have some fine wine, single-malt Scotch
and good coffee. For food, steaks, elegant pasta
dishes, Mexican, Italian, all sorts of cuisine.
What makes you go
psycho in real life?
Stupidity
and being blamed for things that aren't my fault.
Drives me up a wall!
What scares you
in real life?
Failure!
I'm so drive to succeed that I don't know what I
would do if I failed. And snakes. I was almost
bitten by a black mamba when I lived in East
Africa nd then again by some other unidentified
kind of snake. The experience has always made me
wary of them, albeit fascinated at the same time.
I'm not so badly off that I can't hold a snake
that I know is safe. |