Interview with a Vampire God
filmmaker
Rob Fitz talks about his horror flick
“God of Vampires”
by Jeff Palmer
(August
29, 2004)
Part
1 of 2
Years
ago, when working on my first independent film production out of college,
I met a guy my age, Rob Fitz, who was equally enthusiastic about making movies.
We shared different tastes when it came to our particular genres of interest,
but for the most part, we loved being on set and doing what we loved –
shooting film.
Over
the years, I would end up bumping into Rob on various production sets for
low-budget films in the New England area. He was hired as a make-up artist (and
a damn good one at that) and I was typically on the production crew – 2nd
2nd Assistant Director. Or maybe it was 3rd 2nd?
I can’t recall...
Anyhow,
back in 2000 or so, I heard from Rob that he was getting around to shooting his
first feature-length movie “God of Vampires” – a good, old-fashioned blood
& guts horror flick. It’s been a long time in the making, but the end is
near (or is it the beginning?) and I thought it was a good time to chat with the
director himself about his long-distance process with production. Here’s Part
I of our conversation:
Rob Fitz - director and vermin wrangler extraordinaire.
Flicker Pictures: Okay, Rob - let's begin!
Rob Fitz: Cool.
FP: So, you're in the midst of making a horror movie - a Chinese vampire flick. But before we jump into your production, what are your thoughts on the current state of the HORROR genre? Is it good, bad or just ugly?
Rob Fitz: Well, it looks like its coming back. There have been some good things out in the last couple years.
FP: Can you name a few?
Rob Fitz: Lets see... “28 Days Later” was well done. Also there are a lot of really cool Japanese horror films out recently; Ju-On: The Grudge, The Eye, Versus...
FP: Hmmm. What do you think is happening with American horror? Has it seen its heyday or is there still hope for more good old-fashioned blood and guts??
Rob Fitz: I recently heard that George Romero is making a fourth dead film, which will be awesome, it's called Land of the Dead. There's hope.
FP: Hell yeah! If Romero says there is... then I believe it. Is Romero considered the Godfather of American horror?
Rob Fitz: I think so. “Dawn of the Dead” is the best horror film ever made in my opinion... American horror is going to have a huge resurgence in the next couple years I believe.
FP: Sweet. And God of Vampires will be right there to catch the wave, right?
Rob Fitz: Absolutely, our movie, I think, will turn heads in the horror world!
FP: Literally!
Rob Fitz: That’s right.
FP: Awesome. Okay. So... God of Vampires. Tell me about where you are in the process. When did you start filming?
Rob Fitz: We are 95% in the can... we have two more scenes to shoot and then the editing process begins, and we are in our fourth year of production.
FP: Holy crap! That is great news! Man. Filmmaking is like long distance running, eh? You just gotta keep going until it's done. Will you be editing with an NLE like Final Cut or AVID?
Rob Fitz: My editor has an avid and yes, it's a lot like a marathon.
FP: ... but the finish line is not far away. Have you actually started the editing process? You shot GOV all on 16mm film, correct?
Rob Fitz: We have only cut together one scene, but we have cut together several trailers.... and yeah super 16mm.
FP: Right on. So you must have to get all your dailies transferred via Telecine to tape? What's that process like? Expensive, I'm sure...
Rob Fitz: Yeah the lab develops and transfers the footage... it's our main expense. The whole budget goes to film stock and developing.
FP: I bet. But early on in the process you must have decided not to go with DV. Were those reasons mostly aesthetic?
Rob Fitz: Well both, aesthetic and business related... it helps to get distribution if the movie is shot on film. Besides all of the greatest horror films were shot on 16mm.
FP: I hear you on that. Film is still king. With that said, I know you shot your first short "Lost Face" on 16mm. It was an incredibly ambitious project, one that is still getting out there. Did you carry some of that filmmaking process with you to the production of GOV? Tell me about that...
Rob Fitz: Yes, well, I think I learned the value of shooting on film with Lost Face... when you see the dailies later and they look so good, it makes all of the work worth while.... Did you hear Lost Face got distributed on DVD? As far as doing ambitious projects, that’s just me. I always bite off more than I can chew.
FP: I didn't hear about that. Great news! Can folks buy copies of "Lost Face" from your website? Is it part of a compilation or just on it's own?
Rob Fitz: You can buy it on Amazon.com ... look for a film called Suburban Nightmare... Lost Face is on the bonus features of that DVD. I actually found one at Best Buy.
FP: Cool. So you're no stranger to distribution. Any pre-deals for GOV in the works?
Rob Fitz: Not yet, I won't show it to a distributor until it's totally finished. I want it to be perfect before I show it.
FP: Good idea. Speaking of "totally finished"... you must be gearing up for some serious editing. Will you be just supervising or taking the wheel?
Rob Fitz: Just supervising. My editor, Cherry Enoki, is taking the reigns. She edits for the history channel, Discovery, WGBH.
FP: So it's taken roughly 4 years to shoot... how many years do you think it will take to edit?
Rob Fitz: Four months. That’s it.
FP: Wow! That's some turnaround! Now is that just a rough-cut or full-on final cut?
Rob Fitz: That'll be picture lock, and hopefully most of the sound, too. Sound editing will be the hardest.
FP: As anyone knows in the land of independent filmmaking, sound is CRITICAL. Did you capture sync-sound on set or are you dubbing most of it?
Rob Fitz: We did record sound, but the cameras we use are generally pretty noisy, so we are prepared to do a lot of sound work...
FP: Are you in the midst of that right now? That must be a long process as well...
Rob Fitz: Yeah.
FP: Tell me about your crew. Who was behind the camera?
Rob Fitz: Silas Tyler is our DP... he is an excellent cameraman... last year he was in Iraq filming the war. He was in the tanks when they rolled into Baghdad on the 5th of April 2003. He actually took 7 pieces of shrapnel in his ass from a mortar round!
FP: Hey, as long as he makes call time, that's all we filmmakers care about, right? Okay. So, war is hell. That's for sure. But filmmaking is similar in many ways. Your shoot must have seen some pretty dark days. Can you share some stories with us?
Rob Fitz: Of course... Well, there were many close calls, but as long as we’re on the subject of Silas's injuries, one day we were shooting a scene where a shotgun blast is fired at the camera and when we did it, the Plexiglas shattered and cut Silas's nose... he's accident-prone. We never shot at the camera again, that’s for sure!
FP: Good thinking... Aiming a shotgun at a camera when someone is behind it is, well... totally retarded!! Boy. He’ll get the Medal of Honor at your premiere, eh?
Rob Fitz: Yes definitely, a Purple Heart.
FP: Hey, before I forget to ask -- didn't you meet George Romero once or was that Dino DeLaurentis? Or am I thinking of Walter Mondale? (heh heh)
Rob Fitz: No on both.... I met Lloyd Kaufman and Fred Olen Ray. Both are low-budget dudes.
FP: My mistake. But if you could... would it be George or Dino?
Rob Fitz: George, of course
FP: Good answer.
FP: Okay. Now... on to the people in front of the camera. Are they actually Chinese vampires?
Rob Fitz: Yes they are. We dug them up for the movie!
FP: Yikes!! (pause) But waaaaait a minute... I thought you can’t kill a Chinese vampire. Is this so?
Rob Fitz: Yes you can, but it's hard.
FP: How hard? Like 4-dozen bullets and a wooden stake hard?
Rob Fitz: You have to put a Chinese death certificate on their head, then... dismember them and bury them in their family burial plot!
FP: Crikey! That IS tough. And from what I hear, they actually know Kung Fu?!
Rob Fitz: Most of ‘em are zombie like, but the Master is superbadass and he knows all kinds of Kung Fu.
FP: That figures. Hey, in terms of the story and screenplay for GOV, have things evolved and changed since you began shooting or have you pretty much stuck to the shooting script? If you can, please elaborate...
Rob Fitz: There have been some changes, but the story structure is basically the same... it has to do with the circumstances in which you are shooting. Like this one shoot, I needed 10 Asian extras as gang members and only five showed up, so we had to make serious scene changes on the spot, you know, less people to kill!
FP: Dang. I hate when I have less people to kill. Now that you mention killing, I take it we're gonna see lots of blood and guts. How 'bout sex? Any vampire booty?
Rob Fitz: No sex, except a scene where a vampire victim gets ripped from her privates to her belly!!
... and
with that, Rob had to catch some winks for work and then catch a flight to Dragon
Con in Atlanta where I guess he’ll be involved in some make-up,
special effects or vampire killing event.
Stay tuned for Part II. Until
then, please check out Rob’s movie online at God
of Vampires and let him know you are waiting to see a bunch of
Chinese vampires go psycho!! Oh yeah, don’t forget about his first short film
“Lost Face” on DVD. It’s very impressive.
COMING
ATTRACTIONS: I will be interviewing Donald Gregory, director and writer of
“Pizza:
The Movie” as well as Kathy Fitzgerald, author of “Mikayla-The
Second Coming”...
and many more!
Cheers!
Jeff
Palmer, Director