An Interview with Alan Rowe Kelly -- By Duane L. Martin

Interviews: An Interview with Alan Rowe Kelly -- By Duane L. Martin
Posted on Saturday, February 28, 2009 @ 23:05:00 Mountain Standard Time by Duane

Alan Rowe Kelly is one of those people that just seems to have the golden touch. His scripts are awesome, his acting is great, and the gore and set design are always just impeccable. Last month I reviewed his latest film, A Far Cry From Home, and about two seconds after it was over I ran back to my computer and asked for this interview. By the way, he also has the golden touch with answering all of my obscure interview questions.

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It's been a while since our last interview, so let's start off by having you tell everyone a little bit about yourself and your background, both personally and as a film maker.

Hello again Duane! I’m Alan Rowe Kelly - actor, writer and horror filmmaker – back again at Rogue Cinema to talk about my latest films! Woo-Hoo!

How long ago did you come up with the concept for A Far Cry From Home, and how long did it take to get a finished script that you were happy with? Also, were there any major changes from the initial writing and what actually ended up in the film?

I actually wrote A FAR CRY FROM HOME in about 3 weeks. My last feature you reviewed, THE BLOOD SHED, was originally intended to be a short for an anthology - titled HUNG BY A THREAD. But BLOOD SHED grew into a feature and I had to replace it with another mini movie - So A FAR CRY FROM HOME quickly became a reality and we shot it 4 months after wrapping on THE BLOOD SHED.

THEN, after A FAR CRY FROM HOME was wrapped, the other filmmakers involved in HUNG BY A THREAD decided to make their shorts into features. So I moved on to create my own anthology called GALLERY OF FEAR and showcase all works that I produced. (WHEW! Even I’m exhausted after reading that - lol!)

But back to your question on any changes in FAR CRY - I’m happy to say that nothing changed from it’s initial story. Like Blood Shed I filmed exactly what I hoped for.

You write, act, produce, direct and more. Wearing so many hats, what are some of the biggest challenges you face in actually taking a film from concept to completion, and which aspects of the process seem to take up the most of your time and attention?

Filming is a breeze because I get to work with the most talented people I’ve ever known. That’s when it’s fun and exciting. The two hardest parts are pre-production; because I want everything ready and perfect before anyone walks onto a set- whether it takes days or months of prep and multi-tasking. And secondly, post production; because that’s when I’m mostly working alone and obsessing all over the place to put the puzzle together - edit it, score it, sound design, credits and finally, marketing the hell out of it once it’s ready to be screened. It’s a very long and arduous process that can’t be rushed.

Casting a film is always a chore. Finding just the right person for each role can be time consuming at best, and terribly frustrating chore at worst. In this film however, you were lucky enough to have some folks you've worked with before. Tell us about those folks and what it's like working with them, and also tell us about some of the new folks you worked with.

I always work with the same troupe of actors and try to incorporate some new faces with each new film. Plus- after almost 10 years, I now know a ton of very talented actors! So I’ve been fortunate enough to do most of my casting by just putting in a few phone calls and emails. I try to put Katherine O’Sullivan and Jerry Murdock in every film I do – I think they’re madly talented and versatile. I had just played opposite Terry West in THE BLOOD SHED three months before and wanted to work with him again before he moved out to California. I had met Benzy in Pittsburgh when I appeared in Cameron Romero’s THE SCREENING and we hit it off instantly. And since he was friends with FX genius/filmmaker Michael Todd Schneider and had his own FX studio Benzidream, I was able to kill two birds with one stone by having him play Otis in the film and also lend his creative FX art as well. Don Money, who plays my boyfriend ‘Kayle’ in the film, was literally, a godsend. We were all set to shoot FAR CRY when at the last minute the original actor who I had cast for Kayle dropped out only 4 days before shooting. I was in a panic and called all my acting friends, but no one was available at such last minute. Then Terry West came to my rescue, introduced me to Don, and Kayle was finally recast. WHEW! And in the long run it ended up being a much better film with Don on board. I can’t wait to work with him again. He’s a real gent and super talented! After that I cast Susie Adriensen (UNDER THE RAVEN’S WING) and Robb Leigh Davis in the final roles and we were set to shoot!

I like to work ‘old school’ in the same way Roger Corman did with all his genre films throughout the 50’s and 60’s. Whenever you saw his movies you could always depend on seeing the same familiar faces like Beverly Garland, Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Bruno VeSota, Susan Cabot, Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, Paul Birch, June Kenney – the list goes on and on! He utilized them differently every time and never had them play the same characters twice. When you have the most talented actors available to you, you’d be a fool to not use them and mold them for each new feature. And many times most viewers don’t realize they are seeing the same person from one movie to the next.

The last film of yours that I reviewed was The Blood Shed. The set design in that film was simply amazing, and A Far Cry From Home continues that brilliance with the old hex shop. How do you go about finding all the cool and utterly bizarre stuff you fill these places with, and did you re-use anything that was used in The Blood Shed? Also, do you keep this all stuff in storage somewhere for future use, or do you unload a lot of it when you're done using it just so it's not taking up space?

I believe that every aspect of a movie - actors, locations, sets, wardrobe, props, make up, FX and music – play an intergral ‘character’ in my films. And I LOVE set design. I firmly believe that sets tell a background story to the characters, be it their home, a garage, a store, a funeral parlor, etc. So I want all my sets to emulate that mood, atmosphere and feel. I mean, what’s a horror movie without that? There are some of the best junk stores in NJ that you could imagine - actual treasure troves! For a while I kept EVERYTHING from my films in case I wanted to reconstitute them for something else (You may spot ‘Flapjack’, Beefteena’s stuffed squirrel from THE BLOOD SHED in FAR CRY hanging out in the store). What used to be my bedroom up in my loft is now a fully packed storage unit! I definitely need a storage facility now because there are WAY too many odd things hanging out and cluttering my home and when folks come to visit - especially newcomers, they get a bit freaked out! LOL! Most of the props I have been collecting for the past many years are for a future film I want to make called UNHALLOWED GROUND – some real prized items will be seen in that one once I get it into production. Recently I’ve become more sensible and realize that once something is highlighted strongly in one film – I’m through with it and don’t want to see it again in another. Each new film has to have a look all it’s own. So before I get rid of anything I either let cast and crew have their picks of props and momentos, or sell it on Ebay! (Another prop haven for me!)

Where was the old hex shop located exactly, and how did you come to find it? Was it an actual shop or just an abandoned building? It looked pretty run down in the film, and definitely had the right look for what you were using it for.

That was located in Montville, NJ right off highway 202 in the boonies. It was a garage/barn that previously served as a frat house hangout for a nearby university…and the first time I went inside…you could definitely tell…it was TRASHED - lol! Did you notice the stripper pole in the middle of the room? LOL! Boys will be boys! The store location we shot wasn’t my first choice, but in retrospect it was perfect because of its close proximity to NYC for cast and crew to travel to. A week after we filmed it the county flattened it to the ground and now it’s a parking lot for the train station across the street.

The performances in the film are really over the top. How much coaching did you have to do with your cast to get those great performances out of them? Did you just tell them what the character was like and let them run with it, or did you work with them and encourage them to take their characters to even greater extremes than they would have done normally?

Well as you know from my previous films I prefer a heightened sense of reality with my characters and actors. I really find ‘reality’ acting dull, listless and boring – as I do all reality programming. So I always ask my actors to go a bit further in their performances and allow them multiple takes to try things out. It’s in the editing later that I find those golden moments that suit each scene. I also like to rehearse scenes too. I don’t believe in ‘just know your lines and go in and do it’ - I’m afraid I’m terribly old fashioned that way. I’m not trying to generalize, but I find that a lot of actors appear to put so little effort into their performances. And that’s the director’s fault too. Today it’s like an actor comes to set and must pretend that they have no idea that a camera is on them at all…SNORE!

I think acting should look like we’re working a little bit more than normal life. We have life 24 hours a day and when you watch a film you want to forget life! So I like my actors to be just a little bit larger, a little bit more theatrical. And that’s what my films get noted for – the acting. That means a lot to me as an actor/director to be able to bring in great talent and let them shine. Makes for a much more entertaining picture in the long run - and viewers remember.

What were some of the more difficult scenes for you to shoot in this film, and how did you get through them?

One of the most difficult situations was actually shooting/recording sound for the exterior store shots. The building was 20-feet off a main highway and the traffic noise during morning, lunch and evening rush hours was atrocious! (A lot of looping in this one!) But when you look at the film, you’d never know it was so close to civilization, thanks to the sound design genius of composer Tom Burns. It was also very difficult filming all the abusive fight and torture sequences because I was playing the victim AND directing between takes. As soon as Jerry Murdock or Benzy finished throwing me against a wall or tackling me to the ground, we’d call ‘CUT’ and everyone would look at me for the next shot while I was still trying to catch my breath and get my head back on straight - LOL! Very lucky was I to have Bart Mastronardi shooting the film, because he is a film director, and I could count on him watching my back and making sure I got all the right shots and angles while I was still trying to maintain raw emotion and terror for the heavier scenes. After a while I think some of the language and hateful dialogue was tough on Jerry and Benzy because they are the farthest thing from the two brutes they portrayed. I cringed a few times myself with memories of being accosted and abused by people like that when I was much younger and defenseless (I’m certainly not now…Far from it.)

Overall it was a wonderful, seamless shooting experience in that we shot it in 5 days and in sequence, which was a new experience too. The script and shot sheets worked perfectly that way.

Let's talk about the effects and the props now. The scene where your lover was basically crucified and then torn apart after you tripped over the trip wire was just brutally amazing. How hard was that whole scene and effect to put together? That had to have been a lot of work.

Kayle’s (Don Money) death scene took a bit of time because we were washed out by a major downburst while shooting. We had to wrap the scene halfway through due to lightning and heavy rains possibly damaging our FX, camera equipment and crew. So we called it quits for the day, drank beer and resumed shooting the following morning without a hitch. Michael Todd Schneider, Benzy, Nikki McIntyre and Max Almeida all came in from Pittsburgh to work all of the FX and they were the most brilliant team! Everything was ready and prepared from Don’s stunt body, to my fake hands for the spike scene, and all the extra heads that go through some pretty gruesome trauma. So I was thrilled to call ‘Cut’ on one scene and they would already be prepped and ready to set up the next FX shot right away. They are all such very talented individuals. I was lucky to have such professionals on board! (You’ll have to ask them about their techniques and work because I wouldn’t want to be give away any of their secrets.) What was REALLY difficult for me was running around for a week through the woods and on gravel, first in 3-inch wedges and then totally bare foot. I topped it off being completely drenched in wet sticky RED blood for 10 hours a day and trying to get it off me. For a full week after I looked like a giant pink Oompah-Loompah! LOL!

Now what about all the corpses that were strewn around. They looked absolutely awesome. Where did you get all of those, and are they wildly expensive, or could most film makers, even on a really tight budget, manage to get a few for their film to help add the right atmosphere?

I got VERY lucky with my dead people! New York is central to everything and there is an abundance of great talents that I’ve been very fortunate to know. All of the corpses used in FAR CRY were designed by FX wizard Brian Spears. He is gaining tons of accolades in film, especially for his recent work in Glenn McQuade’s upcoming I SELL THE DEAD. They were wildly expensive to make for sure, but Brian was a real gent and cut me a big break, bless his talented heart! I think he’s brilliant!

Of all the effects in the film, which was the hardest for you to pull off and make it look just right, and what was involved and getting it just the way you wanted it?

Being a make-up artist myself, I learned that filming special gore FX for film requires time, patience and letting the artists work with the cameraman to capture the shot and angle as they originally planned it. I’ll interject suggestions here and there, but I brought these talented folks in here to do their thing and it’s best to just leave them alone and let them work – nothing worse than too many chefs in the FX soup! None of the FX took too long or wasted time during shooting. Each came off without a hitch.

This film comes in at around forty some odd minutes, which is an unusual running time as it was longer than a short but shorter than a feature. The strange thing is, it did fit the content of the story really well, telling the whole thing without it feeling like it was leaving anything out or dragging in any way. It got me thinking that a lot of the films I've seen and reviewed in the past, both shorts and features would have been far better had their running time fallen more into this range as well. Were you actively aiming for a forty some odd minute running time, or did it just end up that way once everything was completed?

LOL! Long story, short – THE BLOOD SHED was originally going to be a short for GALLERY OF FEAR but took a left turn and became a feature. So FAR CRY was the story I wrote quickly to replace that slot. It was a great experience for me to take a tale and condense it as much as possible and still give the audiences the feel that they sat through an entire feature in half the time. I think we accomplished that. I learned my lesson after my first feature to CUT,CUT, CUT! I have no problem doing that anymore with my films as long as it gets the point across to the audience without clobbering them over the head with over-exposition. Plus having a brilliant DP like Bart Mastronardi on my last 3 films has taught me the art of telling a story ‘visually’ and how to eliminate tons of excess dialogue.

Without credits A FAR CRY FROM HOME is 40 minutes and the other stories in the anthology range from 20 minutes to 30 minutes, plus a wraparound story to tie them all together.

Much like CREEPSHOW, BEYOND THE GRAVE and THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD, the entire film will come out to almost 2 hours, but it will be 5 complete different tales with a great roster of genre stars such as Raine Brown, Jerry Murdock, Zoë Daelman Chlanda, Katherine O’Sullivan, Terry Shane, Benzy, Terry M. West, Joshua Nelson, myself, Robert Norman, Sandra Schaller, Shane Kulman, Henry Borriello, Jessie May Laumnann, Keith Fraser, Miguel Lopez, Debbie DiVerde, Kristen Overdurf, Tom Lanier, and Debbie Rochon. So hopefully there will be something there for everyone and it will be interesting to see which tales viewers like best!

A Far Cry From Home screened at the Tromadance festival on January 20th. How'd that go? How was the film received? Also, are there any other upcoming festival appearances you'd like to mention?

I read on a blog from one of the attendees that the screening was DREADFUL! Lol!

Now I’ve seen FAR CRY screened in big theaters and it has looked clear and flawless - as was my screening at Dark Carnival Film Fest last September and others since. Apparently this was NOT the case at TROMADANCE! The screening was blown out, bleached and unwatchable. Which does tick me off, because the audiences missed out on a good-looking film. It just goes to show you that when you are accepted to a festival and cannot ’attend’ the screening - the projectionist really doesn’t give a hoot about the quality of your picture - they just stick the DVD or tape in, hit play and return to the projection booth when it’s over! The bane of my existence at film festivals has always been lazy projectionists. You would think the three words they would understand most are ‘Color, Contrast & FOCUS!’ C’est la vie! Lol! Hopefully my next screenings at future fests will be a little more cared for.

When will the film be available for people to buy?

A FAR CRY FROM HOME is part of the GALLERY OF FEAR Anthology, but will be hitting the film festivals separately this year to gain some momentum and exposure for the DVD. We’re hoping all will be ready by Fall ’09! I’ll be sure to keep you posted on all the details Duane.

So what's next on the agenda for you? Anything new and exciting coming up?

Plenty! I’m a guest at the Chicago Fango Convention coming up soon on the weekend of March 6th and that is going to be a blast! Especially since I get to see a lot of old pals such as Bart Mastronardi, Raine Brown, Marv Blauvelt, Justin Alvarez, Megan Sacco, Joe Zaso & Ted Geoghegan. Then, I’m back to shooting the wraparound story for GALLERY OF FEAR called CRITIC’S CHOICE with the incredible Debbie Rochon (A dream for me to be working with her, finally!). After that, I hope to be filming the NY Sequences for Joe Davison’s (100 Tears) film EXPERIMENT 7 with Raine Brown and Jerry Murdock. And if everything else works out well with funding and this crazy economy, I’ll be set to direct and co-star in Colossus Productions’ STRONGER THAN DEATH, followed by the much anticipated remake of the 1973 S.F. Brownrigg drive-in classic DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT! So there’s a lot of planning and pre-production going on right now. Always an exciting thing!

Is there anything else you'd like to mention before we wrap this up?

Please have me back again Duane! You’re a very gracious host - Thank you!