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I am an Irish rookie film maker who lives in my adopted and wonderful home Australia. A few years ago I worked a day job behind a desk, when the opportunity came to reevaluate my life. I decided to just go for it, win, lose or draw. I had to make a movie, like a Picasso had to cut off his ear. So my chiropractor mate Kieron and I started working on a number of projects that required a lot of money, realising through this process I felt there wasn’t a hope in hell I could direct these if I hadn’t at least done one film. Would you invest millions in someone who has never Directed before, it happens but Tarantino, Scorsese, Ridley Scott all out their own hard earned dollars into their first and I followed a similar path. Roll the dice and see what happens next.
2. List three adjectives to describe Rising Wolf.
Beautiful, Emotional, Unorthodox & experimental for a forth choice :-)
3. What is the genesis of Rising Wolf?
I was waiting for an elevator in a high rise In Sydney. A maintenance guy was servicing the elevator, he was using some sort of tablet device and controlling it. As a person who’s afraid of heights the idea someone could have that much control created the seed. Next step was I didn’t want to do an out of the box thriller of a helpless woman trapped. She had to be more than the stereotype. This was 13 years ago now.
4. On average, how many draft scripts do you and Kieron Holland find yourselves writing until you two were happy and satisfied with your work?
Kieron and I were only able to do around 3 drafts from this 12 year old script as the producers we had were starting a project in the new year. So we had six months, to develop, preproduction, shoot, edit then COVID hit!
5. What research did you do when writing the screenplay?
Mostly around how this futuristic elevator system could work, our elevator doesn’t operate on cables, plus I did some research on that Betty story in the film about a lady who was trapped in an elevator in Empire State Building.
6. What was the most difficult thing about co-writing the screenplay of Rising Wolf?
Kieron and I have a great relationship, sometimes it comes down to Rock Paper Scissors :-) but seriously it’s a difficult road to walk. But as I am the Director of the film, this adds further dimension to the process. But trust is also important, and debating the story, I just wish we had more time to develop the script in a 2019 world where cinema has changed a lot since when we first wrote it in 2009.
7. Which director/s inspired you to become a director?
I made that choice myself, no one inspired me to become a director, I just wanted to turn what’s on a page into a visual story. I grew up and loved the work of too many directors to list. But what I learned about this was the importance of a great script, and the important of spending that extra time developing it. Not everything can be fixed in post. :-)
8. What piece of advice do you have for screenwriters starting out?
Be proactive, write, write, write badly, just write, then grab an iPhone learn the difference between the page versus the vision. It will help greatly when you face a producer who rips through your work or a Director, it will help you become a great collaborator. It’s no joke a screenplay is never written it’s always rewritten. No different than building a house, changes will happen all the way to the post production. Pitch your idea, take onboard criticism and use it as a tool to better or sharpen your idea. Arrogance will kill any possibility of getting something made. That doesn’t mean you submit, it just might mean if someone looks for something to change and you feel it’s not right, you might not be explaining your intent in a way others will understand. Stay agile.
9. Have you ever considered writing a short story, novella, or novel?
I am writing three Novels, being published over the next few years which is very exciting.
10. Is there any novel/novella/short story/article that you would like to direct or write its film adaptation?
I have a lot I’m developing at the moment but if a producer with funding has a project that speaks to me, things always get shuffled around. I’m big on collaboration with others, we’re always one step away from finding that great script.
11. How was your overall experience working with Charlotte Best in filming Rising Wolf?
This what a big step up for her as her career spans across TV and roles that frankly don’t rise to this level of intensity. I had to adapt myself and learn how to get the best out of her performance. She was alone, she didn’t have another actor to support or bounce off. She was pretty locked inside that elevator, and had a ear piece for instruction or notes but also when she performed against the playback on the elevator screen, the audio of Jonny’s or Alex’s performance was channel led through that ear piece. So amazing work, she deserves huge credit, respect and I hope others will take notice even if they bag the film hahaha .
12. Could you talk about your other cast members as well?
Could you mention any interesting fact about them? We had so much fun doing the torture scenes, no joke, cutting Jonny’s ear off or ripping off his nailed and teeth, are all hilarious to me. After I called cut we all laughed and joked about it and Jonny is one of the funniest guys around. He’s the comic character in Mortdecai with Jonny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor. Alex who plays the Russian, is Russian, he lives in Melbourne and is one of the nicest guys you will meet, he’s a classic stage actor and I needed that theatrical stage performance as you will see camera never crosses that line we only ever see them on screen so this brings with it complications so performance always needed to be theatrical in a way. The kids were great they worked so hard. Australia is very behind the times in making Genre films, compared to most Film nations. For them to just switch on like they did, with green screen around them, or imagining VFX being part of their performance is difficult if you don’t have an industry ripe. Drama is Australia’s largest export but times are changing.
13. If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go and why?
Norway, it’s just stunning and I want to make a movie there in a number of years from now.
14. If you could switch bodies with anyone, who would it be and why?
Chris Hemsworth of course, my wife would be delighted 😃
15. Last question, if you were forced to watch one movie (besides yours), nonstop, for a whole day in a locked room, which movie would you choose?
Hmmm well I’ve seen my film around 509 times, and mostly during lock down as all the preproduction was achieved in that environment. I had to make choices I wish I hadn’t that impacted the film because of limitations but Would Lord of the Rings trilogy work as one or the Hobbit trilogy, I do love The Shining but that might freak my wife out it being an all day rerun - :-)