Exclusive Interview: Director Anthony G. Sumner Vs. Brian S

Anthony G. Sumner is the director of what I consider the stand out indie film of 2010. Many of you followed along with our coverage of this cool little movie and now it's finally available on VOD and will hit store shelves on DVD in June so be sure and check it out because I honestly think you'll enjoy the fun horror treat.  Check out my latest Versus with director Anthony G. Sumner and watch the cool Exclusive GeekTyrant clip and Red Band trailer after the interview!

Hey Brian - Thank you so much for all the support you have shown III SLICES OF LIFE, it has been huge in helping the project move along.  Before we jump into the questions, I want to ask everyone to PLEASE visit our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/3SLICESOFLIFE)  and become friends of the film-  it is the best way for us to keep everyone updated on developments in regard to screenings, more On Demand options and of course the DVD release on JUNE 7^th.  Everyone please show your support for TRUE independent horror cinema and pre-order your copy today at Amazon (http://tinyurl.com/3vwgrk9)!

Brian  S- First off, tell me how you got into filmmaking? 

Anthony Sumner- I have been a horror movie fanatic since before I started grade school, I can’t really say where it started except I do remember in 1973 my parents picked me up from the babysitter just after they went to see THE EXORCIST. Obviously, it freaked them out and being an inquisitive kid I grilled my father for details about the movie.  Naturally he wouldn’t tell me much, but what he did tell me sounded so scary and fantastical that I spent the next several years just waiting to be old enough to see it. From that point forward I grew up on horror movies.  I started watching them religiously in preparation for the day I would get to see THE EXORCIST. 

My passion for the horror genre led to experimenting with special effects make-up, and shooting many crazy Super 8 films throughout Middle School and High School. As I made these little horror vignettes to test out different effects, I realized how much craft was involved in filmmaking - photography, composition, lighting, music, special effects, construction, costuming, set design.  Creating movies involves every conceivable skill, talent, and craft. I had always loved to write, perform, paint, sculpt, build, and create - so filmmaking was something that really excited and challenged me. 

I went to college in Upstate New York (RIT) to study film directing.  I had several festival successes while in college and couldn’t wait to start my life as a filmmaker.  But the reality when I finished college was very different.  The work I was passionate about wasn’t really built around the Hollywood model of filmmaking and I wasn’t looking to climb the ladder in LA. Drive-ins and Grindhouse theaters had all but disappeared; major studios had taken ownership of the local theaters, cable networks, and pay television.  So the avenues for low-budget projects to find an audience really diminished.  You would no longer see TROMA movies on HBO, or movies like WARLOCK MOON on the late night ABC affiliate and even Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater on TMC ended in 1996.

After a couple years working in advertising I moved to San Francisco and focused on finding a way to commoditize what I enjoyed doing (which was nuts & bolts production-  shooting, editing, graphic design…everything).  This was an amazing period in my life where I was able to use film, video, and design in some extraordinary areas that had little to do with entertainment and everything to do with selling a story.  I worked for the defense team on the OJ Simpson trial for two years as new technology overtook the field of litigation and led to the plethora of reality crime shows we see today.  I worked with investment banks creating cinematic roadshows that would sell the idea of Internet commerce to skeptical investors - it seemed that every industry had the need for visual media.   It was an incredible time, where I really learned all the new ways of creating motion media using state of the art software and equipment. I still did personal projects, typically documentary work on the counter culture in San Francisco, but I longed to get back to horror. By the year 2000, the cost to produce really quality digital work was incredibly low and the internet had opened avenues of collaboration that would have never been possible in the past.  (This really is the next wave of alternative media finding its platform and audience.)  In 2003 I moved to Chicago to be centrally located to my friends on each coast, and family in the Midwest. It was here that I met my producing partner Eric Richter, and TinyCore Pictures was launched as a way to create revenue for our independent horror projects.

 

Brian  S- You own Tinycore Pictures, what all kinds of film/production work does Tinycore do?

Anthony Sumner- TinyCore Pictures produces feature length and short fictional films, as well as industrial, educational, corporate, and broadcast media (including commercial spots and music videos).  The company really came into existence when I met ERIC RICHTER, and realized we worked really well together.  He is incredibly talented and very much the driving force in our continued push forward - he is relentless and without pretense.  I had spent many years doing projects for other people and had gotten pretty comfortable always focusing on selling someone else’s message-  Eric was really the one to say “Hey, we can continue to do this work, offer this service, but also reinvest back into projects that our own.”  So that is what we did.  We created TinyCore Pictures specifically to be boutique production company with minimal overhead, and investing in equipment that could in turn be used for TinyCore branded projects that we ourselves.  We both can shoot, light, edit, create motion graphics, and master a final product.  We tend to work with other people that have the same broad skill set.  Today it is somewhat a co-op of really multi-talented people that have a constant stream of projects on which to improve their skills, but also the opportunity to play different roles in production that might interest them.  Its been fantastic and we are always producing something - usually 3-4 projects at a time, and it is all people that I have been working with for about 7 years.

Brian  S- Tell me as much as you can about Slices of Life and how it all came together.
 

Anthony Sumner- In 2004 I had all the stories in my head, and only the Pink Snapper segment had been fully developed.  So when we decided to produce a feature film, it seemed only logical to work the stories that were already started. I LOVE horror anthologies like the ones I watched as kid (Amicus films, Creepshow, Trilogy of Terror – etc.) and shooting it as an anthology would allow us some freedoms that wouldn’t exist with a single story narrative:  1.) We could shoot as we made money from other projects and spread it out as long as necessary without putting everything on a credit card - the movie would be completely paid for when it was done. 2.) We could use a large diverse pool of actors and not worry about continuity since the stories would continue to change -finish one segment then move to the next.  3.) This would allow us to switch-up our styles and really try something a little different with each segment as a way to sharpen our skills with different styles of horror.  

We had been lucky enough to meet and become friends with the incredible ALAN ROWE KELLY while we screened JITTERS in New York.  He was singularly the greatest inspiration and support system for us in getting moving forward on the project.  He lent both his great acting skills and screenwriter talents to the project - he scripted the Amber Alert segment and really gave it all the staples of an ALAN ROWE KELLY chiller with the suspenseful flourishes and overall sense of dread.

We spent four years total to complete the entire project, one segment at a time, as we had the money to pay for it.  The work segment W.O.R.M. was done first, and won many festival awards including THE STEPHEN KING award, which really inspired us to continue on and finish the other segments.

Brian  S- Did you have any favorite films that you got any story or scene ideas from? Any inspirations? 

Anthony Sumner- Far too many to name, but as I mentioned before I am really drawn to TRUE independent low budget projects, I feel that even if they deliver in just a couple areas it is more gratifying to me than a big budget movie that fails while having every resource at their disposal.  Frank Hennenlotter’s “Basket Case” and “Brain Damage” are both a huge influence, as are Cronenberg’s earliest projects “Shivers” and “Rabid”.  I am also a huge fan of early John Waters, William Girdler, Peter Greenaway, William Lustig, Federico Fellini, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci and many-many more - I love them all!  I think Slices has some really obvious homage moments to David Cronenberg, Clive Barker, “Let’s Scare Jessica To Death”, “Beyond the Door”, “Brain Damage” and a few others.  That would make a great beer game actually - spot the horror movie homages throughout SLICES OF LIFE!

Brian  S- What is your favorite kind of horror movies? 

Anthony Sumner- Seriously I love them all, but I’m old school and love a fantastic atmosphere with lots of gratuitous nudity & gore.  My absolute favorite horror films in the last four years have been INSIDE, MARTYRS, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, VINDICATION, HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, THE BLOOD SHED, A SERBIAN FILM - for my money the independent and foreign market has been producing much more interesting films than Hollywood has for quite a while now.

Brian  S- Where all will we be able to find Slices of Life? 

Anthony Sumner- Thanks to Gravitas Ventures and The Bosko Group, “SLICES OF LIFE” is still available in 14 million homes On-Demand.  The film is listed under the title “3 SLICES OF LIFE” to improve our placement on the menu screen (first page).  The DVD is being distributed worldwide through Midnight Releasing and Maxim Media International; it is currently available for pre-sale on many sites including Amazon.  Please order your copy of today!  100% of the proceeds goes to support independent cinema.

Brian  S- Would you ever revisit Slices? 

Anthony Sumner- Absolutely!  We wanted to keep it episodic, so that the project could translate to different media, including even a series.  So we are absolutely open to sequels, prequels and more.  As it is, we currently have three shorts in post – IT RIPS, STINK EYE and PROLOGUE.  So anything could happen.

Brian  S- What has been your best experience in filmmaking so far? 

Anthony Sumner- Each experience has been a little bigger, a little better, and we have continued to grow - so the next experience is always the best.  Working through the distribution process was very new and scary for us, but we really did a lot of research and planning and stressing - and we learned a HUGE amount.  So that has been pretty gratifying this year because it was uncharted waters for us, and I think it brought us lessons we will continue to build upon.

Brian  S-  Ok, can you tell me what's up next for you? 

 Anthony Sumner- I can’t say much because we are trying to keep our stuff on the down-low until it is closer to completion, so that we don’t over saturate our press too far in advance of the projects release.  (One of the lessons we learned this year!)  But I will say we have started shooting our next feature, it has many fantastic people, and is truly something different, gory, supernatural, and scary!  I promise GeekTyrant will be the first to get the news when we go public!  I also collaborated with Alan Rowe Kelly on the anthology GALLERY OF FEAR which will come out this summer - it is amazing. It has three fantastic segments all featuring Jerry Murdock!  The story I directed was based on the short story “BY HER HAND, SHE DRAWS YOU DOWN” by Douglas Smith.  Alan co-produced the project and it also stars Zoë Daelman Chlanda, Terry Shane and Joshua Nelson.  I submitted that segment to festivals this past year and it was incredibly well received bringing home awards for Best Actor, Actress, Score, Cinematography and more - so far it has played in about 30 festivals worldwide. So I am very proud of this project and all the talented friends who helped make it: Gene Hodsdon the amazing composer who has done all my films, Bart Mastronardi (director of Vindication) who was co-director of photography, and of course Alan, Jerry, and Zoe.  In addition, the rest of GALLERY OF FEAR has Debbie Rochon, Raine Brown, Susan Adriensen, Mike Lane, Terry West, and many more genre favorites.  People are gonna love it!

Brian  S- Would you like to say anything to the horror fans checking this out? 

Anthony Sumner- Please rent “III SLICES OF LIFE” On-Demand, and then go buy two DVD’s so you can give one to a friend!