Q: What is your background as a filmmaker? What are your influences? Your favorite Slasher movie of all time?
I started as a Cinematographer for TV Commercials, did that for a long time, and it wasn't until recently that I decided to direct. I felt secure, safe behind a camera.
My influences have always been horror films, specially the works of John Carpenter, David Cronenberg and the old Hammer films (anything with Christopher Lee or Vincent Price rocks! in my book...)
I have to say, that the best slasher film of all time is MANIAC (1980), it truly succeeds as a character study into the mind of a serial killer. So many films today just depend on quick cutting, loud noise and steadicam- to -death scenes, MANIAC takes its time andit delivers.
Q: DELIVERY is a surprisingly in-depth character study of this guy and I say surprising because filmmakers tend to go the easy route with the Slasher Genre. How did the idea for a killer pizza delivery guy come about and how long did it take to write the script?
I had the luck of having been on the verge of starting a larger film with a studio called PROJECTIONS, it all looked great but, as it happens most of the time, the studio wanted to change things and turn the whole thing into something I hated. I walked away from it,it was the most difficult desicion I have ever made. After that I still felt the need to shoot something, I happened to have made a bet with an Italian producer, which stated that I could make a film for less than $5000 ( I was lying...but what can ya do?). He prettymuch took my bet and that is how I started.
I had worked with Matt Nelson before, he was an Assistant Director on films, He was huge, menacing, but with a heart of gold, so I thought of him for this small film. Kind of like a male version of CARRIE. The script pretty much wrote itself in about a weekand off we went. It was so hard, it sounds pretty romantic and heroic to shoot something for so little, and it was hard. We shot everything for about $4000.
Q: Matt Nelson is perfectly cast as Monty Goth. How did you get him and your other actors?
As I said before, he was an Assistant Director in other films, and he just looked perfect. I must say the man was amazing, he gave it his all, no previous acting, he definitely nailed it. The rest of the cast was difficult, because with this budget and the fact that we required nudity, people thought we were making a porn film!. But little by little we found our cast.
Tara Cardinal was a great casting choice, I was looking for someone pretty, petit and with a good acting range, she was perfect. I wanted a good contrast between the male and female lead, kind of like "Beauty and The Beast".
Q: How long did it take to make the movie? What were the most difficult and the most enjoyable aspects of the production?
Oh god, was it difficult...no money. But we live in such an exiting time for filmmakers, these digital cameras are so powerful, as long as you treat lighting and cinematography seriously, the results can be awesome. We had nothing in this shoot, perhaps a few lightssometimes, sometimes car lights and mirrors, a water hose for the rain, etc, but if you treat your frame seriously, magical things can happen.
We had a small crew, we started up with 100 people, 2 days later we were down to 7 people ( some filmmakers forget filmmaking is hard work!), by the time we finished, we had about 4 people. But those 4 people are gold and will go far.
I also lost my composer and had to write the entire score myself, that was scary, but very exciting. Even though it was hard, the wonderful thing was just making things happen, the fact that I was able to finish it amazes me. I gained a whole new respect for directors, as a Director of Photography I always made fun of directors, now I know better....
Q: How can people see the movie?
It is still amazing to me Warners is distributing this little film...
It is available at BEST BUY, KMARTS, MOVIE STOP video stores, also everywhere on the net:, Overstock.com, amazon.com, DVDempire.com, target.com, walmart.com, everywhere. Get your copy, in fact get 10 copies!!!!!
Q: What is your next project?
I have just finished SECOND COMING, a much bigger film, hopefully out in theaters later in the year, and I will hopefully start pre-production on the film I mentioned earlier, PROJECTIONS, sometimes early next year. Info on ordering DELIVERY
For more info on me and the other projects, check out: