The Cthulhu Crowd Hits Colorado: An Interview With Craig Macneill
The Cthulhu Crowd Hits Colorado: An Interview With Craig Macneill
By Gabriel Ricard
Gabriel: I guess we should start with the obvious and ask how you got into filmmaking.
Craig: Growing up, my friend’s parents had a VHS camera that over the years I became pretty obsessed with. We developed a series of TV shows and films we’d shoot after school and on the weekends. I had my first and only concussion shooting a karate film in my basement. We’d edit all our work in-camera and hold screenings for our friends and families. We pretty much learned the process on our own. I wish I still had those films.
As it stands, your most successful film to date is your wonderful short film Late Bloomer, based on the short story by Clay Mcleod Chapman. How did you come into this project? Were you familiar with Clay’s work going in?
Thanks for your kind words. I’ve been a fan of Clay’s off Broadway show ‘The Pumpkin Pie Show’ for years. I had approached him about doing some shooting for him at one point and ended up basically shooting all his performances up and down the east coast. One of the pieces I would shoot each weekend was Late Bloomer. I was really drawn toward the dark, intelligent humor it had. I also really wanted to create a unique short film that would stand out. And Late Bloomer, being about a 7th grade sex education class gone horribly wrong, seemed the right way to go.
The story itself is certainly inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. Were you familiar with the kind of thing Clay was going for in the story itself?
Yes, Clay and I had talked in great length about the story and HP Lovecraft. I didn’t tell him much however in terms of how I planned to re-create it on screen. I think he was surprised and happy with my interpretation and how it all turned out.
To me, one of the great things about the film is the wonderful performance by Sam Borenzweig. All at once, I think he perfectly captures not only Clay’s narration but the everyday confusion most of went through at this age. Has he gone on to anything since?
I agree, Sam is fantastic. He has such a strong presence on camera. I am not entirely sure what he has done since. Hopefully he’ll continue to act.
The film was also an official selection at The Sundance Film Festival. Tell us a little about the experience of having your film on such an enormous stage.
Sundance was a remarkable experience. It opened up many new doors for me in terms of helping move along my other projects.
Any interesting stories to share from it?
We passed out small pins with Vagina monsters (I think you’d have to see the film in order to make sense of that) in hopes of drumming up some interest in our little film. I think it worked because I actually saw one of those Vagina monster pins on Ebay last year. Crazy.
One of the constant criticisms about Sundance is its over commercialization. The fact that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for young filmmakers to get their work out there. Do you have any thoughts on that?
I saw so many great films while attending the festival. This is true for most of the festivals we attended. Some of the major festivals premier a handful of star studded, high budget films. But that can actually help the other films I think. The more press a festival receives, the larger the audience, which in turn provides a greater opportunity for our films to be seen. And maybe, if we’re lucky, taken seriously.
Another thing I loved about the film was Clay’s insanely over-the-top narration. It moved with the rest of the film beautifully. I worked with Clay at New Voices in 2003, so I was familiar with his particular brand of storytelling. I think any chance to have more people exposed to that is a
good thing. What do you think?
I couldn’t agree more. He’s a gifted performer and a wonderfully unique storyteller. The two of us have completed a new short film that we’re hoping to shoot this coming summer provided we can find the necessary funding.
Another short film under your belt is The Grey Light, which I admit I sadly haven’t seen. Tell us a bit about that.
The Grey Light is more of an experimental piece rather than a short narrative film. It’s intended for a gallery type setting as opposed to a film festival. It’s short meditation on isolation and loss. The actress in the film, Ana Asensio, is in my feature film The Afterlight as well. She’s a remarkable actress.
Tell us about your screenplay Winter Sea being accepted into the 2006 IFP Market.
It was an honor to have been selected. The Market provided an opportunity to meet with producers from all over the country. Winter Sea is a small, intimate story so it’s nice to have an organization such as IFP give their stamp of approval. Unfortunately one of the two leading actors, the great Roy Scheider, passed away a couple months ago. He was a genuine talent and I’m fortunate to have almost had the chance to work with him.
Who would you consider to be some of your influences?
That’s a tough question. There are so many. Kieslowski, Cassavetes, Antonioni, Lynch, Bergman, Haneke, Malick, just to name a few. I also really love the films the Dardenne brothers have been making as well as Van Sant’s recent trilogy.
I understand you have a feature-length film, The Afterlight, getting ready to come out.
Yes. I co-wrote/co-directed with Alexei Kaliena. We’re currently in postproduction. The film stars Michael Kelly, Jicky Schnee, Ana Asensio and Oscar nominated actor Rip Torn. It’s about a young couple who move into an abandoned schoolhouse on a desolate stretch of farm country. Hoping for new beginnings, their lives are instead drawn toward dark and unforeseen ends. We’re in the process of raising finishing funds at the moment and hope to have it finalized this coming fall.
You have a couple other screenplays completed, I understand. Can we expect anything from those in the near-future?
I certainly hope so! Clay and I are collaborating on a very eerie feature screenplay at the moment. I’m also writing a feature script that is set in Spain, New England, and Alaska. Additionally, Alexei and I are developing a new script titled The Boundary, which I’m excited about.
What’re your thoughts on film school? Is it essential?
No, I don’t think its’ essential. I think you could argue that the money used for school would be better spent in the filmmaker’s own personal projects. I guess it really depends on the filmmaker.
Recently, you completed work on a short film called Lobos, which I understand you shot in Spain. Not only that, but I remember you telling me that it was in Spanish and that you accomplished this in spite of not knowing a whole lot of the language yourself. Tell us a bit more about the film itself, and maybe something about what it was like to shoot in Spain under those kind of conditions.
Lobos (Wolves) plays with the theme of trust and perceived identity. Trust is fragile and grounded on your perception of the person you’re granting your trust to. Is that person really how you see them? Our film centers around a young boy and a school teacher in a schoolhouse located in a remote village of central Spain. After the boy misbehaves in class, the teacher escorts him home through a dense and vastly desolate forest. And as the two merge deeper into the wild, a sudden accident leaves them stranded and forces them to confront their deepest fears.
We shot the film in three long, brutal days. My Spanish is pretty weak so it was tough communicating. But my DP, producer, and a few of the crew members spoke English so we quickly found a rhythm and were able to make it work. Our crew and cast were incredible and everyone really banded together to make it happen. I was a bit concerned about communicating with the young boy (Oscar Casas, recently starred in The Orphanage) in the cast seeing as though he doesn’t speak English, but I quickly realized that the language really wasn’t that important in this particular case. The words and ideas are in the script. What’s important is the honesty of the actor’s emotions. And that can be seen.
Copyright C. 2008 Gabriel Ricard