October 13, 2023 • 25 mins
Director Sean McNamara joins to talk all about his new horror/thriller "Vindicata" starring Elena Kampouris, Sean Astin, and Jeremy Piven.
Bonus interview segment with actor Scott Patterson discussing his role in Saw V and IV.
Full interview with Scott -- https://youtu.be/j6ikNa55mZw?si=azW3O_1AE3e-ygq4
More info:
https://www.instagram.com/mcnamara6262/
https://www.instagram.com/scottgordonpatterson/
https://www.instagram.com/appetite4horror/
Bonus interview segment with actor Scott Patterson discussing his role in Saw V and IV.
Full interview with Scott -- https://youtu.be/j6ikNa55mZw?si=azW3O_1AE3e-ygq4
More info:
https://www.instagram.com/mcnamara6262/
https://www.instagram.com/scottgordonpatterson/
https://www.instagram.com/appetite4horror/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:31):
Welcome to the podcast Appetite for Horror, Episode number eighteen. Sean McNamara,
How are you, sir, I'mgreat, Brandon. How you doing,
I'm doing well. Where are youcalling in from? If I may ask
her, unless it's a secret location, I'm calling from Saint Louis, Missouri
at the beautiful Saint Louis University.I'm on a scout for my next movie
called on Fire. Oh nice,Saint Louis. I was only there once,
(00:54):
loved it. It was years ago. It was when Tino Martinez was
on the Cardinals, and I wentto the Old Bush Stadium and just so
I'm sure, uh, you're gettingsome good footage out there, because it
is a great city. Absolutely,and it's a it's a baseball movie about
John O. Leary and Jack Buckand we have to recreate the Old Bush
Stadium. Look at that. Ididn't even know that. And to segue
(01:14):
right into what you're doing perfect.Oh, I'm looking forward to that movie
as well. And before, ofcourse we got absolutely yeah right on.
So, but before we get intoVindica, which I'm excited to talk to
you about. I watched it overthe weekend. I enjoyed it, but
I want to know a little bitmore about you if I could, because
I like to know again as youhear my baby cooping in the background,
(01:34):
where it starts is so to speak. So when did you take, you
know, your first cam quarder andstart filming, you know, where you're
filming your family? When did youkind of get the director feel? Was
it young in life? When didit happen for you? It was twelve
years old. I was on atrip to Ireland with my family. My
dad bought me my first Super eightcamera and from that point on I just
(01:55):
kept filming then on it and Ilived eleven houses away from Walt Disney Studios,
and I have the paper boy fromWalk Business Studios, and you could
just sneak on the back lot andjust the same old story. But any
rate, that's where my family homeis, and I still have people living
there. That's cool. I mean, it's not necessarily the same old story.
I didn't grow up near Disney Worldto have that experience. Do you
(02:17):
remember your first I mean, I'msure you know with a lot of things
with your camcorder filming it like yourdog's, your family, things like that,
But do you remember your first filmwhere you're like, okay, I
am the director of this. Wasit that young or was it in school?
Oh? Yes, it was thatJohn. My first film that I
shot with that camera was on myhouse with all my neighbors that it would
(02:38):
called Sniper and I would fill myfriends nouves with ketchup and then I would
shoot them and they had to spitout the ketchup and they thought it's crazy
because you know, when you putketchup in your mouth, it just takes
you know, like not so great. But that was my first film,
Sniper. Oh I love that.All great in the use of practical effect
(03:00):
back then, I think is great. Absolutely. You know, finally I
got to I got to digitize thatand put it on Instagram or something,
because I just when you just mentionedthat, I go, wow, one
of my first films was a horrorfilm. Well, that kind of answers
one of the questions I was goingto lead to, because this seems,
Vindica, is a bit of adeparture for you what you normally do.
(03:21):
So I was was going to askif it was your first horror film,
but it's not. Is it yourfirst take point in a while? I
guess, well, it's my secondone, and Vindicta is a it's a
suspense thriller horror film and it's youknow, hopefully I'm just I love to
go. You know. I grewup on movies like The Exoss, Halloween,
The Shining, and I just alwayswanted to make something like that.
(03:43):
I always loved the movies with somebodyin a mask ready, something that I
was going to scare the hell outof you. And I just finally got
the opportunity to make that all righton and I mispronounced it. How do
you say it? The name ofthe movie Vindicta. Okay, I don't
know why I'm adding a little flavorto it. Uh. In addition,
so yeah, I like you said, it's very cool. Hey a mom,
(04:06):
semi professional, I know some things. But as I mentioned, I
watched it over the weekend, andI just need to say this out loud
because it was funny because I gotto as I'm sure you're familiar with those
free screeners that you know, youhave to sign up for a password and
a link and it's all encoded incase if I was, you know,
a jerk and decided to sell itvery illegal, but it has my name
(04:29):
in the middle of it, youknow, Brandon Weisler the entire time has
I'm watching it and there are certainscenes where there are things written on the
wall, and I was I lostmyself within it. I was like,
wait, that's my name in themovie. Wait, hold on, no,
that says just the the version I'mwatching. I know. Yeah,
so that's great. I get thesame screeners like, I don't even watch
(04:49):
a film without my name class acrossthe middle of it. Oh that's funny.
Yeah, but it didn't take awayfrom the good time, because you
know, I've I've seen so manyhorror movies throughout my life, and obviously
there's a variety of ways to approachit, which is why I love the
genre so much. And there's theslow burn, there's the ones that go
right into it. And I wasn'tsure what this was going to be,
(05:11):
and you kind of I'm not goingto give any spoilers, but you're not
waiting too long for the action.It was that your intent. How do
you you know, what are yourfavorite horror movies? Are they the slow
burn type? Are they how youare where it's just like you're you know,
you're pacing yourself quickly at the beginning, then take a step back to
kind of explain the story as wecontinue. I like all of them.
(05:33):
I mean, I grew up onthe Exercise, I grew up on the
Shining Halloween Scream. But of late, you know, there's Smile and Black
Phone and all of these great,great new movies. And to me,
you know, I shoot the scriptsand then I get into editing and I
go, I want to just tellit at the right pace that feels right
(05:54):
once with these elements that I have. So I like to just get in
there very early, but still getto know a character who is, you
know, just trying their best todo her first day of work and then
gets thrown up against a serial killer. Missed the riots in Seattle? Hm,
Well, based Seattle the right locationfor this one, you know,
(06:14):
no, we can. We shotit in Vancouver, and Vancouver kind of
matches Seattle nicely, and so that'skind of that was the main impetus for
why we picked that city. Okay, it just worked well, especially with
Seattle being the known for all itsrain and you know, there's a lot
of rain and dark throughout the film. How did you get Because it's the
(06:39):
things that I look for when I'mlooking for films. I don't read critics
because it's it's always skewed, andI like the more obscure films. But
also actors I'm a fan of solike Sean Aston and Jeremy Piven. I
like their work. How did youget them on board? First of all,
I was blessed to work with thebest actors ever. So let me
just start with Delenna. Come forus. She is going to be a
(06:59):
major movie start. Oh yeah,she already is. I mean my big
tact Greek wedding. But she isjust so talented and she can think,
she can dance, she can doanything. So I am just so glad
you have gotten to work with herearly. And then you got Sean Afton.
I mean, he's rudy, he'sLord of the Rings, and I
would just like drill him. I'mlike, how did you shoot this?
And how did you do that?He was there for like a couple of
(07:20):
years and just it was like Iwas just a big fan, just doing
whatever he wanted to tell me.I wanted to listen to it. And
then Jeremy pivin, my gosh,what a talent, and it was like
having an hour gold on the set, you know, and it was like
this presence, but he is sucha consummate actor because that's what I know
him best from. But he becamethis warm, loving father and then the
(07:41):
story goes on. So it's justan amazing time that I had with these
incredible actors. You know, it'sinteresting when you have someone like you and
also Sean Jeremy and even Elena fromMy Big Fat Greek Wedding, where you
you do these maybe lighter projects thatmight have a ton of profanity, you
know, like with Entourage things likethat, but now you're doing a horror
thriller, and hey, I likethe violence. I like the gore.
(08:05):
It's it's something that attracts me toa lot of horror movies. It's not
always, but I like the wayyou did it. Is that sometimes a
challenge for for actors to be violentto do they because sometimes you could throw
the audience off. Again, I'mnot one of those people. So is
(08:26):
it a certain mindset that you tryto create on sets to be like,
Okay, this is where someone's losinga limb in the scene. You know,
let's get all our game bases on. How do you approach it losing
a limb and our film is likethey're losing a head. So I didn't
want I didn't want to be aspoiler. That's why doing this a bit
(08:48):
by bit, you know, it'sall you know, it's all magic,
it's all fake, and you justtalk to the actors. They've read the
script and then you go, thisis how we're going to pull this off.
And they were great, and they'rejust such talented actors. They can
play anything, so for them toplay these roles and just you know,
their talent just breaking out, andthey had ideas on how to do it,
(09:09):
and so we just worked it outtogether and made it amazing. You
know, it's funny. I'm gladyou know, a spoiler alert for the
given by the director. But yeah, I didn't want to say lose ahead
because that was that's what That's whatgot me. I was like, all
right, I'm all the way ininto this movie. And that's wasn't even
that was very early on because Ithink when people criticize the gore and the
(09:33):
violence, they're not really understanding howthat adds to the horror element, especially
when you have such a you know, it's not like you're you have a
monster in this movie, uh,like a you know, like a creature.
You know, you have human monsterswhere you can people do these things,
people do these horrible things. SoI think that's that adds to how
(09:56):
scary a film could be. Idon't know if you agree with that or
is because some people just think it'sjust for shock value. I think it's
for so much more than that.Well, I think it's just part of
what the story is. And it'sreal and I mean, in real life,
what's going on in the world today, it's far worse than anything you
could probably see in a movie.So I'm just saying I'm just playing it
real and that this person exists,which David does. This is what he
(10:20):
does. Yeah. Yeah, Sohow did the script initially come together?
Because I liked it and I likedthe twists, you know, again in
addition to the gore. That's notall I like, but I like the
twist. I like this story.So how did it first come together?
Well? I got the script fromStephen Paul and Ian Nai and I read
(10:43):
it and it was just absolutely fantasticand the story was all there, and
we just augmented it with the actorsthat we hired for that. Okay,
simple, so simple like that?Okay, fair enough. You mentioned a
lot of The Exorcist. I'm curiouswhat other films are horror or the thriller
genre. I have inspired you andyou know to create this and hopefully more
(11:05):
in the future of this genre.I mean, first like Halloween with Jamie
mccurtis, who I have the pleasureto work with. That's the shining Stanley
Kubrick that blows me away with thetype of family teammates. But of late,
I love Smile, I love BlackPhone, I just love all these
movies that are just incredibly, incrediblyjust rich and scares and just freaky.
(11:26):
So I'm very lucky to have gottento work on those. Okay, right
on, I love that. Doyou think horror in general gets looked down
upon by because you don't often seethem being nominated for awards? Or is
that something you don't even think aboutit's just on its own but or do
you think it just gets looked downupon in the industry because of perhaps the
(11:50):
violence that we were talking about.I don't know. Performances, a good
performance is a good performance, andwe look at Silence of the Lambs,
you know, that's one of thegreatest horror films of all time. And
they've got some great actors doing thisthing, and so absolutely you don't set
out to do that. But ifthe performance is great, everyone will love
it. True, absolutely true.How how long were you working on this
film? How long did it taketo make? I would say it's a
(12:13):
year. We just you know,if it's coming out now. We shot
it about a year ago and thenwith you know, post production and you
know, pasting before, that's abouta year. That seems quick, No,
Or that's that's like that seems likereally pretty quick, okay. Or
maybe I'm so used to talking topeople that that started it before the Pandemic
and then finished it after. ButI guess we're getting a little bit past
that as well. You know,I'm curious, and I haven't asked this
(12:37):
in a while to anyone. Howdid the the Pandemic kind of affect your
view on filmmaking in general? Likebefore pre and you know, when you're
earlier in your career to approach itdifferently. Now, has it affected it
at all? Well? It hadsome very straightforward effects in that the Pandemic
(12:58):
looks at the first second rated usand I got to watch at the horror
films, a lot of everything,but we you know, come up with
this thing called looming, so everybodynow soon. So even though the pandemic's
over, we still have meetings andpeople join a meeting from all over the
world at any time. So thatwas like the positive, like they came
out of it. But it's muchnice of the film. When you're not
(13:22):
going to wear masks and be justaway from each other. That was just
crazy. That was very hard tobe trying to making a film, and
it's all about getting very close andthe light those here at head turns here
that will balance during the pandemic.Okay, yeah, Well for me because
I'm normally working with our friend Bill, producer Bill in the studio. Now
(13:43):
I have a home studio, soit's nice. So as terrible as the
pandemic was very cool. I getto talk to you from the comfort of
my own home. Are you ableto alcome it is? I know what
things are a little bit complicated,you know with the strike. Are there
things other than the baseball movie aboutJack Buck you're able to talk about now?
(14:05):
Any of the projects? Well,we have rating coming out next year,
and I just saw a film callednow Artists at War for Paramounts as
well. And that's the story aboutJoseph and Rebecca about you saw they were
the couple who got married in theconcentration camp. So I went to show
that story and we were telling thewhole story. We shot it all over
(14:26):
the world in Israel and Poland andAustria and Vancouver. And it's an amazing
love story that with the Holocaust.Oh wow, that's that's fantastic, you
know, as a Jewish person,I mean, these are these are stories
that need to be need to betold. So that's that's awesome. Yeah,
I mean Sean Merchant and bar Lobbyand they're just you're gonna just get
(14:50):
fall in love with them with thisstory. Awesome. I think it's so
cool the variety of films that youput out and you must be just your
creative output is never stunted. Itseems like you just get to do what
you want. Is there still amovie out there that you want to make
and you it just hasn't materialized yet? Is there like a dream film or
(15:13):
you live in the dream. I'mliving the dream, but the big films
I'm doing now. I got therights to Leon Yurris is traditing the Irish
story and we're going to be makingthat next year in Ireland and that's to
be a massive, massive movie.Awesome. Well, I look forward to
whatever else you put out again.I really enjoyed the film Vindica, right,
(15:35):
did I say it the right thistime? No? Icta vindicta,
vindictive vindicta, vindicta. Everything elsesounded good. I should have wrote a
vindicta. Vindicta was great. ClearlyI watched it, so it's like it's
just a name. I'm screwing up. Is the best way to keep in
contact with you and all the projectsyou have coming out Instagram or or what
(15:56):
other socials do you have that peoplecan follow you. I'm all right cool
McNamara six two, six to two, and uh yeah, sorry because you
cut out for a little bit,they just want to repeat it. So
Sean, thank you so much foryour time, and I hope we get
to do this again. I can'twait. Thank you so much for having
me on the show. I amterrible with names, oh boy, and
(16:22):
I just don't care anymore. It'suh. The conversation was great. If
I make myself look like an idiot, hopefully you got to chuckle out of
it. We all wait in theend, right, you know what's speaking
of winning, I'm going to giveyou a bonus interview or an excerpt of
an interview. So I I justalso spoke to Scott Patterson, the actor
(16:45):
from Gilmore Girls. But I guessif you're listening to this horror podcast,
he was a part of the Sawfranchise Saw four, Saw five, and
I spoke to him for US.Okay, So I spoke to him about
his new show. It's called Sullivan'sCrossing. It's a drama. It's a
drama that's on the CW. Andif you want to hear the entire interview
(17:07):
with Scott Patterson where we talk abouthis new show. We talk about guns
n' Roses because it's a crossover episodewith my mothership podcast, Appetite for Distortion
and horror. How he can gofrom Gilmore Girls to the bloody violence of
Saw. So we speak about horroras well. So you can see the
(17:27):
entire interview, listen, watch whoeveryou want to do, but you have
to go on YouTube. Our YouTubechannel, it's the Appetite for Distortion YouTube
channel. Just hype in an Appetitefor distortion at the AfD podcast whatever,
And there is a playlist on therethat's all Appetite for Horror, where you
(17:47):
can watch and listen to all theprevious episodes as well, in addition to
the usual podcast platforms, so youcan hear the entire thing there. But
as a special president for you onthis Friday the thirteenth, here is the
horror section of that interview. Enjoyso many different roles throughout your career.
And we're in October, it's Halloween. How does it feel to be a
(18:11):
part of the Saw franchise that justhit movie number ten? And what you
were in four and five? Ibelieve. And it's so funny because again
in Gilbourg, I had never seenit. I'm like, that's the guy
from Saw, That's the guy Iknew from everything else. So how does
it feel like? I don't think. God, I don't think I could
have chosen anything so different from theother show than that. The reason I
(18:41):
took the job was because I'd neverplayed a character like that. I'd never
think it was an FBI psychological profiler, which fascinated me, absolutely fascinated me.
You can't really judge the genre.You can't judge anything. You just
got to look at the role.What can you bring to this role?
(19:03):
And I could bring fresh eyes toit because I'd never done anything like it.
I went to the FBI and inLos Angeles and they put me through
a sort of a mini training program. It was fascinating. I learned a
ton and executed the role. Thedirector, to his credit, gave me
a lot of freedom to structure myown scenes and to choreograph my own scenes
(19:26):
and block them out. I lovethat, and I think that's why it
had such residents with the audience.You know. I like being given the
freedom to do my own thing.So again, Scott Patterson, and again
thank you to Sean McNamara. Episodeeighteen of Appetite for Horror coming to a
close, I encourage you to pleasefollow me on social media Appetite the number
(19:52):
appetite, the number four horror onFacebook, Twitter and Instagram. And I've
been doing this month and you maybe doing as well. Every day you're
posting a horror movie that you're watchingfor all thirty one days of this horror
month of Halloween, which I guessin theory and maybe I'll do it,
(20:12):
just post one every day because I'veafter October because I've seen enough horror movies
to easily fill up a year ortwo, which is or more, which
is crazy right when you say itout loud. But if you go on
any of those podcasts, those socialmedia, you will be able to see
movies I've been watching so far thismonth. I'll give you a few.
(20:34):
Just saw Mam a Ma currently streamingon to b and Netflix. I think
it's last time I checked, itwas in the top ten of Netflix,
but it's from twenty nineteen. Totallymissed this one with Octavia Spencer, did
not. I know she's done horrorfilms, but never in this kind of
role that she's in. Wow.I mean without her, I may not
(20:56):
have enjoyed it as much, butshe is awesome. I really hope to
get to see her in more horrorfilms in that role because she were a
talented actress. And this is justI know it's more comedy than horror,
but if there's any opportunity to talkabout Dracula Dead and loving it, you
have to bring it up. LeslieNielsen one of the greatest comedies, not
(21:19):
just of the nineties but of alltime. So fucking funny, it would
be so funny, I I crack. I watched it again recently. I
watched it so much as a kid, and I hadn't seen it for a
while, and the jokes hit melike fresh, just fresh, just a
brilliant, brilliant film. Let's seewhat else did I put up there?
(21:41):
Chained Ooh. Chained is a verypowerful and dark and depressing film with Vincent
Dinafrio, and he basically chains upa young boy who ends up growing up
with him after it well, andI guess it's not a spoiler alert if
I tell you the plot, buthe likes to capture and kill women and
one time this woman had a kidand he stole the kid. And yeah,
(22:04):
it's that kind of a movie.But it's a great, great film.
Uncle Peckerhead A don't be thrown offby the title. That is as
fun and gory and rock and rollpunk rock as a film. Uncle Peckerhead
is so so good. Two films. There's another one I guess watched it
that passed me over. That wasa recent like MA from twenty nineteen.
(22:27):
Were w e R short for werewolf, and it's a fantastic werewolf movie.
It's one of those slow burns asopposed to what we were talking earlier about
with Sean mcamara with this film thathe just kind of got right into it,
but it's worth it. Just areally well told story and didn't go
(22:51):
crazy with trying to make this guylook like a werewolf. It was like
a human beast and it was prettygreat. And this film, I wasna
skip over it. I tried notto watch it, but I kept seeing
it pop up in all my streamingservices, and I'm glad I watched it.
Benny Loves You about a killer,cute little doll that looks like kind
(23:12):
of looks like ichis from a realmonsters like this red doll with bulging eyes
and floppy ears. It's a cutelittle doll. And it's like, all
right, another killer doll movie.No, it's actually pretty good. It
was actually there were funny moments.The violent scenes were good. It was
just it was funny. I enjoyedit more than Megan or Mithriegan, which
(23:34):
I think was overrated. So justagain, check out any of my social
media appetite the number four horror forjust throughout this month to see more horror
movies that we're watching together and maybeyou'll get some ideas and if you see
you know mine and you want totrade your idea, Hey, have you
seen this? I encourage it.And as far as upcoming episodes of Appetite
(23:56):
four Horror, well, you neverknow, you never know. This is
as I mentioned before, I havea mothership podcast, Appetite for Distortion,
which has a guns of roses them. Then I have my actual radio job.
I have another job on top ofthat. I have a baby.
You don't care. His name againis I was going by hor Horror Harrison,
(24:17):
but horrorson is good. And Ilearned because I'm not going to exploit
my baby that he's too young towatch horror with. I was having fun
when he was real small and justholding him sleeping, and I'm watching horror
movies. But now he's so Imean, he's aware of sound, so
scary sounds, and he doesn't likeit. So we're gonna wait. We're
(24:41):
gonna wait before I expose him tohorror. And that's gonna be a fun
chapter of this of this podcast,So look forward to that in the future
at least. Okay, until then, keep your appetite for horror satiated.
Welcome to the podcast Appetite for Horror, Episode number eighteen. Sean McNamara,
How are you, sir, I'mgreat, Brandon. How you doing,
I'm doing well. Where are youcalling in from? If I may ask
her, unless it's a secret location, I'm calling from Saint Louis, Missouri
at the beautiful Saint Louis University.I'm on a scout for my next movie
called on Fire. Oh nice,Saint Louis. I was only there once,
(00:54):
loved it. It was years ago. It was when Tino Martinez was
on the Cardinals, and I wentto the Old Bush Stadium and just so
I'm sure, uh, you're gettingsome good footage out there, because it
is a great city. Absolutely,and it's a it's a baseball movie about
John O. Leary and Jack Buckand we have to recreate the Old Bush
Stadium. Look at that. Ididn't even know that. And to segue
(01:14):
right into what you're doing perfect.Oh, I'm looking forward to that movie
as well. And before, ofcourse we got absolutely yeah right on.
So, but before we get intoVindica, which I'm excited to talk to
you about. I watched it overthe weekend. I enjoyed it, but
I want to know a little bitmore about you if I could, because
I like to know again as youhear my baby cooping in the background,
(01:34):
where it starts is so to speak. So when did you take, you
know, your first cam quarder andstart filming, you know, where you're
filming your family? When did youkind of get the director feel? Was
it young in life? When didit happen for you? It was twelve
years old. I was on atrip to Ireland with my family. My
dad bought me my first Super eightcamera and from that point on I just
(01:55):
kept filming then on it and Ilived eleven houses away from Walt Disney Studios,
and I have the paper boy fromWalk Business Studios, and you could
just sneak on the back lot andjust the same old story. But any
rate, that's where my family homeis, and I still have people living
there. That's cool. I mean, it's not necessarily the same old story.
I didn't grow up near Disney Worldto have that experience. Do you
(02:17):
remember your first I mean, I'msure you know with a lot of things
with your camcorder filming it like yourdog's, your family, things like that,
But do you remember your first filmwhere you're like, okay, I
am the director of this. Wasit that young or was it in school?
Oh? Yes, it was thatJohn. My first film that I
shot with that camera was on myhouse with all my neighbors that it would
(02:38):
called Sniper and I would fill myfriends nouves with ketchup and then I would
shoot them and they had to spitout the ketchup and they thought it's crazy
because you know, when you putketchup in your mouth, it just takes
you know, like not so great. But that was my first film,
Sniper. Oh I love that.All great in the use of practical effect
(03:00):
back then, I think is great. Absolutely. You know, finally I
got to I got to digitize thatand put it on Instagram or something,
because I just when you just mentionedthat, I go, wow, one
of my first films was a horrorfilm. Well, that kind of answers
one of the questions I was goingto lead to, because this seems,
Vindica, is a bit of adeparture for you what you normally do.
(03:21):
So I was was going to askif it was your first horror film,
but it's not. Is it yourfirst take point in a while? I
guess, well, it's my secondone, and Vindicta is a it's a
suspense thriller horror film and it's youknow, hopefully I'm just I love to
go. You know. I grewup on movies like The Exoss, Halloween,
The Shining, and I just alwayswanted to make something like that.
(03:43):
I always loved the movies with somebodyin a mask ready, something that I
was going to scare the hell outof you. And I just finally got
the opportunity to make that all righton and I mispronounced it. How do
you say it? The name ofthe movie Vindicta. Okay, I don't
know why I'm adding a little flavorto it. Uh. In addition,
so yeah, I like you said, it's very cool. Hey a mom,
(04:06):
semi professional, I know some things. But as I mentioned, I
watched it over the weekend, andI just need to say this out loud
because it was funny because I gotto as I'm sure you're familiar with those
free screeners that you know, youhave to sign up for a password and
a link and it's all encoded incase if I was, you know,
a jerk and decided to sell itvery illegal, but it has my name
(04:29):
in the middle of it, youknow, Brandon Weisler the entire time has
I'm watching it and there are certainscenes where there are things written on the
wall, and I was I lostmyself within it. I was like,
wait, that's my name in themovie. Wait, hold on, no,
that says just the the version I'mwatching. I know. Yeah,
so that's great. I get thesame screeners like, I don't even watch
(04:49):
a film without my name class acrossthe middle of it. Oh that's funny.
Yeah, but it didn't take awayfrom the good time, because you
know, I've I've seen so manyhorror movies throughout my life, and obviously
there's a variety of ways to approachit, which is why I love the
genre so much. And there's theslow burn, there's the ones that go
right into it. And I wasn'tsure what this was going to be,
(05:11):
and you kind of I'm not goingto give any spoilers, but you're not
waiting too long for the action.It was that your intent. How do
you you know, what are yourfavorite horror movies? Are they the slow
burn type? Are they how youare where it's just like you're you know,
you're pacing yourself quickly at the beginning, then take a step back to
kind of explain the story as wecontinue. I like all of them.
(05:33):
I mean, I grew up onthe Exercise, I grew up on the
Shining Halloween Scream. But of late, you know, there's Smile and Black
Phone and all of these great,great new movies. And to me,
you know, I shoot the scriptsand then I get into editing and I
go, I want to just tellit at the right pace that feels right
(05:54):
once with these elements that I have. So I like to just get in
there very early, but still getto know a character who is, you
know, just trying their best todo her first day of work and then
gets thrown up against a serial killer. Missed the riots in Seattle? Hm,
Well, based Seattle the right locationfor this one, you know,
(06:14):
no, we can. We shotit in Vancouver, and Vancouver kind of
matches Seattle nicely, and so that'skind of that was the main impetus for
why we picked that city. Okay, it just worked well, especially with
Seattle being the known for all itsrain and you know, there's a lot
of rain and dark throughout the film. How did you get Because it's the
(06:39):
things that I look for when I'mlooking for films. I don't read critics
because it's it's always skewed, andI like the more obscure films. But
also actors I'm a fan of solike Sean Aston and Jeremy Piven. I
like their work. How did youget them on board? First of all,
I was blessed to work with thebest actors ever. So let me
just start with Delenna. Come forus. She is going to be a
(06:59):
major movie start. Oh yeah,she already is. I mean my big
tact Greek wedding. But she isjust so talented and she can think,
she can dance, she can doanything. So I am just so glad
you have gotten to work with herearly. And then you got Sean Afton.
I mean, he's rudy, he'sLord of the Rings, and I
would just like drill him. I'mlike, how did you shoot this?
And how did you do that?He was there for like a couple of
(07:20):
years and just it was like Iwas just a big fan, just doing
whatever he wanted to tell me.I wanted to listen to it. And
then Jeremy pivin, my gosh,what a talent, and it was like
having an hour gold on the set, you know, and it was like
this presence, but he is sucha consummate actor because that's what I know
him best from. But he becamethis warm, loving father and then the
(07:41):
story goes on. So it's justan amazing time that I had with these
incredible actors. You know, it'sinteresting when you have someone like you and
also Sean Jeremy and even Elena fromMy Big Fat Greek Wedding, where you
you do these maybe lighter projects thatmight have a ton of profanity, you
know, like with Entourage things likethat, but now you're doing a horror
thriller, and hey, I likethe violence. I like the gore.
(08:05):
It's it's something that attracts me toa lot of horror movies. It's not
always, but I like the wayyou did it. Is that sometimes a
challenge for for actors to be violentto do they because sometimes you could throw
the audience off. Again, I'mnot one of those people. So is
(08:26):
it a certain mindset that you tryto create on sets to be like,
Okay, this is where someone's losinga limb in the scene. You know,
let's get all our game bases on. How do you approach it losing
a limb and our film is likethey're losing a head. So I didn't
want I didn't want to be aspoiler. That's why doing this a bit
(08:48):
by bit, you know, it'sall you know, it's all magic,
it's all fake, and you justtalk to the actors. They've read the
script and then you go, thisis how we're going to pull this off.
And they were great, and they'rejust such talented actors. They can
play anything, so for them toplay these roles and just you know,
their talent just breaking out, andthey had ideas on how to do it,
(09:09):
and so we just worked it outtogether and made it amazing. You
know, it's funny. I'm gladyou know, a spoiler alert for the
given by the director. But yeah, I didn't want to say lose ahead
because that was that's what That's whatgot me. I was like, all
right, I'm all the way ininto this movie. And that's wasn't even
that was very early on because Ithink when people criticize the gore and the
(09:33):
violence, they're not really understanding howthat adds to the horror element, especially
when you have such a you know, it's not like you're you have a
monster in this movie, uh,like a you know, like a creature.
You know, you have human monsterswhere you can people do these things,
people do these horrible things. SoI think that's that adds to how
(09:56):
scary a film could be. Idon't know if you agree with that or
is because some people just think it'sjust for shock value. I think it's
for so much more than that.Well, I think it's just part of
what the story is. And it'sreal and I mean, in real life,
what's going on in the world today, it's far worse than anything you
could probably see in a movie.So I'm just saying I'm just playing it
real and that this person exists,which David does. This is what he
(10:20):
does. Yeah. Yeah, Sohow did the script initially come together?
Because I liked it and I likedthe twists, you know, again in
addition to the gore. That's notall I like, but I like the
twist. I like this story.So how did it first come together?
Well? I got the script fromStephen Paul and Ian Nai and I read
(10:43):
it and it was just absolutely fantasticand the story was all there, and
we just augmented it with the actorsthat we hired for that. Okay,
simple, so simple like that?Okay, fair enough. You mentioned a
lot of The Exorcist. I'm curiouswhat other films are horror or the thriller
genre. I have inspired you andyou know to create this and hopefully more
(11:05):
in the future of this genre.I mean, first like Halloween with Jamie
mccurtis, who I have the pleasureto work with. That's the shining Stanley
Kubrick that blows me away with thetype of family teammates. But of late,
I love Smile, I love BlackPhone, I just love all these
movies that are just incredibly, incrediblyjust rich and scares and just freaky.
(11:26):
So I'm very lucky to have gottento work on those. Okay, right
on, I love that. Doyou think horror in general gets looked down
upon by because you don't often seethem being nominated for awards? Or is
that something you don't even think aboutit's just on its own but or do
you think it just gets looked downupon in the industry because of perhaps the
(11:50):
violence that we were talking about.I don't know. Performances, a good
performance is a good performance, andwe look at Silence of the Lambs,
you know, that's one of thegreatest horror films of all time. And
they've got some great actors doing thisthing, and so absolutely you don't set
out to do that. But ifthe performance is great, everyone will love
it. True, absolutely true.How how long were you working on this
film? How long did it taketo make? I would say it's a
(12:13):
year. We just you know,if it's coming out now. We shot
it about a year ago and thenwith you know, post production and you
know, pasting before, that's abouta year. That seems quick, No,
Or that's that's like that seems likereally pretty quick, okay. Or
maybe I'm so used to talking topeople that that started it before the Pandemic
and then finished it after. ButI guess we're getting a little bit past
that as well. You know,I'm curious, and I haven't asked this
(12:37):
in a while to anyone. Howdid the the Pandemic kind of affect your
view on filmmaking in general? Likebefore pre and you know, when you're
earlier in your career to approach itdifferently. Now, has it affected it
at all? Well? It hadsome very straightforward effects in that the Pandemic
(12:58):
looks at the first second rated usand I got to watch at the horror
films, a lot of everything,but we you know, come up with
this thing called looming, so everybodynow soon. So even though the pandemic's
over, we still have meetings andpeople join a meeting from all over the
world at any time. So thatwas like the positive, like they came
out of it. But it's muchnice of the film. When you're not
(13:22):
going to wear masks and be justaway from each other. That was just
crazy. That was very hard tobe trying to making a film, and
it's all about getting very close andthe light those here at head turns here
that will balance during the pandemic.Okay, yeah, Well for me because
I'm normally working with our friend Bill, producer Bill in the studio. Now
(13:43):
I have a home studio, soit's nice. So as terrible as the
pandemic was very cool. I getto talk to you from the comfort of
my own home. Are you ableto alcome it is? I know what
things are a little bit complicated,you know with the strike. Are there
things other than the baseball movie aboutJack Buck you're able to talk about now?
(14:05):
Any of the projects? Well,we have rating coming out next year,
and I just saw a film callednow Artists at War for Paramounts as
well. And that's the story aboutJoseph and Rebecca about you saw they were
the couple who got married in theconcentration camp. So I went to show
that story and we were telling thewhole story. We shot it all over
(14:26):
the world in Israel and Poland andAustria and Vancouver. And it's an amazing
love story that with the Holocaust.Oh wow, that's that's fantastic, you
know, as a Jewish person,I mean, these are these are stories
that need to be need to betold. So that's that's awesome. Yeah,
I mean Sean Merchant and bar Lobbyand they're just you're gonna just get
(14:50):
fall in love with them with thisstory. Awesome. I think it's so
cool the variety of films that youput out and you must be just your
creative output is never stunted. Itseems like you just get to do what
you want. Is there still amovie out there that you want to make
and you it just hasn't materialized yet? Is there like a dream film or
(15:13):
you live in the dream. I'mliving the dream, but the big films
I'm doing now. I got therights to Leon Yurris is traditing the Irish
story and we're going to be makingthat next year in Ireland and that's to
be a massive, massive movie.Awesome. Well, I look forward to
whatever else you put out again.I really enjoyed the film Vindica, right,
(15:35):
did I say it the right thistime? No? Icta vindicta,
vindictive vindicta, vindicta. Everything elsesounded good. I should have wrote a
vindicta. Vindicta was great. ClearlyI watched it, so it's like it's
just a name. I'm screwing up. Is the best way to keep in
contact with you and all the projectsyou have coming out Instagram or or what
(15:56):
other socials do you have that peoplecan follow you. I'm all right cool
McNamara six two, six to two, and uh yeah, sorry because you
cut out for a little bit,they just want to repeat it. So
Sean, thank you so much foryour time, and I hope we get
to do this again. I can'twait. Thank you so much for having
me on the show. I amterrible with names, oh boy, and
(16:22):
I just don't care anymore. It'suh. The conversation was great. If
I make myself look like an idiot, hopefully you got to chuckle out of
it. We all wait in theend, right, you know what's speaking
of winning, I'm going to giveyou a bonus interview or an excerpt of
an interview. So I I justalso spoke to Scott Patterson, the actor
(16:45):
from Gilmore Girls. But I guessif you're listening to this horror podcast,
he was a part of the Sawfranchise Saw four, Saw five, and
I spoke to him for US.Okay, So I spoke to him about
his new show. It's called Sullivan'sCrossing. It's a drama. It's a
drama that's on the CW. Andif you want to hear the entire interview
(17:07):
with Scott Patterson where we talk abouthis new show. We talk about guns
n' Roses because it's a crossover episodewith my mothership podcast, Appetite for Distortion
and horror. How he can gofrom Gilmore Girls to the bloody violence of
Saw. So we speak about horroras well. So you can see the
(17:27):
entire interview, listen, watch whoeveryou want to do, but you have
to go on YouTube. Our YouTubechannel, it's the Appetite for Distortion YouTube
channel. Just hype in an Appetitefor distortion at the AfD podcast whatever,
And there is a playlist on therethat's all Appetite for Horror, where you
(17:47):
can watch and listen to all theprevious episodes as well, in addition to
the usual podcast platforms, so youcan hear the entire thing there. But
as a special president for you onthis Friday the thirteenth, here is the
horror section of that interview. Enjoyso many different roles throughout your career.
And we're in October, it's Halloween. How does it feel to be a
(18:11):
part of the Saw franchise that justhit movie number ten? And what you
were in four and five? Ibelieve. And it's so funny because again
in Gilbourg, I had never seenit. I'm like, that's the guy
from Saw, That's the guy Iknew from everything else. So how does
it feel like? I don't think. God, I don't think I could
have chosen anything so different from theother show than that. The reason I
(18:41):
took the job was because I'd neverplayed a character like that. I'd never
think it was an FBI psychological profiler, which fascinated me, absolutely fascinated me.
You can't really judge the genre.You can't judge anything. You just
got to look at the role.What can you bring to this role?
(19:03):
And I could bring fresh eyes toit because I'd never done anything like it.
I went to the FBI and inLos Angeles and they put me through
a sort of a mini training program. It was fascinating. I learned a
ton and executed the role. Thedirector, to his credit, gave me
a lot of freedom to structure myown scenes and to choreograph my own scenes
(19:26):
and block them out. I lovethat, and I think that's why it
had such residents with the audience.You know. I like being given the
freedom to do my own thing.So again, Scott Patterson, and again
thank you to Sean McNamara. Episodeeighteen of Appetite for Horror coming to a
close, I encourage you to pleasefollow me on social media Appetite the number
(19:52):
appetite, the number four horror onFacebook, Twitter and Instagram. And I've
been doing this month and you maybe doing as well. Every day you're
posting a horror movie that you're watchingfor all thirty one days of this horror
month of Halloween, which I guessin theory and maybe I'll do it,
(20:12):
just post one every day because I'veafter October because I've seen enough horror movies
to easily fill up a year ortwo, which is or more, which
is crazy right when you say itout loud. But if you go on
any of those podcasts, those socialmedia, you will be able to see
movies I've been watching so far thismonth. I'll give you a few.
(20:34):
Just saw Mam a Ma currently streamingon to b and Netflix. I think
it's last time I checked, itwas in the top ten of Netflix,
but it's from twenty nineteen. Totallymissed this one with Octavia Spencer, did
not. I know she's done horrorfilms, but never in this kind of
role that she's in. Wow.I mean without her, I may not
(20:56):
have enjoyed it as much, butshe is awesome. I really hope to
get to see her in more horrorfilms in that role because she were a
talented actress. And this is justI know it's more comedy than horror,
but if there's any opportunity to talkabout Dracula Dead and loving it, you
have to bring it up. LeslieNielsen one of the greatest comedies, not
(21:19):
just of the nineties but of alltime. So fucking funny, it would
be so funny, I I crack. I watched it again recently. I
watched it so much as a kid, and I hadn't seen it for a
while, and the jokes hit melike fresh, just fresh, just a
brilliant, brilliant film. Let's seewhat else did I put up there?
(21:41):
Chained Ooh. Chained is a verypowerful and dark and depressing film with Vincent
Dinafrio, and he basically chains upa young boy who ends up growing up
with him after it well, andI guess it's not a spoiler alert if
I tell you the plot, buthe likes to capture and kill women and
one time this woman had a kidand he stole the kid. And yeah,
(22:04):
it's that kind of a movie.But it's a great, great film.
Uncle Peckerhead A don't be thrown offby the title. That is as
fun and gory and rock and rollpunk rock as a film. Uncle Peckerhead
is so so good. Two films. There's another one I guess watched it
that passed me over. That wasa recent like MA from twenty nineteen.
(22:27):
Were w e R short for werewolf, and it's a fantastic werewolf movie.
It's one of those slow burns asopposed to what we were talking earlier about
with Sean mcamara with this film thathe just kind of got right into it,
but it's worth it. Just areally well told story and didn't go
(22:51):
crazy with trying to make this guylook like a werewolf. It was like
a human beast and it was prettygreat. And this film, I wasna
skip over it. I tried notto watch it, but I kept seeing
it pop up in all my streamingservices, and I'm glad I watched it.
Benny Loves You about a killer,cute little doll that looks like kind
(23:12):
of looks like ichis from a realmonsters like this red doll with bulging eyes
and floppy ears. It's a cutelittle doll. And it's like, all
right, another killer doll movie.No, it's actually pretty good. It
was actually there were funny moments.The violent scenes were good. It was
just it was funny. I enjoyedit more than Megan or Mithriegan, which
(23:34):
I think was overrated. So justagain, check out any of my social
media appetite the number four horror forjust throughout this month to see more horror
movies that we're watching together and maybeyou'll get some ideas and if you see
you know mine and you want totrade your idea, Hey, have you
seen this? I encourage it.And as far as upcoming episodes of Appetite
(23:56):
four Horror, well, you neverknow, you never know. This is
as I mentioned before, I havea mothership podcast, Appetite for Distortion,
which has a guns of roses them. Then I have my actual radio job.
I have another job on top ofthat. I have a baby.
You don't care. His name againis I was going by hor Horror Harrison,
(24:17):
but horrorson is good. And Ilearned because I'm not going to exploit
my baby that he's too young towatch horror with. I was having fun
when he was real small and justholding him sleeping, and I'm watching horror
movies. But now he's so Imean, he's aware of sound, so
scary sounds, and he doesn't likeit. So we're gonna wait. We're
(24:41):
gonna wait before I expose him tohorror. And that's gonna be a fun
chapter of this of this podcast,So look forward to that in the future
at least. Okay, until then, keep your appetite for horror satiated.
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