We had finally come to the point of our day where I got a few minutes with the film’s director Jason Dudek. He had been spoken so highly of throughout the day so it was exciting to finally sit down with him. As is always the case, I had more questions for him than anyone else with the least amount of time in which to ask them. Understandable, he is right in the middle of directing a feature length film. At that point in the visit, I had spent quite a bit of time walking around the set and chatting with people. From the lead actors to the craft services guy, everyone seemed to know the directors name and had something nice to say about him. He seemed like a take-charge kind of guy. Sure they could have been saying all that stuff because we had a microphone and a camera everywhere we went. However, I had a sneaking suspicion that the words that were being said about this young director were true. I had heard everyone give me their take on what the film is about and how they fit into the idea. So I was fluent in “What is Mentryville?” Now, I wanted to know “WHY Mentryville?” What better person to ask then the writer/director?
HeyUGuys: We don’t have a lot of time so I’m just going to jump right in with a tough question and get serious with you for second. A lot of directors, while they may have amazing careers, are known for that one film. Examples include George Lucas and “Star Wars” or Steven Spielberg and “Jaws”. If this is to be your ONE film, what do you want people to take away from it?
Jason Dudek: I would like people to take away that there is a new genre and that all films don’t have to follow convention. So what we are trying to do here is blend elements of “American Beauty”, blend some elements of Frank Capra drama and find a way to merge that with a sci-fi thriller. So I would hope that audiences would take away that this is a very protagonist driven film with a very fast pace but still have strong themes and grounded characters.
HUG: You wrote and directed the film so your very DNA is wrapped up in it. Where did the idea come from?
Dudek doing some Lab Work
JD: It was a combination of two things. The first thing was that the film’s theme is about characters overcoming loss. I had lost a best friend recently, a guy I had grown up with, and that got me into a state of mind where I was asking the question; “if people lose someone very close to them, can they could ever be the same?” That led me on a bit of a spiritual journey. So then upon this spiritual journey I also felt that there was a message, an overall theme that could be expressed. While I’m not a conspiracy theorist myself, what also helped inspire this project was the swine flu. So many people thought the pharmaceutical companies could have possibly manufactured it so that they could create panic and sell the vaccine. You know you have these companies that are involved in creating the vaccines whose stock tripled within days of the swine flu epidemic. While I’m not taking a position myself on whether there is incentive for these companies to manufacture these diseases, I decided I wanted to merge those two ideas into one cohesive story. I’m just so passionate about it and it means so much to me as a filmmaker that I just went all in. Rather then artistically make decisions that would be conventionally safe, sort of following specific genres, I intentionally tried to break as many as I could, but leave enough in to keep the audiences invested.
HUG: You’ve got names like Danny Glover and Vinnie Jones in the film. Those aren’t small names. Did you write with those actors in mind at all?
JD: That’s actually a really good question because no I didn’t write it with anyone in mind. I’m all about the collaborative effort and people have coined me an actor’s director but I’m all about the story first. That’s all I care about when I’m writing. I believe everything should service the story. After that happens and you start casting, it’s sort of a magical thing where elements fall into place that you can’t really plan, including getting Danny Glover and Vinnie Jones. It’s been one of those movies, including this location as well, it looks like I wrote for this location, when you see it, but I actually wrote the film and then we found this location. We are the first production to ever shoot there, as it’s an actual working cancer vaccine lab. It’s just another thing that really sells that authentic feel. That’s sort of been the main theme I’ve been trying to go for. If “28 Days Later” were made now, what would that be like? It would be sold in the performances, in the virus and sickness. I really hope audiences will see this and say “We love genre films, we love zombies and vampires and all these things, but here is a new film that’s scary because it’s real and we don’t have to make this leap of faith.” You know, this scenario that we present is absolutely realistic in terms of being scientifically feasible. The conspiracy theory in it is for the audience to decide. We hope to have fun and give audiences an exciting film from beginning to end.
Did he seem confident? Yes. Did he seem like a guy who knows exactly what he wants from everyone involved? Sure did. Did he just say that his movie is a mix between “American Beauty” and “28 Days Later?” You bet your ass he did. And that intrigued me. I truly believe he and I could have talked for hours on topics beyond Mentryville but I didn’t have that luxury today. The luxury I did have was chatting with a director who had a plan. As audiences we hear how so many productions adopt the “make it up as we go along” method of film making. That usually leads to disaster, so it’s refreshing to have someone here who knew what he wanted before cameras rolled. He seemed to have done his research and felt very passionate about this particular project.
I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us once the film is released.
