1-There are so many horror movies done nowadays. What do you think a movie needs to get more attention than the others?
Name talent is and always will be a draw: if you have an actor, director or producer that people recognize by name (or by a previous project), that helps. Also, of course, if you can afford buckets of marketing, that gets people’s attention. That said, though, you still have to have a decent product. If the film isn’t very good, even if it gets attention at first, word of mouth will make its long term life less than a film that keeps getting rented because people recommend it to their friends. So money (for talent and marketing) helps to a point, but nothing makes up for a story that doesn’t engage or disappoints. A good story, well told, always wins in the final analysis.
2-Even if horror movies are so very popular by many fans, horror genre seems to be very underrated, and even snubbed by a large group of people. Why so? What can be done to change that point of view?
That’s actually something that I address in “Deadly Revisions”: the idea that eliciting scares is any less valuable than eliciting thought, tears or laughter. They are all elements of life and finding ways to experience and deal with them vicariously should, theoretically, have equal value. I understand that a slasher film seems far from profundity in content, but its purpose is to allow people feel and move beyond fear in a safe environment…and show off special effects born in the theatre long ago. It may not be your cup of tea, but that’s no reason to devalue it. Consider the rich, well-studied language and artful look of “Penny Dreadful”; there’s no denying it’s a work of horror, but to dismiss the quality of the work because of the bloodshed is a shame. As Grafton Torn says in “Deadly Revisions”, “…war pictures like "Saving Private Ryan" or "Platoon" can be as gory as all get out with body parts and blood flying all over the place and they win Academy Awards, but if a horror film is gory, the pundits all just shake their heads and poo-poo it as deviant, indulgent trash.” Yes, there’s trashy horror. But there’s also trashy drama. (“Shades of Grey”, anybody?) I submit that any genre can be artful, evocative and valuable.
3-You are wearing many hats in the movie industry: actor, producer, director,... What aspect do you prefer of each? What comes first for you?
They all feed and enrich each other. I think my being an actor makes me a better writer because I can’t write a line of dialogue that I can’t act. I also direct better because I understand the actor’s perspective. And I’m aware of what a director and producer want of their actors when I’m in front of the camera. As an actor, the moments in character are the best part: everything else is preparation, calibration, conceptualization; once the director yells “Action”, you are in the moment as the character and it’s unlike anything else. As a writer, it’s any moment when something in the story you’re creating just pops out of you and thrills you –as if it wrote itself. As a director, it’s when you finally get to sit back and see if everything you did worked as you watch your cast and crew create the shot as you imagined it; seeing that happen is a natural high—every time. As for which comes first, ultimately, I think it all stems from acting for me. While movies seem, ostensibly, to be about visuals (they are, after all “moving pictures”), the only thing that really matters is how those images make you feel…and feelings are what acting is all about.
4-What is your method when you approach a role?
The script is the first stop. As a writer, it’s my job to create characters that are three dimensional so that they pop off the page and into the reader’s mind. As an actor, I am that reader and a good script generally gives me plenty of information and fodder for bringing the character to life. Then I add nuances, takes, quirks to enhance what’s there as well as make it uniquely my own. As a director, I’m getting all of that and then, when necessary, offer further ideas to tweak or augment specific elements that will help the overall effect I may be aiming for in the film, a scene or even a moment. So a character grows and develops each step of the way, with each person who molds it.
5-Is there a director that you worked with where the connection director/actor worked right away?
That’s an interesting question because I don’t really have a specific answer since I’ve always worked well with directors to my recollection. I’ve been in situations where the director seemed unsure or less in control or I’ve been in complete disagreement with their choices here and there, but they are the director and it’s their movie, so I give them what they want; that is what I’m paid to do. It’s not my place to second guess a director: they have many more angles they are considering of which I am unaware and those angles may make the choice he or she is asking for all make sense in the final edit. Sometimes that proves true and sometimes it doesn’t, but that doesn’t change my role as an actor: I am there to support and manifest the director’s vision.
6-Funniest moment on set? Most upsetting moment on set?
We had a lot of funny things happen on the set of “Deadly Revisions”; a few of them will end up on the blooper reel which I think will only be available for folks who buy or rent the DVD or BluRay. I do remember on the set of “Freudian Eyebrow” (an odd, experimental low budget film), there was a scene where two twin goth girls were supposed to toast their identical all-day suckers, and when they did, the suckers unexpectedly smashed to pieces. The entire cast and crew just lost it. An upsetting moment for me was one night on “Deadly Revisions” when the owner of the house where we were shooting demanded we turn off our generator, which would have meant no lights, no camera, no nothing! My co-producer talked to him, explaining… as we continued to shoot—knowing the plug could be pulled at any minute. Talk about filming under pressure! My hairline receded an entire inch that night!
7-To this day, which performance of yours is your favorite?
Wow! No one’s every asked me that! I’m kinda stumped! I really liked my performance as the dorky Jewish dad in “Camp Virginovich” (a film which may never see the light of day, alas) and in my recurring role as the over-the-top crazy neighbor in “Love That Girl”. I won a Geoffrey Award for Best Character Actor for my role(s) in a stage production of “Sylvia”, but there’s even less chance of people seeing that—only one video exists and it’s not exceptionally well filmed. But I think one’s performance is a combination of what you put into it, what the director has given you and how the work is lit, edited and so on. So when people get awards and thank a whole list of people, it’s because it takes a village to create a performance. So I can’t take all the credit for any of my performances. I think my favorite performance may still be yet to come!
8-What are some of the projects coming up for you?
I’m in preproduction for my next film—a comedy/horror yarn about a backyard gathering that goes horribly wrong called “Garden Party Massacre”. It’s buckets of fun in the vein of “Shaun of the Dead” or “Tucker and Dale Vs. The Evil”. I’m working with my “Deadly Revisions” co-producer and we’ve attached a really great Director of Photography that I’m excited to work with. I wrote the script and I’ll be playing one of the roles in addition to directing. I’m also attached as an actor to several other films, so we’ll see what comes to fruition first on those. But “Garden Party Massacre” goes into production later this fall, so nothing is getting in the way of that or I’ll start swinging a pick axe!
To keep up with “Garden Party Massacre”: www.GardenPartyMassacreFilm.com https://www.facebook.com/GardenPartyMassacre To keep up with “Deadly Revisions”: www.DeadlyRevisionsMovie.com https://www.facebook.com/DeadlyRevisions
To keep up with Gregory Blair: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2489045 http://www.2writers.com/GregoryLinks.htm https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gregory-Blair/121092744586543 https://twitter.com/thegregoryblair
Name talent is and always will be a draw: if you have an actor, director or producer that people recognize by name (or by a previous project), that helps. Also, of course, if you can afford buckets of marketing, that gets people’s attention. That said, though, you still have to have a decent product. If the film isn’t very good, even if it gets attention at first, word of mouth will make its long term life less than a film that keeps getting rented because people recommend it to their friends. So money (for talent and marketing) helps to a point, but nothing makes up for a story that doesn’t engage or disappoints. A good story, well told, always wins in the final analysis.
2-Even if horror movies are so very popular by many fans, horror genre seems to be very underrated, and even snubbed by a large group of people. Why so? What can be done to change that point of view?
That’s actually something that I address in “Deadly Revisions”: the idea that eliciting scares is any less valuable than eliciting thought, tears or laughter. They are all elements of life and finding ways to experience and deal with them vicariously should, theoretically, have equal value. I understand that a slasher film seems far from profundity in content, but its purpose is to allow people feel and move beyond fear in a safe environment…and show off special effects born in the theatre long ago. It may not be your cup of tea, but that’s no reason to devalue it. Consider the rich, well-studied language and artful look of “Penny Dreadful”; there’s no denying it’s a work of horror, but to dismiss the quality of the work because of the bloodshed is a shame. As Grafton Torn says in “Deadly Revisions”, “…war pictures like "Saving Private Ryan" or "Platoon" can be as gory as all get out with body parts and blood flying all over the place and they win Academy Awards, but if a horror film is gory, the pundits all just shake their heads and poo-poo it as deviant, indulgent trash.” Yes, there’s trashy horror. But there’s also trashy drama. (“Shades of Grey”, anybody?) I submit that any genre can be artful, evocative and valuable.
3-You are wearing many hats in the movie industry: actor, producer, director,... What aspect do you prefer of each? What comes first for you?
They all feed and enrich each other. I think my being an actor makes me a better writer because I can’t write a line of dialogue that I can’t act. I also direct better because I understand the actor’s perspective. And I’m aware of what a director and producer want of their actors when I’m in front of the camera. As an actor, the moments in character are the best part: everything else is preparation, calibration, conceptualization; once the director yells “Action”, you are in the moment as the character and it’s unlike anything else. As a writer, it’s any moment when something in the story you’re creating just pops out of you and thrills you –as if it wrote itself. As a director, it’s when you finally get to sit back and see if everything you did worked as you watch your cast and crew create the shot as you imagined it; seeing that happen is a natural high—every time. As for which comes first, ultimately, I think it all stems from acting for me. While movies seem, ostensibly, to be about visuals (they are, after all “moving pictures”), the only thing that really matters is how those images make you feel…and feelings are what acting is all about.
4-What is your method when you approach a role?
The script is the first stop. As a writer, it’s my job to create characters that are three dimensional so that they pop off the page and into the reader’s mind. As an actor, I am that reader and a good script generally gives me plenty of information and fodder for bringing the character to life. Then I add nuances, takes, quirks to enhance what’s there as well as make it uniquely my own. As a director, I’m getting all of that and then, when necessary, offer further ideas to tweak or augment specific elements that will help the overall effect I may be aiming for in the film, a scene or even a moment. So a character grows and develops each step of the way, with each person who molds it.
5-Is there a director that you worked with where the connection director/actor worked right away?
That’s an interesting question because I don’t really have a specific answer since I’ve always worked well with directors to my recollection. I’ve been in situations where the director seemed unsure or less in control or I’ve been in complete disagreement with their choices here and there, but they are the director and it’s their movie, so I give them what they want; that is what I’m paid to do. It’s not my place to second guess a director: they have many more angles they are considering of which I am unaware and those angles may make the choice he or she is asking for all make sense in the final edit. Sometimes that proves true and sometimes it doesn’t, but that doesn’t change my role as an actor: I am there to support and manifest the director’s vision.
6-Funniest moment on set? Most upsetting moment on set?
We had a lot of funny things happen on the set of “Deadly Revisions”; a few of them will end up on the blooper reel which I think will only be available for folks who buy or rent the DVD or BluRay. I do remember on the set of “Freudian Eyebrow” (an odd, experimental low budget film), there was a scene where two twin goth girls were supposed to toast their identical all-day suckers, and when they did, the suckers unexpectedly smashed to pieces. The entire cast and crew just lost it. An upsetting moment for me was one night on “Deadly Revisions” when the owner of the house where we were shooting demanded we turn off our generator, which would have meant no lights, no camera, no nothing! My co-producer talked to him, explaining… as we continued to shoot—knowing the plug could be pulled at any minute. Talk about filming under pressure! My hairline receded an entire inch that night!
7-To this day, which performance of yours is your favorite?
Wow! No one’s every asked me that! I’m kinda stumped! I really liked my performance as the dorky Jewish dad in “Camp Virginovich” (a film which may never see the light of day, alas) and in my recurring role as the over-the-top crazy neighbor in “Love That Girl”. I won a Geoffrey Award for Best Character Actor for my role(s) in a stage production of “Sylvia”, but there’s even less chance of people seeing that—only one video exists and it’s not exceptionally well filmed. But I think one’s performance is a combination of what you put into it, what the director has given you and how the work is lit, edited and so on. So when people get awards and thank a whole list of people, it’s because it takes a village to create a performance. So I can’t take all the credit for any of my performances. I think my favorite performance may still be yet to come!
8-What are some of the projects coming up for you?
I’m in preproduction for my next film—a comedy/horror yarn about a backyard gathering that goes horribly wrong called “Garden Party Massacre”. It’s buckets of fun in the vein of “Shaun of the Dead” or “Tucker and Dale Vs. The Evil”. I’m working with my “Deadly Revisions” co-producer and we’ve attached a really great Director of Photography that I’m excited to work with. I wrote the script and I’ll be playing one of the roles in addition to directing. I’m also attached as an actor to several other films, so we’ll see what comes to fruition first on those. But “Garden Party Massacre” goes into production later this fall, so nothing is getting in the way of that or I’ll start swinging a pick axe!
To keep up with “Garden Party Massacre”: www.GardenPartyMassacreFilm.com https://www.facebook.com/GardenPartyMassacre To keep up with “Deadly Revisions”: www.DeadlyRevisionsMovie.com https://www.facebook.com/DeadlyRevisions
To keep up with Gregory Blair: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2489045 http://www.2writers.com/GregoryLinks.htm https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gregory-Blair/121092744586543 https://twitter.com/thegregoryblair