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First off Rachel, can you give us
a visual and describe the room where you are
answering these questions?
I'm in my living
room! I've got several racks full of CDs and
DVDs. And I have a whole collection of Alice In
Wonderland figurines.
How did your
production company Silent But Deadly Productions
come to be?
I
first met Brooke Lemke on the set of an
independent feature film. She recognized me from
another film I had done called "The Monster
Of Phantom Lake."
(http://imdb.com/title/tt0801344/) She had
auditioned for the female lead in the sequel. She
didn't get that part, but the director wrote
another movie for her called "Cave Women On
Mars," (http://imdb.com/title/tt1043719/)
and we ended up playing the leaders of the two
warring tribes of cave women. We had the world
premiere screening recently, and Brooke and I had
a blast! We have worked together on quite a few
projects. I got cast in a horror film called
"Tales Of The Dead."
(http://imdb.com/title/tt1192626/) from Haunted
Autumn Productions.
(http://www.hauntedautumn.com) The filmmakers
were still looking for some other actors, and I
recommended Brooke. It was our first night
filming "Tales Of The Dead" that we
first discussed making our own movies and
starting our own production company,
Silent-But-Deadly Productions.
(http://www.silent-but-deadly-productions.com) I
had a bunch of writings that were beginning to
form a script, so I wrote what became the
screenplay for "Why Am I in a Box?"
(http://imdb.com/title/tt1204984/) Then Brooke
wrote a short screenplay, "A Broken
Family," and contracted another short
script, "Young Eyes," by a writer named
Heather Beck. We'll be filming that one in June.
It is great working with Brooke. We both have
lots of ideas for what we want to do as
filmmakers, and we both support each other as
producers. As much as I love to act and direct,
it's also great to hang back and say, "Okay,
Brooke, what do you need? This is your movie,
here." And Brooke is willing to do the same
for me.
Do you have
some sort of business statement for the company?
What is/are your objective(s)?
We are an
all female production company, and we focus on
that. We want to create opportunities for women
and girls in film. There are a lot of actresses
who really want to act, who aren't just in it to
be seen and look pretty, and we want to create
some interesting and challenging roles for them.
We have opportunities for young girls interested
in film to come and visit our sets and see what
it's like. And when they're there, we want them
to see women directing, acting, and on crew
positions. We've gotten a good response so far.
When we put out our first casting notice, we got
emails from two women who wanted to be on the
crew, because they thought it was so cool that we
were an all female production company.
Can you give
me a little teaser or something about your role
as Monica in 'Unholy Reunion'?
Well, I'm
naked in it! Ha! My character, Monica, is the
wife of the killer, Adkov Telmig. My story takes
place in the past, before Adkov became who he is.
The cast featured all these other actors whom I
knew from other projects, like Stuart Murphy, and
Nicole Blessing, and Shannon McDonough, and
Crystal Hipple, but I didn't get to work with any
of them, because their scenes were all took place
several years later. I only worked with Donovan
Walker and Dan Quaile, who were great. You can
watch the opening scene at http://www.bloodymessygirls.com , a cool website
featuring horror models.
Tell me about
your recent foray behind the camera writing,
directing, starring in, and producing
'Why Am I In a Box?" What
was the toughest part of doing all that?
By far, the
toughest part was acting and directing at the
same time. I think that all experienced actors
direct themselves in the sense that they dissect
the script and and analyze the character and work
out how to deliver each line. But the director
ultimately accepts or rejects it. When I was
directing myself, I had no one to let me know I
was doing a good job. I was asking the AD, JP
Wenner, who is a good friend of mine, and he told
me, "I can tell you if it's good. I can't
tell you if it's what you want." One thing
that I love about film acting as opposed to
theatre is that you can see your performance the
same way the audience sees it and be objective.
But when I'm directing and acting at the same
time, I can't see the monitor, and I don't have
anyone who watch me the way I watch the other
actors. As challenging as this was, I'm glad I
played the lead in my own film. I learned a lot
by doing that, and I will be better prepared for
when I have to do it again.
Love the
title, what does it refer to?
There
used to be this really funny show on MTV called
"Sifl & Ollie." It played much like
a standard cable access show, except that it was
hosted by sock puppets. They had this "Calls
From The Public" segment they used to do
that was kind of like Loveline, only they had
sock puppets calling up on a video phone. They
kind of parodied the ridiculously dumb questions
they get on Loveline. One day, this cardboard box
called up and asked, "Why am I in a
box?" I found the show very funny in its
absurdity, and I used that phrase as my user
title on my email account. I had written another
script, and I was having a hard time finding a
title. My friend asked me to email it to her so
she could give me some feedback on it. I was
surprised and confused when she left me a
voicemail message saying how much she liked the
title, because it didn't have one. I called her
and asked, "What do you mean? What
title?" and she said, "Why Am I in a
Box?" I liked it so much that I decided to
use it. I never did produce the full length
version of that script, but it won the Best
Breakthrough Screenplay Award at the New York
International Independent Film & Video
Festival. When I wrote this new script for
Silent-But-Deadly, I used the same title, because
it fit the story even better. Because the award
is listed on my imdb page with that title, some
have assumed that this feature I made is an award
winning screenplay--it's not. But in all honesty,
I do think it's better than the one that got the
award. I did rewrite the first scene of the
original "Why Am I in a Box?" into a
short film. A local filmmaker named Eric Ortiz
directed it, and I acted in it along side actor
Derek Dirlam. The working title for it is
"The Made and The Mess," but while it's
in post-production, I'm trying to find the
perfect title. I've been watching Monkees reruns
on youtube, and I'm sure the perfect random
phrase will present itself in due time.
Would you
please give the racks and razors readers a
synopsis that will make the movie irresistable?
It's
about a woman (me) who always wanted to be a
writer, but she never really sat down and made
herself do it. Then one day, she gets kidnapped
by Paige, played by Brooke Lemke, who tells her
she either has to write a novel, and a good one,
or be killed. She tells her the story of
Scheherazade, who saved herself from execution by
telling the king a story so fascinating that he
just couldn't let her die until he learned what
happened next. Paige is the exact opposite of
Ellen--she has a lot of drive, but no talent. She
has written several novels, and none of them have
been any good. It's a dark comedy. I think a lot
of people have ideas and projects they'd like to
work on, but they don't always follow through. Is
it fear of failure, or laziness? Who knows?
Do you have
any other projects coming up you'd like to let us
know about?
I just
finished my final scene from "Tales Of The
Dead" (http://imdb.com/title/tt1192626/). I
worked on that with Haunted Autumn Productions
(http://www.hauntedautumn.com), and they are
wonderful. I am going to be working with them
more in the future, because they are so much fun.
"Tales" is a feature film made up of
five short stories, and I acted in two of them.
It should be finished in the next few months.
"Why Am I in a Box?" the film I
directed, is currently in post-production. The
amazing JP Wenner is editing. I am very excited
for it to be finished, and a little nervous, too!
I was so nervous about directing, and now comes
the really scary part...putting out out and
showing it to people! But I had a great time
working on it, and I like what we have so far.
Silent-But-Deadly Productions also has the two
short films by Brooke Lemke, "A Broken
Family," in post-production, and "Young
Eyes," in preproduction, and schedule to
film in June. "13 Hours In A Warehouse"
is coming to DVD in the fall. "Cave Women On
Mars," the movie where I got to fight
Brooke, is now available from the Shadow Creek
Studios website
(http://www.shadowcreekstudios.com). The DVD for
"The Horror Vault," which contains the
short film "Retina," will be available
soon from the official website
(http://www.thehorrorvault.net).
Tell me a
little bit about the movie scene in Minnesota. Is
it thriving? 'Trinity',
'The Horror Vault',
'Tales of the Dead',
'Doomed to Consume',
'A Prairie Home Companion',
etc. It seems like you have found a lot of work
in a short amount of time.
There is
a very rich film scene here in Minnesota. There
are two film schools here, we've got loads of
people making independent features and shorts,
and every so often, a bigger, Hollywood level
movie gets made here, too. I'm really grateful to
everyone who works in the film scene here in
Minnesota. I started taking acting classes, just
for something fun to do. Then, I started going to
auditions, and I thought I would just do a few
short films here and there, just as a hobby. But
there is so much going on here. If it wasn't for
all the experience I got working on all these
films, I never would have learned enough to be
able to write and direct my own movie. Brooke and
I both work closely with a film website called
Minnewood (http://www.minnewood.com) that
promotes independent films from Minnesota. You
mention "The Horror Vault."
(http://imdb.com/title/tt0369424/) It should be
noted that this film is a special case, because
it is international, not local. It is an
anthology collection of horror shorts from
various places in Europe and the United States.
The segment I'm in is called "Retina,"
which was actually made as a student film. The
director's name is JP Wenner. I have worked with
him on a variety of different projects, and I was
more than happy to help him out with this. I
don't know if he even expected to do anything
with it. It was just supposed to be for school.
But I was very pleased with the way it turned
out. So when I found out that Kim Sonderholm was
looking for a few more shorts to add to the
"Horror Vault" DVD, I sent him a link
to the film. He told me to have JP get in touch
with him, and in a few days, we found out that
"Retina" had made it on. I was very
glad to have Minnesota represented!
So what was it
like to work on a major budgeted Hollywood film
like 'A Prairie Home Companion'
vs. the indie horror scene?
"A
Prairie Home Companion" was one of the
bigger movies shot here in Minnesota. It was
filmed here because this is where Garrison
Keillor is from. I enjoyed it, because I was
working with Debbie DeLisi. She had worked with
me on "Factotum," when I was a stand-in
for Lili Taylor. I really think that, with any
film, no matter how big or small, you have
potential to have a great experience, or a
difficult one. There may be people who are fun to
work with, and people who aren't. You just hope
it's going to be more of the former.
Do you recall
the first movie you saw that made you scream out
loud?
"Willy
Wonka's Chocolate Factory." That scene with
the boat in the tunnel really freaked me out! And
I loved the very next scene, where Veruca Salt,
the spoiled brat who expects her father to buy
her everything she sees, says, "Daddy, I do
NOT want a boat like this!"
Aliens,
creatures, psychos, demons, witches, werewolves,
vampires, reality show stars, etc. Which of these
really does it for you horror-wise, and why?
If
there's one thing I like to see in a horror
movie, it's a malevolent child. That's why I like
the "Ring" remake better than the
original. In the first one, she was an adult, and
she was much cooler as a creepy little girl.
Toshio in "Juon" is another great one.
Other than that, I think horror movies are
scariest when they have a mysterious and surreal
quality to them. Rather than monsters or knife
weilding maniacs, I am more frightened by things
that just don't make sense. Some people find
David Lynch frustrating, because he doesn't show
you all the pieces of the puzzle right away. In
fact, sometimes, he never does. But as soon as
someone explains why everything is happening, it
becomes less scary. That's why BOB from
"Twin Peaks" is one of the scariest
antagonists of all time. To this day, people
still debate who and what he is. David Cronenberg
is good at this sort of stuff, too. His stuff is
nightmarish, not because it has vampires or
chainsaws, but because you aren't sure what is
happening or why. Like in "Videodrome,"
where the videotape, and then the TV, starts
breathing.
So We're
pulling the car into the Rachel Grubb Drive
In...What three horror flicks are on the triple
bill for tonight?
Well, I
was just talking about Cronenberg, and he is my
favorite director, so "Videodrome" is
the first one I'd choose. Dario Argento is
another one of my favorite directors, so I'd have
to go with "Deep Red" for my second
choice. And last but not least, I always was a
sucker for Asian horror, so I would pick the
Korean flick, "A Tale Of Two Sisters."
What goodies
are they going to be serving up at the concession
stand?
Sushi.
What? It's my Drive-In, I can serve what I want!
And what
absolutely will not be tolerated from patrons?
No bra
snapping, and no dissing Edward Furlong.
What scares
you in real life?
The idea
of not being able to breathe. Whether it's
because of choking, or drowning, or smothering,
the thought makes my heart beat too fast. |
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