Director Steven C. Miller and Actor Frank Grillo talk to The Inside Reel about approach, tone and practical effects in regards to their new action horror film: “Werewolves,” from Briarcliff Entertainment.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00No more guns, no more guards.
00:19Those things are coming for us.
00:26I'm here.
00:33Hey!
00:34Bite me!
00:35Help!
00:57Steven, I mean, I went to UCF, full sail, all the way out the way, you know, but it's
01:02about mechanics.
01:03Even from Automaton, you know, it's about mechanics and efficiency of action, but pushing
01:08it to the extreme.
01:09And Werewolves is no different with both you and Frank.
01:12Can you sort of talk about that and sort of pushing it that way, but understanding the
01:16mechanics of how it works?
01:18I mean, that's all about prep for me.
01:19Like I really spend a lot of time prepping these movies because we don't have a lot of
01:23time to shoot them.
01:24So I try to make sure that I'm deep into prep.
01:26I'm an editor by background, so I know how these movies are going to cut together in
01:30my head before we even get there.
01:32So that makes it really easy for me to talk to Frank about how these sequences are going
01:36to work, how the action is going to work.
01:37And obviously Frank has done this enough.
01:39So when I say it, it's just automatic.
01:41He gets it.
01:42And so it's easy.
01:43Yeah.
01:44For me, it's three things.
01:45Script, script, and script.
01:46Yeah.
01:47And we tweaked the script from the time I said we signed on.
01:51We got the script to a place where it all fell into place.
01:55It all makes sense.
01:56And then the rest of it's up to him to execute it.
01:59So I don't have to worry about any of that.
02:00I can just go and do what I need to do for him.
02:05And I keep saying, when I first saw the movie, when it was finished, it looks to me like
02:09a $40 or $50 million studio movie.
02:21Mom?
02:25Mom?
02:29Mom?
02:33Mom?
02:37Mom?
02:41Mom?
02:45Mom?
02:50Uncle Wes, why can't you stay?
02:56You need me to help them try and stop this.
03:00We're the only family we have left.
03:02We got this.
03:03Cody!
03:04What are you doing, man?
03:05You should kill somebody.
03:06We are all soldiers now.
03:07Tonight, when that sun sets, it's going to be every man for himself.
03:11But the thing is, whenever you read scripts, and I do this too, you see something in your
03:15mind's eye, but then you have to put yourself in as the actor to understand how it fits
03:20within the greater aspect.
03:22Can you talk about the mind's eye, especially when somebody's writing it?
03:25That also keys in.
03:26I mean, Joe's the same, like, Carnahan's the same way, and you've worked with him as well.
03:31But can you talk about looking at visuals versus actually the story that's being created?
03:36Yeah.
03:37I mean, look, for me, the action is another language in the movie, and I've done a lot
03:41of action movies.
03:43how the action has to...
03:45There's a beginning, a middle, and end to the action scenes as well.
03:48And so, you know, I find the through line in this script.
03:52I found the through line, and I just needed all of the elements to serve that.
03:57And we got the script to a place, I think it was 90% there when we started shooting,
04:01which is great, which is really great.
04:03And the rest of it, we got to...
04:05Then the film decides what the film is, and we have to kind of follow that.
04:09And I think we did that pretty easily.
04:12Yeah, the set always has its own life, right?
04:13And you're sort of rolling with it, and then you add werewolves to the mix, and practical
04:17werewolves to the mix of this action.
04:19It's a whole other beast.
04:20So much easier.
04:21So much...
04:22I mean, I've been on movies, big movies with large green screens, and I have to tell you,
04:26it is so much easier and more fun to have these giant wolves.
04:33And there were a lot of them.
04:34We had a lot of them.
04:35It was amazing.
04:41Oh, my God.
04:52Wes!
04:53Oh, my God, Evan!
04:54Yeah?
04:55Infirmary!
04:56Wes!
04:57Out of the hole!
04:58Go!
04:59Wes, it's not working!
05:00Oh, my God!
05:01Oh, my God!
05:02Oh, my God!
05:03Oh, my God!
05:04Oh, my God!
05:05Oh, my God!
05:06Oh, my God!
05:07Oh, my God!
05:08Oh, my God!
05:09Oh, my God!
05:11Wes!
05:12Now, Steven, can you talk about, like, taking something like this, but, you know, it has
05:16to have your touch on it, your vibe, you know?
05:19And could you talk about fighting this with that?
05:21Was it just a certain sort of pace?
05:24Was it a certain sort of style that you wanted in the werewolves?
05:27But also, you have this almost, after the beginning, almost all at night, and it really
05:31plays into that.
05:32Could you talk about that?
05:33Well, I always feel my style is kind of kinetic, right?
05:36And if I can make a piece feel as kinetic as possible, that's what I love.
05:40Because I don't want the audience sitting there thinking too much.
05:43I want them on a ride, right?
05:45And so, for me, that was important going right into it, is how kinetic can I make this movie?
05:49How can I make those wolves feel kinetic?
05:51How can the audience enjoy the movie that way?
05:53That was easy for me to try to tap into.
05:55And then I got to lean on Frank for the audience to get that emotional core value there.
05:59And Frank, you know, he does his thing.
06:00He makes it work.
06:01We have a nine-hour window to test and report our findings.
06:06We hope to see if this mutation can be blocked.
06:08Let's go over the rules.
06:11Don't open the door for anyone.
06:13Don't hesitate for a second.
06:15Hoorah!
06:16Hoorah!
06:17Hoorah!
06:18Good luck tonight.
06:19Canopy retraction commencing.
06:26Close the door!
06:35Hoorah!