Gregory Avellone – “Killing it”
The Red House is a suspenseful, slow-burning horror feature written and directed by Gregory Avellone. In spite of having no SFX, no trailers, no wardrobe budget, no experienced AD’s, and no continuity person, the film looks surprisingly professional and has been garnering good press and an award on the festival circuit! Avellone is smart: he found an old-fashioned scary house in the country, assembled a great crew and cast a group of fine young up-and-coming actors such as Kate French (The L Word), all of whom were committed to the project.
The film tells the story of Shelby Gordon (French) who inherits a house in the remote woods of Copperhead County, she asks a group of friends to check out her new house and things get hectic when they start to disappear.
Also helpful is the fact that Avellone has over 30 years experience in the entertainment industry. As Vice-President of Kevin Costner’s Tig Productions, Avellone was involved in developing many blockbuster motion pictures, including Dances with Wolves, winner of 7 Academy awards, The Bodyguard, Robin Hood, Wyatt Earp, The War, Perfect World, Tin Cup, and For Love Of The Game.
As a director, Avellone has helmed over 50 short films including PBS favorite Tina Gets Her Man, with his producing partner John Otrin. Interestingly, the duo are the original founding members of the Film Actors Studio. Following an award for Best Director at the recent IFQ Film and Webisode Festival held in Beverly Hills, Briege McGarrity chatted with Gregory about the making of The Red House.
IFQ: Just how creative do you have to be when making a low budget horror? Would you say there are more challenges with making horror than other genres?
Gregory Avellone (GA): Yeah, Low budget forces you to be creative and that has a certain appeal. All of our effects were done on the set and working with blood is time consuming. There are wardrobe changes and special makeup and that leaves little or no time to do multiple takes. But that’s the fun of it and in fact some of our crew only work in horror because they love the genre.
IFQ: Tells us more about your locations in The Red House.
GA: Except for a few shots in the woods, the movie is shot almost entirely on location in a house in the Los Angeles area. It’s a great house with a lot of character and I moved into it while I wrote the script so I was able to take advantage of its unique rooms by incorporating them into the script.
IFQ: You did a very good job for the look of the film – what was the budget for the film?
GA: Well, we shot on the RED and we were able to get stunning results. Originally the budget was 1.2million. I don’t have a final total. We’re still doing some things to the sound to fulfill delivery requirements. It will probably end up a little under that.
IFQ: As an executive at Tig Productions, you have been involved with Blockbusters such as Dances with Wolves. How did you make time for an indie horror? And tell me a bit about the producing team behind The Red House.
GA: Working on those films gave me a lot of production experience. While I was at Tig, I founded the Film Actor’s Studio with John Otrin. That workshop grew from working with actors to directing them in short films. Several of those shorts went on to win a few awards. John came to me and said his two sons Allen and William Olszewski were raising money for a feature film and would I write and direct it. That project became The Red House. Those guys deserve a lot of credit because they were the ones who said, “Let’s go” even though all of the financing wasn’t in place.
IFQ: Well it obviously paid off. Congrats on your awards at the IFQ. I’m sure you must have a lot of horror fans. How has the film festival route been for you, the cast and crew?
GA: Yes. The experience at the IFQ has been really gratifying. We are looking to submit to several more festivals. Horror fans are incredibly loyal. We’ve had several people come up to us and say they recognize John Otrin (Joshua) from Friday the Thirteenth Part VII and Ed Ackerman from Frozen and Hatchet II. We are doing everything we can to get the word out about our movie to horror fans everywhere.
IFQ: I know you’re into characters. Tell us about your thinking for the star character Shelby Gordon convincingly played by Kate French – she really helped nail the suspense.
GA: I wasn’t familiar with Kate’s work on The L Word before I cast her. Her audition blew us away. The character, Shelby, had to be the strong, level headed one and convey a sense of terror at the same time. Kate’s in practically every scene and her focus on the set was incredible. Focus is everything. I’ve told actors in my workshop – don’t think you can come to the set and the director will pull a performance out of you. You are not some fabulous lump of clay waiting to be molded. Most directors know nothing about acting, you have to be prepared, you have to have a strong point-of-view, and you have to put yourself in a sort of relaxed concentration. Kate knows this. I’m afraid that if we do The Red House II, we won’t be able to afford her. She is a true professional and will continue to work for many years to come.
IFQ: You have a lot of up-and-coming stars in your film such as Yvette Yates who plays the high maintenance chick Carissa. They all looked great against the old school horror backdrop. What was your goal in selecting the cast?
GA: Yvette is so smart and so talented. I think she graduated from UCLA with some kind of science degree. I wanted to find the best actors I could and Yvette, Lawrence, Cristen and Kate are a really strong ensemble. We couldn’t pay them their normal rates so I hoped they would respond to the script and commit and they did. I feel blessed with the cast we have. I’m not in favor of adding a C-list or D-list name who just got out of rehab you know – to pump up foreign box office potential. I’d rather give an unknown who’s a really good actor a shot.
IFQ: I’ve always heard that horror, the gaudier the better sits well with distributors. How did your deal with Spartan Bay deal come about and is it an exclusive?
GA: Yes, we have an exclusive deal with Spartan Bay to represent the film and they will be taking it to the Cannes Film Market in May. We selected Spartan Bay because they have years of experience working in acquisitions and also because they have a small slate of titles and we know we are not going to get lost in the back pages of their catalogue. The Red House is more suspenseful than bloody. I think we struck the right balance between story and gore. What we found from screening the film was that the story was compelling and the actors were strong and that women liked it and stayed engaged.
IFQ: I’m liking the sound of your latest project SixMileCross set in Dublin. There’s a place called Six Mile Cross near my hometown in Tyrone! A film related to The Troubles or the IRA is always a daring project; can you elaborate about it?
GA: Really? That is awesome. My passion for this goes back awhile. I was doing research for a Michael Collins biopic. Our project was one of two at Warner Bros. The studio eventually folded our project into the one Neil Jordan was developing that starred Liam Neeson. After I saw Ken Loach’s amazing The Wind that Shakes the Barley, I realized there was much more to be said about The Troubles. Quality films like The King’s Speech, Lincoln, and Argo are attracting young audiences who are taking a renewed interest in history. SixMileCross is that kind of movie. It’s set in Dublin in 1920 when the Irish Republican Brotherhood was carrying out a guerilla war against a brutal and oppressive English Government. If you were Irish, the worst sin you could commit was to pass information on to the British. The IRA considered it an act of treason punishable by death. Tommy Callahan, the main character of SixMileCross, is confronted with that first hand when he is ordered to execute his boyhood friend. It’s a tragic and powerful story.