Simon Rudley talks 'Red White & Blue'
'Red White & Blue' is a little gem that could be called a thriller, a suspense or even a horror film. The film is none of these, it's ALL of these. After watching and reviewing the film, the opportunity arose to interview director Simon Rudley. Below is the conversation with Simon talking about his films, his lead characters, and being compared to 'Hitchcock'.
Terra-The first quarter of your film is the story of Erica and her hype-sexuality. Then, all of a sudden, the film switches gears to another story with other characters we only see in two scenes in the first quarter. It almost seems like this film was done or at least written as a short and then expanded.
Simon-It was an idea I had a long time ago and I wrote a bit of it and it just didn't work, it was just wrong. I needed to have empathy for the female character (Erica), the viewers have to live her life. When Erica meets the Nate character, this should be love instead of just sex. Then I wanted to explore the Franki Character, eventually it became a revenge movie. So in a way you're right, it wasn't written all at the same time.
Terra-You wrote, directed and produced this film, that's a lot of work.
Simon-That's the way I've done all of my films. I'm use to it.
Terra-Where did the story come from? Are the characters based on actual people.
Simon-Franki's mother who had cancer was based on my mother's death from cancer. The actual story is something I heard about a long time ago that happened in Tokyo. A person was infected with HIV by a cop, that person went around infected cops.
Terra-Erica was destined to be a victim, if not by a disease then by Nate.
Simon-Amanda Fuller did such a great job as Erica. Erica held her head up high, not really a victim. The ultimate tragedy is that love story. Nate finds Erica and feels this strong connection to her. He thinks he can finally lead a normal life. But that wasn't what happened. Nate gets screwed up again.
Terra-Is horror changing? Do you think horror of the future will be more like this story and less slashers and ghosts?
Simon-There are lots of original voices in horror today. There is a film at Cannes, 'The ABCs of death. It contains 26 short films, with 26 different directors. Each director got a letter A-Z. And each short must be about death.
Terra-It's refreshing to see an original story.
Simon-I don't like remakes. I rarely see them unless they get really good reviews. There are original stories.
Terra-How does it feel to be compared to Hitchcock?
Simon-It's flattering, but I'm not a massive fan of Hitchcock. My favorite Hitchcock film is 'North by Northwest' and I like 'Psycho'.
Terra-Is there a sequel for 'Red White & Blue'?
Simon-One producer was interested. I was thinking about Nate, he said he was going to spend time with his sister and nieces. Nate's nieces have a kitten.
Simon-Are you familiar with 'crush films'?
Terra-No
Simon-It's a fetish type film. Women dress up in stockings and high heels and crush kittens with their heels. Nate goes completely psycho. In a sequel it would be hard to recreate . It would be a weird audience who would want to see Nate go psycho.
Terra-Simon, what one thing do you want viewers of you film to know.
Simon-That it's a good film. We've had a lot of support from SXSW and Fantastic Fest.
'Red White & Blue' will be released on video May 17.
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