At what age did you see yourself as a filmmaker?
Before
puberty. Fangoria Magazine brainwashed me into
thinking this would be cool. Damn them. How many
lives have they ruined!
What was your first horror film?
The Howling. My dad was a hairy
man. He sat next to me and breathed deeply and
gnashed his teeth during the transformation
scene. I really thought he was going to turn into
a wolf man and eat me! I was five. What a jerk!
What inspired you to make 'Zombeak'?
I saw
a weird chicken at a petting zoo that all the
other chickens were afraid off. He seemed to be
clucking to himself and twitching like he was
hearing voices. He was ostracized from the
others. I thought it looked like that chicken has
some bad demons.
What is the story all about?
Rednecks vs. Satanists vs. a
Satan possessed killer zombie chicken! Its
a metaphor for the US occupation in IRAQ.
Which familiar actors in Georgia
tried out for the parts?
We had the guy from Blood
Salvage come out to read. I wanted him so bad. He
was the guy who read the pancake people story to
the heroine in that movie, a great movie. I would
have loved to have had him. I loved him in that
film. I wished I had written more parts to get
all the awesome people that showed up into the
movie.
What role does Tracy Yarkoni
play in the film as the role of Vascara as she
already is getting alot of film work including
other independent horror films like 'Jack
O'Lantern' and 'Return
of the Jackalope'? By judging
from a headshot of hers it looks like she plays
an evil demonic type of character. Also, What was
she like to work with?
Shes all class. All class
and brains. All class and brains and the camera
eats her, loves her. She breaks the camera with
presence. She really understood the movie we were
making, and just went with it. Brilliant, funny,
and an intelligent collaborator. Shell be
famous really soon, I feel it in my bones.
Zombeak will be her Texas Chainsaw 4.
Now Daryl Wilcher on
the other hand was another great choice as I
understand he plays a satanic cult leader named
Leviathan as that role is very different than his
other characters you see him play in shows like
'Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland',
'America's Most Wanted',
'In the Heat of the Night'
and his bit part in 'Freejack'.
How did you find him?
Heres a Darryl story. The
role was not written for a black man. I had in
mind more of a theatrical pompous thespian white
guy for the part, but Darryl comes in and did a
Zod monologue from Superman 2 and owned the roll
from that second. He is a real fanboy, a pure
soul, and would just come up with these inspired
readings that would make the dialogue actually
sound believable. That is talent!
Did you see him in his other
work as he usually plays a gangster or criminal?
I had seen 'Sleepaway Camp 3'
about two weeks before we had started casting.
Next thing I knew Riff was on the set playing
Leviathan. I dont know how this stuff
happens. Luck and providence.
How did you think of his
performance in this film?
He took a character that could
have been a rip off from The Convent and gave him
a menace and a comic book villain appeal that was
perfect for the movie. He gets some of the
biggest laughs of the film, and that is from his
comedic timing and commitment to the material.
Hes a brilliant dude.
Did
Daryl find this a challenge to do since he was
new at playing this type of a character?
Darryl never broke a sweat. A
master of his craft. I think a life long devotion
to comics, sci-fi, and horror had him primed to
play a real movie scumbag.
Have you seen him in any of his
shows that it inspired you to cast him in this
film?
Just 'Sleepaway 3'. Though my
Uncle had a picture of him from a 1975 Star Trek
Con held here in Atlanta. They didnt know
each other, just a freak coincidence, but it was
one more reassurance that it was all meant to be.
Darryl freaked when I showed him that picture my
uncle had dug out of a shoe box. He thought we
were FBI or something.
What does he do throughout his
role?
He does all in his power to
bring forth the apocalypse and appease his evil
lord, THE DEVIL!!!
There are some younger actors
like Jason Von Stein and Adam Morris. Were they
playing typical teenagers getting caught up with
evil events not realising what they've gotten
themselves into?
Nah. Jason plays Bobby
Ray, a mechanic who as long as he has a twelve
gauge under his arm and a cold brew in his hand,
no problem is too big.
Adam plays a nerd being as evil
as his nerdy self can muster.
All the cast, from first timers
to pros really contributed something vital to the
movie. Replace any of them with someone else,
anyone else and the whole thing would crash and
burn. They have all gone on to do other projects
and I sit back and gloat over them. I see them as
my children. Its weird and unhealthy.
What memorable moments do you
have to share with us while shooting this
project?
Lets see. Scrapping the
petrified human feces off the floor of our house
location was a magical moment.
Shooting one scene for 16 hours
straight and really going bonkers in the process
was hilarious.
Trying
to get a decent sound take on July 4th when the
city of Cumming, GA had their big parade on the
road right outside the set complete with howling
steam engines that parked right where we were
shooting and blared their whistles every ten
seconds.
Also just weird stuff. We had
turned this old house into a shrine to the Devil,
upside down crosses and satanic imagery
everywhere. It was creepy. Once we had all these
candles lit in this black room, and were shooting
the second unit on the big ritual scene, when the
door just slammed shut. The only exit, all the
windows had been boarded up. The old door had no
knob, we couldnt get out. As soon as the
door slammed I felt the blood run out of my face,
and the DP Lane Morlote looked at me with this
holy shit expression. I looked at
this black room full of candles, the pentagram
painted on the floor, and I thought this is where
the candles fall over and we all burn to a horrid
death. Lucky for us, a PA let us out a few
moments later. Im not saying anything, just
there were some creepy moments like that.
I looked at the trailer
and the house in it almost looks like the one
from 'House of 1000 Corpses'.
Is there any resemblance to this film?
I guess doll heads and Christmas
light are standard freak house decor. I was
really thinking 'Masque of Red Death' by way of
Tobe Hooper. Really, we are all ripping off Tobe
Hooper. Texas part 2 was a big influence on the
look of the house. But really it was Nancy Miller
the Art Director that really pulled it off and
made it into something real and unique.
I understand the film had its
world premiere at the sci-fi Summer Con last
summer in 2006. Was the full film shown for a
public audience and how many horror fans showed
up that night?
The big premiere was actually on 6/6/06 , the same day 'The Omen'
remake hit. We were right across the hall from a
theater where it was playing. I thought that was
neat. Lots of cast and crew showed, but also
quite a few normals who saw the poster and the
hearse parked outside wandered in. We did test
cards and the whole bit. Horror fans like the
movie. People who thought that they were about to
see a French art film left and snuck into The Da
Vinci Code.
Where
else will it be shown at?
DVDs are seconds away to being
sent around to film festivals all over the world.
Well see who wants to tango.
Does the film have a DVD
distributor yet?
Interest, but Im not
selling until after making the rounds at every
horror con and film fest that wants to show a
killer chicken movie.
Like most horror films will a
'Zombeak 2' see the light of day.
Will people like Tracy Yarkoni and Daryl Wilcher
be reprising their roles?
'Zombeak 2' will happen, not
sure what the hell happens in it, but if people
like this one and after I make a disastrous
second picture that everyone hates, Im sure
the plot will materialize.
Now here's some fun stuff: Whats
your favourite horror film?
'Carnival of Souls', the remake,
not the boring black and white snooze fest.
If you were a top horror movie
director for one day whether he was alive or not
who would he be?
Mario Bava. He had class.
Everyone rips off Bava. 'Zombeak!' is a big Bava
dry hump.
What movie project do you
cherish the most?
Besides 'The Howling',
probably
shoot, I dont know, 'Alien'.
'Zombeak!' is a big 'Alien' dry hump.
If there was a project youd like
to change what would it be?
Remove Ruby Rhod from 'The Fifth
Element' and give me the movie I saw in the
trailer and was primed for after seeing The
Professional.
What is your idea of perfect
happiness?
Coffee thats always hot in
my confiscated Waffle House mug, a steady stream
of new John Carpenter movies, cracking my wife
up, holding my beautiful baby daughter, talking
Star Wars with friends. You know, all that good
shit. |