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Interview:
What was the inspiration for THE
HAMILTONS? I've read some cute little nicknames for it in
some reviews online, but I can't list them here, lest they
be spoilers. But what can you tell us about the concept
without giving too much away?
There’s a lot of chatter online,
but to break it down: Our idea was to create a horror film
that didn’t need to rely on the formulaic devices that most
horror films do. Something that we would want to go and see
and that didn’t seem tired. So, we started throwing ideas
around with Adam Weis (co-writer on “The Hamiltons”) about
what we loved and hated within horror films. We even drew
from some of our non-horror influences and the whole thing
started to gather momentum taking turns here and there that
eventually became the “The Hamiltons”.
Did you find your cast through the usual auditioning
process? Everyone was terrific, but nobody (except Brittany
Daniel) seems to have a long list of 'credits'. Joseph (McKelheer)
and Mackenzie (Firgens) were real standouts as the twins.
We were lucky we didn’t actually have to go through the
usual auditioning channels. When we were in development for
“The Hamiltons”, we already knew that we wanted to work with
the four leads from the start. That was a big plus in
molding the characters for the film.
Samuel Child was a lead character
in our last film “Lurking in Suburbia”, which is available
to rent at video stores. We found Cory Knauf on the set of a
film that Adam Weis had penned. And the twins were a lot of
fun to create. Joseph McKelheer and Mackenzie Firgens, who
we also knew previously from other projects, took to the
roles immediately, coming off like a deranged set of twins
almost a little too easily.
For the look of the film, were
you inspired by other movies or photographs, or did you just
make some artistic decisions as the scenes called for them?
There was a very defined look we went after once we came up
with the concept of the film. We talked the concept over
with Mike Maley (the Director of Photography) and created a
plan of attack. When writing we drew influences from horror
films we loved from the 70’s (Hooper) and early 80’s (Lynch,
Cronenburg) and we decided to let the film feel and look
like some of those influences.
Making the downstairs basement of
the house feel 70’s: raw and dirty, gritty, saturated with
more color, while the upstairs we relied on the Stepford-like
dysfunction of family to permeate. 80’s influenced color
schemes, empty, hollow and mundane like settings, are in
play. The house is almost sterile, just as the family wants
to appear. We shot mostly indoors, keeping the film
claustrophobic as much as possible. When we did shoot
outside, it was overcast, rainy or gloomy, trying to capture
the feeling of an isolated town and that same claustrophobia
that comes with it.
Okay, there's now a list of
sibling directing/producing teams moviegoers are fairly
familiar with: The Pang Brothers, The Hughes Brothers, Tony
and Ridley Scott (though they don't usually work together)
and Joel and Ethan Coen. How do you guys decide "who does
what", or do you both pretty much have a hand in everything
both behind and in front of the camera?
We’ve been working together for so
long that we’ve got our method down pretty well. We each
have our individual skills and strengths but both go over
every single aspect of the film from pre to post, separately
bringing in those skills that balance out what makes The
Butcher Brothers successful. What’s nice about it is that we
can both pick out ideas or solutions the other brother
wouldn’t necessarily think of and then bring it to the film.
Tell us a little about when and
how you got your start making movies.
We both met in high school in South
San Francisco. We began writing short films and after making
a few smaller projects, we decided to jump in and make a
feature. “Lurking in Suburbia” was a festival favorite and
was discovered by Senior Sundance programmer Trevor Groth.
“Lurking” went on to Premiere at the CineVegas Film
Festival. After that, we decided to channel our darker
content and The Butcher Brothers were born.
Obviously you've been around to
some of the major festivals. Is that how THE HAMILTONS wound
up being selected for After Dark's HORRORFEST?
THE HAMILTONS was doing great on
the film festival circuit... We walked away with some nice
awards and a lot of recognition. Shortly after, we got a
call from Courtney Solomon who runs the After Dark
Horrorfest and he just loved the film. We were already
picked up by LGF (Lions Gate Films) at that point and they
pretty much set it up from there. It was great seeing the
film playing across the country on 500 screens in 35 cities.
Any actors you'd like to work
with eventually? Any 'names' or would you like to find some
more new relative unknowns like the HAMILTONS cast?
There are some great “name” actors
out there doing incredible work but what it really comes
down to for us is the right actor for the right role, be it
the biggest name in Hollywood (if he or she likes the
project) or a newcomer from anywhere (if he or she likes the
project). So it truly depends on the picture and the fit.
Sometimes having faces you do not recognize makes the film
that much more scary… It all just depends.
What's next on the menu for The
Butcher Brothers? And if you could make up a 'wish list' of
the kind of projects you'd like to tackle in the future,
what would be on that list? Any remakes or
"re-imaginations"? Or would it all be original stuff?
We actually have a few things
cooking right now. Unfortunately though, we can not speak
about them at this point in time. Let’s just say some are
original works others are not. But you’ll be seeing
something from The Butcher Brothers very soon! And yes...
Very dark, very twisted.
Okay, now that you've given us a
good case of the heebie-jeebies, spill it. What, if any, are
the movies that make you want to turn all the lights in the
house on?
To be honest, THE EXORCIST scares
the hell out of both of us and THE SHINING has never lost
its ability to keep us sober.
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The
Butcher Brothers
