PART TWO: INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR BRON THERON (2/2)

The first part of this interview can be read here.

BT:  Well, I’ve got two things I’m kind of actively working on right now. I’m writing a script, and it’s a romantic comedy–it’s called One Hot Date–and I wrote 10 pages today, so I’m really early in the writing. I’m still in like Act One. But hopefully I can be done with this…soon. It just depends on me. But I also have to do a sequel to the movie Pancake Man because we left it “to be continued,” so those two things are kind of what I’d say I want to shoot in this year.

[PART TWO OF INTERVIEW BEGINS HERE]

BT: I don’t know what’s going to happen first, but as far as my writing goes, those two things [new romantic comedy, One Hot Date, and sequel to Pancake Man]are my priority.

LFDG: That sounds great. What’s the story with the romantic comedy project?

BT: Well, my wife says I should do more comedy, so…[laughter]

 Really, it’s just—if you have an idea—Even these horror movies that I’ve done, I don’t necessarily look at them as horror movies…I look at them just as the story. Do I have a story? Can I fit this? Can I fit that?

If I like the story, then, that’s the direction I go.

I had a idea for two people never being able to go on an official date.

 In this modern society, people ghost you, or they don’t show up, or they just don’t do things they say they’re going to do…

LFDG: Yes.

BT: So, I kind of had an idea where guy meets girl, and then, for some reason, the Powers That Be stop them from actually getting together on an official date. But they just keep running into each other, they keep breaking the date, they keep ghosting.

You know, that’s a very common thing for the children nowadays…to be ghosted.

 So, you know, I just kind of thought—what would happen you know if these two people just kept running into each other?

It’s almost like a serendipity kind of story…but, you know, fast-paced. They just keep having this issue and then, if people don’t see each other, they think…

This is what I don’t like about modern society. If people can’t handle something, they just ignore it. They forget about it. They just move on, you know, they just swipe to the left. They’re on fucking dating apps that don’t give a fuck, you know? So there’s—no fucks given. They don’t care.

And so I’m trying to illustrate that, in this film, why you should care, you know? Why you should show up in person.

Why you should…give one hundred percent of your effort towards things, you know what I mean? Don’t be so lazy?

BT: So right now, that’s what this story [One Hot Date] is about.

It’s about guy and girl.

What I like about it a lot is—

 What I do when I make movies is, I have an idea, and then I take my favorite things from movies that I admire. And one of the things that I like, I did with Half Dead Fred, I did a first-person narrative. It’s very Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And on this one [One Hot Date] I did that [another first-person narrative], but I also did it from two people’s perspectives.

I did it [being] very self-aware of the audience.

So [it’s] very similar to like a Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Everybody knows you’re watching a movie.

I like it when the filmmaker makes it apparent that this is a movie.

Or makes it apparent that you’re on this person’s side, or you’re not on this person’s side. I really, really enjoy it when there’s a voiceover in a scene that says “Oh, this guy’s a dick.” You know?

LFDG: Yes, I like that too. There’s a theatricality to that. An acknowledgement of the medium itself.
I think people appreciate that it feels honest.
Last question: why should somebody who thinks they don’t like horror movies go to Fear Anonymous?
What makes this one different?

BT: Well, I don’t think it’s very scary. I think that the scariest part of this movie is animal abuse. Because that is, like, the worst thing in the world to me, and it’s in here a couple times. It’s because my sound guy was like, hey, if you want to make a horror movie—make something that you genuinely fear. That’s the only thing I fear.

I don’t really fear much, you know?

Like Freddy Kreuger faces…or people with masks…

that doesn’t really scare me, even though we’ve got things like that [in the movie] but it‘s…I don’t know…

I just don’t think it [Fear Anonymous] is that scary.

So if you’re not wanting to see a movie because it’s scary, I understand, but I think this one has a good story.

 I think, if anything, this [Fear Anonymous] has a lot of my voice in this movie compared to some of my other movies. It’s just like…little things. It’s how people think, and how they react, and how they work with others.

Like we were saying earlier—how important a phone is.

 It just kind of illustrates things that should be on our minds.

But we don’t think about it too much, because we’re—you know—“in the machine.”

LFDG: Yeah, for me, Fear Anonymous has a little bit of that like Sartre No Exit to it…like these people are trapped in the room…they’re not really trapped but they’ve agreed to be there. It’s all within the room.
I think that anyone who enjoys like a well-crafted story that has a sense of unity to it would love it.
And yes, there is some gore, but it’s mostly about the stories and the people and how we interact with each other…[…this portion of interview redacted due to spoilers…]
Okay! Bron, it’s a pleasure always. To be continued.

BT: Okay, thanks.

The first part of this interview can be read here.