FrightFest UK 2010: Interview with The Dead: Howard and Jonathan Ford
Interview Conducted by: Marc Patterson for BrutalAsHell.com
It’s the 26th of August and that means FrightFest UK 2010 is officially underway. It’s going to be five full days of some fantastic films, including quite a few premieres. Amongst those world premieres will be Howard and Jonathan Ford’s The Dead, one of the most original and highly anticipated films of this years fest. We’ve been following the production of the film closely for some time now. We’ve watched some incredible behind the scenes footage of the hell that went behind the making of this film, a film that nearly was never made, many times over. On the proverbial eve of the premiere we got a chance to talk to Howard and Jon about their film and what horror fans can expect.
Brutal As Hell: I guess the easiest place to start is at the beginning. Can you briefly tell us about the film and your inspiration for shooting it?
Howard/Jon: The Dead’is a journey movie about a mercenary, the sole survivor of a plane crash, who has to travel across Africa with a local military man, in search for a way to survive the onslaught of the living dead and get back to their surviving family members. It’s also about two guys from very different cultures that come together to help each other try and survive in this horrific situation that has changed their lives.
Jon: I was a massive zombie fan, especially the 70’s and early 80’s ones. Romero, Fulci, Grau, etc. I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but I can recite the dialogue off by heart for several of these movies. I actually started making notes on the script for this movie in the 1980’s almost as a backlash to watching too many crap zombie movies that followed the classics. In a way, The Dead became the zombie film we always wanted to see.
Howard: The original Dawn of the Dead absolutely blew me away and The Evil Dead is quite possibly the reason I got into film making! Jon and I set out to make a zombie film over twenty years ago and it never happened. Luckily, Jon kept mentioning this zombie itch we never scratched and one day, even though we had a good career shooting commercials, we felt we had to put that aside and resurrect our zombies! Luckily, we had gathered some diverse film-making skills during that time so we had a chance to try and craft something cinematic.
Brutal As Hell: Where did you get the idea for this lone survivor in a strange land from? Conceptually speaking, the film really seems to draw influences from earlier Italian horror, and on our site we’ve mentioned Lucio Fulci’s Zombie, yet you’re also avoiding looking like most of the other zombie films out there.
Jon: The idea about a lone survivor in a strange land is something that always fascinates me. Everyone is familiar with this feeling to some degree. It’s that fish out of water scenario. We also wanted to give the audience the feeling of isolation, which is really powerful. Yes, there are some nods of honor to those movies that inspired us. I kind of had the music to Zombie Flesh Eaters going ‘round in my head most of the time while shooting this film! Howard and I would also quote lines from various horror movies to relieve the tension while filming.
Brutal As Hell: Why was shooting in Africa so important to the story?
Jon: The Africa thing came about because we were looking for a stunning visual canvas in which to set our scenes, a place which could provide a threat as dangerous as the zombies themselves. We wanted beauty as well as horror on screen in the same frame. Yin and Yang. Howard and I had already shot a number of commercials in Africa, so we already had some history there.
Howard: Africa was so fundamental in separating this movie from others that have gone before. To be honest, I would never have wanted to make The Dead had it not been for the setting that makes it so unique. It had to be different somehow and audiences have already seen zombie movies in LA, New York, London, etc. Also, the plot normally involved people being barricaded in some location, whereas in The Dead you are constantly on the move with the main character, experiencing the journey with him. We considered other locations but there are not many more beautiful places than Africa to take audiences, and in The Dead we literally shot in locations that have never before been seen by the western world, so its something else to give to audiences.
Brutal As Hell: So let’s talk about actually shooting in Africa. We’ve been watching the behind the scenes stuff. At one point it mentions all of your luggage and equipment got lost getting into the country. Things went downhill from there… Malaria, corrupt police… Sounds like living hell.
Howard: It was such a horrific experience and so tough for the whole cast and crew. I’m just amazed none of us died during the production. It came close so many times…. The police constantly stopped us at gunpoint, and a lot of money had to change hands. I literally developed a bad arm from the motion of handing over money. I’m not joking!! Then came the Malaria and our lead Rob Freeman, an amazing actor who was perfect for the part, nearly died and had to stay on a drip for over 2 weeks. I had already been mugged at knife-point and threatened with jail for driving without my license that had been stolen from me. It was so frustrating that on top of all the usual film making challenges – and there are enough obstacles as it is – let alone the fact you often wouldn’t make it to the set or your cast and crew were too ill to work… Sadly I had the additional producer’s responsibility on my shoulders, and let me assure you that it was a miserable position to hold. I think Amir, the executive producer, absolutely dreaded my calls back to the office to report the daily disasters!!
Jon: Howard and I would often find ourselves discussing shots in between bouts of vomiting. We did what we thought was a fantastic steadicam shoot when Murphy finds the battered truck, and when the roll got back to the lab in the UK there was nothing on it – an entire 35mm film roll. Strangely, it was roll number 13! We then had to go back and reshoot this section, but unfortunately the nearby cornfield had since been cut down. So we then had to spend all day planting the corn stalks back in by hand in the searing heat. I myself was then diagnosed with Malaria, so I couldn’t lift the steadicam equipment anymore. We really began to think the shoot was cursed!
Brutal As Hell: But it sounds as though in the end things have finally come together. The film got shot and is about to premiere at FrightFest, and then roll out to Fantastic Fest in the US in October. How exciting is this for you guys?
Howard: I have to say, editing the film was one of the few pleasures – no one could mug me, a gun would not be pointed in my face, I was suddenly no longer responsible for the needs of a hungry or thirsty or angry cast/crew, and my bad arm from handing over cash could heal, and a degree of creativity could again flourish. After all that’s happened, I’m so used to disappointment or disaster that I’ll not be surprised if the print snaps three minutes into the film, or there is a mysterious power cut all over the UK or the States just around the time of the screening – I’m seriously finding it really hard to entertain the possibility that something related to this film might actually be a nice experience, but let’s see.
Jon: I wish I could say I was excited, but as Howard has said so many things have gone wrong on this production, that I now just wait for what the next part of the curse might be! Fingers crossed it might be over with.
Brutal As Hell: So, I don’t want you to give away anything crucial to the film. I’m very much against that – but can you tell us a little bit of what we can expect?
Howard: You can definitely expect to be taken on a rollercoaster of a journey across beautiful lands with a good few scares on the way; but truthfully, I hope in addition to all the horror, that the film packs a good emotional punch and hits you in the heart as well as the head. The preview reactions were amazing, and we had 3 people who actually cried at a particularly emotional moment and several fully grown men admitted to being scared shitless several times. So much so that they had to look away so as not to jump out of their seat again and embarrass themselves in front of the girls sitting next to them. Other people commented that they had never felt scared before in full bright daylight scenes in open spaces – this was usually done in relative darkness, so it was a new feeling to people. This was great news to Jon and I, and in many ways a great relief. It was working!
Brutal As Hell: Do you subscribe to any particular school of thought with zombies? Should they be slow, fast, re-animated dead or raised from a voodoo curse, etc.?
Jon: Howard and myself agreed right at the start that our Zombies would creep up on their victims rather than run like olympic athletes, fly, disappear and re-appear, or some other ridiculous movement that a re-animated corpse might make. In our film, once you’re with the concept that the dead are coming back to life and searching for human flesh, everything else is gritty and real! Come on! They’re dead! Rigor mortis is setting in! It’s enough to ruin anyone’s chances of a sprinting career.
Howard: The other important thing is that when you show fast-moving zombies running at you, the scene instantly has to become an action sequence, whereas the tension you gain through creating suspense is a much more powerful tool and ultimately a more satisfying experience. Of course you can have all the fast cuts when they get right up close and you’re struggling to get out of there so you get a little bit of everything. Running zombies are the film equivalent of slamming in the meat! There’s no foreplay!
Brutal As Hell: Any films that you took inspiration from in coming up with the concept?
Jon: As people have already noticed, this has been very much inspired by the earlier zombie movies: the original Dawn of the dead (my all time favorite film), also Fulci’s Zombie movies. But there is also inspiration from other non-genre films, so we’ll see who notices which ones!
Howard: There are influences from a bizarre mix of movies, including a TV movie called Lost in the desert, about a young boy who survives a plane crash and finds himself isolated in harsh elements.. Some of the vibes of that movie are in there, and also films like Le salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear). Some of our other inspirations are so random sometimes from such obscure horror movies it’ll be fascinating to see if audiences pick up on them.
Brutal As Hell: That’s great. I literally just finished watching The Wages of Fear this past week. Phenomenal movie that everyone should watch. So, early trailers sported a really cool 80’s sounding moody rock soundtrack. Kinda Siouxsie Sioux/Cure-ish. Is this something that was used solely for the trailer, or do you intend to bring this musical motif into play in the feature? Also, I noticed lots of ambient sounds such as the radio static and tribal tones. Can you talk about sculpting the sound work to create a unique auditory experience?
Jon: Yes, we loved this track and it was something that was going to be used in the movie, but when the incredibly talented Imran Ahmad came on board to compose the soundtrack we went into a much deeper spiritual direction with the soundtrack, which left no place for the trailer music.
Howard: Yes, working with Imran was very exciting. We had listened to showreels from composers from the UK, US, and Canada, then Imran sent us a track he had created “inspired by” the trailer, and it was bang-on the vibe Jon and I wanted. It had spirituality and a wonderful human element to the sounds – the sound design is so important, and we wanted audiences to really feel they really are on this journey in Africa, and I hope we have achieved that too.
Brutal As Hell: You appear to use a lot of local talent. How was it working with the locals (at least the ones that were helpful to the production?)
Jon: Apart from the language barrier, working with the locals was great! Many of them had never seen a camera before, but when it came down to it most of them really got into it! The villages were all real along with the people who lived there. They welcomed us and were more than happy to work on this movie. We quickly learned to bring lots of supplies to all the villages! We even left a couple of our vehicles for them, which we have since heard have become a lifeline for them. I have great admiration for these people who mange to keep a real sense of community in such a harsh environment!
Howard: Absolutely, apart from our run-ins with police, the local villagers were generally lovely and they would often sing and dance to celebrate our arrival on location. Okay, they would have to slaughter the odd animal before we could start shooting, but at the end of a day or night we would all leave on great terms. Everyone got paid well, fed well, and also we treated the locals with a great deal of respect – after all, this was their home and we were grateful for them allowing us to shoot there in the first place. It must have been incredibly surreal for them too!
Brutal As Hell: What level of authenticity do you go for in portraying the local tribes of Africa? Or will we be seeing a more fictionalized version of the real thing?
Jon: The villages were all real along with the people who lived there so it appears exactly as it was. We always wanted this film to feel very real. Even though I had been adding to the script since the 1980’s, when Howard and myself actually sat down together to write this thing through, it was very quick and we knew that we wanted to keep the raw energy it had, and that if we messed about too much it might lose some of that spontaneity. Also neither of us are fans of big effects movies. You can’t get emotionally moved by CGI, so we wanted characters you can believe in; once you’re emotionally involved, then you’re hooked.
Howard: Absolutely agree. We were also very conscious of not overloading it with dialogue. We wanted it to be a visual piece and avoid chit chat or cheesy dialogue – we also wanted it to be sparse as it was also about loneliness and isolation, and how death strips every comfort zone away from you. Often one of us would suggest a line of dialogue and the other would shoot it down unless it was ABSOLUTELY necessary. What was great about it was we had total creative control, apart from the production nightmares of course!
Brutal As Hell: I’m making a safe assumption you’ll never shoot in Africa again, but as far as the genre is concerned, was this a one time outing to make the film you always wanted to make and then move back to commercial work, or do you think you might set out to make another genre film?
Howard: Believe it or not, we are actually considering doing another film in Africa, but of course we would structure things differently and have a larger budget to work on, and the experience we have garnered in making The Dead at least allows us to plan for the worst!
Jon: There were so many things we had in the original script that had to be abandoned due to all the problems that we faced that these ideas could easily fill another script. So If the audiences like it then there could well be more!
Brutal As Hell: Anything in particular in mind for what you might want to tackle next?
Howard: Yes, if this film proves successful then that will pave the way for more. The follow up to The Dead is already being talked about. There are also a number of other movie possibilities, some in the horror genre and some not. We’ll reveal more soon and in the meantime, we really hope you enjoy The Dead, and thank everyone who goes and sees it for their support!
Brutal As Hell: Well thanks for taking the time for the interview. We can’t wait to see the film and what will follow!
Now for an added treat – Take a look at the newest trailer for the film that just hit the web in the last week…
‘The Dead’ TRAILER from Bryce Holland on Vimeo.
