NEWS, REVIEWS AND CELEBRITY INTERVIEWS.

Annette Martinez and Lou Garcia: Directors

1. Give us a little background on yourselves, when did you both decide that filmmaking was what you wanted to do? AM - My background has been in the performing arts.  At the age of 6, I was involved with a group (which I was in for 15 years) that would tour around the L.A. area with various dance or theatrical productions. I also got involved in musical performances with another group, in which we would sing and play the handbells.  Later, I extensively studied comedy and improv at numerous schools such as the L.A. Connection, CBS Studios, and The Groundlings.  While I was studying at the L.A. Connection, I was apart of the sketch-writing group and I’ve continued writing since.  At the same time, I was acting professionally in independent features, commercials and was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.   I grew up with my grandparents who really supported me in the arts, especially in photography.  But when it came time to go to college, I was expected to “grow up” and was pushed to go into the medical field for faster success and financial stability.  Respiratory Therapy was my major in college, but I just couldn’t do it. I continued to try other careers…shit, I became a Pharmacy Tech, even a Real Estate Agent, but in the end, I just had to come to terms with the “very strong advice” my grandparents gave me.  They meant well, but entertaining people was a part of my beginnings in life and it became deep rooted in my soul. So, I pursued it and haven’t regretted it since!   LG: I was absorbed by the visual arts by age 2 and have only once walked away from them for about a year and a half at age 19. Annette and I met in 1991 and we’ve been on this path together as filmmakers since about 1993. All we could afford then was paper and pencils so we brainstormed and did lots of drawing and writing (Annette actually did most of the writing and still does). During that time in 1992 I also got heavily involved in computer graphics as a new art medium that I was interested in exploring. My initial goal in that was to make some cg comics and do some animation. Later it became apparent that I could get a job with that software knowledge, so I began to pursue a career as a digital artist. In 1996 I got a break in interactive software development and we began paying off our debts and eventually started buying our own equipment. We’ve always known that we wanted to be filmmakers even when we didn’t know it. It’s never really been a question to be honest, we’ve just worked our way towards filmmaking and done it with whatever means available. Movies are really just a part of our everyday lives. Almost everything we do is movie related and making movies is just another part of living. 2. Who inspired you both to become filmmakers? AM - Movies did!  The characters in movies were so fascinating to me that I just fell in love. I love the movies so much, during elementary school, I used to get my friends to reenact scenes from movies and direct them.  I would memorize every line and give it to my friends for them to perform.  Sadly, that ended in the 7th grade, when my friends became interested in boys. LG: The short and direct answer would be something like David Cronenberg with his epic VIDEODROME. The more complete and slightly protracted answer is that I originally wanted to be a comic book artist and do undergrounds like what was being done in the late 60’s and 70’s. I love all the work that was published by WARREN PUBLICATIONS in CREEPY/EERIE, etc., and HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE, as well as comics like THE LEATHER NUN, and FANTAGOR. There were are also a lot of 80’s self-published comic undergrounds/independents that inspired me like Richard Corben’s DEN series. Then there were lots of great black & white comics with unique style like BROTHER MAN or GUN FURY, and of course there’s the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. Lots of people know of the TMNT movies and toys but it all began with a black & white comic book! Frank Frazetta is another great inspiration, I think he’s one of the best fantasy illustrators ever.  As far as filmmakers go we’ve been inspired by too many to list. There are certain moments at the theatre or at the Drive-In that inspired me as a fan. THE WARRIORS for example made a big impression on me back in 1979 and prior to that I was literally weaned on movies like WHITE LINE FEVER, DEMON SEED, and LEGEND OF HELLHOUSE. There weren’t many adults around when I was growing up and my older brother and his hoodlum friends used to get into the theatre for free, so I spent lots of time in front of the big screen. Brian De Palma’s PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE has been an all-time favorite of mine since it came out.  Apart from all that I’ve been hugely inspired by all of the special effects artists like Rick Baker, Tom Savini, Greg Nicotero, Phil Tippet, and of course Ray Harryhausen and Willis O’Brien, etc., etc..  In martial arts, Jackie Chan is the man. His movies go way back into the early 70’s and have set a high water mark for martial arts action with features like DRUNKEN MASTER II. Of course Bruce Lee is always to be thanked for being a pioneer. 3. Tell us about your latest project "Acid Bath" starring Chris Macedo what was it like writing and directing and producing it. AM - Lou and I did extensive research into criminal psychology and we also studied victimology. The truth is, prostitutes really are the most common victims and all the reasons vary.  Doing the research was extremely disturbing because we studied true criminal cases.  It definitely changed my outlook in life.  When Lou and I wrote the script, we knew we wanted Chris Macedo’s character to be someone the prostitutes trusted as their friend.  As far as Directing, I wanted everyone’s acting to be very subdued because we felt it was appropriate due to the gloomy nature of the Acid Bath world that we created.   I truly love Directing and it is the only thing that can actually keep my mind focused.  LG: First off, many thanks go out to Chris Macedo for all his years of dedication to our movies. He’s been a great help and has supported our efforts from the very beginning. Writing ACID BATH was a big challenge because it was our first feature. Directing ACID BATH was really fun; my role was mostly to direct the action and special effects. It’s a great joy to figure out how things might work and then see how they actually translate to the screen. I like to storyboard as much as I can so it’s pretty cool to see those sequences come to life.  Producing ACID BATH has been very interesting and a great learning experience. Overall it was a rewarding process because we had people behind us that believed in the movie. That’s what made it all work. 4. Some of the scenes from Acid Bath, particularly the final scene was pretty graphic and gruesome.  What do you think makes a scary movie scary? AM - Thank you!  I think the majority tend to have common fears, but when it comes to the horror crowd, they’ve pretty much seen it all!!  Out of the two of us, I’m the one who’s the complete blood, guts and gore hound!  Even Lou trips out on some of the sick stuff I come up with!  As far as what I think makes a scary movie scary?  I think it’s the ones that freak you out when you’re alone at night.  If that scene or image struck a nerve, then you’ll have a hard time sleeping alone!    LG: Thanks man, I’m glad you like the final scene. Different things scare different people so there are lots of different types of scary movies. Suspense and tension are important. There are some standard techniques that I think audiences and filmmakers are very aware of such as creating a diversion and then jumping out at the viewer from the inconspicuous side of the screen. That coupled with a shocking scare sound will usually get audiences jumping around for a bit. It sounds much simpler than it actually is because among other things, the timing has to be completely dead on or it won’t work. We didn’t do much of that in ACID BATH because that wasn’t what we were trying to accomplish. We really wanted to disturb more than scare and we chose to go about that in sort of a backwards kind of way. There are many things in ACID BATH that people think are mistakes but in actuality we carefully considered and purposely fashioned it in a discordant manner which is in keeping with the theme of the movie. That said, I don’t consider ACID BATH a scary movie per se but then again I don’t consider it extremely gory or graphic in comparison to say DEAD ALIVE. 5. What has been each of your favorite project to date and why? AM - Labor Tech Institute (LTI). It’s my favorite because it was our first successful piece.  It’s a one-minute commercial spoof, which featured Kim Thomassen from the professional stand up comic duo, The StageBenders. LG: ACID BATH is my personal favorite because it’s the culmination of everything we’ve done to date. It’s also crazier than any of our previous projects and I think it’ll be interesting to hear what people have to say about it in the years to come. There’s always the possibility that it’ll just be forgotten or left unnoticed, but my hope is that it’ll be remembered. I really think there’s more behind our movie than what is obvious but of course any proud filmmaker would believe the same. We know ACID BATH is a raw movie in many respects but we always knew it would be and that’s ok, because of what it is. We knew it had to be pretty raw and extreme or it would just be a big let down for all of us and we didn’t want that. Our martial artists Matt Ursin, Santos Ivey, Chris Macedo and Erich Muller all gave this movie their best and I think it shines in that area especially. We’re also fortunate to have an awesome line-up of bands on the soundtrack.  Another reason that ACID BATH is my favorite to date is the extremeness. Most movies are dictated by marketing, even in the indie world. Our goal for ACID BATH was to deliver as much gore and ultra-violent madness as we could. The title of the movie motivated us to do that and of course we have lots of fun creating our own special effects. Gore and splatter are like sculpting and painting for the screen and we enjoy that aspect. “ACID BATH” as a movie title creates certain expectations and that influenced the theme. We attempted to define that via an abstract experimental motif. In trying to live up to the title we thought of ways to communicate chaos and corrosiveness. We try to make the absurd possible. 6. What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you on a set? AM - I thought this was gross for the longest time, but maybe you’ll get a kick out of it.  It was the day I shot my dad who plays the news reporter in ACID BATH!  The man was driving me insane!!  It was raining, wet and cold.  We were on location, I was shooting and directing him and he had to go to the bathroom every ten minutes!!  To top it all off, he asks me if he can borrow my mascara and I thought ‘oh cool, he wants to bring out his eyes’.  Instead, he used my mascara to darken up his mustache!  GROSS!!!  It took me a while, but I can laugh about it now. LG: There are too many to pinpoint a single one. 7. What do you think is the most important thing for a Director to bring to the set? AM - Respect.  LG: I think a great attitude backed by a solid game plan will work wonders. 8. What is the biggest problem with Hollywood today? AM - We ain’t there yet, so it wouldn’t be fair to complain about it. LG: Today almost everything out there that isn’t a major release is considered “independent”. I don’t think that’s fair to the true independent filmmakers that generally have much more limited resources. 9. Can you give us the scoop on any upcoming features you have in the works AM - Haa-haaa!!  Mums the word!  Only the actors/actresses that I’ve approached know… somewhat, about our next project. LG: We have a few scripts we’re developing that are horror genre related and we have our next pet project in the works but I can’t really say much about that now. 10. Do you have any advice to aspiring filmmakers? AM - Go out there and just do it!  I’m very fond of the Robert Rodriguez approach… do it yourself! LG: Be creative, have fun, and go crazy but try to be safe about it. Focus on the story. Don’t let anyone convince you that you can’t do it. Decide if you want to make movies for money or for the art of it because they can cross over but many times don’t. 11. Here's where we give you a word or phrase and you give us the first thoughts that pop into your mind. Hollywood: AM - So close and yet so far away. LG -Mann’s Chinese Theatre! Biggest regret: AM - Not being able to finish my training at The Groundlings.  I plan to go back one day! LG - Giving our patronage to Foo Chow in China Town, LA. Head’s up, when you see your friends puke up blood, the food is beyond bad. True story. Toxic Shock TV: AM - The coolest webzine that gave me my first toxic, belly up fish!!  I think that’s fuckin cool!! LG - Low scores for ACID BATH but rated amongst the likes of BATTLE ROYALE which is a true honor. Biggest prick: AM - Teachers who purposely train their students the wrong techniques in order to weed out their competition in the industry!!  LG: My dad was a drill instructor in the Marine Corps so growing up around him was very interesting. Your biggest "break-thru" moment: AM - I just recently conquered my fear of heights!  Which has been a VERY big problem for me.  I couldn’t climb a 3-step ladder without crying like a baby!!  So, I’m pretty proud of myself!! LG: Connecting with THE ACCUSED, Seattle’s best Hardcore band and world renowned pioneers of SPLATTERROCK! You can only watch three movies for the rest of your life, which three: AM - That’s a tough one!!  John Carpenter’s The Thing, Total Recall and to balance it out, Kung Fu Hustle.    LG: APOCALYPSE NOW, THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN, MEET THE FEEBLES, then I’d start bartering toes for additional movies. You can only listen to three songs for the rest of your life, which three: AM - Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai, Martha Splatterhead by The Accused, Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. LG: Moby Dick from The Song Remains the Same – Led Zeppelin, Machine Gun - The Band of Gypsys, Show No Mercy - The ACCUSED, Let There Be Rock – ACDC, oh shit, I broke a rule. PLEASE VISIT WRPIX.COM TO FIND OUT MORE!