GREGG BISHOP

		Interview by E.C. McMullen Jr.
IT HELPS TIP JAR THE OTHER SIDE MOVIE REVIEW DANCE OF THE DEAD MOVIE REVIEW AN INTERVIEW WITH GREGG BISHOP - 2008

"That’s why I go to the movies. I want to see something I’ve never seen before. I always keep the audience in mind."
- Gregg Bishop

Feo Amante's Under the Microscope:
An interview with
Gregg Bishop
by E.C.McMullen Jr.

E.C.McMullen Jr.: How do you handle bloopers?

Gregg Bishop: That was something I remember as a kid. I thought I was so clever when I caught such things. But as a film maker I think "What the hell? Nobody cares about that." I'd rather have the pacing right and the timing right, rather than worry about whether someone's hand is just right or the cup is just right.

ECM: As long as it doesn't get as bad as Dee Snyder's traveling piercings and tattoos in STRANGELAND.

GREGG: Oh brother. Yeah, that can be distracting. I always felt that the worst part is the blood on a shirt on several days or weeks of shootings. In the movie it's supposed to happen all in one night. I watch those rushes and think, "Aw man, that's not working well."

ECM: Well if the person is running around, falling down, passage of time, I expect the patterns to change a bit because of sweat and damage and all.

GREGG: Yeah.

ECM: But not when you have a close-up of a face where the cigarette is longer, shorter, longer, shorter.

GREGG: (laughs) Yeah, Especially if it's right there! Or the drink that's going all (Gregg holds his glass of water and runs his hand up and down the side making a Ree-ruur-ree-ruur sound). Yeah, if it's not too obvious, you buy it.

Gregg directs Jared Kusnitz and a Zombie

ECM: So movies got you into Horror.

GREGG: Yeah, it was the movies, not the books so much. I didn't have any experiences with zombies either.

ECM: So favorite movies or favorite directors?

GREGG: Mm. Both. I kind of have like, a slew of directors, not just one I'm inspired by.

ECM: No one inspiration.

GREGG: Yeah. I love Robert Rodriguez, Tim Burton, Hitchcock, of course.

ECM: So when you're pulling together your inspiration, and you're still new at this, what are you drawing from?

GREGG: Honestly I approach it with "What haven't I seen before?" And I'd never seen zombies launching out of graves. Why haven't they ever shot that? That's why I go to the movies. I want to see something I've never seen before. I always keep the audience in mind. What are they thinking at this moment? What are they anticipating? What should I show them next? I try to keep them in mind, involved, in each line of dialogue, each moment in time.

ECM: I noticed in DANCE OF THE DEAD and THE OTHER SIDE, that you have this one amazing scene that the audience sees and just drops dead.

GREGG: Thanks.

ECM: They had never seen that before: Like in THE OTHER SIDE when the guy runs off the high balcony and jumps down into the bed of a moving truck. Or those zombies in DANCE OF THE DEAD, shooting like rockets out of the grave. Your movies do these things and from that moment on, BAM: the audience is in your hand. Is it difficult figuring out what is going to be that BAM moment?

GREGG: Well a lot of times when you're doing an independent movie on a limited budget, there's always a question from the producers, "Well, why do they have to launch out of the ground? Can't we have them crawl out of the ground? It's a lot cheaper! It's faster! Saves time!" And I'd say, "Yeah, but its boring!"

ECM: Yeah, they've been crawling out of the ground for the last century!

GREGG: Yeah, so making a movie is all about compromise. What you will compromise, what you won't. And sometimes you gotta put your foot down and say, "Nope. I feel like this would be an enjoyable moment, so let's go for it. Get it on film."

ECM: There's a Hollywood joke, and tell me how accurate it is, A writer, director, and producer are lost in the desert, and they finally come to this oasis. The writer and director bend down to get a drink, but just as they are about to, they hear the producer unzip his fly, and as they look, he pisses in the water. And the writer and director say, "What the hell are you doing?" And the producer says, "I just felt it needed something."

GREGG: (laughs) Aw that's great! The one I know is a light bulb joke. How many producers does it take to change a light bulb? Producers would ask, "Does it have to be a light bulb?"

ECM: (laughs) Okay, let's say that a big studio approaches you, wants to throw a big budget at you, and wants you to direct a remake. What is that remake?

GREGG: A remake? Wow, never thought of that.

ECM: Yeah, but big studios do this all the time, bring the newbie in on a sequel or remake.

GREGG: Hmmm. That's a tough one.

ECM: (I pound my fist on the table) We ask the tough questions here at Feo Amante's Horror Thriller! You didn't expect stupid fluff questions like "So, what was it like working with that actor?"

GREGG: (laughs) Well that's a good question. What would I want to remake? What would be cool to bring back?

ECM: Well on my site I say, "Don't remake the classics. They're classics for a reason!"

GREGG: Yeah, remake the crap!

ECM: Well, yeah: Crappy movies that had a good concept. Like IT: THE TERROR FROM OUTER SPACE was remade into ALIEN.

GREGG: Yeah, yeah. Well, it would be cool to have another GREMLINS movie, wouldn't it? I wouldn't want to remake it, but to have another one: Because you can do so much these days with the effects. But you'd have to use puppets for the close-ups.

ECM: Yeah.

GREGG: Now you can really make it so much more.

ECM: Yeah, but that movie worked. It was a hit.

GREGG: (getting excited) Yeah, so let's bring it back!

ECM: So think about bad ones with good concepts. Good enough to get into a theater, but it tanked.

GREGG: (laughing): Yeah. Wow. That's a good question. That's a great question. I'll think about that one.

ECM: Okay, well then let's take the opposite approach. The studio wants you to make a movie, where would you draw the line? What would make you say, I am NOT going to make this type of movie?

The Heroes at the gym door, survey the zombie damage

GREGG: Um… I like to go see them, for sheer entertainment. But I don't think I'd make a gross out comedy. They don't appeal to me creatively. I like to watch them. They're a good time, but I wouldn't want to make one. Also, as a teen I grew up on those teen comedies. But you know, I wouldn't want to make one. Although I watch pretty much anything I can get my hands on.

ECM: Well with DANCE OF THE DEAD you made a teen comedy.

GREGG: (laughs) Well, yeah, but it's not a straight on teen comedy. I wouldn't want to make one of those. It's got to have something dead in it. Or everyone kills something at the end. Then it's kind of fun.

ECM: Okay, well let's try this a third way. Some studio gives you whatever amount of money you need to make whatever movie you want. What do you want to make if you had the budget?

GREGG: Yeah. It's something I wrote, science fiction. I wrote a story that I'd say, "This is my Star Wars."

ECM: Is it more Scifi like Star Wars or more Science Fiction like ALIEN?

GREGG: Star Wars SciFi: fantasy. Hopefully, I'll make it one day.

ECM: Are there any novels out there you've read that you say, "Wow! I want to make this."

GREGG: Yeah, there's stuff that we're going after that would make a really cool movie. Some stuff off the beaten path. I don't look at the mainstream. I can't really talk about it because we haven't secured everything down yet.

ECM: Well yeah, don't ruin yourself here. Tell you what. What is the one thing that interviewers never ask that you always want to talk about?

GREGG: When I read interviews, I like to know how directors got their first film off the ground. How they get that first one made? How did they get the second one made?

ECM: How DID you get your first film made?

PAGE 3 - Gregg talks about making his first feature ...

This interview copyright 2008 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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