Q&A WITH STEVEN KASTRISSIOS - DIRECTOR OF THE HORSEMAN
June 29th 2010 04:44
The savage and relentless Oz revenge flick that has seared the international film festival circuit is finally about to hit the big screen down under, opening July 8th for a very limited season in Sydney (Chauvel), Brisbane (Tribal Theatre) & Melbourne (Cinema Nova). Make sure you catch The Horseman big and loud!
Horrorphile: The revenge flick has been popular in both the exploitation and mainstream market, what inspired you to make The Horseman?
Steven Kastrissios: Revenge is a broadly fascinating and evocative topic. It can play out in any way from romantic comedies to violent thrillers. I went with the latter after seeing the UK film, Dead Man’s Shoes. It’s very different from The Horseman, but I was inspired to see a somewhat clichéd genre concept being played out in the form of a serious drama. So with our film, I wanted to marry a serious drama with an action thriller take and even a bit of horror thrown in for good measure. It was all designed to really ground the over-the-top elements with some sort of reality.
H: Tell me about the significance of the title.
SK: Book of Revelations 6:8. I figured a cryptic title would go well with the film’s genre.
H: Tell me about the writing process; was the basic arc of the two leads – Christian and Alice – always the same from first draft through to final?
SK: Yes. It took six weeks from idea to first draft and the only things that changed in the subsequent drafts was the ending and a bit of polishing here and there via one afternoon of script work-shopping with some actor friends. Plus the short film we shot from the opening sequence helped guide the tone from Charles Bronson to more Paul Schrader.
H: Did any of the drafts include more of Jessica’s story? Did you end up deleting many scenes from the final cut?
SK: There are a couple deleted scenes with his daughter, Jesse, the main one being a bedroom chat with her and her father Christian. It will be on the DVD. It worked ok, but it slowed things down and the mystery of their relationship actually adds a somewhat interactive layer to the film.
H: Can you describe the significance of Christian’s self mutilation?
SK: From the research I did, it fitted in with the realities of someone cut off from the emotions, which I could easily imagine an average middle-age man would be, in not acknowledging his own grief and therefore it finding its own way of surfacing. Plus I thought it would be interesting to see him doing it, rather then the usual teenage ‘emo’ girl.
H: Describe the significance of the opening sequence which juxtaposes Jessica’s decision process and Christian already in the middle of his revenge quest.
SK: It was originally cut as separate scenes, but in experimenting with the edit, I found it worked better intercutting them and also helped the pacing.
H: Although your background is in video editing, did you ever consider having someone else edit your feature?
SK: No way. It’s a huge responsibility and time commitment. We didn’t have the money and I simply didn’t know any editors that I would trust, who would work for free. Plus editing is by far the most fun and satisfying part of filmmaking. That said, I plan to bring on another editor to work with me on future films, as you do benefit from another viewpoint and being a writer-director-editor, you’re cutting out all chances of collaboration. But I screened The Horseman to anybody who visited my house and would grill them afterwards about what they liked and didn’t and why. I did about eighteen drafts of the edit, watching the film with a dictaphone and being very picky. So I ended up cutting almost an hour from the original cut for various reasons, mostly to do with pacing and keeping the tone consistent.
H: Including so many elaborate fights throughout the movie was an ambitious endeavour, yet the fight sequences stand out impressively, both in the choreography and in the filming and editing, tell me about Chris Anderson’s involvement.
SK: Chris is a legendary stunt guy who’s worked on everything from Mad Max to Peter Jackson’s King Kong. He had a gap in his schedule and wanted to support young local filmmakers. He was impressed with what we had done in the short film without any stunt people involved. He brought his team and equipment in and was a delight to work with. I was concerned about being steamrolled by an industry veteran like some others would have done, but Chris only intervened when we were having problems. I designed the fights by myself in my backyard like the weirdo-action-nerd I am and then we rehearsed them as a group, ironing out any bits that didn’t work. Chris and his team brought some ideas to the table, usually raising the bar on the stunts we were doing, as I wasn’t sure what was possible on our budget. But I soon learnt that where there’s a will there’s a way – especially with Aussie stunts guys!
H: In one of the making of featurettes you talk about Phil Judd and his involvement in the sound mixing stage, which apparently took a year. Surely this must have been laborious, not to mention costly (despite Judd’s generosity). Tell me about why this took so long and what it added to the movie.
SK: He basically worked on it when he had gaps in his schedule. He did a pass on it before our premiere at MIFF 08, then we recorded a whole new foley track in China and then he did another pass on the mix a few months later.
H: The nature of the movie, especially the evil intent of the villains, and the grey moral cloud over the anti-hero, is very dark and uncompromising. How has the movie been received at the international festivals, and especially America?
SK: We’ve mostly received very positive reviews from the genre crowd. The Americans love it. Our US premiere was at SXSW film festival and we sold it straight away. Harry Knowles held a private screening in his house for the whole Ain’t It Cool News team, which led to very positive reviews from the site.
H: What is your approach to screen violence? Do you believe cinema has any taboos that shouldn’t be broken?
SK: Rules are meant to be broken, but it all comes down to context. Although The Horseman revolves around the mistreatment of women, you never see it, as I wouldn’t want to shoot that sort of content.
H: What are some revenge movies you hold in high esteem? What are your thoughts on the exploitation cinema of the 70s, which The Horseman seems to channel, yet in a distinctly Australian atmosphere?
SK: My favourite revenge films are The Crow, The Limey, Dead Man’s Shoes. There are many, many other films that have revenge elements, but these are my favourite all-out revenge films. I’m not that big into films that you can’t take seriously, which is why I list these films and not others. That said, I do have a major soft spot for Commando. In terms of Aussie exploitation, Mad Max 2 is by far my favourite although it’s an 80’s film and was backed by Warner Bros, so not sure if it fits into that category. It’s unfortunate Aussie cinema never really matched that film in terms of action.
H: What are some of the immediate pros and cons on working with a small crew, on a tight budget, with limited locations, and a short shooting schedule?
SK: You can move really quickly, which actually helped the performances and action. Keeping everyone active and alert keeps it fun too.
H: Tell me about the digital cameras you used and the digital colour grading process you supervised.
SK: We shot on two Panasonic HVX-202 HD cameras, which allowed us to move quickly and let the actors go nuts, knowing they wouldn’t have to do it over and over again. I colour graded the film at home in Final Cut Studio’s Color, which is an amazing program. I then went to 2 Dogs Post in Sydney where I could view my grade on their calibrated monitors to do a kind of tech check and tweak any problem areas.
H: The movie’s gestation period has been long. When did you first start writing the screenplay, and when did you wrap shooting? Will it have an Australian theatrical season, or will it go straight to DVD?
SK: It will have a limited run at Chauvel in Sydney and Tribal in Brisbane starting July 8th. I wrote the script in 2005, we shot it in 2006 and finished the edit, colour grade and rough sound mix in 2007. It’s taken two years to do the festival run around the world, get a sales agent and release it. It came out in USA on June 15th and is also available in UK.
H: Finally, what can we look forward to? What do you have planned for the immediate future?
SK: I’m working on a few things, but it’s up to the gods as to what actually moves forward first. There are a couple creature-features, a post-apocalyptic thriller and many others in development.
Here’s a featurette with lead actor Peter Marshall talking about his career and working on The Horseman:
| 128 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Well thought out answers to appropriately probing questions.
Seemed honest and certainly revealing of the films production history and deeper purpose.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile