Interview with Director Mike Hurst
Phil Hobden & Ross Boyask
www.theotherreview.co.uk

You may not know the name but you will. Michael Hurst has been directing films for over 8 years now. His first, co-directing with his brother Andy, was a low down dirty low-budget(well no budget) UK independent horror film called Project Assassin. Made for no money over a 5 year period it was picked up by Roland Emmerich’s company Centropolis. Spring boarding both Michael and Andy, it’s the fairy tail story of the little guys making it big. Now directing the sequel to the much hated Uwe Bowl film House Of The Dead we caught up with Michael to reflect the long road behind him and the bright future in front.

1 How tough was Project Assassin?

When we were 18 or so years old my brother Andy and I had been making little video films for the past 8 years. We always dreamed of making an EVIL DEAD style feature, ever since we saw Jonathan Ross’s documentary on Evil Dead, part of his Incredibly Strange Film Show. Together with our mate Robin Hill we conceived the story, found some local actors and started shooting. Much like World War 2 it was ALWAYS meant to over "by Christmas"…but four Christmases came and went before we were done filming. It was very tough, we were the crew, the grips, the gaffers, the directors, Rob and I were two of the actors, we did the costumes, the make-up FX, everything. To this day there are bits of fake blood on Rob’s bedroom ceiling from a late-night squib shot that went wrong. We were also the only investors. It was our money we were spending and we frequently had to put the filming on hold while we went off to make money, for instance working as research assistants on Kenneth Branaugh’s Frankenstein. In the end we put about 10,000 pounds into the film. So, it was tough, but fun. Fun in the sense of having complete creative control, obviously, and a team spirit. Nobody quit, ever, over 4 years of filming. That was amazing to us.

2 How did Centropolis get involved?

When we were done shooting, and editing, we took the completed 96 minute film to the Cannes Film Festival on VHS. Obviously we weren’t officially part of the festival or anything, but we went, stayed in a tent and gave out VHS copies to anybody wearing a suit. That was our distribution policy. If you had a suit, then you must Be Somebody. We gave out many copies, and talked to anybody who’d give us the time of day…then we came back to England and waited. Ninety nine percent of those we’d given tapes to simply never responded. But a German executive who worked with Roland Emmerich at the time DID call, said he loved the movie and that they wanted to buy it off us and transfer it onto 35mm film, show it in Hollywood and release it in Germany. Needless to say we were very excited and took the deal.

3 Project Assassin was released in Germany, were we disappointed it wasn’t put out in the UK?

We met Roland Emmerich at the Independence Day premiere in London. He was incredibly generous to us, and let us watch some of the filming on Godzilla, the first time we were ever, officially, on a real film set. He taught us a lot and opened many doors for us. He held an "industry screening" of Project Assassin at the Fox lot in Los Angeles. And to this day I’m constantly amazed by how many people I meet in Hollywood who tell me they saw the film there, that day. The film went out theatrically in Germany, but was never released in the UK, because at the end of the day it was a film shot on tape in Brighton by a bunch of young amateur film makers, who’d had to cast themselves and their parents and friends in all the roles. So, sure we were disappointed it wasn’t released properly in the UK (it did have one screening at the Prince Charles cinema in London) but at the end of the day, to be honest, it’s not hard to see why.

4 What advice would you offer to film makers looking to do the same thing?

Go for it, but go in with your eyes open. We got lucky with Project Assassin in that it happened to be seen by a movie executive who had a connection to an A-list director. If it wasn’t for that co-incidence then the film could have turned out to be a waste of four years and 10,000 pounds…but only IF you think of it that way. If you want to make a film because you simply want to make a film, and the process can be it’s own reward then you can’t lose. That’s the best way to do it. If you only want to make a film to "break in" to the industry then you run the risk of wasting the time and effort and money it will entail.

Other than that, in more practical terms, I would say that you should spend exactly as much money as you can safely afford to lose, but no more. I would advise people to cast carefully, not only with regard to ability but also trustworthiness. That’s crucial. Once you’ve shot scenes with an actor they have incredible power over you, if they disappear, or quit then you’re forced to re-shoot everything with a new actor. And that hurts. When casting an actor at the very least make sure you KNOW WHERE THEY LIVE…

5 Interesting Anecdotes from Cannes?

Not really.

6 How did you make the leap to "real films"?

After Project Assassin my brother was given a development deal in Hollywood and from that managed to get his first real film greenlit, with a budget of 5.65 million dollars. Which was quite a big leap from 10,000 pounds, but one he coped with admirably, I must say. Robin and I worked on the film as second unit directors and associate producers, even though, to be honest, the latter credit meant next to nothing. Suddenly we were in Germany on a huge set they’d built, a fake bank, on the biggest soundstage in the country. It was amazing. And, surprisingly, we had a great time. Worked really hard, I did a 27 hour stint one time, but learned a lot. John Hurt was the star of the film, with Rhys Ifans and Claire Skinner.

While my brother was writing his film I was writing mine – a thriller called NEW BLOOD. I knew of a production company in the UK called Spice Factory and I managed to get them the script and a copy of Project Assassin. There was also another admirer of Project Assassin in Hollywood, a guy called ASH SHAH and we sent him the script. Amazingly Ash called us back two days later and said he wanted to finance the movie. Believe me, as I now know, this NEVER happens.

So as soon as we wrapped on my brother’s film we went to Canada to shoot NEW BLOOD, with a 2.6 million dollar budget, right at the end of 1998. This time I was the writer/director and my brother was doing second unit for me this time around. Because of the time of year we were able to get an amazing cast for a film at this budget – John Hurt came aboard, as I’d gotten him my script while we were in Germany, Nick Moran from Lock, Stock (which had just come out and done so well) came aboard because he wanted to work with John Hurt. Carrie Anne Moss had just finished The Matrix with Joe Pantoliano and they both came aboard, and finally Shawn Wayans joined the cast, for the chance to do a film that wasn’t a comedy.

7 Was it a strange feeling to suddenly have a real budget to play with?

So at the age of 24 I found myself in Toronto, with all these famous actors, making my screenplay into a real movie. And because I didn’t direct Project Assassin this was actually the first thing I’d ever directed in my life. No commercials, no pop promos, no short films, just straight in at the deep end with this. Which turned out to be great, like having a 2.6 million dollar grant to go to film school. To say the learning curve was steep would be an understatement.

I remember after the first day of shooting, my first ever day as a director, somebody from the crew told me that all the actor’s payments had just gone through. The scene we had shot that night, a big action bit where Gangsters raid this mansion and kill all the security guards in a gunfight had also been expensive to shoot. So this crew member tells me "Congratulations, you just spent half a million dollars tonight." Which made me think, I can tell you.

8 What was your best experience on NEW BLOOD?

The best thing about the shoot was being a real film director, having a real, very professional crew, all the real equipment at my disposal. Up until recently I’d been using a wheelchair for dolly shots and a plank of wood for a crane. Now I had a real dolly, real track, a real Chapman crane if I called for it. All the actors were great and I learned SO much. I never, ever let on how little I knew, somehow I realized instinctively that would be the wrong thing to do. I projected complete confidence at all times, whether I felt it or not, and found that the crew responded well to that. I was able to deal with the actors and answer their questions because they were asking about my story, my characters, so I had an authority there that otherwise I may not have had. I have since directed other writer’s scripts (HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2 for one) but feel it would have been tough the first time out of the gate. Being the writer made it easier to win the trust of the actors, and they were all great, a joy to work with.

9 What was your worst experience on NEW BLOOD?

Dealing with the Canadian producer they’d brought on to oversee the filming was really tough. He was a man in his late fifties, who’d always wanted to be a director but had never managed it. And he took one look at me, this 24 year old kid who was getting to do it and he hated me from that moment. He would refuse to let me see a doctor when I got sick, he would physically block me from seeing the monitor, he would call a meeting for no reason during the day when I was trying to sleep before another night shoot and then not turn up himself. He would threaten to fire me every day, even though I later found out he didn’t have the authority to do that anyway. He was a nightmare to deal with.

11 There were 5 years between NEW BLOOD and BABY JUICE EXPRESS. Why?

Actually there weren’t five years between the first two films I directed, but it took longer than I wanted to make my second film, that’s for sure. NEW BLOOD was finished in time for the Cannes Film Festival in 1999, where it played in the market, and sold every territory. It was released theatrically in France and Spain, and did well in both countries. In the UK it was sold directly to Sky, and in the U.S. it was released on video and DVD by Columbia TriStar, and later played on HBO. In fact it still plays on both Sky and HBO to this day. It was a solid DVD title, and made money for the company that financed it, though not in the way that means your next film is going to be helped in any way.

So I started writing and developing, still with the Spice Factory. We spent quite a while on a script called Murder Club, managed to get Jim Belushi attached, but it fell apart. We developed a sequel to an Australian horror film called Cut, but after a few months work it too fell apart.

I wrote some scripts for other companies that were made by other directors, one called FIRE and one called THE POOL. That was good fun (and good money) and I was always glad when something I wrote went before the cameras as writing un-produced screenplays is a bit like drawing blueprints for buildings that nobody ever builds.

Then, in 2002 I got to direct my second real movie – BABY JUICE EXPRESS, this time back home in the U.K. It was a comedy about sperm smuggling and was financed by the Spice Factory, through a UK tax fund they had helped create. We put together a fun cast, headed by Nick Moran (who co-wrote with me, was one of the producers and who worked tirelessly to get the film done). We had Lisa Faulkner, Phil Davies, Julian Clary, Samantha Janus, Cleo Rocos and cameos from some of the England football team and some real-life gangsters.

We had a really, really good time making the film, with a fantastic crew and the best team spirit I’d seen since our days on Project Assassin. My brother came over from LA to be my second unit director again, even though by this time he was doing very well as a screenwriter.

12 Why did BABY JUICE EXPRESS take so damn long to be released?

Universal picked up BJX for the UK and for Europe, then waited a long time before they released it. I think the problem was that when the UK tax scheme was running there were suddenly a LOT of films being made, but nobody was going to build extra cinemas to show ‘em. I know a whole lot of films that were made during this period that still, to this day, have never achieved any distribution at all, anywhere. So, although BJX screened in it’s complete form at the 2003 Cannes Festival, again in the market, it didn’t get released by Universal until 2004. That happens sometimes.

13 What made you want to direct House Of The Dead 2?

I had met a film producer in Cannes way back in 1999 by the name of Mark Altman. Back in 1999 we were both selling the first films we’d made – he was there promoting the first film he’d written and produced called FREE ENTERPRISE, a comedy in which William Shatner plays himself. I was there promoting NEW BLOOD and we shared the same publicist. We even did a panel together for Variety. So we became friends, hung out every evening in France, then I would continue to see him every time I went to LA, I actually would go and play beach volleyball with him and his friends every weekend. When I had finished BABY JUICE EXPRESS I brought it with me to LA, as it hadn’t been released in the U.S. at that time. Mark set up a special screening for the film, and he loved it, was really, really nice about it.

Fast forward to 2004 and I’m in London directing an episode of Dream Team for Sky Television, my first ever TV directing gig. Which was tough, hard work. I got a call from Mark Altman, asking for me to send him a DVD of BJX and NEW BLOOD as he was trying to get me approved by Lions Gate as the director of HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2. I jumped at the chance to do a big multi-million dollar movie with zombies fighting soldiers, especially as the script was literally the Least Boring Script In The World. I knew that the first film hadn’t been well-received, but had made a lot of money, and to be honest that took the pressure off me for the sequel. I knew I could make a very different film from the original, especially as the script (actually written by Mark Altman) was already very different. So I sent the DVD’s and went back to directing Dream Team.

I finished work on Dream Team, collapsed, then got a phone call just a few days later, from Mark, saying "Come to LA as soon as you can." So I booked a flight and that is how that happened. I went straight to the office from the airport and started work almost immediately.

14 What were your aims making HOD2?

House of the Dead 2 is a very, very different film from the original. There were many stylistic choices the first film took that we didn’t want to go with this time around. The sequel is much more like Aliens than it’s like the first movie. It’s about a squad of soldiers who have to go into a university campus that has been over run by zombies and try and save survivors whilst searching for the first-ever zombie, Patient Zero, in the hope that a blood sample from that zombie will provide a cure for the disease. That’s the direction we took with the zombie angle from the beginning – that it was an infection, a disease, and that informed the way we did the make-up, the physical FX, the movement coaching, the stunt work, everything.

From a director’s stand point I wanted to make sure that HOD 2 was a well-executed film in terms of story-telling technique. We deliberately avoided a lot of the MTV flashiness of the original, the bullet-time, the video-graphics, the shots taken from the game. That was the way the original’s director wanted to tell his story and hey, good luck to him, but this time I didn’t feel it was appropriate and Mark Altman backed me up 100 percent. I just wanted to make a well-crafted horror movie, with real scares and everything that fans of horror movies, and zombie movies in particular, demand to see. So we have exploding heads, we have zombies eating people, we have a lot of blood, a lot of gunfire, a fair number of big explosions and a lot of suspense. We used a LOT of moving camera to keep the style visual and interesting. The Director of Photography, Ray Stella worked as the D.P. on Buffy, but before that was a camera operator for John Carpenter (on HALLOWEEN, THE FOG and THE THING, amongst others) and then went on to work for Spielberg on JURASSIC PARK and SCHLINDERS LIST. You can’t ask for a better pedigree than that. Ray has given us a great look, full of smoke and shafts of light, deep shadows and a constant sense of menace, and it really serves the story well.

We wanted to make a full-on horror movie and re-invigorate the franchise and I think we’ve done that.

15 What is your favourite part of the film making process?

For me the best part of making a film is, by far, the actual shooting. During prep I’m just anxious to get going and during editing I find myself pining to get back behind the camera. I do an extensive shot list for every day, in advance, and storyboard when necessary. For me that’s the most essential part of pre-production. No crew I’ve ever worked with has ever had to wait so much as one second for me to tell them where the camera will go next and what the next set-up will be. I always know. The best moment you can have as a director is when a complex, well-thought shot is well executed by the cast and crew, a shot that you know is gonna look damn good in the dailies. I try and challenge myself to come up with at least twenty "cool" original shots for every movie, and when you get one of them in the can, that’s the best feeling there is.

16 You acted in Project Assassin, do you have any plans to act again?

No. Directing the actors that I’ve gotten the chance to work with has confirmed to me what I already suspected – I suck as an actor.

17 What’s up next for you?

Unbelievably, since finishing filming HOD 2 I have actually directed a whole OTHER film. We just finished shooting a psychological horror film called ROOM 6, which starred Christine Taylor (Dodgeball, Zoolander), Jerry O’Connell (Sliders, Kangaroo Jack) and Shane Brolley (Underworld and Underworld 2) along with a host of other names from TV series and horror films. ROOM 6 was produced by Mark Altman and his partner Mark Gottwald again, this time for CFQ Films. ROOM 6 is now being edited, by the editor of SAW, and we’re incredibly proud of it. It’s a very different kind of horror film from House of the Dead 2, even though we used a lot of the same crew, including Ray Stella.

Whilst we’re in post on both horror films I am actively developing several projects with Mark Altman and we’re hoping to shoot our next film together in the coming months.