Question: What are you most proud of in the film?

Honestly there are so many things about the film that I love. Most of all… I really love the performances of both Luke and Lance and the climax of our story.   They turned our black and white words on paper into emotions and it all comes together beautifully at the end.

I’m also very proud of our composer Scott Glasgow.  This was an indie and I was fortunate to find other artists that would bleed their souls into the project.  Glasgow was up against multi million dollar temp tracks from composers like Goldsmith, Shore, Barry, Williams and Corigliano.  And he did a damned good job of holding his own.  I think our score sounds as good if not better than many of the much bigger budgeted films.  This is in part due to my good friends Louis Wilson (associate producer) and Richard Saied (Exec. Producer) When the time came for more money to get a 50 piece orchestra out of Prague… they had my back.  I think it truly elevated our film. For that I’m indebted to them.  In fact… I’m proud that Intrada records is releasing our soundtrack.  The same label that has put out scores like “Alien”.  This is a huge honor.
 
Question:  The scene with Luke Goss tied to the cactus is a standout in tension, how did you conceive the scene?
 

I came up with the idea for the cactus 3 years before I read “Mojave”.  I wanted to do a western thriller called “Bone Dry” and this was one of the first ideas I had.  In highschool I scraped my hand across a very small cactus on a teacher’s desk.  Not only was it immediately painful my hand quickly started swelling.  I remembered thinking if I really wanted to torture someone… I couldn’t even fathom how much more painful it would be to be forced to climb a full grown cactus.  Then my mind started thinking what would be worse… to be forced to climb a cactus Naked.   In many ways this is my homage to Psycho’s shower scene.  But rather than a female lead being subjected to terrible violence, ours is male, and rather than claustrophobia and black-and-white film, ours is shot in a blistering, expansive desert with sumptuous color and frenetic camerawork. 

Question:  You've directed James Garner, he's a hero of mine, what is he like in person?

James is a dear soul.  A complete gentleman and a hero to so many.  I remember watching him in “The Rockford Files” on a black and white TV. sitting on a yellow bean bag when my family lived in St. Louis during the 70’s.   I would have never imagined myself working with him as a child.  But I did know at that very young age I would direct a film one day. 

I was very honored when the opportunity arose to direct him.  Our film made it possible to convince our clients to have him as their spokesmen.  I spent time with James at his home on a couple of occasions… and we shot for one day on a stage in L.A.   We ended up using that footage all year long.  That will be an experience that will never be forgotten.
 
Question: What's next for you film wise?

That’s a great question.  In life I can be impulsive.  But when it comes to something like a “movie” you have to make sure you pick something you’ll love as much today as you will years down the line.  “Bone Dry” took 5 years to get made. This is in part due to the fact that it was my first film.  Even though I had won tons of awards with short films and commercials I still had to prove myself.  I don’t anticipate the next picture being as much of a struggle… but I do want it to be my mistress.  I want to fall in love with it and give it all of my attention.  I’m currently developing several projects.  I’m polishing a script I finished before Bone Dry called “Race”.  An urban fantasy.  Similar to “Boys in the hood” and “Run Lola Run.”   Very “Rod Serling” inspired with a message about “Racism”.  

Jeff O’Brien and I are developing a “Filipino Ghost Story” that I’m very excited about.  I have been visiting the classics for inspiration.  Kubrick’s “The Shining” Medak’s “The Changeling”.  Old school horror with some very disturbing imagery that is partially on set… and a little CGI that will go a long way.

Then there’s a contemporary reworking of “Orpheus”  Inspired by Jean Cocteau’s Orphee.  A tragic love story where we travel to Hell with a man attempting to save his love.  Greg Hughs and I are discussing a very exciting dramatic thriller that I can’t say too much about.

And when I find the right co writing partner… “Soul Search”.  A modern Beauty & The Beast.  My most unique story to date that can only be described as a modern day horrific Cronenberg like vision of “Trainspotting”.

 
Question: What gives you inspiration for a film?

Music is my first Muse.  I couldn’t imagine life w/o music.  It’s not only my Muse..it’s my mistress.  I can see and feel so many visions and emotions while listening to soundtracks, classical, rock etc. 

Other inspirations are exploring, hiking helps me focus.  I love getting away to the desert.  Sometimes it’s a rare idea that comes along that nobody has done… and you hold onto it until you have the right elements together to include in the right script.  Like the cactus scene.  Soul Search has some amazing imagery with hypodermic needles and gothic locations.

Question: The pitch trailer for Bone Dry is really close to the completed product, how were you able to achieve such closeness?

My strength is probably on the visual side.  I can usually tell a story w/o words.  My short film “Dead End” did this and was kind of a preface to “Bone Dry”.  Since the first day I started collaborating with Jeff O’Brien on the script I knew exactly what I wanted to see and capture for the audience.  The basic elements you saw in the pitch trailer were always in my head.  I’ve held onto those visuals for 5 years.  Which really wasn’t too hard to do.  I can generally see what I want to capture before scouting locations.  What WAS difficult was catching all the elements that weren’t in that pitch trailer.  All the topography.  We scouted thousands of miles.  I had to maintain all those locations and images in my head.  At a certain point it does turn into a blur. But there were many times where I fought to find the right topography for our picture car “Duke”.  Moments where I wanted it high on the horizon to feel ominous.  Moments where I wanted it lower to be driving towards us with dust roaring in the background all shot with a long lens through heat waves.  But Generally to give the viewer what I imagined… a typical scene would actually cut between 3-4 locations that were all shot thousands of miles apart… and at times as much as a year had passed.  That was the true challenge.
 
Question:  Is that you in the trailer?

Yes that was me in the trailer.  As well as Carl Buffington who played Marty our “Hippie” in Bone Dry.  My buddies and I went out to West Texas to my second favourite camping site, The Guadalupe Mts.  A place we were considering shooting.  That was the most cost effective and time efficient way I could think to raise money for a film.  I had no desire to storyboard all those images.  Nor did I actually want to shoot a trailer.  Had already done that when I was 27 landing me an option with Amblin Entertainment.  But no film.  So digital stills arose.

 I remember that being one of the only fights I ever had with my wife about money.  I dropped $800 on the camera the same day we left for the desert.   An interesting note:  The drug dealer with the machete in his hands.  I think may have been a homeless man in the desert.  A very kind gentleman… I got him to be in our photo session by paying for some Chinese food for him.  I remember lying on the ground with this total stranger pointing a machete at me thinking… “Am I insane?”  The things we’ll do to get a film made!

Question:  Did you spend much time in pre-production?

We wrote the script in 2001.  Moved to L.A. Starved.  Was asked to move to the Midwest and help build an agency.  Focused on advertising for two years.  Chad Stalcup,The exec. Producer and I raised financing over two years with Greg, and Richard.  Another year and a half scouting and casting while juggling my day job.  4 ½ weeks shooting.  6 months of post.  This could have all been much quicker had I not had to pay the bills.  But it was a wonderful creative challenge.  Not only did I complete my debut film, but our agency started getting national exposure due to our commercials.  A very fertile and exciting time.  Not sure too many agencies would have the courage to attempt everything we have over the last 5 years.

Question: What was the most difficult aspect of shooting in the desert?
 

For some it was the company moves.   But that was in our ambitious young filmmaking minds a necessity.  Our third character in the film WAS the desert.  And the only way to continue showing a progressive change in Eddie’s journey was to have the topography change.  This caused a lot of travel, sleepless nights, blow outs, stuck vehicles… you name it.  It happened on our film.  Honestly I think it’s similar to what Spielberg went through with Jaws.  If he were asked to make that film now he would have the wisdom to know what was feasible.  Problem was… we never accepted no.  No matter how hot it got… how miserable it was… we kept on shooting.  Perseverance was our only answer to a film that I think many of us never knew if we’d complete.  Honestly it was so difficult that I often wondered how many scenes I could cut out of the script and still finish the film.  It was just an amazing geographical, physical and emotional challenge.  Most of us had families left behind… pregnant wives etc.  But we just kept moving forward day by day.  Then one day… it was over… and we all wanted to cry.  A very emotional and wonderful time for us all.

Question: Who are your film heroes?

Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Luc Besson, Jean Jacques Annaud, David Fincher, David Cronenberg, William Friedkin, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Richard Franklin, John Guillerman Tom Tykwer and most of all Rod Serling- I wish we still had him hear to share stories.  What a gentle soul he must have been.  The Twilight Zone inspired so much about this film.  Less with more.  And… some O’Henries.
 
Question: Who would you like to work with in the future?
 

For ”Race” I’d like to work with James Earl Jones, or Danny Glover.  For the Filipino Ghost Story Grace Park.  For another project “Medea” Bjork. 

Then random dream cast, Johnny Depp, Kevin Kline, Jason Patrick, Matt Damon, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kevin Bacon, Kurt Russell, Jeremy Irons, Tim Roth, Christopher Walken, , Jude Law, Charlize Theron, Barry Pepper, Andre Braugher, Meryl Streep, Mandy Patinkin, Jeff Goldblum.  I want to work with actors that have a vulnerable yet honourable quality.  I like actors that to quote Lance “ you never see acting”.  I want to feel with them.  I love working with actors.  I love gaining their respect and collectively pushing each other to not be cliché… and recreating the wheel together. 

And finally Luke Goss and Lance Henriksen.  We’ve been talking about Bone Dry being similar to the Sergio Leone trilogy.  This was Chapter one.  We’re all looking forward to Chapter’s two and three.