An Interview with Eric Stanze

• Eric, Can you start by giving us a brief history of Wicked Pixel Cinema and how you got into filmmaking?

I made short movies in high school, shooting on VHS and Super 8 film. My senior year served as pre-production on my final high school project, a ridiculous ELM STREET rip-off called THE SCARE GAME. In college, I made only one student film, a thriller (that was quite lacking in thrills) called THE FINE ART. I made these movies as a hobby, never thinking more than a few people would ever see them. Then, these movies caught the attention of a small home video distributor. Next thing I know, these silly student projects are being released on home video all around the world. Very exciting or very embarrassing, depending on how you look at it.

That was the beginning of my career, though. It firmly planted the idea in my head that movie making could be my job instead of my hobby. My life has been ruined ever since!

After my first ”professional“ movie, the gory SAVAGE HARVEST, I formed my production company Wicked Pixel Cinema. Our first movie under this banner was ICE FROM THE SUN.

• Let's jump straight to the present and your latest film, DEADWOOD PARK. It seems like it was such a long time ago when it was first announced and I've been following with great interest your production diaries. Can you share with us some of the most memorable highs and lows of the experience?

Yeah, DEADWOOD PARK was announced in Hollywood Reporter right as pre-production began. I knew, due to our low budget and other factors, that it would be a long while before the movie would actually come out, so that announcement seemed premature.

That entire four year journey, from pre-production to the U.S. DVD release in October of ’07 is kind of a blur now. The biggest ”highs“ I had making that movie revolved around accomplishing things that I knew were almost unthinkable at our budget level. I was surrounded by an amazing team and we were able to create some high-production-value sequences without anything even close to a Hollywood budget. Our World War II sequences, for example, cost us very little in cash, but they look great because my team and I were able to negotiate for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of people, uniforms, weapons, tanks, jeeps, etc. Plus, it was very fulfilling for me to have enough experience and grasp of the craft to harness these resources and make them work right for the movie.

The biggest ”lows“ I experienced stemmed from distribution hassles. Three of our older movies, SAVAGE HARVEST, ICE FROM THE SUN, and SCRAPBOOK were all getting special edition DVD re-release through a new, bigger distributor. So, to start off with, I was overworked because I was producing these big DVD projects at the same time DEADWOOD PARK was in production. And then the new distributor became very difficult to work with, dicking around with our money and being shady. So, on top of working myself to extreme exhaustion, I was having to deal with all that bullshit too.

We were raising the money for DEADWOOD PARK a bit at a time as the movie was shooting, so money was always a source of stress. Plus, I was making a lot of personal financial sacrifices to see DEADWOOD PARK get made. Not only was I sweating over paying my bills, I was not eating right. I had no money, no food, too much stress, and not enough sleep during DEADWOOD PARK’s shoot, plus most of pre and post-production as well.

The re-releases of the older titles were supposed to ease some of the financial stress. Instead, the financial stress shot way up. Those re-releases almost shut us down. Not just DEADWOOD PARK, but the whole Wicked Pixel Cinema company. There were some scary days in there. I only survived those dark times because of the great people at my side.

In the end, I did my best to not let all this negative stuff distract me from my job making DEADWOOD PARK, though I’m sure it had some impact on the project. I know for sure it had impact on my physical health. As DEADWOOD PARK finished up post-production, I was in bad shape. I was literally blacking out and collapsing in public from all this bullshit. I tell ya, if you get into indie filmmaking for the glamour of it, you are in for a rude awakening.

• DEADWOOD PARK is your most ambitious and polished work to date and it's been getting some very positive reviews. Was it a gamble making such a paced, slow burning film? Did you see signs that audiences were craving movies with substance, or was it simply a film that you had to make, regardless of how it would have been accepted?

It was an artistic decision to make DEADWOOD PARK in that ”slow burn“ style. It was how I saw the movie in my head. However, my producer, Jeremy Wallace, and I also anticipated that horror fans were indeed starved for movies with substance. We also saw that the hyper-cut, frantic pace of contemporary horror films was wearing out its welcome. Not that frantic, hyper-cut films are ”wrong“ at all. It’s just that offering an alternative to that style would fit an under-saturated area in the market. As I usually try to do in my career, I made my decisions about DEADWOOD PARK based on both business strategies as well as my interests as an artist.

• The decaying amusement park plays a very important role in DEADWOOD PARK. When you wrote the screenplay, did you have the location in mind or was it a case of finding a suitable place after it was written? I believe the original location was damaged during a storm. How difficult was it to find a replacement?

When I was writing, I did not have a location in mind for the old amusement park. I just wrote it in, based on what I wanted to do creatively with the movie. I don’t know if this is such a wise tactic. When working on a limited budget, one really should write with their financial limitations in mind. For DEADWOOD PARK, I did not do that. A mistake, perhaps. But we pulled it off, so perhaps not.

Finding an amusement park was very difficult, but we did find a great park in North Carolina that was willing to let us shoot there for free. Then a hurricane demolished the park two days before cast and crew were scheduled to go there!

Finding the replacement park location was even more difficult than finding the original one. Mostly due to Jeremy’s tenacity, we found one. It looked so much better than the park in North Carolina. The replacement park fit the mood of the movie better. It was perfect.

• The scenes in DEADWOOD PARK from the Second World War were very impressive. How did you manage to pull that off, using what appear to be military vehicles from the correct era?

Almost everything you see in our WWII sequences is authentic to the period. Some of our military uniforms actually saw combat in WWII. Scott Muck, another one of DEADWOOD PARK’s producers, was in charge of begging, borrowing, or stealing everything we’d need to pull these sequences off. What real items we couldn’t find, we made ourselves.

A lot of hard-working people pitched in and helped Scott out. Piece by piece, it all finally came together. The WWII sequences should have been the most expensive sequences of the movie to shoot, but they weren’t. If we had tried to ”purchase“ those scenes properly, they would have been far beyond our budget. Instead of spending money, a huge group of people came together and worked their asses off. That’s how we did it.

In a recent review of DEADWOOD PARK I was accused of using stock footage in the WWII section of the movie. I’m not sure how to take this. First, I got pissed, because every single shot in DEADWOOD PARK, including every shot in the WWII section, was shot by me personally. There is zero stock footage anywhere in this movie. But then, when you pause to think about it, such an accusation is actually a compliment.

• Mario Viele's haunting score compliments DEADWOOD PARK very well. Is he someone you've worked with before? Was it a difficult process, coming up with suitable music?

DEADWOOD PARK was unique for me because the music absolutely had to be right or it would ruin the movie. Music has always been important, but on my past movies, it was not such a vital organ in the organism. This time, I was really nervous about the music score.

I first approached Matt Meyer, who did the music for ICE FROM THE SUN. He was too busy at the time, so he recommended Mario Viele. I had never worked with Mario before, but I was aware of him as a prominent musician and recording producer for the local punk scene. So, of course, all I’d ever heard from Mario was crazy, noisy punk rock. All great stuff, but completely wrong for DEADWOOD PARK!

Then I found out that Mario has a bachelor’s degree in music and is experienced in a wide variety of styles and recording techniques. His formal education, his talent, plus his wealth of writing, performing, and producing experience was mind boggling to me because Mario was such a young guy. Just a kid, really. Only in his early twenties when he started working on DEADWOOD PARK. Very impressive.

• The cast of DEADWOOD PARK is made up of Wicked Pixel Cinema regulars and some new faces, including Bryan Lane, who I thought was perfect as the town cop. How do you cast for a new project? Do you offer the parts to your regulars first or do they have to audition the same as new actors?

The casting for each movie is different. Sometimes we hold auditions, sometimes we don’t. For DEADWOOD PARK, everyone auditioned, even if they’d worked with me in the past.

I had never worked with Bryan Lane before. I think the first time I met him was at the audition. Not only did he audition very well, but he gave that sheriff character an additional dimension that was not there in the script. He’s a very talented actor.

• From listening to your commentaries, its obvious how much work and dedication you put into your films. How do you unwind? Do you have time for anything else in your life?

My life pretty much revolves around making movies. However, there are a few minutes out of each day that I devote to something else. I work out every day. I don’t know anything about music, but there are a few bands I follow, listen to a lot, and collect the albums of. (I can’t write music or play music, but I like to listen to it.) Since DEADWOOD PARK pre-production, I’ve been hooked on watching documentaries and reading books about WWII. I do still photography from time to time. I love old drive-in theatres. I absolutely love amusement parks. I especially like old wooden roller coasters, but overall, an amusement park’s atmosphere is enjoyable and relaxing to me. The more classic and vintage the park is, the better.

Making movies is such a twenty-four-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week thing for me, it is very difficult for me to unwind and experience the above-mentioned activities. Finding the time to unwind is the first part of the battle. Getting my mind to stop spinning from all the filmmaking stuff is the more difficult half of the battle.

It is very hard for me to ”shut it off“ at the end of a work day. I have trouble relaxing, going to sleep at night, and having casual interaction with other human beings sometimes. I used to be able to just sit down and enjoy a movie at the end of the day, but now even that can be too much input for the brain; it makes me think about whatever movie I’m working on. I think about the script, locations, even budget. . . and then suddenly I am no longer relaxing and enjoying the movie anymore.

I’m doing a lot better today than I was just six months ago. My team has pressured me to take days off more often. I now set more time aside here and there to just relax, read, go to a movie, or just hang out with people I care about.

• Have any recent films impressed you, either mainstream or indie? Are you interested in world cinema; European or Far Eastern films?

I generally enjoy European cinema much more than mainstream American films. Hollywood had its magic in the late 1960’s and through the 1970’s, then lost it, and has failed to get it back again.

I was very much into Asian horror / fantasy / martial arts films in high school, but I guess I got burnt out on it because I don’t have much interest in it today.

The most impressive films I’ve seen recently have come from Sofia Coppola. Her first three movies were all amazing. And to go three in a row without a stumble is difficult, even for filmmakers who are far more experienced than she is. I’ve also been impressed recently with the films of Darren Aronofsky, Alfonso Cuarón, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT, David Cronenberg’s A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, and William Friedkin’s BUG.

• What are you personal ambitions with regards to filmmaking? Do you want to explore other genres?

My personal ambition in filmmaking is to continue doing what I do, and get paid a fair wage to do it. I don’t need to be rich or famous. I just need enough to live on. As far as subject matter goes, I know I’ll always have movies in mind that are important to me personally, but I don’t see my career being exclusive to these movies. I see myself as someone who can absorb any story, think it through, and design a motion picture that presents that story in the best way possible. In short, I’m comfortable telling my stories, or someone else’s, in the horror genre, or any other.

• I love the little Wicked Pixel wind up reaper at the start of your films. How did he become your mascot?

Both that mascot and the name of my company just kind of materialized and stuck. We did not spend a lot of time thinking those things out. I guess we were just too focused on the movie-making part if it, and not focused enough on image or marketing. And honestly, though we’re still small potatoes, Wicked Pixel Cinema has grown bigger and lasted longer than I ever thought it would when it formed. I think if I had known back then that Wicked Pixel Cinema would see this kind of success and have this kind of staying power, I would have paused to come up with a better company name and a better mascot.

But in answer to your question, the assistant director on ICE FROM THE SUN gave me that toy reaper as a gift. Right after ICE production wrapped, I decided to shoot the toy for our opening logo. We’ve been stuck with each other ever since!

• Thank you very much for taking the time out to talk to us Eric; it really is an honour as I'm a fan of your work. I’d like to wish you continued success and look forward to your next project.

Thanks for the kind words and for the support. I appreciate it very much!