Donna Galanti

Donna Galanti is another talented author from my native Bucks County, PA. Her novel A HUMAN ELEMENT is an exciting thriller and first rate debut novel. I spoke with Donna about what inspired her to write this critically well received first book.


What is "A HUMAN ELEMENT" about?
One by one, Laura Armstrong’s friends and adoptive family members are being murdered, and despite her unique healing powers, she can do nothing to stop it. The savage killer haunts her dreams, tormenting her with the promise that she is next.


Determined to find the killer, she follows her visions to the site of a crashed meteorite–her hometown. There, she meets Ben Fieldstone, who seeks answers about his parents’ death the night the meteorite struck. In a race to stop a mad man, they unravel a frightening secret that binds them together. But the killer’s desire to destroy Laura face-to-face leads to a showdown that puts Laura and Ben’s emotional relationship and Laura’s pure spirit to the test.


With the killer closing in, Laura discovers her destiny is linked to his and she has two choices–redeem him or kill him.


Why did you choose that theme for your first novel?
I was inspired to create the world of Laura Armstrong in A HUMAN ELEMENT on her idealistic belief that we all have a redeemable human element inside us, no matter the evil we’ve done – or that’s been done to us. Being adopted, parentless, and raised alone runs through three characters in my book. These are threads from my own life. The characters all react in different ways, so is it their genes that shape who they are or their environment? Ultimately it’s revealed that if we can overcome our genes and thrive through love, we can conquer our obstacles and achieve anything. But without love, we are lost.


How did you get involved with writing? Do you prefer short stories or novels in terms of telling a story?
I’ve written since I could put words together. I wrote short stories and poems in my youth, but prefer the depth of writing a novel. It allows me to get deep into a character and take them through life changing events.


Who are some of your influences?
Early on it was Roald Dahl and C.S. Lewis. Later it became Dean Koontz, Stephen King, John Grisham and Robert James Waller.


Why?
Because they create endearing characters that suffer but transform through some change.


How many hours a day do you spend writing?
I’m not always able to get a creative word quota in each day so I look at the week as a whole which can average 3,000 to 5,000. The days I do write it’s anywhere from one hour to four. Does writing interviews and guest posts count? I seem to be doing a lot of that lately!


You’ve accomplished writing a well received first novel. What would you like to write about next?
I am already deep into the sequel, A HIDDEN ELEMENT. This book is grittier and darker with an evil villain who shatters the life of one family. This book happens over a much shorter span as well, about a month. However, I’m also getting ready to shop out a middle grade adventure fantasy that is a fun romp.


What do you love most about fiction?
That we can create stories as movies in our mind. That words on a page can make us feel strong things – loss, pain, hope.


How does your environment influence your writing?
I have woven my experiences through my writing. Being adopted, being in the Navy, having lived in many places in the U.S., including Hawaii, and England. I relate to the nomad and I think that comes across in the characters I write. They aren’t bound by any one environment, like me. I get restless in the same spot for too long.


What are your favorite horror movies and books?
For a novel, it’s The Stand by Stephen King. It changed my life one summer as a teen. I also enjoy his short story collections. His images stay with me. I am fearful of the garbage disposal thanks to his story, The Mangler. Horror movies that terrify me are Nightmare on Elm Street and Hellraiser. More recently The Ring and The Blair Witch Project (I made the mistake of watching this last one home alone and slept with the lights on all night).


What would your book be like if it was made into a movie?
Phenomenon meets The Dead Zone. Could I please get Hugh Jackman to play the hero, Ben Fieldstone? Hugh?


Tell us about why you love to write.
I love that we can create stories that no one else in the world can create. Then I get to share them with others and hope they enjoy as much as I do.


Please in your own words write a paragraph about yourself & your work.
I now do freelance copywriting for an advertising agency part time while writing novels. If I couldn’t write I would bike, hike, and kayak my days away. I was a photographer in the U.S. Navy before completing a degree in English. After working in corporate communications and marketing for years I launched a resume writing service for some time. I closed up shop to find time to write and lean towards writing dark fiction for adults. I like to call it dark with a dash of hope – and steam. However, I did challenge myself to write a middle grade novel last year, inspired by my son.

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PRAISE FOR A HUMAN ELEMENT
“A HUMAN ELEMENT is an elegant and haunting first novel. Unrelenting, devious but full of heart. Highly recommended.” –Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author of ASSASSIN’S CODE and DEAD OF NIGHT


“A HUMAN ELEMENT is a haunting look at what it means to be human. It’s a suspenseful ride through life and love…and death, with a killer so evil you can’t help but be afraid. An excellent read.” –Janice Gable Bashman, author of WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE, nominated for a Bram Stoker Award.


“A thrilling ride full of believable characters, a terrifying villain, an epic battle for survival, and a love worth killing for. A page-turner filled with fascinating twists and turns!” – Marie Lamba, author of WHAT I MEANT and DRAWN.


BIO:
Donna Galanti is the author of the dark novel A Human Element (Echelon Press). Donna has a B.A. in English and a background in marketing. She is a member of International Thriller Writers, The Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group, and Pennwriters. She lives with her family in an old farmhouse in Pennsylvania in the U.S. with lots of nooks, fireplaces, and stinkbugs. Visit her at: www.donnagalanti.com


http://www.facebook.com/DonnaGalantiAuthor
Donna’s Author Facebook page for news and updates!


Connect with Donna here:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DonnaGalanti Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DonnaGalantiAuthor Blog: http://blog.donnagalanti.com/wp/


Purchase A HUMAN ELEMENT here:
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/A-Human-Element-ebook/dp/B007IIIZUO/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2





Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-human-element-donna-galanti/1109435439?ean=2940013900530&itm=1&usri=donna+galanti


Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/139981

Movies: Nazis At The Center of the Earth

Researchers in Antarctica are abducted by a team of masked storm troopers. They are dragged deep underground to a hidden continent in the center of the earth. Here Nazi survivors, their bodies a horrifying patchwork of decaying and regenerated flesh, are planning for the revival of the Third Reich.

Release Date: 24 April 2012 (USA)

Trailer:

Movies: The Divide

Opens in UK cinemas 20 Apr 2012


Synopsis:
As an onslaught of nuclear missiles from an unknown assailant falls on New York City, a small group of tenants and the caretaker of an apartment building manage to find refuge in the building’s bunker-like basement. But as the days and nights slowly tick by, their sanctuary starts to resemble something more akin to a living hell. Adding further terror to the situation, the shelter is unexpectedly attacked by mysterious armed assailants wearing hazmat suits, their motives unknown but their merciless method of assault all too clear. This new threat forces the trapped victims to unite against a common enemy but it is a unity that proves to be short-lived.


With little chance of rescue and only unspeakable horrors and almost certain death awaiting them on the outside, the survivors slowly begin to descend into madness as food and water supplies dwindle, tensions flare and self-preservation becomes the only option. The ensuing power struggle leads to physical, psychological and sexual torment among the group as each member loses touch with his and her humanity. Despite this, one individual holds on to the hope of some form of salvation beyond the thick concrete walls of what may soon become nothing more than a tomb.


Trailer:

Lucas Mangum

Lucas Mangum is another talented horror author from my native Bucks County Pennsylvania. His novel GOBLINS is a gothic story receiving high praise. It is currently in e book form availiable from Smaswords. I asked Lucas about his writing goals and future plans.


Lucas's novel GOBLINS is described as follows:
Connor and his sister, Christine, go driving to the town of Yester Castle, TN looking for Christine’s wayward husband, Jack. Instead they find the town completely abandoned and signs of a struggle. Soon, Connor and Christine are in the fight of their life when they uncover that Yester Castle has been overrun by a cult of goblins and their high priest, Christine’s husband, Jack.


When did you write your first novel?
I wrote a few novels when I was in my teens, but since I was still young and naive, they were mostly unpublishable. I have since written pieces that I feel much more comfortable shopping around.


How many books have you written?
Not counting my earlier attempts, 3 and half!


How many hours a day do you write?
I try to write two to three hours a day if I can. On the weekends, I generally get four hours in. Some of my writing is done at ungodly hours of the morning before I go to my day job. If it's a slow day there, I try to outline, and then I write some more when I get home. I don't usually set a schedule. I just make sure I reach my word quota every day and I'm almost always writing in my head.


What is your favorite book?
Out of all the books I've read, I would have to say either It by Stephen King or Clive Barker's Imajica would be my favorite. Hard to pick between the two. If comics count, Garth Ennis's Preacher beats them both.


What is your favorite movie?
Of all time? Jeez... it's really hard for me to narrow it down to just one. A Clockwork Orange, Oldboy, Night of the Living Dead... I could go on and on and on. I'm a huge movie buff.


What books scare you?
Bryan Smith's The Killing Kind, and anything by Jack Ketchum are good for scares. As much as I enjoy supernatural horror, it isn't going to really do much in the fear department for me. Goblins, ghosts, and werewolves are my friends. The human monsters (serial killers, terrorists, sociopaths) are what's really scary. I have to admit that when I found out Ketchum's Girl Next Door was based on a real case, I lost a little faith in humanity.


Would you ever consider writing a book outside the horror genre?
I'd love for my career to be pretty eclectic, because I read a lot of different styles. While horror is my first love, I would love to write some urban fantasy or military science fiction sometime down the road. I'm up for anything!


What are your current projects?
Right now, I'm getting ready for the release of my experimental horror, Welcome to Video Babylon, as an e-short story through Trestle Press. I'm also shopping Flesh & Fire, a horror novella about a man who's life is turned upside down when his 30-years-dead ex comes to him seeking his help in her escape from hell. Depending on who picks it up, it could be the first of a trilogy or a stand-alone story. Last but not least, I have another novella that will be released early next year in a zine put out by Video Horror Show.


Please in your own words write aparagraph about yourself & your work.
When I'm not writing, I can best be described a pretty average guy. I have a day job at a local, community bank. I'm married to an extraordinary woman. I just got a cat. I love spending time with my family. However, my gift (curse?) is that I have a fascination, sometimes I'd even call it an obsession, with the darker side of things. Nothing is more interesting to me than people's fetishes and fears. I believe that putting them on the page (or on a screen, a canvas, or in a song) binds them so that we can observe and experience them safely.


About lucas Mangum
Lucas Mangum is the author of “Abhorrent” (Death Head Grin, February, 2011) and “Welcome to Video Babylon (Splatterpunk is Not Dead, forthcoming). Read his blog, The Dark Dimensions, at http://www.lucasmangum.wordpress.com or find him on Facebook or Twitter @LMangumFiction. He lives in Bucks County and holds the bi-monthly Awesome Reading Fest in Doylestown.

Interview with Chris LaMartina

Chris LaMartina is a talented young filmmaker from the Baltimore area. He’s already made five independent feature films. Chris has worked with horror icon George Stover on several projects. His current movie WITCH’S BREW is getting great reviews. It was great to talk to Chris about his passion for independent filmmaking. 

What inspired you to make movies?

I've always been interested in storytelling. Some of my earliest memories are demanding my Aunt sit down at her typewriter (this is the late eighties), and I would dictate goofy 'scary' stories to her. We found some these tales a few years back, and they don't make much sense... half of them start with "It was a dark and stormy night"... but they were good foreshadowing of things to come.

When I was 11, I stumbled across the family camcorder and began producing little shorts, trying to emulate the films I love (mostly horror). As I got older and more interested in micro-budget horror, I realized that making cheap features was a reality and I figured out a game plan on how to produce my own.

What are some of your favorite films?

My favorite film of all time is "Harold & Maude". That might be a little shocking to hear looking at the films I produce, but that's the truth. Outside of that, I love eighties American cinema (especially horror flicks) because that's what I grew up on. Some of my favorites are "Monster Squad", "Fright Night", "Return of the Living Dead", "Night of the Demons", and "The Blob" (88)... stuff like that. Besides genre stuff, I greatly enjoy social satires, political documentaries, and a good romantic comedy (totally not joking).

Why horror?

I've always been attracted to horror. Exploring the unknown, the dark, and mysterious has always been a vice of mine. Plus, there are a million different avenues to tell scary stories. Horror is such a broad genre that has somehow been 'ghettoized' by popular culture... perhaps because it's primal and exploitation. That's why I love it, though. It's honest... in a world where most things aren't. I love the ugliness. Usually, I inject my horror with humor as a coping mechanism. Horror takes real world anxiety and filters them through a lens of escapism.

What was your first feature length movie?

My first feature, which I shot during breaks in college, was an uber cheap (total budget - $300), horror anthology flick called "Dead Teenagers". It was produced as an attempt to see if I could finish a long term project that could get distributed (which it did). It was definitely a learning experience more than anything else. It's not the best flick, but there are some cool moments. It's just so cheap to me now (which is fine, really, but I don't generally talk about it anymore). I'm happy with a lot of the ideas we pulled off at such a low budget, but my storytelling is primitive in comparison and a lot of the acting is painful... which is mostly m y fault as a director/producer is. We shot it on a consumer camcorder, lit with Home Depot work lights, and recorded audio in-camera. It's definitely uber-cheap, but it still makes me smile when I think about the experience of making it.

How many movies have you made?

To date, I've produced five features: "Dead Teenagers" (2006), a horror anthology, "Book of Lore" (2007), a mystery-thriller, "Grave Mistakes" (2008), a campy EC-comic style anthology, "President's Day" (2010), an eighties-style slasher comedy, and "Witch's Brew" (2011), a gory horror comedy about cursed beer.

I produced "Dead Teenagers" by my lonesome, but all of the rest of which were co-produced by my best friend/business partner, Jimmy George. Jimmy also co-wrote "Book of Lore", "Grave Mistakes", and "President's Day" with me. He's the unsung hero of Midnight Crew Studios (our production team).

How did you come up with the idea for WITCH'S BREW?

Right before "President's Day", Jimmy and I realized the power of a 'high concept' synopsis (a one-sentence pitch that sells your story). From that point forward, every idea we pursued HAD to be describe in a single sentence. It was crucial to selling the film to a distributer and ultimately: an audience. So, we started coming up with titles first and then, when we had a title that sounded cool, we'd come up with a log line to support it.

I was interested in writing a film about witchcraft and had the title, "Witch's Brew". So, I asked myself: what would a movie called "Witch's Brew" be about? Cursed beer, obviously! The possibilities for story lines were endless because of the wide range of avenues when it comes to alcohol consumption. Hell, most people watch horror flicks with a cold six-pack by their side. I could see the DVD drinking game already! It made sense.

WITCH'S BREW is getting great buzz. Do you prefer to make something different than the average horror flick?

Like most artists, we want to stand out. We've always valued our stories above all else. I don't care what the "it" camera is or what format you're shooting on. The most important part for us is the story and I think that's what we do try to differently than other filmmakers. Sure, we understand the value of the sex/violence content, but excessive gore and nudity isn't enough to make a flick stand out anymore.

At the same time, I also borrow a lot of energy/aesthetic from the films I grew up on (mostly eighties-style horror flicks). So, I can't say we're completely original because we pay homage whenever it's appropriate. Generally, however, we try our best to reverse expectation when it comes to familiar territory. The job of every good screenwriter is to reverse expectation... when it makes sense.

You are on a limited budget. How do you get so many people to act in your films?

Very rarely do we get to pay folks who act for us, and usually it's only people who do nudity. In all honesty, there's little money for us to budget on talent. We don't make much money off of these films (making films does NOT pay my rent) so we can't afford to squander the dollars we could be spending on catering, props, equipment, and f/x. Plus, plenty of actors will work for free for the exposure factor and usually we do a favor trade or two (i.e. cutting an actor's demo reel or getting them work on a "bigger" or "pay" project). The most important thing, however, is to still find talented actors. We always hold casting calls and value the auditioning process. We're not just giving roles to our friends. That's one of the biggest problems with micro budget productions.

How did the premiere of WITCH’S BREW go?

The "Witch's Brew" premiere went fantastic. It was a huge premiere, the audience response was great, and I had a wonderful time. We showed some Lost Trailer Park: Never Coming Attractions (my faux-trailer web series) installments before the flick and everyone ate it up. It was fun night out. I always find premieres especially inspiring because you can finally see an audience feast on the fruits of your labor. I love coming out of the theater and hearing folks talk about their favorite moments or characters. That's what keeps me going.

What's it like working with horror movie icon George Stover?

I lovingly refer to George Stover as my "third Grandpa"... a moniker he dislikes because it makes him feel old. He's a very sweet, funny, and warm man. His support for our films over the past few years has been unrelenting and I literally ask him every time I write a script what "kind of role" he’d like play. I have a lot of respect for him and I know that's mutual. He reached out to us initially, after catching a screening of "Book of Lore". What a lot of people don't realize about George is that he is a huge genre fan. His house is full of movies, posters, and memorabilia. He even collects 35mm and 16mm film prints. As a former projectionist myself, I have a special kinship with George. He rules.

Baltimore has produced some great independent filmmakers like Don Dohler and John Waters. Do you think you are following in their footsteps?

I wouldn't say I'm following in their footsteps per se. I think my films are departures from the tone of a Waters film or Dohler flick... but that's not to say I don't love those guys. I definitely grew up watching both artists tell their type of stories, and I respect them immensely. The affection for Dohler films over time is especially interesting to me. I loved them before it was ironic or hip to love them.

Speaking for myself, Baltimore is my hometown (I was born and raised here) and I love it. It's so weird, strange, and charming. You can walk down the street and run into a dozen genuine characters (not just young people trying to be eccentric) and I find that very inspiring. I value the history of exploitation and horror films here because I see those filmmakers as spiritual ancestors. There’s immense cultural significance in using the same places and actors that my heroes used before me. When all is said and done, I'm happy to be a footnote in the enormous book of low budget filmmaking.

What's next for you?

Man, I wish I could tell you. We have two horror screenplays we're developing for ourselves (can't give out names/concepts just yet), and we're writing a more serious horror screenplay for a buddy of ours in L.A. The big problem for us right now is our lack of financial resources. We can't continue to make micro-budget films without getting real investors (up until this point, most of our films have been self-funded), and that's a bit intimidating to us. Still, if we make another feature (and trust me, even if it KILLS me, we're going to do another), we're going to have get investors behind it. It's a matter of time, really. We have to find the financial backers. So... on that note.... would you like to invest in our next feature?

I kid, but if anyone reading this has deep pockets and love for horror comedies, holler at us.

Teaser trailer for the upcoming splatter flick, "Witch's Brew" - written & directed by Chris LaMartina. Synopsis: Two microbrewers screw over a coven of witches and in turn, the coven curses their latest batch of beer. From that point forward, anyone who drinks the cursed alcohol meets a gruesome ironic demise.

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Novelist David Kempf
About the interviewer:
David Kempf has written over fifty short stories, many of which deal with themes of horror fiction. He has won several writing awards including first place in the short story competition of Millersville University's Lemuria magazine. Two of his short stories were selected in the 2007 publication of The Grackle, his graduate school's literary magazine. David is featured on two short fiction websites, one American and one British. He holds an M.S. from Chestnut Hill College and a B.A. from Millersville University. David resides in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his wife and his son. Dark Fiction is his first novel. His latest book The Petsorcist mixes humor and horror.

You can find out more about David Kempfs new book and also buy at the following links http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11733557-the-petsorcist

US.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Petsorcist-ebook/dp/B0055WY7XO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308321782&sr=1-1

UK.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0055WY7XO?ie=UTF8&tag=jonscelebworl-21

Interview with Chris Bauer

Chris Bauer is a talented horror fiction writer from my native Bucks County Pennsylvania. His novel SCARS ON THE FACE OF GOD: THE DEVIL"S BIBLE is an exceptional novel. The book was an EPIC Awards finalist for best in horror of 2010. He has received positive critical reception and is well respected by many authors including New York Times Bestseller Jonathan Maberry. It was fun to ask Chris some questions about his book and what inspires him.

When did you write your first novel?

In or around 2001 I completed The Rabbit, Stilled. Mainstream contemporary genre or thereabouts. Main characters Teddy and Sonny in Rabbit are from Scars on the Face of God: The Devil’s Bible: kids in Scars, adults in Rabbit. So now you know a secret: I wrote Scars as a prequel to Rabbit. Here’s why: Started shopping Rabbit with little or no clue about what this writing thing and the publishing industry were about. At 120,000 words it didn’t stand a chance at being represented by anyone, or so said multiple rejection letters from agents. “Too long for a debut novelist.” Debunked as a reason by J.K. Rowling of course, she being only the most recent example. (Relax. Not comparing me to Ms. Rowling. She’s a gifted writer and world-creator whose stuff was gonna shatter a few publishing industry maxims. It was just a matter of time.) Also debunked by the current explosion we’re seeing in published eBooks, relegating the space-on-bookstore-shelves-devoted-to-unknown-writers issue less of a concern by publishers. Scars came in at 88,000 words, a more palatable figure for agents. Note: Once I complete a major rewrite to play up its horror/paranormal elements, The Rabbit, Stilled may someday be available.

How many books have you written?

I write as C.G. Bauer. Three novels: The Rabbit, Stilled; Scars on the Face of God: The Devil’s Bible; Hop Skip Jump, just completed. Only Scars has been published. I’m currently shopping Hop Skip Jump. Plus I’ve written nine short stories that will eventually be part of a collection I’ll release electronically.

How many hours a day do you write?

Better question is how many hours a day do I devote to the writing craft because for me it includes writing, researching, editing, marketing and peer critiquing. Monday-Friday, it’s close to three hours daily. Weekends, four to five hours each day. And here’s a confession: I’m creative as a writer only in the morning. By noon I cease to be productive. By mid-afternoon I get ornery about anything I composed earlier in the day, week, month, ever. By evening I ask myself who am I fooling, tell myself everything I’ve written sucks, really really sucks, then fall asleep (at keyboard, on sofa, on commode) hopefully before I get a chance to edit out any of the stuff that might actually be good.

Scars On The Face of God: The Devil's Bible seems to have influences like Rosemary's Baby and The Omen. Did they influence your book?

Similar themes notwithstanding, they weren’t influences. Honest. Scars started originally as a question I had asked myself: Why were there so many impaired children in the northeast Philadelphia, PA, USA neighborhood where I grew up? It turns out that the Philadelphia environs were host to multiple tanneries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so I went after that as an angle. (No cause and effect here in real life, readers. Northeast Philadelphia is as healthy or unhealthy as every other urban and semi-urban environment out there.) I had also just completed Jonathan Harr’s A Civil Action, which chronicled what the poorly regulated tannery industry had allegedly done to the health of the children in a small town in Woburn, MA, USA. The Devil’s Bible, aka Codex Gigas, became the prominent theme after I saw The Devil’s Advocate (Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves). In it Pacino makes a vague reference to their two characters rewriting history together. It prompted a question: Could the Devil have written his own version of the Bible? Discovering that an incredible old manuscript called the Devil’s Bible with so colorful a history actually existed was, shall we say, fortuitous.

What is your favorite book?

I can’t limit it to one, so here are a few in different genres. Horror: Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas series; loved the protagonist’s innocence in delivering his first-person narrative. I also enjoy Scott Nicholson’s books and I have a number of Jonathan Maberry novels queued up. Baseball: Chance by Steve Shilstone. Loved the voice of the narrator so, so much. It strongly influenced my Scars narrator Wump Hozer’s voice and disposition, and it’s one of the few books I’ve enjoyed reading more than once. Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella. Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris. Loved the movie also; Robert Deniro is excellent. Crime & Pulp Fiction: Elmore Leonard’s work. All genres: Anything with a twist ending done well, Romance excepted. There’s nothing that can bring me to read Romance, not vampires, not zombies, not anything set in the past, present or future. Just. Can’t. Read. Romance.

What is your favorite movie?

Too many to mention. Because of mail-order clubs I watch at least one a week. I admit that I do get excited by the blockbusters and will try to see them on the big screen first. Favorites in Horror: The Thing, all versions; looking forward to the newest remake but it will be tough to upstage Carpenter’s version. Alien and Aliens; some of the best mix of suspense and horror and sci-fi I’ve ever seen. I was also blown away by M. Night Shyamalan’s Sixth Sense, the twist ending, in my opinion, one of the best a-ha climaxes in movie history. I heartily contributed to the collective gasp from theater patrons that night. Zombie flicks: I am Legend with Will Smith. Also loved Shaun of the Dead; Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are hilarious. Baseball: The Natural, Field of Dreams, Bang the Drum Slowly and Eight Men Out. Always a sucker for a good baseball drama. Favs in Sci-fi: Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Anytime I flick past a replay of it I’ll stop and watch. Back to M. Night: Signs, filmed in part in Doylestown PA, my current hometown; loved Joaquin Phoenix’s character and the movie’s climax. (No plot spoilers here, but if you’ve never seen it and do decide to go after it, you’ll know why I liked it so much.)

What books scare you?

Every freaking book that has a scene in it where the reader finds himself mentally pleading to a character “Don’t go in that room” or “Don’t open that door.” Switching gears, the only other books that scare me are anything by celebrities, pop culture or politically-motivated personalities masquerading as writers, this because they grab all the publishing industry’s advance money with their, ahem, crap, ghost-written or otherwise. A complete waste, and yet they provide a valuable lesson for all writers: We need to produce things that are commercially viable before we get to indulge ourselves in writing those darlings we’re so often told we need to kill after we’ve written them. If novelists are savvy enough and lucky, occasionally they get it right on the first try. An infrequent occurrence, as I’m sure all you debut authors out there like myself can attest to.

Would you ever consider writing a book outside of the horror genre?

Absatively. Case in point, see current projects below for the urban fantasy/paranormal novel I just completed. I’m also mulling over a suspense/crime fiction project based on an unpublished short story I wrote recently. Readers might also like to check out a crime/pulp fiction short I wrote titled “You’re A Moron,” published in Thuglit’s online January 2009 edition then podcasted by Well Told Tales in September 2009. Well Told Tales’ sixteen-minute professional production was a huge success: it’s been downloaded more than 70,000 times (welltoldtales.com, WTT #60). Downloaded for free, this starving writer laments, mentioning that he was paid $25 American for the rights to podcast the story.

What are your current projects?

I received some kudos on my pseudo-horror short story “Zombie Chimps From Mars” which recently appeared in Shroud Magazine’s Spring 2011 print edition. Now I’m shopping my newest novel Hop Skip Jump to agents, an urban fantasy with paranormal leanings about reincarnation and channeling and what might happen if a person returned to a place and time where she was needed the most. The novel follows two present-day family intervention social workers, one male, one female, as they peel back the lives of clients encumbered by untenable, hanging-by-a-thread existences. Then their clients start dying suspicious deaths, and someone with an otherworldly agenda is hell-bent on continuing this trend. Think supernatural movie thriller Fallen (Denzel Washington) with a nod toward N.A. Tappe’s Indigo children. Plus I just reacquired all my rights to Scars and I’m currently readying it for re-release.

Paragraph about myself:

Philadelphia-area writer who enjoys crafting character-, plot- and twist-driven novels and short stories. Won a few writing contests, placed well in a few others. (Scars on the Face of God: The Devil’s Bible was EPIC Awards runner-up for the best in eBook horror for 2010.) Chris does nothing else artistic unless one counts juggling a sixty-hour work/commute week at his evil day job with twenty-plus weekly hours devoted to writing and writers’ critique groups. And by the way, Chris is again looking for representation.

---

Novelist David Kempf
About the interviewer:
David Kempf has written over fifty short stories, many of which deal with themes of horror fiction. He has won several writing awards including first place in the short story competition of Millersville University's Lemuria magazine. Two of his short stories were selected in the 2007 publication of The Grackle, his graduate school's literary magazine. David is featured on two short fiction websites, one American and one British. He holds an M.S. from Chestnut Hill College and a B.A. from Millersville University. David resides in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his wife and his son. Dark Fiction is his first novel. His latest book The Petsorcist mixes humor and horror.

You can find out more about David Kempfs new book and also buy at the following links
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11733557-the-petsorcist

US.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Petsorcist-ebook/dp/B0055WY7XO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308321782&sr=1-1

UK.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0055WY7XO?ie=UTF8&tag=jonscelebworl-21

Interview with George Stover

George Stover has been a horror movie icon for decades. He is the star of such films as The Alien Factor and Nightbeast. As a lifetime fan of horror books and movies, I jumped at the chance to interview him. It was an honor to interview such a great actor and all around nice guy.

How did you get involved with acting? Did you do theater before film?

When I was growing up, I hardly ever went to see a play. But I had always been a movie buff. I never pursued acting in high school, but when I went to college I decided to take some acting classes. And I also appeared in some college plays. After graduating, I acted in several plays with some of the local theater groups because back in those days, acting opportunities in front of a camera in Baltimore were far and few between. This was before the invention of the consumer video camera when the only way to make movies was on film.

And John Waters was the only game in town on the independent filmmaking scene.

How did you get involved with famous cult director John Waters?

I first met John in 8th grade homeroom at Towsontown Junior High School. We were close to each other in the alphabet so we ended up in the same homeroom. For some reason, John didn’t go to a Catholic school that year, and we went to the same junior high school since we lived in neighboring communities. We didn’t see each other socially, but on Monday mornings we would often chat about the episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE that had been on TV the previous Friday night. The years passed, and we didn’t keep in touch but I would often read about a local filmmaker in the newspapers named John Waters. I wasn’t sure if it was the same person I used to know in the 8th grade but one day, I read an article that he was having trouble finding normal looking actors to play roles like teachers and parents because all of his friends had purple hair or weighed 300 pounds, or whatever. The article mentioned the street John grew up on so I looked in the phone book and called up the number. His mother answered the phone and said he didn’t live there anymore, but she gave me his new address. I sent him my resume and his assistant Pat Moran eventually called me about being in FEMALE TROUBLE. When I eventually saw John in person, I knew he was the same person I had known in Junior High School.

How did you get involved with famous cult director Don Dohler?

An article appeared in the local newspaper about me and my fanzine BLACK ORACLE. Don read it and tracked me down, and we began a long friendship. Don told me about his plans to publish a magazine called CINEMAGIC which would be a “how to” ‘zine for aspiring filmmakers. Don had previously only made 8mm short subjects, but he shared his dream about making a feature film. I told him about my acting aspirations and he cast me in one of his 8mm shorts. Eventually, things came together and we took the plunge to make an actual feature length film in 16mm sound. Don cast me as scientist Steven Price in THE ALIEN FACTOR. My character’s last name “Price” came from Vincent Price because Don knew I was a big fan of Vincent Price. STAR WARS was a great success in the theaters at the time, and TV distributors were clamoring for science-fiction films to release to television. Gold Key Entertainment bought the TV rights for THE ALIEN FACTOR for fifteen years, and the movie played all over the country on local stations and a dubbed version apparently ran in some Spanish-speaking markets as well. The film even played nationally on cable TV on Ted Turner’s SuperStation WTBS. Nowadays, a film of the quality of THE ALIEN FACTOR would never stand a chance for TV syndication!!!

Many folks think Nightbeast is Dohler's best film. Which Dohler film do you think is the best?

I think NIGHTBEAST is his best. I’ve met many other people who agree. Don’s personal favorite was always FIEND, however. Speaking of NIGHTBEAST, not too many people realize who can claim that movie as a film credit. A teenage Jeffrey Abrams contributed music and sound effects to that movie. He later grew up to become a major force in the film industry, and he now calls himself J.J. Abrams. If you look his name up in the International Movie Data Base and scroll down, you will see NIGHTBEAST listed in the “Composer” and “Sound Department” categories.

I consider Dohler an unappreciated genius. Do you think some day he will be recognized as such?

Well, that would be terrific if he could get more recognition. A good start in that direction is the documentary BLOOD, BOOBS & BEAST about Don’s career, which was released after his death. Troma released it in a two-disc set along with NIGHTBEAST, which the company had previously released by itself.

It would be rather exciting if Don could receive the same posthumous notoriety that Ed Wood received. But there is much more competition in the low-budget arena nowadays than in Ed Wood’s day because of the invention of the camcorder! In the 1950s it still took a lot of resources to make even the cheapest of 35mm features. But today every teenager with a camcorder and a computer is a filmmaker!!

What do you love most about acting?

I like the part between “Action” and “Cut” the best!! I’m not a big fan of waiting around for hours and hours. I also like the “permanence” of being in a film---it’s not just a fleeting experience like being in a play. In addition, I like all the publicity that comes with being in a movie---reading the reviews of the film, or any references to it in books and magazines.

What is your day job?

I’m now retired from my official day job. I worked for the State of Maryland for thirty years. For most of that time, I worked in an office for the Maryland Insurance Administration. Nowadays, I mostly sell stuff on eBay, continue to act, and work on various hobbies. I’m a very hobby-oriented person since I don’t have a wife and children to occupy my time.

How do you reconcile your Christian beliefs with what others might call the occult? Horror movies?

A good question. I guess I just consider movies to be entertainment. As far as the occult is concerned, there may not be as much of a conflict as one might first think. I do believe that there are forces in the world that science cannot yet explain. That’s why the old TV series ONE STEP BEYOND always fascinated me---because the stories were supposedly based on true events. And a movie like THE EXORCIST also had its basis in a real event. The Catholic Church has performed lot of exorcisms around the world. I never felt the classic Universal movies, for example, were in conflict with my religious beliefs, mainly because I just watched such movies to be entertained and never really thought about religion when I would watch or reflect on these movies. I do wonder sometimes, why I actually enjoy gore movies---from the early films of H.G. Lewis and Dave Friedman to the more modern Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw massacre movies. In real life, however, I don’t like the site of blood. I turn my head away when a nurse takes a sample of my blood. I have a cousin who works in a hospital and can deal with real-life blood, yet she can’t stand looking at gory movies!!

What are your favorite horror movies and books?

I like the classic horror movies that I grew up watching on local TV and in the theaters. The classic Universals, plus Hammer movies, for example, as well as most of the stuff made in the 1950s and 1960s. However, I must admit that I do enjoy the FRIDAY THE 13th series, when it comes to more modern horror films. As far as books, I collect a lot of movie and television books. Plus, a lot of hobby-related books. I don’t have much fiction at all in my book collection.

Is it true you have a part in the Night of the Living Dead remake?

Yes, I have been cast in a cameo as “Lionel,” an ambulance driver who gets attacked by zombies. The movie is supposed to shoot in Virginia in 2012. I read about this remake on Facebook and saw that my friend Sarah Snyder has a role in it. I recently met Sarah on the set of GHOUL SOCIETY, so I wrote her and asked if she could contact the director and there was a speaking part of an old fart like me. The director Matt Cloude, wrote me back and offered me the role of Lionel. This project should be a lot of fun!

What are you most proud of in your acting career?

Oh, I suppose I’m most proud of ending up in some bona fide cult movies. THE ALIEN FACTOR and FEMALE TROUBLE first come to mind as two movies which most low-budget film buffs would agree are real cult films. I’m sure some of the other films I’ve been in are cult movies as well, but perhaps to a lesser degree. It’s nice that there are still people who enjoy many of the films that I made so long ago. It’s gratifying to have a lot of people write me on Facebook and tell me that they are fans of these films.




Novelist David Kempf

About the interviewer:


David Kempf has written over fifty short stories, many of which deal with themes of horror fiction. He has won several writing awards including first place in the short story competition of Millersville University's Lemuria magazine. Two of his short stories were selected in the 2007 publication of The Grackle, his graduate school's literary magazine. David is featured on two short fiction websites, one American and one British. He holds an M.S. from Chestnut Hill College and a B.A. from Millersville University. David resides in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his wife and his son. Dark Fiction is his first novel. His latest book The Petsorcist mixes humor and horror.

You can find out more about David Kempfs new book and also buy at the following links

US.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Petsorcist-ebook/dp/B0055WY7XO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308321782&sr=1-1

UK.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0055WY7XO?ie=UTF8&tag=jonscelebworl-21

David Kempf - The Petsorcist

David Kempf has written over fifty short stories, many of which deal with themes of horror fiction. He has won several writing awards including first place in the short story competition of Millersville University’s Lemuria magazine. Two of his short stories were selected in the 2007 publication of The Grackle, his graduate school’s literary magazine. David is featured on two short fiction websites, one American and one British. He holds an M.S. from Chestnut Hill College and a B.A. from Millersville University. David resides in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his wife and his son. Dark Fiction is his first novel. The Petsorcist is David’s new book and it mixes horror and comedy.

JD The Petsorcist is your second book. Is it a sequel to Dark Fiction?
DK No it’s not but one of the main characters Henry David Wells from that book is in this story. I think I want him in all my books. He can be in every book like Michael Caine is in every movie.

JD Is this book a parody of The Exorcist?
DK It is. Yes. I think the idea of demonically possessed animals is funny and scary at the same time. That’s why I went back to read William Peter Blatty’s novel before I wrote this. I acknowledge him and some other famous authors who inspired me to write this although I have had this idea stuck in my head for a long time.

JD Who are the other authors?
DK In addition to William Peter Blatty, I was inspired by Ray Bradbury, Truman Capote, C.S. Lewis, Nathaniel Hawthorne, George Orwell and Jonathan Maberry.

JD That’s a very diverse group of writers.
DK I read a lot of stuff that isn’t horror. It’s a good idea for any author to read extensively outside of their genre.

JD You must be a huge fan of The Exorcist.
DK Yes, Jon. It was shocking for its time with Dick Smith’s makeup effects and the profanity coming from a little girl. I didn’t care for the second film but the next one with George C. Scott that was directed by Blatty was great.

JD The raw version is on Masters of Horror. Why did you put it into an E book?
DK The version on your site is similar but has some differences. There is more action in the final edited version. It’s almost in order. I wrote the prologue “An Odd Exorcism” last so it comes after the rest of the story on your website.

JD Do you think that humor and horror go together?
DK Absolutely but you have to be careful. Too much humor can take away from the suspense and terror that are the main concerns when you are trying to tell the story. One of my favorite movies is An American Werewolf in London. Never was humor and horror so perfectly combined before as it was in that film. One of the actors from that movie Griffin Dunne has a signed copy of Dark Fiction. He came to Bucks County Pennsylvania to film a movie.

JD One of your villains in the book is a cat. Don’t you think cats are scapegoat as symbols of evil?
DK Yes and this is not a black cat. Black cats were scapegoated for being connected with witchcraft in the Middle Ages by the church. The cat in the story is named Moose and is loosely based upon my cat Moose. He’s crème colored and beautiful and behaves terribly.

JD Do you think he’s demonically possessed?
DK The thought has crossed my mind.

JD Are your characters more heroic in this story?
DK They definitely are. The priest is heroic and only does questionable things when the forces of evil are messing with him. His sidekick is also a good guy. Dr. Wells on the other hand is still morally ambiguous and I suppose probably always will be.

JD Do you think this book is better than your first one?
DK I feel like writing has improved but they’re too different to compare.

JD Dark Fiction was about death, immortality and ghouls. The book cover reflected that with its depiction of a human skull surrounded by darkness. The Petsorcist has a wolf looking through a window with a crucifix on the right hand wall. The possessed wolves in the story are a major aspect of the whole book. Do you make an effort to have your covers reveal the storyline?
DK I think that to a certain extent that you should judge a book by its cover. You can’t look at a book cover and know everything about what you’re going to read but it should offer some clues. My brother in law Joe Camastra did the cover for Dark Fiction and now for The Petsorcist. He’s a horror fan like me and I think he does great work.

JD You should get the big picture. Is that what you mean?
DK Absolutely.

JD You’ve written quite a few short stories on my website Masters of Horror. I take it that you don’t do this for the money.
DK I don’t do it for the money any more than I did when I made short horror films when I was younger. Three of them are on Masters of Horror with my short stories. I write for the love of it. If I make a buck or two when a book is released, that’s just icing on the cake to me. The real thrill is meeting people at book signings. The Doylestown Bookshop and Canterbury Tales Forever are two independent book sellers that have been very kind to me when I published my first book. When I went to Monster Mania in Cherry Hill last year I had the opportunity to meet John Carpenter and have him sign my novel. He’s one of my idols and I’m saving that signed novel for my son to have someday.

JD I understand your first sale that evening was someone you grew up watching every week on a famous science fiction television show.
DK Yes, Erin Gray from Buck Rogers was my first paying customer and I singed a copy of Dark Fiction for her. I felt like the luckiest man on the planet.

JD What’s next?
DK I have a children’s book with space aliens that I am trying to get published and then a novel that is sort of a sequel to Dark Fiction.

JD Thanks for taking the time, David. I hope you continue to write for Masters of Horror U.K. for a long time to come.
DK You can count on it.

US.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Petsorcist-ebook/dp/B0055WY7XO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308321782&sr=1-1

UK.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0055WY7XO?ie=UTF8&tag=jonscelebworl-21

Review by Jonathan Maberry -NY Times Bestseller
With DARK FICTION, talented newcomer David Kempf kicks open doors into a lot of the darker places of the human mind and soul. Dark, fast, and wicked fun...this is book with real bite. This is the kind of first novel that offers great promise for a bold new player in the horror genre.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/AODLRBJ8IOQXL/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp

Gerard Butler - Machine Gun Preacher

Gerard Butler took on the toughest and ultimately most rewarding role of his stellar career in Machine Gun Preacher.


The 41 year-old star plays Sam Childers a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes a spiritual transformation and emerges as the unlikely saviour of hundreds of children in war torn east Africa.


“In terms of acting chops and what it took, the complexity of the character and the journey he goes on and the emotional depth it was the hardest role I’ve had to play and it took the most out of me,” says Butler. “It was the most challenging but ultimately the most rewarding as well for that reason.”


Directed by Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, The Kite Runner), Butler stars alongside Michelle Monaghan as Childers’ long suffering wife, Lynn, and Michael Shannon as his best friend, Donnie.


Childers was a self confessed thug in his younger years - a violent biker who provided muscle for a drugs gang. After he is released from prison Lynn convinces him to accompany her to the local church he finds his salvation in Christianity. A church organised trip to Africa to help re-build a village destroyed by civil war changes his life.


He decides to build an orphanage for the local children right in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army, a militia that forces children to become soldiers and carries out unspeakable acts of violence.


Butler was born in Paisley, Scotland and initially studied law before abandoning his degree to concentrate on his first love, acting. He has switched effortlessly from genre to genre in a career that has taken him to the very top of the A list.


There have been blockbusters like Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life and the spectacular 300, the lavish musical Phantom of the Opera, Guy Ritchie’s crime caper RocknRolla, the contemporary thriller Law Abiding Citizen, alongside romances like P.S I Love You and romantic comedies including The Ugly Truth.


More recently, he starred alongside Jennifer Aniston in the romantic comedy, The Bounty Hunter and will soon be seen in the Ralph Fiennes directed screen version of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus as Aufidius. He also completed Playing The Field with Jessica Biel for director Gabriele Muccino, which will be released next year.


Q and A follows:
Q: In terms of a challenge where does this one rank?


A: In terms of acting chops and what it took, the complexity of the character and the journey he goes on and the emotional depth it was the hardest role I’ve had to play and it took the most out of me. It was the most challenging but ultimately the most rewarding as well for that reason.


Q: Is it a role of a lifetime?


A: It felt like a great opportunity to say so much and really pack a punch or not – which is why it was exciting because you could also do this and fail miserably and there are a lot of ways to play this badly. It was a fine line to traverse and to try and get all those different things that is Sam. Before I met Sam I’d never heard a man described in so many different ways because the director, the writer would say ‘this is who he is..’ and it was always different.


Q: Where did you first meet him?


A: I met him in Georgetown, Pennsylvania, where he lives. I went round to his house and sat in his kitchen and there must have been about 15 people there – people from the movie, his family, some of his friends and at that point I’d read the script and said that I wanted to do the movie and so I went to meet him.


Q: What did you expect when you met him?


A: Well, you see the guy that you read about in the script and so you expect to see this gun toting wild man, maybe screaming and shouting, loud and obnoxious. I expected somebody larger than life with a lot of energy and what I experienced was that yes, there’s a lot of energy and he is very charismatic but it’s very contained. I was also well aware that this is Sam now and also he’s not in a war zone and not currently fighting for his sanity. So the man I actually met was a man who was quite considered, he would sit back and he was studying me and studying the situation and kind of enjoying the attention in a way – that this was what all of his hard work had come to. Just like I can say I enjoy it when people enjoy a movie I’ve made, well, this was his moment to shine and kind of go ‘look, Gerry Butler has come to visit me…’ (laughs)


Q: Was he sizing you up?


A: Oh I am sure he was thinking ‘are you up to the task Mr Gerry Butler?’ and there’s me with my Scottish accent. He didn’t say anything at the time but he has since told me that that’s what he was thinking and I knew, I could see his mind working, not just thinking about me, but about all of these people that had come from such a different world to his and that even though he knew he could harvest that and it would be great for his cause, there was kind of a lack of trust because he is, in some ways, a simple hard working guy.


Q: Do you like him?


A: Yes, I do like him. I got to know him and I do like him and I think he is a fascinating character. He’s by no means an angel or perfect in every way – he does have an ego, he can be quite brash but more overpowering than any of that, is that he has a deep sense of humanity. And he has spent a lot of his life risking his life to help other people and what I do love as well is that there is a charm to him. He’s a very charming guy, which I didn’t expect. He’s a tough guy but there’s a charm to the way he is with people and I’ve seen him on many occasions now when he lets go and starts talking about the terrible things he has seen and the tears well up and he starts crying. And I’ve seen that he’s a very deep human being and there’s a lot of pain and shame about his life.


Q: And the film doesn’t pull any punches when it shows that side of him. He was a volcano in his earlier life and there was some very bad stuff – the violence, the drugs…


A: Yes and when you speak to him that’s the way he describes himself, that he couldn’t stay out of fights and he did have this explosive personality – he was an angry guy and he loved drugs and by the way, most of the shame that I see and when he cried the most, was not even about the kids (in Africa) it was when he was talking about him dealing drugs and people that he felt had died because of him, that’s when I saw him cry more than any other time.


Q: Is it about redemption for him? Do you think that his work in Africa is about trying to atone for his past?


A: Yes, I do. Obviously he has been struck by the plight of these kids, he’s been there and he’s witnessed terrible things. When an audience experiences this movie it’s often very personal and they want to act and do something but Sam was there and saw it all for real and it made him want to act. But when he talks about his life he often talks about atonement and redemption and how he feels there’s never enough he can do to make up for his past. He also takes on a lot of the baggage of the kids he didn’t save to the point where it doesn’t make sense, you know, because he is out there doing his best but he seems to think that any kid that is taken away or is killed when he wasn’t around he feels responsible for that, too and that’s not rational. Maybe that’s my judgement and maybe it’s not entirely fair but that’s the feeling I got from him. And yet, there have been situations when he has had to make judgement calls. There’s a situation in the movie where he comes back and sees the kid burned alive, which really happened. He had to make a judgement call and he had to leave and could only take so many with him and when he came back the rest had been killed. And that sent him in a downward spiral.


Q: The film asks a very big question about the morality of using violence as a means to save these children. What was your take on that?


A: We did talk about it but it was interesting because you quickly get a sense from Sam that he has fool proof belief that he is backed by God and he is doing God’s work. And now, after the movie, when you analyse it, there are arguments either way, but I do feel that The Lord’s Resistance Army have no political agenda, they just kill and maim and sexually enslave – that’s the only thing they do. So when you look at it from that perspective all Sam then has done is met fire with fire and actually if he hadn’t been around hundreds of kids would now be dead that are now living, children have been rescued that would still be with the Lord’s Resistance Army killing other people and 1500 children a day would not have been fed for the last 25 years, which is what he is doing. And that’s from analysing it now. Back then, when I first met him, I very quickly saw his unquestioning belief in the work he did and to be honest that was good enough for me. I didn’t want to get into questioning the morality of what he did because it’s not going to help me in terms of playing the character. Actually it’s lethal to playing the character because he when he was doing that didn’t question what he did, he questioned God at times, he struggled with the financial aspects, he struggled with the pressure it put on his family but he never questioned the morality of what he was doing so it wouldn’t have helped me to be questioning that.


Q: Were you raised as a Christian?


A: I was brought up as a Catholic.


Q: Are you still a man of faith?


A: I believe in God. I’m not a practising Catholic anymore although I still go to Church when I go home and keep my Mum happy. In fact, I like to do it and I actually enjoy going to Church but I’ve been on spiritual trips to India and I have a much more personal association with God. So I can connect that sense of belief in a higher power and understanding the strength that you are given by that and understanding also, the strength of finding one’s purpose. I think Sam knew my beliefs. But I found it fascinating to listen to him.


Q: What was it like to film this? As well as this spiritual journey it’s also obviously a very physical role. Was it almost like playing two people?


A: Well obviously there were the physical demands. In Africa we were doing six day weeks and it was often a 14 hour day and there was a lot of action, I did all my own stunts, but those rigours I’m used to because I’ve done similar things in other movies. What was hard was to do all of that and then go on the emotional journey that Sam went on and doing all the extra preparation I needed to do as well. Because you are also working on the swagger, the dialect, on the biking, on the firearms, on the preaching style – and all of that stuff takes extra work and preparation. And I also spent a long time working on the script. I spent a lot of time with Jason (Keller, screenwriter) and Marc (Forster) making the script as good and as powerful as possible, honing it down.


Q: Was that after you had met Sam and you wanted some of your impressions of him in there?


A: Absolutely. At times the script felt a little bit repetitive and too on the nose, it was a little over written. And we worked on some of the characters, just fleshing it out and making it better. But the tough thing about this was that I’m playing a guy who went into the darkest depths of drug addiction, of domestic strife, violence in his own community, there was terrible guilt and rage, And then I’m playing a guy who has to witness the atrocities and savagery that he witnessed in Africa and then somebody who goes into the worst depression, becomes suicidal, he is in the darkest depths and he is losing his mind. And you are doing that scene after scene, moment after moment.


Q: I would imagine that talking to Sam about what he has seen in Africa and doing your own research into the atrocities that he had witnessed would have been very upsetting?


A: Terribly upsetting. For instance I had a folder full of hundreds of photos of these child soldiers, of mass graves, of kids hacked to death, kids with their arms cut off, mothers and babies that have been hacked to death lying next to each other – this is the kind of stuff that I looked at all the time, every day I would look at it. I watched documentaries about it and then I would reflect on Sam and reflect on my own life and just trying constantly to put myself into a very dark, emotional space. And to have to go and do a scene where a child is dead in your arms, it definitely made this a hard one to do. That emotional, psychological stretching without a doubt is also physically exhausting and added to the already physically demanding role. However, making this movie was also really rewarding and emotional and everybody who worked on the movie were there for the right reasons – they cared about the move, about the message and it was great to be working in that atmosphere and knowing that you were making a movie that says something and has a message that would move people. And that’s a big energy boost.


Q: What did you do when it was finished? How did you come down from an experience like that?


A: I went on a safari. I brought some friends down to Africa and at first I thought, ‘why am I doing this?’ I didn’t want anything to do with them because the movie was still with me and I was in a strange state. They came down for the last two days of the shoot and I really almost said, ‘sorry guys, do you mind if we do this another time?’ But I went. And on the first day I let them go off on safari and I just stayed back and then I went out and suddenly being out in the wilds, surrounded by elephants with those ancient eyes looking at you, and then there were leopards and lions with their cubs and you are so close to them and suddenly this film, this story, kind of took its place in the natural order of things and connecting with that was probably the best thing I could have done. It just took me out of a certain space and I was so glad that I did it.


Trailer:



Synopsis
Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children. Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization in Golden Globe-nominated director Marc Forster’s (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) moving story of violence and redemption.


When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region’s vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it’s most needed in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens.


But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA’s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives - and eventually his own. The explosive, real-life tale of a man who has rescued over a thousand orphans from starvation, disease and enslavement, Machine Gun Preacher also stars Michelle Monaghan (Due Date), Kathy Baker (Cold Mountain), Madeline Carroll (Mr. Popper’s Penguins), Academy Award® nominated Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) and Souleymane Sy Savane (“Damages”).