Rusty Nails
By: R. O'Donnell |
Wednesday July 26, 2006 |
| A Chicago indie film circuit vet takes on George Romero. |
| R. O'Donnell: Hey, do you still skateboard?
Rusty Nails: Absolutely. I love skateboarding. It's one of the most electrifying things you can do on four wheels! There's a skate park right down the street from my house, but I'm just a novice. I don't really know any tricks. I'm just a street skater. Skating is the closest thing to flying for a human being... forget motorcycles. So, you're a diehard vegetarian that doesn't medicate with tobacco or booze. Does that lifestyle influence your films? Not much. I don't smoke because I find smoking to be a pretty foul habit that will damage your looks and health Most of the cigarette companies are run by very nasty corporations with horrible policies with little regard for humans, the environment or animals. Since money equals power to these people, not spending your money on their garbage is a great way to start tearing down their foundations. In relation to vegetarianism, I haven't filmed anything with people eating meat in any of my fiction films. If I have a scene in the future where people are eating meat I will more than likely give the actors fake meat to eat. As far as infulencing my films, everything you do influences your art. If you're riding the train and see a man with an interesting face, that you can't get out of your mind. You could end up including a character with his traits in your script. If you're bit by a dog, that could be part of your next story. You could see a movie you hate so much you have a strong desire to make a film that is the complete opposite. After producing several cult music videos for bands such as The Locust, Tilt, Arab on Radar, Erase Errata, and The Goblins are you ready for more? I am currently finishing a very involved music video for Scream Club. It has tons of special effects and it's my first all out sci-fi film. I love doing music videos for bands that I like. The directing and editing time tends to be much shorter than a lot of my other directing work. There is so much room to experiment and play and have fun. And if the band is too much of a pain to deal with, just write them out of your script. Your all night horror fest (Music Box Massacre) at the historic Music Box in Chicago was a blast! Tell us about your event producing. I run a film festival called the Movieside Film Festival. We show short films from filmmakers and videomakers from all over the world. Occasionally we'll show a feature but we feel that short films aren't given their due and we like to give them the spotlight. We also have a website at www.movieside.com. We've had some fantastic guests in the past. People like Guy Maddin, Jack Hill, Jim Jarmusch, and John Waters. That's where I met George A. Romero. The Music Box Massacre is a side project. Actually, one of my many growing side projects. It's a 24 hour horror film event that starts at 12 in the afternoon and goes until 12 in the afternoon the following day. The last one was a lot of fun. Gary Sherman, who is the director of Dead and Buried, was there to show some work. Your feature Sci-Fi horror film ACNE (now on DVD from New Eye Films) is everywhere, man. Congrats! Did you think it would ever take-off like that? The film seems to be picking up quite a bit of steam. I'm really quite happy about it. Seeing that it was shot on film for a budget of less than $20,000 dollars, which is pretty rare nowadays, I wasn't sure of exactly what would happen with the film. Fortunately, Go Kart Films and Greg Ross have been very supportive of the title. We are talking about doing a comic book adaptation of the film right now. That could be nice because there a some new political issues I could potentially include. I am really glad the film is so available. Acne is an interesting film because people either tend to hate it or really like it. I like it because there are so many wonderful people I love in the film... friends, actors, crew... and so many songs that people were gracious enough to let us use for the film...Dead Kennedys, Devo, Alice Donut, Tilt, Lunachicks. Heard through the casting grapevine you're appearing in a new horror flick? What's up with that? My friend James Zahn, who was a student of mine in a directing class, took a directing class is directing a new film called Death Walks The Streets. It's a mafia meets demons and vampires and mummies and zombies movie. It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. James is a great guy who really loves movies and is doing really well for himself. I helped them go over the script a few times and gave him notes. I hope he gets to do what he wants to do the way he wants to do it. Okay, tell us about your George Romero documentary. We've been working on a documentary about George A. Romero the director of Night of the Living Dead, The Crazies, Martin, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead. I would say that George is one of the most important independent filmmakers there is period. His work is important for many reasons. He is one of the first important regional filmmakers to work outside of New York and Los Angeles, he made almost every one of his films in Pittsburgh and created a lot of work for actors and crew people in the area and George also sews fantastic political concepts into his films and has dealt with topics like feminism, class war, military police states and chemical warfare. You rarely know exactly what to expect from George's films. Sure many of them are horror films, but the characters are often intricate and flawed very much like ourselves. We have been doing interviews with quite a few of George's peers, friends, and associates. We talked with Stephen King, Dario Argento, John Carpenter, John Waters, Rob Zombie, Ed Harris, Penn (Penn & Teller), Danny Boyle, Roger Ebert and many more. It's been quite a fascinating experience and we still have a while to go. The name of the film is DEAD ON: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero. So, what's it like to hang with all those masters of horror? People like Stuart Gordon, Mick Garris, John Landis and Joe Dante are fantastic. They're like the nice guy club of filmmakers. A lot of film directors and press don't really have respect for directors who work in the horror field. I think it brings directors who do make horror films together. They tend to be pretty nice, laid back people. You seem friendly with horror director Tim Sullivan (20001 Maniacs, Driftwood), how did that come about? We met at the Fangoria Horror Convention in Chicago. I interviewed him for the George Romero Documentary. He is a wonderful, energetic, sweet person. I wish him much success and happiness in the future! Got a favorite horror director? There are many director's whose work I love, regaurdless of what types of films they're making. Francois Truffaut, Orson Welles, Frank Tashlin, Jean-Luc Godard, John Carpenter, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Sam Fuller, Anthony Mann, James Whales, Jacques Tourneur, Maya Deren, to name a few. What's the future hold, Rusty, what's next? I am currently finishing a documentary called Highway Robbery. It's about a 65-year-old blind veteran whose land was taken away by the federal government to potentially build a 17 million dollar highway. I am also finishing a new script called Teenagers From Mars, which is about adolecent violence in America. I am also compiling 18 music videos and short films for a new collection of my short films and videos. |
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