We had the great opportunity to interview directors Brad Helmink and John Rauschelback from Brothers Shamus Pictures. Brad and John recently completed the new horror film “The Lodge” starring Kevin McClatchy, Elizabeth Kell, Owen Szabo and Mandi Kreisher.
1. Tell us a little about your background, where are you from and when did you decide that you wanted to become a filmmaker?
Brad: I was born and raised in Lincoln, NE in a pretty typical Midwestern family. I remember when I was around 10 my dad bought a VHS camcorder, RCA I think and I used to round up the neighbor kids and shoot little short films with them acting. I remember making one called “Prisoners of C.A.M.P†that was a horror flick about a couple out camping. Can’t remember what the C.A.M.P. stood for though.
John: I’m originally from Missouri, but I’ll always been interested in film-making. I originally went to college thinking I could get into special effects through their Industrial Design program. It ends up that I graduate as a product designer, but I become more interested in directing film because of that. I think even though I didn’t go to film school, my college education of being a sort of jack-of-all-trades definitely helps out.
2. Who inspired you to become a filmmaker?
Brad: I don’t really have any individual that I can say inspired me. I always loved movies growing up and watched them a lot with my family. I was always fascinated by how they did things in the movies from a young age and wanted to be involved somehow. My parents were always very supportive of the career choice, they were never the type to make me feel pressure to do something they thought I should do.
John: I think my dad had a huge influence because he made sure we rented great movies when we had a chance. We didn’t have cable, and we barely had 5 channels, so the video store that was 15 miles away was our only chance to see something new. And our dad would rent movies by Kubrick(the ones somewhat appropriate for young kids) like 2001, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining. But it wasn’t until I saw A Clockwork Orange as a teenager that I was blown away and finally had an idea of what a real director was.
3. Tell us about your latest film “The Lodge”
The Lodge started three years ago when, after a series of options and nothing happened, John and I decided to make the movie ourselves. We actually had another script then that took place more in the woods camping and we decided to adapt it to take place in the lodge that we ended up using. We hired Deb Havener to do the adaptation who we actually found on triggerstreet.com through some highly ranked scripts she had on there.
From there we hit up everyone we know for some money and through friends and family we met new people and through them more and finally were able to raise enough for production. Once we finished shooting we had to stop for a few months to raise more funds for post.
We actually had the location before the script, which was nice since we were able to write very specific things within the location. The biggest challenge was the time constraint since we had the location for 2 weeks in late August, we had to really push to make that time or else we would have had to wait until the next spring or summer for the snow to melt.
The Lodge had enough room to house all of the crew on location so that was really nice, if someone was late we could just go to their room and wake them up. Being together that much was a lot of fun, we all got along really well surprisingly there were really no conflicts. We shot for 14 days and traveled to and from LA for 2 so the total was 16 days so you can imagine the long hours.
Once we came home, we raised some funds for post and then edited with Mathew Jones and went into sound with Yagmur and that process ended up taking about 5-6 months I believe. That was a lot of fun seeing everything come together and we started really seeing what we had.
The film itself turned out really well, we are really happy with the end results and I think we got some good performances and it looks and sounds amazing. It was a great learning experience for us and we are excited to get moving on our next few projects.
4. What’s your favorite scene in the film?
Brad: My favorite scene in the movie is probably when Henry has Julia tied to the chair in the main room. Both Kevin and Elizabeth play the scene really well and it really gives the audience a good insight into Henry’s character. Plus the production design is amazing in that entire room.
John: My favorite scene in the move is almost anything involving Kevin McClatchy. He was really fun to work with, and extremely experienced. We could always count on him to bring new life to a scene and do something we weren’t expecting. I like seeing people’s reaction when he’s about to smell the panties, no one thinks he’s actually going to do it, so there’s always some great groans during that scene.
5. What’s the funniest thing that has ever happened to you on a set?
Brad: One of the first times I worked in LA was on a hip hop music video as a production assistant. With no experience really it paid like $50 for the day with food. The project was a complete mess, the entire shoot turned into a party with about 100 people getting hammered courtesy of a Hypnotiq liquor sponsorship and no one actually working. After about 14 hours and a little shooting, it turned into something like a porno. I found out later that it was a video only for the internet. Anyways I worked 16 hours, watched what could have been an episode of Girls Gone Wild unfold and got paid $50. I still remember another PA took $20 and a joint since they were out of cash. I definitely won’t forget that shoot.
John: The funnies thing had to be this puke gag we almost put in the movie toward the end. It involved Owen Szabo’s character actually puking on to the lens, which was covered by plastic of course. It was the only time we got our DP Aaron Platt to actually laugh so hard he couldn’t keep filming.
4. From your experience, what do you think is the most important thing for a Director to bring to a set?
Brad: I really think that the most important thing for a Director is to be relaxed and confident. If you can create a comfortable environment for not only your actors but also crew, everyone is willing to put in the extra energy when they need to. John & I kept it very light on set, we wanted to have fun with it and make everyone else have a good time too. We actually talked about it before we went on location to make a point to talk to each crew member every day and tell them thanks or that they were doing a good job, just a little extra effort that goes a long way when people are barely getting paid, if at all.
John: It might sound obvious, but I’d say an actual sense of ‘direction’. I’ve got to make sure I’ve got a clear vision and goal for whatever I’m doing, and have an answer for any question that comes up. I want to be the most prepared person on the set and make sure I don’t seem wishy washy with any of the cast or crew. And honestly I’m probably still working on that…
5. Any future projects in the works?
We do actually have a few projects in the works. Or first horror script actually got optioned, and I’d love to see someone else’s vision of our story there. But we’ve also finished another script that is nothing like The Lodge and not horror at all. It’s a melancholy story that takes place during one day in high school. And we’ve also secured the life rights to an incredible true story told to us by an undercover cop and his informant that we’ll hopefully be producing at a large budget soon.
6. What do you think makes a scary movie scary?
Brad: I think it there are two things that work really well, tension and fear of the unknown. I was always more scared of really tense movies more than the blood and guts stuff. I always liked movies that are disturbing and show the aftermath of what happened. The pending horror, I believe is scarier than the act itself.
John: I think real suspense makes a movie scary, not the money shot. The scariest movie I’ve seen recently was No Country for Old Men. The Coens again schooled us all and created countless scenes in that movie that were full of suspense, and mostly without any music. It was pretty amazing, and I hope more directors, like ourselves, will think about suspense more when making a horror movie, instead of trying to make the bloodiest scene possible.
-By Brian Corder
