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ee. Hello there, and welcome back to the disc Connected. I'm here
with Francisco Luopi, who is the writer director of The Last Stop in You
mccounty and an upcoming pretty big project we'll get into just a little bit.
Frank, thanks for doing this. Yeah, thanks for having me, man.
I'm so excited. This is is like physical media is my favorite thing.
Uh so, I'm excited to talk to a fellow collector. It's i
mean literally surrounded. I kind of keep this like clean and it looks pretty
cool. I'm on piles. It's disgusting oh yeah, dude. So yeah,
what I do is like I have like wall the wall, wall the
wall shelf, and like, uh all, like all my new Blu rays,
they start getting stacked in front, you know. And then because I'm
too lazy to like every Blu ray, I don't want to like move everything
around because they're all alphabetical. So like every few months, I'll be like,
all right, here we go, and I have to like start taking
everything apart, and then like and then I have a you know, then
I put like I have to pick which ones I'm that I'm like, all
right, I these can go in storage, right, Like the remake of
RoboCop that doesn't need to be in the on the shelf, right, I
can put that in the in storage. And then when I go, when
I expand, I can put all those back. But yeah, amazing.
Well, we'll get into physical media more in a little while. The obvious
first thing to discuss about here, though, is like, how do you
first get into film? There's a lot of you know, buzz around surrounding
Last Stop right now, and yes, there's a lot of influences in it,
you can tell, So how'd you first get into film? Yeah,
I mean my background's music. So I started playing punk bands when I was
like, I don't know, ten or twelve years old, started a band
with my brothers, and like went to college for music, spent my twenties
touring and crappy punk bands and shitty vans with no AC and stuff. But
I was always really obsessed with film, you know, like I would sort
of like rewatch the same movies over and over again as kid, and then
like got real. I think it was like when I saw Funny Games in
like two thousand and seven or whatever, the remake. That's when I really
did a deep dive. I was just I remember coming out of the cinema
and just being like what the fuck did I just experience? And that sent
me down like a real deep rabbit hole. And yeah, so like I
was always obsessed with movies. I honestly probably more obsessed with movies than I
ever was with music, like in terms of like being obsessed with like the
history of films and like, so I was always in the van with headphones
on, like watching Hitchcock and you know, movies and stuff. But I
guess it just like it always seems so unobtainable because you grew up watching like
Terminator two and Back to the Future, and you're just like this seems impossible,
Like I don't even know where to start. And yeah, when I
was like late twenties, I broke my wrist and couldn't play drums for six
months. So I just picked up a T two I that I was like
using for photography and made a short film around the house with just my wife
and I, like no lights or anything. And it wasn't it. We
didn't even have a script. It was just like on the weekends, it
was like, oh, let's do this shot and then kind of piece together
a story. And I just kind of fell in love and I was like,
I don't think I want to do music anymore. I think I want
to try this. So from there it was sort of like my first short
film. My buddy had a desert house out by the Sultan Sea, so
I just kind of like wrangled on my friends and bandmates and I was like,
you're going to be an ac and you're going to be a grip and
just kind of assigned roles. I mean, we went out to the desert
and we shot this thing with like nobody that was experienced except for my DP
who sort of like haphazardly came on board, and thank god because he was
the only one that knew what he was doing and sort of like taught us
all, you know. I mean, I went into that thing just as
planned as I did with Last Stop, because that's just how I do things.
But you know, I just learned how to do everything myself. Like
I learned how to I was doing the sound design and the effects and like
and scoring all my short films and like, and so from there then I
just like I was writing scripts based on locations. We had free acts and
we were able to do him for like a few hundred bucks. And yeah,
my first short film, he Desert Hell, was playing at a festival
in Cincinnati at Horror Round, and I flew out there and I had no
money at the time. And I remember like I got there and they're like,
you're it's gonna be playing at seven am the morning after the fucking opening
night like party. So nobody showed up and I was like, do my
day. I went out there with my dad. My dad didn't even go.
He's like too fucking early, I'm not gonna like. But there was
one guy that did show up and it was James Clay's our EP on Last
Stop, and he was like he saw the short and was like, hey,
i'll give you. I think at the time it was like fifty grand
for whatever you do next, and I was like, holy shit, I
can make three features for that, you know, and like, so I
kind of did what I was used to doing. I mean, I sort
of looked around the LA area and was looking for like I always want.
I'm very drawn to, like, you know, period pieces and stuff.
So I found this location four Race is out in Palmdale, and which at
the time I didn't know it was such an overused location. Now it's I
see it fucking everywhere. It's in TV shows and commercials, and but I
was like, this world, this place is incredible, and so I went
there, took a bunch of pictures, I drew an overhead of the diner
and wrote the script for the Last Stop. And I had been producing at
a record label for a couple of years. Again, something I just kind
of bullshitted my way into, to be honest with you, but I learned
a lot and I you know, I knew a lot about producing, and
so I started I was like, I'm gonna produce this myself and like,
do it just how I did my short films, hire my friends and James
had a loose connection with Richard Brake, so he was the first person we
sent the script to. This was like five years ago maybe or four and
a half years ago, whatever, and we hopped on a call and he
was like, I love the script. I want to do it. And
I was like, oh shit, like maybe we can do this bigger than
fifty grand. So I ended up optioning the script to a production company and
that they were like, We're going to make this movie for five million bucks.
And I was like, oh my god, this is insane. Where
do I sign? And very quickly learned because like I don't know shit about
the business. I'm this is I know. All I know is like get
your friends together and go make shit. And it was like right away,
it was just a lot of gatekeeping, you know. I wrote the script
with a lot of these actors in mind, Like Jocelyn I wrote her in
mind when I was writing Charlotte, and like Richard Brake, I was on
a gym, and like Sierra McCormick. I had all these like this list
of indie darlings that I really wanted to cast, and it was very much
like we need to get John claw vand in, you know, like like
you know, it was the foreign sales thing, and it was a fucking
nightmare, dude. It was like I just felt my story and my movie
like slipping away. And like even when we did agree like okay, maybe
I can make this work this like name with quote unquote value, nobody said
yes, you know, I'm a first time filmmaker. Like it was just
it was never gonna happen. So once the option expired, I pulled it
and I was like, I'm just gonna make this thing with my friends and
do it how I want to do it. So I just started sort of
making the movie as much as with like however I could with no money.
So I just like was prepping extensively, like I was shot listing and you
know, doing using shot designer and doing overheads of everything and like going to
the location whenever they weren't shooting and photo boarding it with my DP. It
was hitting up hods and like getting them on board. And then I wrote
letters to all the casts. So we with the development money that James put
in, I still had David Googliamo, my casting director, so he helped
me get like letters out to a lot of these actors and like that.
We were at one point we were like fully cast and you know, ready
to fucking go, and we had no money. So my so James,
like he had been messing around with me, just saying like, hey,
I'm gonna what if I just sell my house to finance it? And I
was like, that's fucking crazy. Don't do that. And then finally I
was like, hey, man, I don't know if you're serious or not,
but if you are, like this is what it means, Like we
can do the we can make the movie that's on the page, you know,
completely outside the Hollywood system. And he sold his house and we were
up and running in like a month. And yeah, I mean it was
like it was an incredible experience. Like it was really it was like summer
camp. Every day. It was made a little family and like got to
work with some of my favorite actors, and you know, there's like there's
always that worry. I was just talking about this yesterday, like everyone was
just like, oh God, this is the best out I've ever worked.
It was so much fucking fun and you know, there's that like I don't
know what the saying is, but it's like the funner you have on set,
the shittier the movie is kind of thing. So that was it was
such a fear of mine to be like, oh my god, we're all
such a good time and the eone's gonna watch the cut and be like,
oh god, that that's what you were making. That's what we were making.
And uh so I'm just so happy that like it's getting the positive reception
it's gotten, and like it feels so good to just get it out in
the world. Man, I'm like, I it's it's been four and a
half years of my life working on this thing, and I've had two kids
in the process, and I never expected, you know, any one of
these things. Getting a physical, getting a Blu ray. I never fucking
thought that would happen again, theatrical Like everything that's happened has just been like,
you know, holy shit moment. So sorry, that was, like,
I know, I went past the question, but yeah, yeah,
yeah, like nine threads I want to weave. No, I mean,
obviously, the most poignant thing at the end of there, having a buddy
to sell a house to invest in you it's got to feel great, but
also the almost like insurmountable pressure that feels like it's oh, brid but you
have no idea. Man, It's like yeah, and I knew that going
on. I was like, this is gonna be but I also had to
just be like, you know, he wanted it too, you know,
like he wanted to do it. There is never a moment where I had
to like convince James, like he almost convinced me to let him do it,
you know, but I think we're all happy he did. And look,
there's there's no way this movie was going to get made without him doing
that. It's like, right, it's a period piece. It's like,
you know, the fucking bullshit mandate people throw around. It's like this is
everything outside of that mandate, you know. It's everything people say doesn't work
anymore. And so yeah, it really took somebody like James. I just
like was he he invested into me, you know, and not just the
story, which is like people don't do that as as much these days.
So you're incredibly lucky with all with all the success at the moment, how
are you Obviously it feels great, but how are you responding? This is
you know, the first full length feature and this is being talked about is
like one of the one of the year's best so far. Yeah. Man,
uh, I just got a cousmumps right now. I don't know,
dude, it's so hard, like it's uh, it still doesn't feel like
I mean, it's so like it's so fucking exciting. I mean, I
never none of us thought we would get this sort of reception. But it's
almost like it feels like it's happening to somebody else, you know what I
mean. Like it's like you're like excited for a friend. You're like,
this isn't happening. This is not happen. There's no fucking way, you
know. But it's really cool, man, I mean it's uh, you
know, I'm sort of like in the thick of it right now doing like
just really juggling multiple things, and I'm very excited to just sort of at
this point very excited to just like go in my little hole and write.
You know. That's the cool thing about filmmaking is like you know, it's
it's this constant, like you say, it's like when I'm writing a script,
it's just complete solidarity. I'm by myself I'm in this thing, and
then like, and then you start making that you try to get the movie
made, and then you kind of have to become like a business guy,
right and like and assemble all these things. And then you get to be
a director and like, and then and you're just talking and answering a million
questions. And then I edited last stop and I hope hopefully I can edit
everything I do, but like, and then you go back into solidarity and
you're just editing, right and like, and then you do the whole press
thing, and then you're talking every day and so now I'm doing that and
I'm like, I can't wait to get back into the script writing mode.
You know, like wherever you're at, you're just like you kind of you
looking forward to the next thing. And then once you're by yourself for months,
you're like, God, I can't wait to be for this to be
over and I can like start actually having like creative conversations and like making things
happen. So but it's all it's all so fucking cool, man. I
love it. One of one of the things that some of the indie filmmakers
I've spoke to have kind of dreaded the most is the fact that when you
are doing especially your first one ye, where literally every hat, yeah,
there's no negotiation, you're wearing everybody's wearing multiple hats on an Indian set,
you know. But yeah, for for those that I've spoke to that,
they said that that's that's one of the things that almost broke them down and
literally stopped it from happening. During this process. What was like the biggest
thing other than you know, the big investment, What was the biggest gatekeeping
thing that you were able to accomplish to get past it. It's really just
like I had to I had to realize that, Like, once I realize
that nobody's going to care about this movie more than me, you don't think
like, oh, why aren't people doing their jobs? Blah blah blah.
You just kind of you're like, well, because it's my fucking movie,
Like they care, but they don't care the way I care, you know
what I mean. So like and that's okay, No, Like, I
don't care what fucking scale or budget your movie is. Nobody's gonna care more
than you, you know, And the sooner you accept that, the sooner
you're gonna stop like complaining about things. You just you just kind of inherently
just like kind of do everything right, like you're sort of involved in every
conversation and and yeah, so it was like that. It was just like
the moment I was like, I am not going to wait for people to
give me permission, right, Like I'm not gonna wait for somebody to give
me money to pay me to go scout or something, right Like that's insane.
Like it's indie filmmaking right where nobody's here for a paycheck. You just
go out and you do it, man. Like you know, I I
was with no money. I just invested all my time into like you know,
I was working producing full time at a label, and like every minute
spare minute I had, I was investing it into Yuma. Like I was
just like prepping and prepping and prepping and like putting the pieces together so that
when we actually had the financing, like we were able to just fucking go,
you know. So it's like, yeah, you just gotta I don't
know, fucking care enough to want to do it, you know, and
not wait for like quote unquote like Hollywood to say you can. So I
don't know if that answers your question, but yeah, it does. And
really the when when you think about it, logically, the difference is palpable
for for most people that especially that are gonna be the face of this movie,
which oddly it will be you, even though this were heart and soul,
it'll be the people that are in it. Yeah, they spent you
know, a couple of months maybe like fully in this thing, and this
is like an eighth of your life totally. Yeah, feel don't say that
to Jesus Christ. Yeah, no, it's it's so true though, man.
But but it's also like I get it though too. It's like,
like you said, it is their faces, right it is, so you
also have to like, I would never be like, this is not like
you don't understand. This is five years of my life and it's only a
month of yours. It's like, but it also is an entire lifetime for
them, right, This thing is like it's like it's their face blasted on
fucking iTunes, you know, and their face blasted on the poster. And
I'm totally respectful and acknowledge that. I mean, look, it's it takes
a village to make a movie. And like, even though I said,
yeah, you're the only one that said, that's going to care as much
as you do, but like you need everybody. You can't do it alone,
you know, And and I don't know, the the more passionate you
are about this kind of stuff, like the more on board your casting career
are going to be always uh yeah, like it was I always somebody told
me before shooting Uma. I was talking about like the process and how much
I prep and all that stuff, and they were like, oh, you
know, like kind of like I remember my first feature kind of thing,
Like it was just like you don't need to prep that much, Like we
aren't eat on set, and everyone's gonna say like I wouldn't stand there.
I wouldn't say that, blah blah blah. I never ran into that because
one like I did one on one zooms with every actor and like combed through
the script and anything that did feel contrived or forced or whatever, I would
reride on the spot. And like I had overheads and it was sort of
like a football game every morning, like we like would huddle and I'd be
like, this is sort of the blocking and this is your and like your
cast. Granted, like I worked with the amazing actors that really trusted me,
but like, uh, they sort of see how much prep you did,
like how prepared, and they're like, I don't want to fuck with
that, like you know what I mean. But there was maybe like one
time where somebody was like, can I actually sit over here instead? And
I was like totally, you know, And then I went back and like
readd all the shot designers and like moved his character just like oh, yeah,
you know. But yeah, so I know I'm going on a lot
of tangents right now. But a lot of stuff that we talked about on
here is the technical side. And yeah, yeah, with one of the
things I wanted to talk about, which is probably like one of the biggest
characters in Yuma that I don't hear people talking about, which is Yuma itself.
I grew up in southern California. I grew up I was a railroader
for years to Yuma, and I actually grew up close to PALMDA. I
grew up in Barstow. Oh wow, So all of this, like this
movie hit home on so many different levels for me, because you you know,
road trips, it's like, literally, if you got to go to
the bathroom, this is the last place that's not standing next one for one
hundred miles literally. That was I think that was sort of the catalyst of
this script. Was like touring a lot and coming across these diners and yeah,
I having to take a piss, like yeah, yeah, so yeah,
I totally feel it, man, I mean they exist, you know.
At one point, like you know, there's a bear in the diner,
and I really wanted to put a polar bear in the diner. That
was like, because you know, you go to these roadside diners and they
always have like weird shit, and I just was like, that's funny,
like you put a polar bear in the middle of the desert. And then
I wrote like they're they're extremely expensive to rent, and it was just like,
Okay, we can't afford polar bear, so it's gonna have to be
a regular bear. Yeah. One of the hard things with making a movie
like this though, everything has to be kind of gross and sweaty. Yeah.
Oh man, every fucking take it was like more, add more fucking
glisher and add more fucking spray. It was and I still don't think it's
enough. I watched the movie and I'm like, they should have been more
sweaty. They should have been fucking Awake and Fright. You know, that
was sort of my have you seen Wake and Fright? Oh yeah, yeah,
so that was sort of like my north star in terms of like sweat
level, you know. But anyway, I cut you off, so no,
might big question is when was it filmed? Because in Palmdale, like
a lot of people don't understand, it's either ten degrees or one hundred and
ten degrees like almost literally, dude, it was. I think we were
like, oh, we're gonna be fine. I think it rains four days
out of the year. We got three of those days. Like like there's
every scene outside the actors are freezing, like we had to Actually, I
have so many stories about the way. So the scene with like Jim doing
the knife sales pitch, it is pouring rain outside. I mean there's literally
an HMI that fell over. There's flags blown across the window. We had
to frame up so you couldn't see the ground because it was just you know,
huddling up. So it's pouring rain there, and we had to get
all the fucking rain sound out and post. Anytime you see characters outside,
it's like the scene with Alex and Sam, she had different wardrobe. She
was like in like a tube top, I think, and like, uh,
and the previous day we shot Jim's coverage, I think, and then
the next day we were flipping the world and she was so fucking cold.
We were like, we have to reshoot everything because we need to put her
in like so we had to like piece together her her wardrobe because it was
just too fucking cold, and we had to reshoot it. Same thing with
like we had to but with like I think Sierra and Ryan standing out there,
like I could still tell, like like Sierra was trying so hard not
to shiver her but I could tell. No one has said anything, but
like I could tell she's just like freezing. She's just like like you could
fucking see it in her face. She's trying to be like Nope, it's
hot, it's sweaty, it's hot, Like yeah, so yeah, you're
you're right, dude. It was It was not fun. I went in
there thinking like like Lancaster palm, that oh yeah, it's gonna be hot
as fuck, and like, no, dude, it was cold as shit.
There's a lot of BTS photos where I'm literally wearing a fucking ski mask
on set. Because it was so cold, and I was directing looking like
the fucking Zodiac killar and shit like, you know that area so many people
that have never been there don't understand the weather is so extreme, and most
people like they're used to thunderstorm extreme weather or even like tornadoes, but there
it's it's literally like there's no one around for miles first of all, so
you're all on your own in the middle of nowhere. But yeah, it's
literally like naked five degrees sometimes. Oh yeah. Well, and the other
crazy thing too, is like the thing that really slowed us down was you
know, it's a it's a three way or there's like that intersection right on
the corner, and I was like, I think when we scattered, I
was like, oh, there's like no traffic. It's gonna be fine,
dude. We had to reset so many fucking times because of cars, like
especially like those long runners, Like you'd be so close to nailing it and
they're just like motorcycles zoom and we're like fuck, you know. So yeah,
that was also something that we weren't expecting was just how much traffic goes
goes through that that diner or that film film location. Yeah, fucking Palmdale,
Man, I had no idea. Palm Fell's busy as hell, and
it's it's one of those things where, like the it's people use it as
an alternate route for the fifteen going through California, and the fifteen gets so
backed up because it's the way to Vegas. It's the only way out of
you know, Northwest, going out of that part of California. Yeah,
it's fucked. And then Palmdale gets screwed over even and then on the alternate
route. Oh, I'm sure, yeah, is it I can't even remember.
Is it Palmdale or is it Lancaster? That four races and I can't
remember one of the two either way. Well, I mean Lancaster and Bakersfield.
That whole area is pretty bad too. Yeah yeah, I mean they
got the hatch Apee. And that's the crazy thing. Both of these places
are deserts because of the mountains there nearby. So yeah, yeah, it
gets super cold there. People don't realize that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
I'm looking right now. It is in Palmdale, yeah yeah, yeah,
And they shoot so much stuff there. I remember the did you see
Dave last season? A Dave? Oh no, not yet. The first
episode was shot at four aces of the last I think season three, and
I think they shot right after us, and I was like, oh shit,
but anyway, yeah, so uh yeah, I'm always writing in like
the worst locations. To be honest with you, I like, one day
I just want to like write something on like this fucking like beautiful, like
fucking island and make a little vacation out of it. But it's always like
snow and desert and like, you know, places nobody wants to be.
Inherently that creates tension, and that's that's one of the best things about this
movie is that it's so fucking no matter what the situation is. Yeah,
yeah, well thanks man. With tension, I've kind of noticed, and
this may just be for me. I'd love you to explain it, since
you're the one that wrote and directed this, but yeah, writing tension always
seems easier than creating it visually. Do you have any like go to things
for you that make it feel like you can get tension on the screen that
feels palpable? I would say the opposite for me. Oh interesting, Yeah,
Like I would say, I think when a lot of people read this
script, it wasn't like Oh my god, there's so much tension. It
would but I had to be like, this is how we create tension,
you know what I mean? And like it's you know, you watch a
lot of Hitchcock, right, Like so there's a lot I mean honestly,
like anytime i'm pitching, like or when i'm writing, I'm always like writing
how we're like, how it's going to be shot, and a lot of
times like that's how I'm pitching. It's probably really a not especially when I'm
just like, you know, and so we're here, then we're booming up
and we're doing this and like I was like, no, no, what's
the story? And I'm like, you know, so, but yeah,
because I always kind of like when i'm writing a tension, it's always I
kind of asked myself what would Hitchcock do? Because there's so many It's like
what do you tell the audience that the characters don't know or vice versa.
Right, It's like or I just think about like the bomb under the table
scenario with the Hitchcock. You know, it's like two characters, I mean,
you know the thing, it's like two characters sitting at a table and
the bomb explodes it's like, you get the shock factor, but if you
show the audience the bomb, then all of a sudden, it's so much
tension. And that was sort of Also the idea with the field truck was
like in the beginning, which a lot of people didn't don't get the first
time they watch it, or it doesn't click till the very end. But
yeah, it's like that field truck, Like the audience knows that the field
truck is never showing up right, and we show that the audience that in
the very beginning. But weirdly, I think a lot of people miss it.
But it's cool. I mean, it still works, you know if
you don't catch it. But that was the idea of just introducing an element
that only the characters now, I mean only the audience knows. Right.
Also helps when you have rich your break just staring at people the entire time.
I mean, he is he's a fucking force to be recking with.
Man, he is, like, Yeah, he's an incredible actor, he's
an incredibly nice guy. I hope to work with them many more times.
Amazing. You say that this was inspired by touring. Uh, would we
know any of the bands that you played in? Yeah, maybe I don't
know. I mean, I played in this band called Guttermouth, So they're
a punk band from the nineties, and I was like twenty twenty one when
I started playing with them. And then just like you know, like I'm
like technically still in a band right now, but we haven't played like we're
we never like broke up, but like the guitar player just moved and like
is like right before COVID and then we kind of just we still talk to
the guys, but we just don't play anymore. That band's called Insecure Alex.
So yeah, just a bunch of dude just hopping from you know.
Amazingly. I I got started semi in the music industry myself. I wasn't
playing so much, but like doing promoting, working on booking shows. I've
had just played in my living room. I just helped scout for music videos.
I've been in a couple of music videos, helped well shoot a couple
of those. But yeah, the big thing people people never understand that it
teaches you the fundamentals of so much that you need for like literally any industry,
any industry. I mean, I think fucking I'm so thankful that I
grew up with like punk rock and like that diy ethos, Like it has
taught me so much, dude. Like I mean, it was like a
freshman in high school, you know, I got like a four track recorder,
and like I was, we were making our own demos at home and
like burning CDs and slanging CDs at fucking school, and like you know,
we would do these shows and I would like rent an old fucking school bus
and like pack it and bring everyone in the shit, you know what I
mean, Like you just sort of especially with punk rock, like you just
that that sort of diy ethosis. Really, it's like it's in my fucking
blood now. And I think if it wasn't for that, I don't know
if I would add if I would have been like dumb enough to be like
let's go to the fucking desert and make a short film with zero experience,
you know, like it was just like it's always been fuck it, let's
just do it, you know, like fuck it, let's buy a van,
let's hit the road, you know, let's figure it out. We
don't have any money, and we'll make some t shirts and sell them and
pay for gas, like you just but I think Having that sort of background
has definitely contributed to some of the dumb decisions I've made that have thankfully paid
off in film. You know. Yeah. The thing for me especially is
it taught you rejection, like the ability just to cope with being told no
because somebody, Yeah, people that start this and they get told no once,
like oh, well pack it up, and it's like, well,
hold on, there's four hundred and twelve other things we can do. Yeah,
I know, man, It's like it bumps me out when I talked
to filmmakers that are like, oh, I made this short film and like
whatever, it didn't get into a festival or whatever. And it's like and
they just keep harping on the same short. It's like, dude, make
another one. Keep making them like your first shit's going to be your worst
shit, you know, like you're just gonna get better. I mean,
like and you never know when some of these shorts are like gonna you know,
sort of be a part of your success. Like I did this short
film called the Gemini Project. It's like this black and white sort of like
throwback to like Twilight Zone. I shot an Oregon, uh and it came
out like during COVID and nobody saw it. I think it played at one
festival and even my friends were like, what the fuck is this, dude,
you know. And when I reached out to light Jocelyn and Jim that
it wasn't really hide Azer hell, it was Gemini Project that they were like,
this is really impressive and like, I want to work with you.
And I was like, oh my god, Like somebody saw it and said,
like it contributed to you know, them, maybe them saying yes.
But like at the time, I was just kind of like, all right,
well I made this thing and nobody gave a fuck, but I kind
of like it, you know, so yeah, you never know, man,
And like it, I would say, you should be saying yes to
fucking everything, especially if you want to be a director. Like literally,
like I have gaff that crypt of a seed of Adeed, I've done fucking
wardrobe, I've done special effects, I've like done every anytime a friend needed
help, I'm like, I'm there, what do you need? And I
can honestly trace back the sort of the trajectory of like meeting James to finance
the movie, all the way back to the very first thing that I said
yes to or like certain other things where I'm like I was on set and
I was like, why am I doing this? Like, God, I'm
working, I'm still working for free. And I'm like, oh, well,
on that set, I met this person and introduced me to this person.
Then because of him bubble and you can sort of connect the dots,
and it's like, that's what you have to be doing that constantly, just
like saying yes and working and just educating yourself, you know, not only
with movies and physical media and watching bonus features, but like spending time on
set and learning the operations. Like because I've done every job, I sort
of can have that shorthand with my hods and my crew and like and even
like doing music has helped so much, and because I was producing my own
bands and stuff that, like when we're doing sound design and I'm in the
room, I don't sound like a complete idiot when I'm trying to explain what
I want or like, how are you hearing this thing? It's like they're
not like I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Man, I
can be very specific, you know. And I also like, I mean
this was just dumb luck, but like my composer because I was going to
compose do the score for the last stop, and then my son was born
and I was like, there's I have to spend time with a family.
I can't do the score. So I ended up hiring Matthew Compton, who
is just incredible. I hope he will do every movie for me. But
he's also a drummer, so it was great, like we have that very
like drummer shorthand. I mean honestly, like though I didn't I barely gave
him any notes, Like he just fucking he took it. He ran with
it and everything he did. I was like, it's kind of perfect,
dude. I don't know, like at the very end, like we were
tweaking things, but like, I mean, he just he got it immediately,
like he really got I mean, he comes from comedy, he did
like pop Star and mcgruber and shit like yeah, And so that was the
thing. I was auditioning a lot of different composers, and the second I
heard matth stuff, I was like, oh, you know, when to
let the comedy breathe, Like you understand the tone of this movie and it's
playful but it's intense and like I think he's a genius and I want to
hopefully he'll do the next one for me. It worked very well. It's
one of the things that I noted when I watched it is there's so many
there's there's a handful of like really obvious laugh out loud spots in a very
tense movie. Yeah, work perfectly, and the music it dances around them
like not many Indian films can do. It's mostly people that don't understand that
capacity to allow your audience to actually understand what happened there. Yeah, yeah,
thanks man. I mean I hope to always, you know, no
matter how intense a movie is, like, you got to bring some levity
to it, you know. I mean, that's that's life, right,
We're always finding like comedy in the most darkest fucking time. So I hope
I can always stay true to that. I think that's just like sort of
inherently how how I like writing too, So speaking of a tension and levity,
we obviously can't talk much about it yet, but all this technical knowledge
is leading to an entry in a beloved franchise. Oh yeah, yeah,
man, that film coming next, I do yeah, uh yeah, I
mean going back to getting my friends together and going out to the middle of
nowhere and shooting something. I don't know if I would have done that without
seeing The Evil Dead, you know, like that was again going back to
like what you grew up watching Terminate weird like weirdly enough, like I have
older brothers and they showed me so many horror movies growing up, you know,
I saw like I'm on Elm Street and Halloween, all these movies.
They never showed me Evil Dead. Like weirdly, I discovered that movie by
myself at an age where I was like, holy shit, where like I
could really understand like the technicality you know, of that movie and like what
Sam was doing with the campra it was just like so fucking impressive and uh
and groundbreaking really uh. And I think that if I never saw The Evil
Dead, I don't know if I would have been I don't know if I
would have done what I did, And I don't know if I would have
grabbed my friends been like let's go to the desert make a horror movie.
It was kind of like The Evil Dead that sort of inspired that. If
like you watch that movie and you're just like man, like you could just
tell Sam and Bruce are having the best time making this thing with no money,
and that's so inspiring, you know, and they're like not taking themselves
too serious, right like. But yeah, I mean I'm a massive Evil
Dead fan. I'm like surrounded by Evil Dead ship right now. So oh
yeah, nice dude, Hell yeah, yeah, I have an Evil Dead
two posts right there staring at my one six scale ash and the neck chronomicon
two necronomicons here, fucking yeah, I have some original art in the back
of the Evil Dead. Yeah, so you're writing directing. Can't share any
more details, but that's that's a pretty damn big deal for somebody that's only
done one big feature too. Yeah, I did. I know, man,
I still can't really connect the dots, but I'm just doing the work,
man. You know. Well, obviously it hits a lot of boxes
for you. But one of the things that I was thinking about when this
was announced, Horror is super forgiving to new directors, Like they're more app
to get people a chance than some of these other genres. Julia, do
you have a finger on the pulse? So why that may be? I
don't know. I really don't know. I mean, I know ghost House
is like they did this with Fede, right, Like fe did a short
film and they hired him to make Evil Dead and Lee had done one movie.
You know, I think Sam just trusts he's a filmmaker, right,
He's like he he runs ghost House, but he's also a creative. So
like if he sees something and he's like this kid knows what he's doing whatever.
Like it's it's really cool when you have like a creative that is also
running a company. I think it's just like it's it's different than what typically
how typically Hollywood is usually ran, right, like where it's like quote unquote
suits right that aren't filmmakers, and they're just like they're really just looking at
a spreadsheet, you know, where like Sam saw Last Stop and just yeah,
so I I but I don't know, but I mean agree with you.
I think that like that definitely happens more often in horror. But I
don't know. I mean it also happened like it happens though, I mean
like John Watts, like he did cop Car and then he did Spider Man,
you know, like I mean James Gunn he did like with Slither and
Super and then Guardians of the Galaxy. So it happens right, but I
definitely I think you're right more often in horror well, and even then,
like they're they're attached to horror somewhat, even cop cars very tension filed.
I mean you look at any director, like any massive director, they started
out in horror, Like I like, I just watched Dementia thirteen the other
night, like Frances four Coppola, that's horror, like you know, uh
yeah, I mean it's like I think, because you know, you can
do things, it's a little bit more forgiving, like when it's low budget
and it's horror, you know, uh that maybe that has something to do
with it. I don't know, but like you know, just the horror
community is just the fucking best, Like they're so supportive and yeah, man,
it's the coolest fucking community. And because I mean I just think like
people that love horror, we're all just giant nerds, you know, like
we we buy the Blu ray, we buy the toy, we buy the
fucking like, we buy everything. There's not really another genre like like that.
That is so I say, it was just like kids really quickly become
culty, you know, right, So yeah, people, the whole community
just tend to always show up too, so even like all these it's pretty
much they're always gonna make money. It seems like, yeah, yeah,
totally, totally. Yeah. I mean I'm going to Monster Plouzer today and
like it's just it's my favorite place, you know, just being surrounded by
a group of people that all love the same shit. You know. It's
like I can go there and talk about like my action figures and like I
have a spindle from the Texas Chainsaw NASCAR House and like people be like,
what is that spindle doing on your wall? What the fuck is that?
And then when you're at Monster Palluzer, people are like, oh my god,
you know, and you get it. Yeah, so yeah, yeah,
well you just mentioned it. I It's time to kind of hype up
something a little bit and last stop coming to physical media middle of July from
will Go USA in the US, and then Aero announced they acquired it,
so probably coming to the UK, yes, sir, Yeah, amazing,
big deal. Yeah, dude, I love Aero, I mean fucking like
yeah, between Aero own criteria and like those are the ones I look forward
to the most. I mean, especially like the the Collector's, the limited
edition Aero stuff like so cool. Takes up a lot of room in the
spit in the fucking wall because they're so thick, but I love it.
Yeah, what what are you looking for in a physical media release to make
it special for you? One that you appreciate more than others? Bonus features
like that's why you know what I gotten. I had this really long conversation
with my DP. He went to USC didn't I didn't go to film school,
and like we were drinking on the Mortal Day and we were just like
I was talking about how film school is a waste of money, and then
he was like in my living room, He's like, you basically spent like
this wall is probably more than film school, you know. And I was
like, you're not wrong, but I think this wall has taught me more
than what I would learn at film school. And yeah, when anytime I
have to like stream a movie or something, I'm always like scouring YouTube to
find bonus features. Like now, it's just like whenever I watch something,
I just have to like, yeah, I have to get more, you
know, especially like if I go and see a movie in theater, I'm
like in theaters, I'm like, what's on YouTube? What can I watch
like what BTS shit can I watch for the last stop. My buddy Eric,
he's a DP for Naked and Afraid, and when I told him the
story about James selling his house, He's like, oh, man, can
I come shoot like a ten minute featurette And I was like, oh,
fuck, yeah, it's gonna be perfect for you know, for the Fiscal
media. And uh. He showed up and so much crazy shit happened on
set that he just ended up staying the whole time. Now, almost two
years later, he's still filming and he at one point he had like a
six hour cut. Now it's going to be like maybe two hours, maybe
an hour and a half. But it's really interesting. It's not gonna be
on the Blu Ray. There's like a nine minute teaser of that that's going
to be on the Blu Ray. And I did three different commentaries for the
Blu Ray. So I tried, I honestly, like I wanted so badly
to put like bloopers and do all this, but like I just didn't have
time, dude, and it was like we're up against the clock. So
I wish there was more on the Blu Ray. But I did do three
commentaries and like a ten minute making of So I hope maybe like by the
time The Arrow of One comes out, I can get the more bonus features.
But yeah, the more the better, man, I watch it all,
dude, So any from the last couple of years that stuck out to
you is like especially moving or important for you or even just all time,
Like yeah, yeah, so of all time, there's well and I think
I just talked about this on another podcast maybe U oh God, Burdello of
Blood the on Shot Factory. There's a there's a documentary on that Blu ray
called Tainted Blood, and it's I don't want to give it away. Do
you have that movie on Blue Ray? Have you seen that documentary? It's
fucking incredible and like funny, but I probably shouldn't be laughing because it's like
really sad. But like I mean, it's just like the most fucked up
film experience ever. And I don't know why that one came in my mind.
I Tainted Blood it's great, obviously, all the Peter Jackson stuff.
I mean, that guy like really love I mean, there's like a four
hour thing on The Frighteners where of just like I mean, it's just like
he literally just like sets the camera down, he's like filming, like rehearsals
and shiit and like I can watch this for days. It's great. But
yeah, I mean, I'm sure there's a lot. I mean, dude,
I don't know. Also, like the making of The Last Jedi is
really fucking good. If you haven't seen that, it's really fucking good.
I don't know. I mean, yeah, anything with Peter Bogdanovich too.
It's like I feel like that guy is on every single Blu Ray. I'm
like, well, of course, of course he's on this one. Yeah,
yeah, exactly, he would be yeah, yeah, So but yeah,
I love that stuff, man. And hopefully I can get more on
the Era O release. But like I said, three three commentaries, one
with me and my DP kind of talking more technical stuff, me and the
EP James mainly just kind of bullshitting, and then me Jocelyn and Jim talking
about sort of the process. So hopefully it's a hopefully people dig it.
This is this is a super specific question, but I've been saying the same
thing for years that many of these releases are literally film school at a box.
There's something that you can grab onto and learn how to go make out
and make a movie or like just kick your ass and get started. Basically
sometimes yeah, weirdly specific. Can you think of something on Last Stop that
you did because you learned about it in a physical media release, like something
from a commentary? Oh god, just to prove a point. Yeah,
I can't think of anything specific right now, but I know for sure there
there definitely was, right, Like I just can't think of anything at the
moment, but one, you know, I mean some things like it's just
like anything, right, Like you just sort of consume all this, like
you consume movies and bonus features, and sometimes like you forget where they come
from and you just inherently subconsciously use it, you know. Like I was
just I just rewatched The Killing a few weeks ago, the Stanley Cabrick movie,
and like with all the money flying around at the end, I was
like, oh, did this inspire Lastop? And like maybe, you know,
like I definitely don't think I was thinking about it. I definitely wasn't
thinking about it at the time, but like I'm sure that that's maybe where
it stemmed from, you know what I mean. And it's same thing with
like bonus feature that I've seen so much that I'm like, yeah, there
was probably there's probably a lot of times where I was like in the middle
of a situation where I felt like everything was falling apart, and then you
think about, like, you know, god, what's the apocalypse now documentary
parts of darkness? Yeah, and you're like, no, no, no,
it's not as bad as that, so we're good, you know.
Yeah, yeah, but but speaking of parts of darkness like that, that's
what it's called, right, Yeah, that's one of the best. I
mean, hands down, like that fucking doc is incredible, man, but
also like American movie, you know, American movies incredible, dude. Actually,
somebody gifted me the Colbyn VHS. I got it signed by Mark and
stuff. Yeah, but yeah, oh, you know, it's a really
really good one. I mean, and this is the documentary that inspired James
r. Ep to like really want to make movies. Is the Snowball Effect
on. I don't know if you've seen. It's on the ten year anniversary
DBB of Clerks, but it's the Making of Clerks and it is so fucking
inspiring. I'm gonna put that as my number one, Like that is one
of the most inspiring docs I've ever seen. I mean it's just Kevin Smithlake
basically racking up his credit card to make this thing and like and then people
being like this movie sucks and it's going nowhere, and then one person sees
it and it's like it changes everything. I mean, that's exactly what happened
with Last Stop. Dude, Like we all were like, Okay, I
think this is a good movie. We got rejected into every festival, dude,
Like, yeah, like we didn't do all these like all the big
ones. Everyone said no, I mean not even the big ones, like
the start naming names, but like we got rejection letters from everybody. Nobody
cared. And then like once it premiered and people started like talking about it,
everything changed. You know. It takes one person to say yes and
like or one person to like champion something and be like no, no,
no, no, look at this thing. So I like and that was
like a huge thing. And the snowball effect of just like, oh,
it's not they he wasted his time and money and his now he's got to
go get a job. And then like one person, one person in the
theater saw the movie and did a write up and like just snowball effect.
You know, and a lot of times that's how it is, you know,
it always takes that one person to say yes, just like James saying
yes to telling his house to finance that nobody was going to make this movie.
Nobody, right, you know. So yeah, that's I mean,
that's amazing. The amount of work that went into this is it's palpable,
literally you can tell. And that's I mean, honestly, that's probably one
of the unsung things that I don't think I hear many people talk about as
many Especially in the earlier like two thousand to maybe twenty ten ish time,
we were getting a lot of these with like storyboard galleries or comparison between storyboard
shots and how it actually turned out in the film. Yeah, and a
lot of those can teach people like no, you you literally visualized the entire
thing. Oh, the whole thing, dude. I mean, I this
sounds crazy, but like I would wake up in the morning and sort of
close my eyes and like be able to watch the movie in my head,
like every single fucking pot. I mean, I can show you all that
real quick. I've showed this off before, but like this is sort of
like what it looks like. So this is uh, this is like my
sort of prep bible, and it's like this is I mean, you can
see it, but it's like, wow, every single overhead the movie.
But yeah, so it's every single overhead of the movie. You know,
it's that much prep. And like on top of that, it was also
going to the location and photoboarding, and like for the Roy Orbison sequence,
it was like, actually I shot that sequence like five times, like you
know, and everyone was like, this is so stupid. You're putting a
music video in the middle of your movie. It's not gonna work. And
I was just had to stick to my guns. I'm like, I was
filming it around the house and you know, cutting it and be like what
am I missing? Okay, I'm missing over here or whatever. But yeah,
man, I mean, look, everybody works different, right. There's
probably some directors that are like, I don't need a shot list and they
make a fucking great movie and they figure it out on the spot. And
sometimes I did have to ditch the shot list right because we were up against
the clock and it was like, all right, dude, let's just put
it on a steady cam and fucking figure it out. You know. But
when you prep, Like you know, it's a lot easier to pivot when
you're disprepared. But I mean that's just my process, you know, Like
I have to prep that much. Like you know, I use sketch up
and I do like a three D design of the entire location of every location
that we shoot out, and then I scale it down to a two D
and then I implement it into shot Designer and that's where I start planning my
overheads. But like I actually have to like physically see a space. That's
just how my brain works, you know. But it's probably overkill, but
that's just my process, you know. Well not that not that you need
more feedback on it. But the Roy Orbison sequence isn't fucking incredible? Oh
thanks man, But yeah, I always he'll change on the end. On
Richard Brake was like it was so perfect, blowing the way that shot.
Yeah, that Vigo fucking shot is. It was very hard to pull off
with like we didn't have the Like I think our second was like on a
whip trying to do it and it was God, I think I don't know,
we did like thirty takes. It was very very hard. But yeah,
Jim will admit this he said it before on a podcast, but it
is funny because like he was really trying to convince me to cut the Royal
Verson thing. He was just like, dude, trust me, blah blah.
Even when we were shooting, he was like, friend, what are
you doing? Dude? What is this? What are you doing? Man?
I was like, Jim, shoot the look up like you know.
And now I remember the first time I think I showed Jim. It was
me, Jim, my best friend Scott, and James showed them the first
cut and I had to pause it because he was just like right away,
He's like, I was so wrong. I've never been more wrong in my
life. It's the best part of the fucking movie. I was so like
vindicating to be like, ah, I'm so glad you like it, Jim,
because also, like Jim is he's a hero of mine, you know,
like he's like he was sort of like in My North Star in terms
of like, oh, this guy's making movies with his friends and making a
career out of it, and like that's all I really wanted, was like,
how do I make movies with my friends and like be able to make
a living doing it? And Jim did that so it was nice to hear
him be like my favorite part of the movie. Well, I know you
got to get to Monster Palooza, so out of immense respect for your time,
I could talk to you for the next three hours. But dude,
me too, man, and this has been awesome. Dude, I want
to ask you, what are your favorite Blu rays back there? It's your
favorite? Like physical media? Oh gosh, there's so damn many. I
mean, shout out a recent one. I just watched The Case of the
Bloody Iris. Oh cool from Celluloid Dreams, a brand new label, and
it looks like immaculate. One of the best four K jolos I've ever seen.
What's it called the Celluloid What Celluloid Dreams? This was their first title,
and then they've announced Black Belly of the Tarantula another classic JOLLO. Okay,
I'm on there web sorry now that one's coming out on four K as
well, And those are their first two titles, so it's really so that's
a big deal to step in with those two. Totally dude, that is
with big fan of Radiance. Have you checked out Radiance yet? No so
shares a name with you. Fran used to work at Aero Video in the
UK stipped out and made this company Radiance. This is Bava's Planet of the
Vampires. Oh that looks cool man, amazing art on all their releases.
Yeah. The biggest thing a lot of the films, they not a lot
of them, but they get a lot of unsung films that people just never
talk about. But then they did things like The hot Spot, the Dennis
Hopper film. It's got a release from Kino in the US, and to
be quite honest, it's the same scan. It doesn't look much different.
However, the bonus features that Fran chooses for his releases are produced to perfection.
He did a he did a Hong Kong film that I just watched a
bonus feature from last month and it's got maybe the best visual essay I've ever
seen, and it was just breaking down how Hong Kong cinema changed between literally
the beginning to when that film came out. I think it was on a
moment of romance and it's it's some of the most educational, just well thought
out, beautiful, beautiful, put together bonus features that I will champion till
the day I die. Damn, one day you and I should start a
blue rite company. That'd be fucking awesome talked about really, have you I
genuinely yeah, maybe we got yeah right, yeah, yeah, I just
I just got that what's Vinegar Syndrome's new like sub label. They just put
out Red Rock Quest Cinematograph. Yeah that those are really nice. I just
got Red Rock Red Rock Quest and it's so fucking cool, like the string
and yeah yeah, the little ribbon you pull out. Yeah. God,
there was another one I just wanted to talk about. Oh, did you
pick up Rolling Thunder on the new four K transfer? I don't have it
yet, I do plan, but four times before, so yeah, exactly,
well I did the commentary on that one. I did not know that.
Yeah, I did the commentary. Me and my buddy Jackson Stewart did
the commentary for Rolling Thunder four K and then they haven't analysis yet. But
I'm also doing the commentary for Jackson and I are in the commentary for the
Village of the Damn the Carpenter four K. I'm sure credible. So yeah,
I hope they'll be able to do some more with factory. Those guys
are awesome and it's so much fun. Just I mean honestly with with Rolling
Thunder, I mean, I definitely did my homework and and you know,
hopefully it's it's like, you know, giving you some tidbits about the movie,
but for the most part, it's just me like, fucking, oh
my god, this shot is amazing. Wow, like just geeking out so
weird choose too, that's me, that's me just being a complete nerd,
you know. Uh yeah, but it's basically me just a guessing over the
movie, you know. But yeah, so if you check that out,
you can hear my obnoxious voice talk about Rolling Thunder for an hour and a
half. Incredible. Now it's on the most by list. Yeah yeah,
cool man, thank you, thank you so much for your time. Yeah,
if you're open to we got to do this again. I mean I
love that after after Evil Dead is you know, close to finish. I
would love to hear a lot of details. Yeah, yeah, for sure,
man, And hopefully that one gets a nice uh physical media release and
then we can talk about that too. Undoubtedly Evil Dead gets thirty five of
them, so I'm sure, yeah, yeah, exactly. It's especially the
fucking the first one, dude. I've bought it so many fucking times.
Dude, I think the one I have right now is just the steal book
from with the one sheet. But yeah, man, well no, this
was awesome. Thank you so much, man, And yeah, I'm sure
we'll talk soon. And like, outside of this, let's talk about starting
our physical media company. You got it. I have a good time at
Mantral. Awesome. Thanks so much, man, We'll talk to you.
If you're looking for more horror outside of the mainstream, look no further than
Unsung Horrors, a podcast about underseen horror movies. I'm Lance and I'm Erica.
Every other week we'll cover a horror movie with fewer than one thousand views
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