A few days ago I asked Erica Kane if she would do an email interview for the blog to help everyone understand the project a little better, to get some insight into what the film is about and to find out what her plans are for the film.
Well she said yes!
By The Way - If you would like to view the trailer or the blooper reel just scroll down to the previous posts.
And here is the transcript of our interview.
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An Exclusive Interview With Erica Kane. Writer, director and producer of the upcoming independent horror film "Sins Of The Flesh".
B.W. - I'm sure everyone is curious to know what gave you the idea for the film. So tell us how the story originated and when you came up with the idea for writing it?
E.K. - Well, I had asked around a lot after my last film, a short. I wanted to find out what people were afraid of. I knew I wanted to do a horror movie about something that instilled fear but that had been done to death. After about 2,000 "Spiders" or "Snakes" answers, one person answered "something that could really happen." I had previously read several books on real-life vampires and how some individuals do believe that they need blood to survive, amongst other reasons. But the vampire thing had been done so much. I mean, there are hundreds of movies of vampires. So I researched the subject of cannabalism. Reading about real people like Dahmer and why he believed eating people was the right thing to do. Then I looked to see how many films there were on cannabalism and, at the time, I could only find three. And they were older films.
Since cannabalism has always been something I've been drawn to, I thought it was the perfect idea. Ironically, out of all of the characters in the film, mine happened to be the only one who DIDN'T want to eat people, but I think in real life, between all of the members of the cast, including Jerry who has some ultra-sadistic moments, I'd probably be the most likely to step over that line if our plane crashed in the Andes and there was no food. [laugh]
B.W. - Was it hard to find cast member to help with this project?
E.K. - Well, a few of the characters fell into place perfectly right at the beginning. I think it was halfway through shooting that our actresses kept standing us up on the day of filming that made it hard. I mean, Joey was the first one on the project, I think, and he was seemingly milk-toast like the character. And he really pushed me to take that fearful step into getting the rest of the cast together. As I was searching (and finding) the perfect Cassandra, he brought on Jerry and it kind of went on from there. I started looking to the employees of the store where we all work and ended up getting most of the actors and actresses from there. But yes, for the most part, finding the actors was probably the hardest part about making this movie--other than the editing. Especially since we live in the Bible-belt and it's hard to recruit horror actors in such a religious town.
B.W. - What was it like on the set? It looks like you guys had alot of fun making this film from the behind the scenes shots that Mr. Vaughan showed me.
E.K. - Absolutely. We had a blast making the film. We had an outtakes reel about 1/3 of the length of the movie. The atmosphere was really fun. There was a lot of laughter and a lot of friendships built during the course of this movie. Everyone had a lot of energy and fearlessness. No one tried to make anyone else feel bad because they'd been in more movies or plays than anyone else. We were all really starting out with a pretty fresh slate and they all had a lot of trust in me. My biggest driving force was just trying not to let any of the cast down because we all have such high hopes for the film.
B.W. - Which scene was the hardest to film?
E.K. - That one is a matter of opinion. I know that Joey says the scene where he's cracking up, he's going insane was hardest for him, and everyone would pick a different one and so on and so forth, but since you're asking me, I think the hardest scene for me, was the scene toward the beginning of the movie -- it's almost an unnoticable scene -- where Evan and Natalie really establish their relationship as a couple and show that they are in love with each other. Loida and Joey had rehearsed the part the previous two nights on their own and it was supposed to be a five minute scene (or less) and they're both very good and very into perfectionism.
Take after take went by and Joey or Loida would stop in mid line and say "I'm not feeling it. Let me start over." Or something along those lines. And I believe that scene took us longer than any other scene because they kept cutting themselves and starting over. I want to say that 3 minute scene took something like four hours to film. Don't get me wrong, it turned out fabulous. And the best shots ended up being all in one fluid take. So it turned out great, it was just hard because I would be watching through the viewfinder and all of the sudden I'm thinking "Cut? That word's not in the script... OH!!!" Plus there were a lot of bloopers in that scene because there was a lot of sexual tension in the air between he and Loida so I think everyone made a lot more jokes to lighten the situation so it took longer.
That, or Jerry's "death" scene because we all spent a hour back and forth, in the rain, about who should do what and who should hit who with what weapon and where the weapon should be sitting and such. We were all a little frustrated because we all three had different ideas of how the scene should go down and I was getting worried because I'm standing with a $3,000 camera out in the rain and we're all debating about the smallest of details.
B.W. - How long did it take to create the film?
E.K. - Well, if you don't count the first time I tried to make it, before I was diagnosed with cancer, I would say preproduction was a month and a half, filming was about 2 months, and post was at least another month. A bit rushed, I know, but we wanted to enter it into the screamfest film festival whose deadline for submissions is August.
B.W. - Can you tell us about the locations for the film?
E.K. - [laugh] what wasn't filmed in the back of the video store where we all work-- during the hours of operation -- was filmed at my home or a local bar here on the square. A pretty popular bar where Shannon and Alan (both stars in the film) actually met in real life a long time ago when they first got together. But most of it was in the dilapidated upstairs to the video store that is already rumored to be "haunted." I wish I could see the look on people's faces when they go up there to investigate and find a spatter of blood that I forgot about in clean-up. They'll be convinced the place is haunted!
B.W. - Can you tell us more about the soundtrack? What bands will be featured? I heard a rumor that alot of bands are sending you material and requesting to be on the sound track. Is that true?
E.K. - I wouldn't say "a lot" but yes, some definately have. We have some truly amazing musicians featured in the film including the movie's own Becky Sinn who performs here locally (in fact tonight she's performing at the Copa and we're having a big pre-release party for the film) She's great. Black in the Mind, who won a spot on warped tour in August. Rennick, who is getting ready to put out his second album, is probably my favorite music in the film. He's out in California. The hp-hop stylings of MENSE, music from a band that's not technically a band any more (Motive Forgot Me) has graciously given us some music for the film. Peter John Ross and William Cushman have music in the movie. I mean everyone's really come together with some great stuff!
B.W. - I know you plan on submitting the movie to several film festivals. What are your immediate plans for the film?
E.K. - I've been staring at this computer with blood shot eyes for weeks upon weeks to get this to screamfest, so it's going there. Then we plan to check into getting an entertainment lawyer or agent to pitch the film to LIonsgate and such to see if we can get any distribution there. We're going to look into a downloadable form of the movie via paypal. We'll try netflix and even selling copies ourselves. Most of all it's a great learning experience and as we are trying to sell copies of this one to make money back for it, I plan to start preproduction on my next film.
B.W. - When is the official release date for this film?
E.K. - We don't know yet. A copy will be sent to Screamfest soon but there's still a lot to be done on the film to make it good. And that takes a lot of time. Typical post productions for an Indie film can be up to a year in editing alone. I'm trying to do everything in two months and I'm doing it alone with very little previous editing experience. I am shooting for late August, but can make no promises as to a date yet. I would like to have the premiere late August or early September and start really distributing hard in Early Sept.
But I promise, I'm working hard to make it worth the wait.
B.W. - Is there anything else you would like to say about the movie?
E.K. - I hope that nobody is terribly dissappointed. We all worked so hard on this movie and my worst fear is that I will dissappoint the cast, the crew, all of the people who are waiting eagerly to see the film. I have put all of my time into this film from the start, and at one time held down three jobs in addition to nighttime and weekend filming, and I hope that people can see how hard I have worked to make this movie what everyone hopes it will be. I just hope that all of this energy, all of these good feelings about the film continue after the release. And that one day it's picked up by a distributor and money is made off of it to fund future Keeka Production films. Thank you all for your kindness and faith. I hope that you really enjoy the movie and that it does very well because we ALL worked so hard on it. :D
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Thanks so much for this Erica!
I can't wait to see the film in it's entirety. The trailer looks so awesome! Please keep us updated on how things are going and we will get the updates on the blog ASAP.
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