RED VELVET

		Interview by E.C.McMullen Jr.

"...it got me excited into thinking,
“Hey! We could do this!”
- Jim McConville

The RED VELVET Interview

When RED VELVET was in the can, Bruce Dickson, the director, moved on to other projects, leaving the producers to polish and distribute it. It's rare that newbie producers take an indie movie all the way through post production and marketing. But when you have to answer to your investors, you do whatever has to be done. We met for this interview at a breakfast restaurant in Los Angeles, near Los Feliz. Spirits were pretty high. Afterall, they just got word that their film now had American distribution.

For this interview, I spoke to producer and co-writer Joe Moe and Producers Sean Fernald, Justin McConville, and Jim McConville.

SEAN FERNALD Photo by Luz McMullen

Sean Fernald:
About two and a half years ago I came across a script called THE BIRTHDAY PARTY by a young writer named Anthony Burns, and I loved the concept in it. It was about a storyteller telling a story to a woman who, as she's listening, keeps revamping, changing the story so that, as he retells it, it changes as it goes along.

Originally, it was a straight ahead slasher, so I took it to Joe Moe to infuse it with a bit of humor and add some sparkle to the dialogue. And what we ended up with, was a really cool, contemporary de-constructed slasher with a sense of humor.

JOE MOE Photo by Luz McMullen

Joe Moe:
Sean and I are immersed in the genre. Our relationship with Forrest J Ackerman, who practically created the genre as we know it today, and all the people around us, have given us a deep love for the genre and hopefully an enhanced understanding for the formula of modern Horror films. So Sean knew that, as an artist, I would try to innovate this project as much as I could.

We had a really good concept of a storyteller and a woman collaborating, creating this character who hypothetically is killing her friends in this fantasy world. So what I decided to do was, rather than make a satire of slasher films, was to make a commentary about them and preserve all of the hits that the audiences love. to make a movie that was self aware without being self referential.

We didn't want to sanitize or kick the teeth out of the slasher film, but to pull the rug out from under the audience who would have preconceived expectations of a slasher a film. So I separated the reality world of the storyteller from the fantasy elements of the story that was being told and ended up making two three act story structures in such a way that they both have their beginning, middle and end, but hopefully wove together so that they both have their endings when the movie ends. And it seems the audience has tuned into that.

We had a collaborative crew and I could mine opinions on what everybody loved about traditional Slasher movies and what everybody hated. What they'd always wanted to see in a slasher and what they never wanted to see again. It was actually a fun exercise. As opposed to sitting down and hashing out the idea. Knowing how it begins and ends and filling in the middle with purpose. My job was really into getting the screenplay into structural shape, keeping it fresh while honoring the original writer, who inspired us all to bring this story to life.

Feo: So which of these two McConville's came in as producers first? This was an experimental movie, a pretty unusual script, what brought you in?

JUSTIN McCONVILLE Photo by Luz McMullen

Justin:
I had just graduated from High School. I'd always been into music, but I had made this video for class and I got so into it, I knew that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. At first he thought, “Yeah, this is the new flavor of the week.”

After a while he saw that I was really trying at it. I was filming stuff all the time. I got a reputation in High School that I made really good videos. It sounds stupid but that's kind of how I graduated. Because of making short videos, I found something that I loved.

I think Dad got into the tune of that, because after he met Sean, Dad just told me one day that we were making a movie. And I'm like "Shh! No we're not!" And Dad was like, "You think I'm kidding, but as soon as you graduate, we're gonna make a movie."

I thought. 'Yeah, okay. I'll believe it when it happens. So sure enough it did happen, and I learned to never underestimate him. So him, me and a friend came out to LA, worked on a few projects, and here we are today.

Feo: So Jim, when did it hit you that your son was onto something with these videos?

JIM McCONVILLE Photo by Luz McMullen

Jim McConville:
Well I saw some of those videos and, considering that he had no money to put into them, he got very creative. I watched other people watching his videos and loving them, enjoying them, and it really turned me around. To see my son take something that was basically nothing, and make it into something that made people laugh, made them cry, or made them excited, was a real talent. And that talent should be allowed to develop.

So many times today we underestimate young people and what they're capable of achieving. Many times we don't give them the opportunity they need to accomplish what their true goals in life are.

So I'm proud of what all of these guys accomplished and the way this movie came together. It's a very exciting thing.

I think, ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be in the movies, or even to make a movie. Then I grew up and put that out of my mind. But when I saw Justin doing this, and it came so natural to him. He has the talent to work with people, see what they're doing in a collaborative process, interject, and make some serious decisions that not only appeal to his generation, but to every generation. So that's what hit it off. He was so in tune to it that it got me excited thinking, "Hey! We could do this!"

I think we're very fortunate to have Joe and Sean, John Goss, and Eric Mittleman, who were the nucleus of this thing that put it all together.

A mutual friend, Steve, introduced me to Sean. He's an attorney and does a lot of pro-bono work for artists.

Because of that, we got the idea that we wanted to make a movie, or perhaps a number of films. I didn't have the connection to Hollywood, but Steve did. So when Sean, me and Justin met, we hit it off. So we put our heads together and decided to make a film. The genre was Dark Comedy/Horror, but we actually transcended the two genres.

So what we did with this, especially with Joe's brilliance, is turn around and take the slasher story and finesse it to such a situation that made you think. You won't fall asleep because it keeps you on the edge of your seat. You might be laughing one moment and scared the next, but it was able to get all of your emotions. To have one film that accomplishes all that is very uncommon in this day and age.

"... fortunately we had an adventurous team who was willing to go out there and take a risk."
- Sean Fernald

Feo: Sean, how hard was it for you to convince these people to take a chance on something so different?

Sean promoting RED VELVET at the 2009 VAMPIRECON.
Photo by Feo Amante

Sean: Well fortunately we had an adventurous team who was willing to go out there and take a risk. This film is different from anything else out there. At the time we made it, the theaters and video stores were full of grim, mean spirited, torture porn that was more nauseating that entertaining. And that's sort of what inspired RED VELVET. I felt that we, as Horror fans, needed a refreshing change, an alternative, from what was being offered at the time. If you look at what is coming out now, like DRAG ME TO HELL, JENNIFER'S BODY and the upcoming TRICK 'R TREAT, dark humor is coming back. I wasn't alone as a Horror creator in thinking we needed something different from what was out there. RED VELVET was born out of that desire for change.

Joe has a great, sardonic, sarcastic, sense of humor, which infused itself throughout the story. Justin brought a real youth oriented appeal. When the creative people were designing the maniac, John Goss went to Justin and said, “What would your maniac need to have?” Justin said, “Music.” And that's the seed that became the genesis for the speakers on top of his head. So he could play music or sounds from his last kill.

Feo: That and the camera on top of his head that takes your picture as you DIE! So you can see your terrified face as the last thing you see.

(Laughter)

Sean: Look at Sam Raimi's DRAG ME TO HELL. It's laugh out loud funny but it's also horrific.

Jim: I think it's one of the best films of the year. It doesn't seem real at first, but once you allow yourself to be sucked into it and you feel the hairs rise on the back of your neck, you're hooked! Something that has been lacking in Horror movies for some time is a good story. Back in the old days, they had innovative stories. Those movies still stand today.

Feo: Which is why they keep wanting to remake them into crap.

Jim: Yeah. I don't want to see most Horror movies these days because they aren't fun.

Feo: At the San Diego Comic Con, and remember these directors who get up at these panels are preaching to the choir, they're telling the fans that they guarantee there will be X amount of people in the seats in the first weekend. And that's nuts! Those fans aren't investors or number crunching bean counters. They don't want to hear your ego about their butts in the seat. They want you to tell them how much they'll love your movie!

Jim: That bloodless scene in DRAG ME TO HELL where the old lady has lost her teeth and is gumming the young lady is funny and unsettling at the same time. The same time! I don't remember ever seeing something like that. It was different, it was unique, and to pull both emotions out of somebody at the same time! Wow!

Feo: Yeah, in that scene, the audience was screaming and groaning in disgust and all it was, was slime and saliva. And you probably have the line for the next show outside hearing all that through the walls and thinking, “My God! What are they DOING?”

(Laughter)

Jim: That's brilliant! I think DRAG ME TO HELL is one of the best Horror movies ever, personally.

Feo: Well, I'm still sold on John Carpenter's THE THING.

(Laughter)

Jim: Well, yeah! The THING is good!

Justin: That's the best!

Page 2: How to reach the fans...

This interview copyright 2009 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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