Today, I post a little talk i had with director Marc Leland. He allowed me besides have a enjoyable talk, make him a few questions about his life, his career and his upcoming film SHE WOLF RISING his first feature film. With a prolific career as a choreographer, Marc Leland represents the word "Artist" in its whole rising expression.
EFF: Hi Marc, I'm really glad you've had gave me minutes from your occupied time to attend this interview. When did born the passion to makes films? That moment you felt that films would be your Life?
ML: The timeline of
my creative life is well documented in my Amazon eBook (also in paperback)
titled From Page to Scream, the book is about the making of She Wolf
Rising. To answer your question, it was in 1990 after I just completed my first
short, “Threshold”, a 15 minute excerpt from my
screenplay Martina that we planned to use as a marketing tool to show
financial backers, this was years before crowd funding was popular. Making
“Threshold” was my film school; we shot on 16mm film and had many
experienced union pros on board. It was much more expensive then I had imagined
but I justified the expense as my tuition to learn how to make a movie. The feature
was never produced but I have no regrets, I paid my dues with that project and
as a bonus, I was introduced to Ben Wolf, a talented cinematographer and now a
close friend who has worked with me on every creative film/video project since
“Threshold.”
EFF: Apart from to
be director you are also a choreographer, right?
ML: Yes. I started dancing in my mid-teens and was
working professionally as a dancer by age 20. I love dancing and every film
project I’ve done has had an element of dance. My western comedy film, “Gone
with the Wieners” has numerous dance sequences and an extravagant dancing
finale all choreographed by international choreographer, Richard Pierlon. I’ve
been away from performing for a while but last year I ended up singing and
dancing and choreographing in five productions. To quote a line from Al Pacino
from Godfather III, “I keep trying to get out but they keep dragging me
back in!! - LOL!
EFF: Ok, let's talk about your horror film "She Wolf Rising", this is you first and so far you unique feature film, how the idea it came to you? Why you decided realize the film?
ML: The first time
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon launched Project Greenlight on HBO a friend of mine
was pushing me to submit my 3rd screenplay, Boardwalk. At the
time I was frightened to send this one off into cyberspace, it was my
masterpiece. I had this crazy idea for a sexy horror story and I told my friend
I would write it. Three weeks later I had the first draft
of Horrortica completed, so with only one proof read it was uploaded
to HBO for submission to Project Greenlight .It got pretty favorably reviewed
but ultimately it was not selected. The reviews were so positive though that I
decided at some point this movie would get made. As you know, the movie was
made and the title was changed to She Wolf Rising.
EFF: After you got
the idea, how was the process of pitching out the idea to producers or anybody who
wanted to invest on it?
ML: I wasn’t actively looking to produce the movie
but circumstances fell into my lap and the result was that the movie was made.
A would be investor approached me, in the end he was full of hot air and
wasn’t able to come up with a dollar, the only reason the movie got made and
completed was because of me and a very close friend that funded the project. I
detail the multiple layers of deception and bullshit in my eBook if you want
all the facts.
EFF: How long it
took the entire creation process of the film; pre-production, shooting and post
production?
ML: Pre-production
about 6 weeks, we had 16 shooting days 11 with Tiffany Shepis our lead - post
production was a nightmare, we waited months for a score and a mix that in the
end I had to redo.
EFF: Does this film fall into grindhouse subgenre? If it's not, what would it fall into?
ML: No, it’s not a grindhouse movie. It’s a light, campy and sexy horror movie that’s a lot of fun to watch. The trailer is pretty bloody and filled with gore but that was not my choice, my original distributor wanted it that way. I wanted to highlight some of the humor. Please understand, this is not a comedy or a Troma-type all out campy film.She Wolf Rising is a movie within a movie with light and sexy moments. The actors give outstanding performances; Tiffany Shepis won a best actress award for this film at the Orlando Freak Show, I still say that actor, J Edmund Fond was overlooked, his performance is off the charts and Brandon Ellis, one of the feature actors, hasn’t stopped working since this production. I’ve attended a few public screenings and a comment that I often heard from the audience is, “It’s not what I expected but I liked it.” It’s not your typical horror film but it does have a lot of entertainment value.
She Wolf Rising
EFF: Every project whether high budget or low budget faces issues to get success, what issues you faced in shooting this project?
ML: Timing! I say
that because the first version of SWR was completed right at the demise of the
DVD market, Blockbuster, Hollywood Video and all the chains had closed for
good. We had a distribution deal with an “old school” distributor who hadn’t
embraced or better yet, accepted the new platforms to release a film. Had SWR
been completed 1 year earlier, deals would have been signed and checks would
have been exchanged; unfortunately SWR sat on a shelf for 4 years. Eventually I
obtained the North American rights and made a deal with IndieRights to release
the film digitally and on DVD. Prior to its release in January 2016, I added a
few new scenes and rescored a major portion of the film. The version that is
out there now is truly the Director’s Cut.
Marc Leland
EFF: Searching
information I found that the budget was around 400 thousand dollars? What was
the most expensive in the project?
EFF:
ML: I know they work because friends and associates of mine have used them with great success. I did not go that route, I use my own resources and then a friend came on board to help make this happen.
EFF: How was the
casting process? How did you get involved the actors in your film?
ML: I used the
internet and referrals from other filmmakers and then we held auditions. The
only two people that didn’t audition were Tiffany Shepis and Debbie Rochon. I
watched a number of their movies and knew they were talented enough to handle
this project.
EFF: How did it went
the film through festivals and audience response?
ML: She Wolf
Rising was in 5 festivals. It was always received well and we secured our
first distribution deal from one of the festival.
EFF: What did you
learn making this film?
ML: Build your
audience as soon as possible. Be careful who your hire and know where and how
to spend the money. Spend it on name talent and great effects.
EFF: What
subgenre horror do you like most and why?
ML: I like horror
that’s implied with minimal effects, of course that only works if you have an
incredible script and amazing actors. The Conjuring is the best
example of what I truly like. I just watched it for the 3rdtime and it still
made me jump. I also like syfy horror too.
EFF: If any
producer gives you the chance to makes a horror remake, what could it be and
why?
ML: I’d remake my
movie, She Wolf Rising. I have a few script changes that would make the
plot a lot clearer to my audience.
Marc Leland
EFF: What equipments, cameras, lenses and softwares did you use for this film?
ML: We used the Sony EX-1 and the Canon 7D. The movie was edited using Final Cut Studio 7 and After Effects.
EFF: What
directors has influenced on your career? Directly and academically.
ML: Frank Capra,
Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, James Wan and Ang Lee
EFF: What advice
would you give for those want-to-be filmmaker who are undecided in how to make
their first film?
ML: The answer to that question is found in my
book, From Page to Scream available on Amazon. Here’s a quick answer-
have a great story, make a short movie first then graduate to a feature. Have
fun, surround yourself with supportive and honest people and have the budget
money in the bank before you start. I’ll say that once again, in the bank
before you start.
EFF: what is new on your career? What are you doing?
ML: I’ve been making shorts, I recently shot a short for Halloween called The Plumber’s Assistant. I’m just finishing up on my first web series too, The Other c Word, it’s all about community theater. I have a blog that I began almost a year ago that I keep updating, www.marcleland.com
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