Has director Sean Stone had experiences with ghosts before? “Not before Greystone,” he said. Stone, son of popular director Oliver Stone, said the idea for the film “Greystone Park” came to him after meeting Alexander Wraith, who was working on Oliver’s film, “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.”
“Well, very much like you see inside the film,” said Stone about the meeting and idea for the film. “It was a dinner table discussion. Wraith’s experience with Greystone Park, an abandoned psychiatric hospital came up during the conversation, as well as his thought that it could be a good subject for a film.
“I said, okay, it sounds like a cool concept. Let’s go check it out,” said Stone. After they spent time in the real Greystone Park, they came up with the script for the documentary-style film. According to Stone, much of what was shown in the film is based on their real life experiences inside the abandoned mental hospital.
“Greystone Park” has many elements of found footage films, but it’s probably best to think of it more as a pseudo-documentary. “Firstly, I’ve never been a big fan of found footage genre. but what it does–what it does well–is that it takes you to that level where you kind of get immersed in it, and you’re really with them,” he said.
Directing and starring in this film wasn’t particularly tough for Stone. “I think directing and acting in a film like this is easier because of the documentary style,” he said. Stone also talked about how the ghost story his father tells in the film is actually a story that he has told Stone before during his childhood. “He’s a natural storyteller,” he said, saying that once the cameras were on, his father took his ghost story and “ran with it.”
You can get “Greystone Park” for home viewing October 16.
