Andy Meyers, through his production company M3 Creative, brought us the 2012 SXSW and Sundance film festivals’ selection, John Dies at the End. The indie film, based on a horror comedy novel, is a really twisting-cool, fun head trip involving hallucinations, of which The Austin Chronicle declared, “The dialogue and plot structure certainly rival Quentin Tarantino’s best.” He talked about his success last year and his new project, Applecart.
Your film’s storyline, without giving anything way, is really unusual, and I mean, even on the indie film circuit! Please take that as a compliment as being intrigued and wondering about the next scene surpasses being bored to tears any day. When you were reading the script, written by Don Coscarelli, did you ever wonder, “How am I going to pull this off well on screen?”
I think Don wondered that, too. David Wong’s book is obviously an incredibly warped and wild journey through time, space and soy sauce. Anyone who says they can turn all the stuff packed in there into a movie isn’t telling you the truth. Don knew what he wanted and we all worked together to get what we needed to tell the story. David Wong has seen the film and he approves. That’s awesome for us.
When shooting, how did you give your characters depth?
It is a challenge to figure out how to create a narrative out of what was a serialized web story, but Don has this innate knowledge of how to make super sick genre films. He’s like a superhero of horror comedy. His script was the starting point and then the performances of Chase [Williamson], Rob [Mayes], and of course, Paul [Giamatti], brought the characters to life.
Did “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” or any funny stoner films inspire you? What about satire?
Don is the guy who brought us the project – I think he’s been the inspiration for a bunch of people around Hollywood looking to make independent film. The guy’s a legend. I truly think that he hasn’t gotten his due from the business. Everyone keeps saying that independent movies are dead – Don’s a writer/producer/director who won’t let that happen.
When you are working with M3 Creative Film, how did you always want to challenge viewers? Because really, so much out there gives us the same plots or treats people like we are stupid. We can only have so many girl likes boy stories with the same formats.
“John Dies at the End” is our first film. With the projects we have in the pipeline, “John” provided an easy template to follow. Our internal mandate (it’s not that formal) is to only produce stuff that we think is smart, different, and we would want to watch. Hopefully it works.
Please talk about your second film ever, tentatively titled ‘Applecart,” and what you are doing with the production, as well as any M3 projects.
“Applecart” is awesome. My partner at M3 Creative, Brad Baruh, has been a horror fan since he was a little kid and he literally knows everything there is to know about the genre. That’s how we knew Don. With his film, “Applecart,” in some ways it’s similar to “John Dies” in that it has a lot of twists and turns and it’s totally different. It has this amazing mythology that’s based on that classic ideology. The really cool thing about it though it that it will blow your mind with the way it’s structured and how the story is told. Clichés suck but Brad has found a way to do something that’s never been done before. It’s a script right now and we’re going into pre-pro soon. Making a movie is so different than the TV stuff we produce – it’s a years-long process. So like we do with our TV content, we want to make sure we’re totally ready to go before diving in.
What is your best advice for anyone wanting to get into filmmaking who also wants to put their own unique touch on their material?
If you do it your way it’s either going to suck or be great. If it’s great, you were meant to make movies and then you’re in. If not, then you’re back to flipping burgers but at least you tried, right? The most important ingredient is to be lucky enough to work with Don Coscarelli and have Paul Giamatti in your movie, too. That helps for sure.
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