Infestation

Tell us about how the project came about?

I worked with producer Jeff Balis while I was co-directing THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS with Shia LaBeouf. We stayed in touch, and I sent him an early draft of Infestation. It took several rewrites and over a year... but Jeff and his producing partner Rhoades Rader eventually called to say Icon wanted to make the movie. I was floored. “Mel Gibson’s Icon?,” I asked, “Don’t they make huge, important films?” They do, but it seems they also wanted to try their hand at our commercial, low-budget, giant bug movie. And I enjoyed working with them... they simply made the movie better. In the late summer of 2007, we shot in Bulgaria... then spent over a year in post-production bringing the bugs to life.

The film is clearly indebted to the classic B-movies of the 1950’s. Which films were your key influences or favourites of that era or indeed any other era of the horror genre? 

I’m more a fan of the ‘Post-Apocalyptic’ genre: Road Warrior; A Boy and his Dog; Hell comes to Frogtown. If a film starts with a lone figure stumbling across a desolate landscape (maybe with a ruined city behind them), I’m hooked. I made this film for my 14-year-old self... so it may feel a bit nostalgic to people. A pet peeve of mine is not being able to SEE what the heck is happening in horror films nowadays; they’re all so dark. Even though it was a burden to the FX departments, I wanted to have lots of bug action in the light. That’s why Infestation feels kind of early 1980s, there was less slight-of-hand with darkness and shadow at that time. Also, I wanted to try making a Zombie movie... but with bugs, so it may feel it owes something to Romero’s work. Giant insects hadn’t been exploited in cinema in a long time, and I was certainly effected by the beginning of the 1954 giant-ants-attack film ‘Them!’

How much of the effects in the film were CGI and how much using more traditional techniques?  Which of the two approaches do you prefer?

A mix of the two looks best. That’s what I tried to do whenever we could. We had a great practical FX guy, Jerry Constantine, who built a full scale version of the Drug Bug (as we all call the crawling one), and mini-scale versions of the flying bug as well as PIECES of both. A good example of both practical and digital mixing well is early on in Infestation when a drug bug grabs Cooper’s shoe... we had a set of pincers that could grab and pull things, and then later the person puppeting the pinchers was replaced by a bug. The result is that the point of contact between the bug and the shoe is genuine... and I think your eye reads it as such. It draws your eye while at the same time selling the gag.

For someone who has had limited experience in lead roles, Chris Marquette brilliantly anchors the film, what made you cast him?

I met Chris at a Mexican restaurant in Santa Monica, and even though I’d seen a lot of candidates... there was something about the way he walked across the room that made me believe he was our Cooper. It felt instantly right, and this impression was solidified as we put him through the paces audition-wise. I really enjoyed his take on the material. I felt he honored my words while at the same time improving them. But I also have to mention that I tell each of my cast members to ‘give’ the scenes to the person they’re acting with. If each actor is concentrating on making the other person look good... they’ll all look great. Chris is a natural talent, but his performance was bolstered by Brooke Nevin, Quincy Sloan, and the rest of the supporting cast.

There are a lot of city location scenes where the streets are deserted.  How did you achieve this on such a tight budget?

At the time the American dollar was strong in Bulgaria, and our meager budget became much more. We closed a few streets, but together with D.P. Thomas Ackerman, I tried to be smart about how we shot the ‘deserted’ scenery. Many of those shots would’ve been completely ruined if the camera panned left or right. We found the slivers of emptiness and exploited them.

Ray Wise is a cult hero to many and one of the many highlights of the film, how did you secure his unique talents for the film?

I agree that Ray is a highlight, and I’m also a huge fan. My relationship with him goes back to 1998 when, amazingly, he agreed to fly from Los Angeles to Maine to act in a short film for free that I’d written and co-directed. He did it because he loves the craft, but also because he wanted to help young, struggling artists. I’ll never forgotten that kindness, and always try to put him in everything I do now. He’s become somewhat of a muse for me... whenever I write a script, the only thing I KNOW is I’ll write a part with Ray in mind and hopefully he’ll be available and interested.

Any more bug films in the pipeline for you?  If not can you tell us of any future projects you’re working on?

Don’t rule out the possibility of Infestation 2: Buzzkill! I’m a big fan of straight-up comedy (without FX), so that’ll probably be my next film, to take a break from the technical side. I’m working on a comedy called CAMPUS SECURITY (also produced by Jeff Balis and Rhoades Rader), and if everything works out, that’ll be my next gig. Meanwhile I’m working on comedic pitches and scripts and, as always, working to hone my craft and find or create scripts I feel passionate about.

Lastly, what is the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?

The Blair Witch Project scared the heck out of me. I’m also a lover of The Exorcist, The Shining, The Ring, and a Japanese film called Audition (when that phone rings!). I love Robert Wise’s 1963 film The Haunting too – it’s still creepy.