An Interview with Ritchie Anasky (Part 2 - Actress Apocalypse) Josh Darling has been contributing to Critical-Film.com more and more frequently, including a fantastic article documenting three films every aspiring director needs to see. His first interview for Critical-Film is a three parter with independent film maker Ritchie Anasky, writer/director of Actress Apocalypse. Actress Apocalypse was one of the three focus films in Josh's fist article "Three Films for Directors", alongside John Waters' Cecil B. Demented and Tim Burton's Ed Wood. Part One - Anasky's vision and approach to film making. Part Two - Making "Actress Apocalypse". Part Three - Anaski's future projects.

JD: How did the idea for 'Actress Apocalypse' originally come about?

RA: The basic idea (aka: The Rage of the Lincoln Brothers) originated back in 2000 as a semi autobiographical reaction to all the negative experiences and impressions associated with the making of my first film... An immensely troubled production titled "I AM VENGEANCE".

The general idea was to essentially do a 'SPINAL TAP' sort of expose on the bummer aspects of no budget movie-making and to combine all that with an electric eye/revenge/snuff angle... I was looking to blend my own experiences/impressions together with the inspiration taken from film-making related flicks like "LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET" and "THE SCREENTEST GIRLS" and serve it all up in raw mockumentary/demented comedy fashion... It seemed like a pretty unique idea at the time and I hoped (if pulled off properly) that it could ultimately be a kind of fun/therapeutic experience for fellow no budget film-makers... Anyway, so I went forward with it and managed to get a demo shot (a tiny clip of the demo (which featured Greg G. Freeman and Joel D. Wynkoop) can be found amongst the ACTRESS APOCALYPSE DVD extras) but unfortunately that was as far as it went. I figured the concept was destined to never be realised.

Ok, lets zip on forward to 2004....Find me back in touch with an old friend and former collaborator by the name of Garo Nighoghossian. He and I had a film-making related falling out back in 1998 but time had healed the wounds and it wasn't long before he was mentioning the possibility of us trying to do another film together. He asked if I had any ideas for a movie that could be done on the cheap... I mentioned the "Lincoln Brothers" and gave him a peek at the demo footage, and as fate would have it, he dug the film's potential and returned home to Boston intent on getting us a budget. Once back on his home turf, he approached his business partners (who were part of a DVD company that specialised in releasing old school martial arts films to the DVD market) and pitched the "Lincoln Brothers" idea, and to my surprise... he managed to convince them to fund the concept that would soon become "ACTRESS APOCALYPSE".

JD: How long was your pre-production time, how much was scripted and how much was improv, and how did those sessions work out?

RA: From my recollection, pre-production was fairly rushed... I don't 'think' there was more then a month's time between Garo pitching the film to the producers and us actually starting production. To be honest though, I don't believe extensive pre-production would've made a speck of positive/noticable difference to the finished film. Especially since after the atrocious/disastrous 1st night of filming, I decided to basically toss out most everything we'd planned on doing in favor of shooting and directing the film in the manner I initially envisioned. Garo also decided to do a complete reversal on how he'd portray his character. Those were two risky moves to make on the fly at the start of a production that had gotten off to such a shaky start.

As for script vs improv... Wow, I guess it all kinda blends together in the end, ya know? Best of both worlds... Obviously each and every scene was defined, outlined, planned out and discussed or there'd be no possibility of a coherent movie. I can't even imagine how massively screwed I would've been during editing if this film was strung together and approached as loosely as some seem to suggest.

That said... I want to turn the spotlight directly on the film's 3 leads (Greg G. Freeman as Vance Lincoln, Garo Nigoghossian as David B. Lincoln the 3rd and Jay Ingle as The Golden Terror)  because there's absolutely no denying that the luckiest break that 'ACTRESS APOCALYPSE' enjoyed came via the pairing of those three actors. It became abundantly evident to me on the 2nd day of shooting that the three of them shared an undeniable degree of on screen chemistry... There was an instantaneous comfort level between them and they just had this natural sense of timing... It was like they were a three man troupe that had been working a routine together for years. When the scenes allowed for it, I was able to just present them with the key lines I needed in order to progress the story and the details of where the scene ultimately needed to go and then be able to rely on their creativity to get us there in the most amusing manner. There were so many moments scattered throughout the film where their chemistry, individual creativity, understanding of their characters and physical acting enhanced and elevated the material. Without the pairing of Garo, Greg and Jay, "ACTRESS APOCALYPSE" never would've come close to living up to my hopes and expectations.

Everyone else in the film was basically given their lines/motivations prior to filming their scenes and to their credit... All did a great job in my opinion.

As for how the sessions worked out... Well, that's really all in the eye of the beholder, ya know?

JD: The scene in the bath tub (after no cast and crew show up) seems very true to life. Was that from personal experience?

RA: Every scene and every character is based on either a person or a situation that I (or someone I know) had encountered or experienced, etc... Obviously I don't know of anyone who'd go sit in a bath tub and complain into a camera about how his whole life is going down the tubes but I'd guess that anyone who's done a no budget flick can (on some level) relate with what the guy in the tub is going through. That gut wrenching feeling of dejection and isolation that comes when you foolishly expect anything that remotely resembles basic human courtesy, reliability, honesty or a sense of reality out of some of the "characters" that you'll deal with at the low/no budget level of movie making. 

I guess in a demented sort of way that Garo and I should be thankful for every delusional egotist and every unreliable waste of space that we've encountered along the way because, if nothing else, they were the ones who provided the inspiration for us to make this movie. They lit the fuze.

JD: You seem to have perfectly mastered the medium of 'DV' and the sound work in the film. Was that an organic progression or totally planed?

RA: Man, nothing regarding the sound was planned... In fact, it was probably the most neglected aspect of the entire production. I had too much other stuff I was worrying about and Garo (who does have prior experience in running sound) was tied up with acting and producing details. So in the end, it is what it is, ya know? I'm just happy that ya can hear what everyones saying.

JD: There is a lot of nudity in the film; a lot of people find that hard to work with. Did you have any issues with actors?

RA: If you mean did I have any issues with the actors regarding doing the nudity, the answer is no. Everyone knew what was expected when they accepted their roles.

Speaking of *nudity*... The producers of 'AA' were actually constantly bitching that there wasn't enough nudity in the movie... They were always offering up worthless advice for Garo to pass along to me like "add another naked girl to kill off" or "less story, more nudity"... Just utter nonsense along those lines... To be honest, I have zero issue working with/around nudity and I find it ri-God Damn-diculous that so many people are so freaked out or offended by it these days. I personally find it to be the only saving grace in the majority of movies I watch.

That said, I do feel that the excessive nudity in 'AA' gets in the way of the story I was trying to tell. To me it slows things down on occasion and I argued that fact endlessly via Garo but the producers weren't interested. They were dead set on me turning 'AA' into some disposable Seduction Cinema style flick and I was 100% against doing that.

Also, keep in mind that I was assured that the version of 'AA' (that was padded out with the excess nudity, etc..) would NOT be released unless the film (the proper cut) did really well and somehow warranted a special edition release down the line. I figured there was no way in hell that was ever going to happen so (against my better judgement) I gave them the two cuts of the film. Of course, it wasn't long before Garo called me and informed me that the producers were scrapping the proper (less gratuitous) cut of the film and were releasing the extended/glorified rough cut version of the film. At that point I was ready to just wash my hands of the whole experience.

JD: In the film it seems the crew is constantly on verge of mutiny. Was the real cast and just as hard to work with?

RA: No, to the cast's credit, they were ALL nice people and very easy to work with.... We were also probably fortunate in that no-one was really on set long enough to become much of a hassle, ya know?

I personally feel that it's always a good idea to try and confine these micro budget productions to between 7-10 days MAX if at all possible. It seems like anything beyond that and you're just asking for problems. People seem to start drifting (or losing their God damn minds depending on your POV). They start losing interest, losing enthusiasm... It becomes more and more difficult to keep em' motivated... Egos start getting out of control, people's pathetic personal life dramas start creeping onto the set, people start showing up late or not at all... So yeah, always better to get em' in and get em' out quick as quick as ya can.

JD: Where exactly did impregnating a "dead bitch" come from?

RA: From the mind of Greg (Dreg the Hammer) Freeman. I needed him to wrap up the necrophilia sequence with something heartfelt and romantic and that is what he came up with.

JD: The editing in that film is really fast. How long was your total post time?

RA: Not long enough....

One of the few benefits associated with making films (and post production) at the micro budget level is that you can generally take whatever time ya need in order to get things just right. Well there was NO such benefit in the case of "ACTRESS APOCALYPSE"... I believe I began full time post production late in October 2004 and I was expected to deliver TWO different cuts of the film to the producers by the start of the 2005. Now in the best case scenario this would've been a bit of an unrealistic proposition, but factor in the holidays and all that jazz... Man... It was INSANE... I'd never even edited a feature before and there I was, basically married to the editing system... Literally doing like 15-16 hours a day in front of the monitor... Straining my eyes in order to meet their unrealistic deadline... WOW... I seriously must've been channeling inspiration from another realm because in looking back (and when looking at the film itself)... I still have no clue as to how the hell I did it.

Anyway, despite my mad dash to meet the deadline, I still came up a bit short of having a 100% finished version of the film ready by time the producers wanted it. I requested an additional two week extension (which would NOT have effected it's release date in ANY way) so I could add the proper finishing touches but the request was shot down. It always bugged me that those guys willingly released not only the wrong version of 'AA' but also one that I consider to be a glorified rough cut of the film.

JD: What exactly happened with the distribution of the film, the infamous directors "cut", and the packaging?

RA: Well, as previously mentioned... The actual Director's Cut of the film was never even released.

As for the packaging... Wow, what a humiliation... An embarrassment, and if the DVD sleeve wasn't amateur hour enough (not to mention, misleading regarding what the film is about), they took ineptitude to a whole new level by adding a pic of a naked actress to the front cover. I think it goes without saying how poor a business decision that was on their part. What really sucks is that Ola Sjoberg (from the band responsible for AA's soundtrack, SPACE PROBE TAURUS) and myself came up with some excellent concept art and promo ideas that would've represented the film in a fun and accurate manner, but as was always the case... If something made sense and worked, the producers would want to go in the opposite direction. An example that comes to mind was when the film was released, it managed to get met with a fantastic reception (which shocked the hell out of me). Just when momentum was building, the producers pulled the plug on ALL promotion and basically buried (and ultimately, sabotaged) the film!!

Oh, and to add insult to injury... They also stiffed the cast regarding their sleeve credits and they screwed me out of doing my director's commentary.

What a long, strange trip it was... :-)

JD: Looking back on the film what is your favorite memory of making it?

RA: I think just making it, ya know? Being given the opportunity to create a movie that was important to me... I enjoyed running the camera and working with the actors... Capturing the moments... Yeah... The entire production often felt like a comedy (or tragedy) of errors... Nothing ever really went right and there was never much of an opportunity to just kick back and savor the moment, but ya know what? That's ok... The film got made and distributed.... It's out there forever. That's all that matters in the end.

It was also always a massive thrill (and kinda surreal) to hear from people who dug the film. I met (and heard from) so many cool people due to making AA... Oh and walking into a store in the Mall and seeing the movie I went through hell with sitting right there on the shelves. That was something else... Kinda made it all seem worthwhile, ya know? ;-)

JD: Will there be a follow up or sequel? 

RA: One almost already happened...

About a year after "ACTRESS APOCALYPSE", Greg (Dreg the Hammer) Freeman and I were literally moments from starting production on an AA spin-off titled "VANCE LINCOLN SUPERSTAR" (which would've been amongst other things, a massive attack and reaction regarding what went on with AA)... If the lead actress didn't get into a car wreck on her way to the set, we'd have shot that film... Kind of a shame it didn't come off because I think it would've been a good one. I loved the script Greg and I wrote.

Beyond that, there were actually quite a few AA sequel ideas kicked around over the years, but now I'd say the ship has probably sailed... I don't have anything I need to speak through those characters and honestly, I don't believe Greg or Jay would even be interested in doing a sequel at this point.

That said, Garo Nigoghossian would do an AA follow up in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself and I know he dreams of one day doing a David B. Lincoln the 3rd solo flick.

I guess time will tell.... :-)