Horror movies &stuff Interviews director Anthony Falcon
Anthony Falcon certainly has not had an easy road to where he is today. Hollywood, like it's done to many people...hasn't given him much of a chance to show what he can do, and so he's had to resort to directing and starring in the films that he wrote. Of course while that's the sign of a struggling artist...that's also a good thing when you want to make sure your project goes as planned. Now Anthony is currently shopping his latest project "99 Pieces", a horror/thriller pic where a man has to solve a puzzle in order to save his wife. In this interview, we get to know alot more about the director known as Anthony Falcon..the man behind "99 Pieces".
MR. H:So tell us a little bit about where you were born and raised, and where do you reside now??
Anthony:I was born in the bay area in a town called Hayward a very short drive from Oakland CA. We were raised in the ghetto streets a couple of block from Ast which was where most of the gang members hooked up at and a lot of drive by shootings went down. Currently we live in Sacramento CA where I moved after serving in the Infantry for the US Army. We move to LA come May though.
MR. H:What was your childhood like??
Anthony:My father skipped out when I was four (he's back in our lives now) but I grew up on Welfare, single mother with no high school diploma, low income housing and dad got hooked on a lot of drugs. We come from a very poor neighborhood and the church usually helped us out with holidays, food and transportation. Mom usually babysat and collected welfare. Growing up she had three boys with no high school diploma, she never could work.
MR. H:When did you first come to the realization that you wanted to be a film director??
Anthony:You know I never wanted to be a film director. I wanted to be an actor but LA wouldn't give me the time of day. Neither would any agencies. So I tried the Affleck/Stallone approach. I started to write scripts in the hope of selling myself in the part when I sold it. Little do those stories tell you that 99 percent of Hollywood doesn't care.
I couldn't get one agency to look past my query letters and actually read a script. They were all too busy or said the stories weren't good enough(funny enough some things I've written somehow ended up being on TV or in theatres.)
So I started directing the things I wrote so I could cast myself in it. It was always for the acting. But the recognition has always come from what I do with the camera and the editing. I write, act, score, direct, edit and everything. Now I love making films, however it's 10 times harder than anyother job and you don't get the recognition or lifestyle of a big time actor.
MR. H:Is horror your genre of preference, or is it just something that you want to use to get your feet wet before you move on into other genres of film??
Anthony:No horror and psychological thrillers is almost all I do. I try to branch out and write a little comedy and such but I have a panic/anxiety disorder that gives me the craziest dreams and I day dream all day about crazy crap and stories and serial killers. I'm a very religious person but my mind works in a way that thinking of crazy stories, killers and such comes natural. I want to be know like a wes craven. but old school with last house on the left
MR. H:Your latest project is of course the horror film "99 Pieces". Was "99 Pieces" your first film project??? If not...what have you done before this in the realm of film??? If so...what was it like working on your first feature film project??
Anthony:No I've been doing short films for almost 6 years now. Always horror or psychological except one drama (which sucked) 99 Pieces is the result of numerous film festivals and talking with LA people where they said, "You've done a ton of shorts let's see what you can do with a feature."
My first feature was not as hard as one would think if you consider I've probably done a six or seven real quality shorts and have met a decent amount of people in the industry. The hardest thing was being my own audio guy, getting the levels right, (it's my first time working on a dual system of seperate audio and video) plus all the paperwork and scheduling for everyone and locations. When you don't work with a crew which I don't it is a lot for one person to take on.
MR. H:Tell us as much as you can about "99 Pieces", and it's inner workings.
Anthony:99 Pieces I started on before the Saw franchise (especially part 2) It's the story of a man who wakes up locked in his house and unable to get out. Than Saw 2 came out and I had to spend the next 6 months changing things in the script so it didn't seem like a saw rip off. That's when the story turned to equal drama vs. horror.
To me horror isn't bloodshed and ripping apart. Horror is about a horrific situation that happens to someone. Like "Last House on The Left" that's horror. So 99 Pieces I wanted a film that was a puzzle like "Memento" where you have to figure it out but horror.
So take a man, who is married, late twenties and has a rocky marriage. He wakes up one morning to find his wife gone and a living room full of supplies. He's told to board up his house for 40 days and 40 nights like in the bible stories and uncover a puzzle.
He has to figure out who 4 men are and his connection to them. But there are 99 pieces to the puzzle and any time he wants a puzzle piece he slowly has to give up something. His life is on a point system. So lets say he gets 8 points a day. 2 for food, 2 for water, 1 electricty, 1 puzzle piece, 3 points to keep his wife, etc. Now as the forty days go on he slowly is allowed less and less points to figure out the puzzle until he must choose between food, water, love and life to uncover this puzzle.
MR. H:What character do you play in the film?? Tell us a little bit about him.
Anthony:I play the main character Joshua Licet. I always have played the main character in my films(due to the acting thing) I try to write somewhat complex characters in a complex situation. So Joshua Licet is a jerk on the outside with a little anger issue and has done a lot of things he regrets but deep down he really wants a kid and he truly does love his wife.
MR. H:What was it like working with April, Marcus, and Lauren?? Since they are kind of just starting out in the acting thing and are local actors...did you find that things went smoother than they would've possibly have gone with a "name" cast??
Anthony:Two things. One April, Marcus, Lauren, the whole cast was fabulous. I couldn't have asked for a better cast. They are almost all just not new but starting out. However I've worked with a lot of actors and the one thing I like about actors of this caliber is since they are semi-new they don't have egos about them. They don't think they know everything and they are very open to interpretation of the character and direction. I always let the actors create a character and have some leeway with the lines and I tell them what I expect and than we find what makes them both happy.
April was amazing, she was the harderst working of them all. Since 99 Pieces is shot in real time she was here shooting pretty much 40 days in a row unable to shave and having to wear a lot of the same clothes.
Marcus fantastic, he listens well and follows good direction as did Lauren who is so opposite of her character. Also all of the cast was only given the first 80 pages of the script. The final 20 no one got. On days they shot they were given there scene. I wanted no one to know the other characters completly just the base so they would learn as the audience did.
MR. H:What do you hope to accomplish with "99 Pieces"?? To make it a cult film of sorts, or a very terrifying horror film that people will never forget??
Anthony:Def a cult, but more like what El Mariachi did, as far as I could've tried to get a budget and a crew but this film needed to feel real. I maxed out credit cards and prob spent between 13 and 15 thousand. Cameras, tripods, cranes, lighting, grip equip and so forth. I wanted this film to be as cheap as possible to show money does not equal talent. I would love an El Mariachi or Last House on the Left vibe.
MR. H:Are you prepping for "99 Pieces" to get a dvd release or a theatrical one?? Most directors would hope for atleast some limited theater play.
Anthony:Would love a small limited theatrical release. Would never get a wide. I don't doubt that. I really don't want a straight to DVD release. I think so much gets lost in that market of crap films.
MR. H:If "99 Pieces" is successful...do you have a sequel already waiting in the wings?? Or is it one of those movies that you'd prefer to leave as a singular original??
Anthony:99 Pieces could have a sequel. It's written that way but not planned. I would prefer the movie not to have a sequel. I have so many other feature scripts about 13 rough drafts written that I'm ready to go on and a handful that I want to write that I just have treatments written.
MR. H:Has "99 Pieces" been picked up for Sundance 2007??? Is there a possibility that it might be picked up for the festival next year??
Anthony:Sundance I don't know. To be honest with you I've gotten a decent amount of festival play but the big boys don't seem to dig mystuff. Most of my work stays in small houses because of content. I'm more much mental with story and horror than physical. People don't seem to like that enough. I guess even at places like Film Festivals you have to have a certain market and my films don't always fit.
Would love Sundance, will submit but truth is when Resevoir Dogs did Sundance it wasn't the Sundance we know today. I'll be happy with Cinequest and Palm Springs two very well know festivals.
MR. H:What upcoming film festivals do you currently have scouted to screen your film at??
Anthony:The first people I'm sending my movies out to are the festivals who have screened my work in the past. I'm a big fan of a small Oklahoma festival called Bare Bones Festival. They gave me a lot of love last year. As Chicago Horror Festival on two diffrent years has.
STIFF did great things for me. Truthfully the festivals who gave me my chance are the first festivals I go to out of respect. After that I'm submitting to almost anything horror and a couple of the big boys.
MR. H:Which one of these upcoming horror films would be your dream gig..."Freddy vs Jason 2", "Resident Evil 4", "The Thing" (remake), or "Hack/Slash"?
Anthony:You know probably none of them to be honest. I really want to do Last House on The Left remake. I could do such a dark style of that. That's my bag baby. LOL. Or Silent Hill 4. I say 4 because of the style of the 4th game I loved so hard core.
MR. H:What upcoming film projects do you have lined up????
Anthony:Currently I have a film called The 9th Entry which has gotten a lot of festival play across the country. It's about a man and his family who record a video diary as they think their house is possed yet they are physically and mentally becoming sick.
The film is so far away from poltergeist but has a hint in it. The short did well at festivals and I'm planning on making that one with a budget. That one needs it.
MR. H:Thanks for the time Anthony!
Anthony:Thanks so much for taking the time for the interview! it's so much appreciated!
End.
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