Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome to the Sean Kelly Movies Podcast. I'm here to present my interview for Scared Shitless, which is being released on Canadian vod platforms on September 2nd, and it'll be released in the United States on October 3rd. Spoke with writer, producer Brandon Cohen, director Viveno Caldinelli, and actor Mark McKinney, who you would know from Kids in the Hall. So I spoke to them before a screening of Scared Shitlist that happened in conjunction with Fan Expo Canada, and I hope you enjoy.
So I guess we'll start about how Sketched Atlas began as a short film that became a feature. So how did that come about?
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Yeah, so that came about from my days of working in construction, and I was always afraid to use the porta Potty, and our construction site kind of backed onto this wooded area.
I'm still a little afraid even talking about it. And I was always afraid of sitting down, and one of the animals that would come onto site would be in the porta Potty and come up and bite me. So that was really the genesis of the idea.
And then, yeah, we started with the short, and many years later, we got to the feature.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: So talk about how Vivinho came on board to direct. This is, like, his first genre project since the Portal to Hell short, like, in 2015.
[00:01:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
So essentially, it just came through my agent.
He just passed me, sent me an email just saying, these guys have this idea and they want to see if you're interested. And then. So it was pretty straightforward as far as that was concerned. I read the script and the. That was pretty much it from there. You know, it was something that I definitely could identify with because, like, above and beyond the horror stuff, there's some kind of. Definitely a lot of gun trials and tribulations, just personal stuff that you can kind of identify with, like, as far as the character arcs and stuff like that and their journeys.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: The agoraphobia. Yeah, no, it's germaphobia.
[00:02:29] Speaker C: Germaphobia and stuff like that, but also just the dynamic with, you know, like, child and parent and, you know, working together and everything. So it had more than just, you know, it was more than just a horror to me.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: So.
[00:02:42] Speaker C: And that was very important.
So, yeah, so it made the. You know, it was a pretty easy call, so to speak.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: I think when Lewis and I saw the other producer, Lewis Spring, when we saw Portal to Hell, we're like, this is the type of movie we want to make. We want Scared Shitless to be this type of movie. And then we met with Viv and. And, you know, it's been like the greatest working experience I've ever had collaborating, so it's been amazing.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Well, another common ground between Scarce Shitless and Portrait Mahal. Is Stephen Kostanski doing the effects?
[00:03:16] Speaker C: Absolutely, absolutely. Steve is the mainstay. And then even in like, other.
Generally, yeah, whenever you need effects, it's like Steve's the guy you go to.
But he did like work on Humantown as well a little bit there. And.
But, but yeah, and also, you know, there is some similarities. It's like there's the. The apartment building as well, which was kind of like.
For myself, it kind of finalizes like the trilogy of apartment building movies from Portal to Seven Stages to the Scared Shit was all took place in an apartment building. So it's. Yeah, definitely common ground.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Well, talk a bit about the casting of the film. Was Stephen Ogg always the first choice?
[00:04:02] Speaker C: Yes. Pretty like, from Lewis's standpoint, I would say yes, you're right. If that makes sense. Right. So from. Because that's who Lewis wanted. I. Admittingly, it's just because everything I do is with Mark.
He has a hand in, you know, except for Portal to Hell, strangely, but nonetheless.
So that's who I was championing for.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: And.
[00:04:25] Speaker C: And then Brandon was just bringing a bunch of people to the table and he liked all the ideas.
And then. Yeah, we just all basically had to kind of put our heads together and see what was best. And then, sorry, Mark, but we decided it was OG.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Well, it's weird having Mark McKinney in the corridor and not asking him a question.
[00:04:46] Speaker C: Pull up a chair. Or we can, I don't know, just screaming.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:04:52] Speaker C: Good.
[00:04:55] Speaker A: Okay. So could Mark talk about his character in the film?
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Well, who is my character? Yeah, well, he is the kind of mad, paranoid scientist who invents the creature. Does the creature have a name? Do we ever give it a name?
[00:05:10] Speaker C: No.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: Toilet slugs.
[00:05:12] Speaker C: There was, I think, I wonder.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: Toilet Friend. I think we wanted to keep it all ages. Toilet Friend. I invent Toilet Friend.
[00:05:19] Speaker C: And.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: But my project is canceled. So furious, angry, muttering to myself, I kidnap my own creation, take him back. But of course, gets the best of me very quickly. Yeah.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: So what are. Could you talk about some of the specific influences for stage?
[00:05:34] Speaker B: For me, it was the Thing.
You know, John Carpenter's the Thing was a big influence a lot of 80s horror films that I grew up watching.
Jaws was a big one. You know, we just wanted to make this one big bad monster be the focal point. And yeah, I think Jaws was a big influence for me when I. When I was thinking of this film.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I don't want. I don't. I don't want to get too into spoilers, but, like, there's the big gore moment in the film that you said is based on the 1988 the Blob.
[00:06:18] Speaker C: Yeah, that was for me, basically, that was the inspiration for a lot of the direction, kind of sensibility and some of the style and look at the film also, because there's a lot of practical effects for that film. And that sync scene was a huge one for me.
And we kind of just wanted to create our own version of that, so to speak, in this. Mark, what were some of your inspirations for the Madman?
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Jack Nicholson at the end of the Shining.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
How was it without getting into spoilers, how was it, like, acting photos, like, prosthetic gore stuff?
[00:06:58] Speaker C: Well, I'd rather it. You know, it's just the problem with the CG is it's like you don't really completely know sometimes what you're working with and what you can see. So it's just like another act or it's tangible. You can direct it. It's not really left into someone's hands later on in the day. And then there's a back and forth.
So, yeah, it's there, it's present, and it's. Like I said, it's part of the cast on the day. And that's the best part about it.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: So if there is, like a hint of a sequel, will there be a scared, jealous dude?
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Yeah, we are developing a sequel right now.
And yeah, that's the plan. You know, we want to build out this film into a franchise and we think we have really great characters that lend itself to that. And specifically with the father and son duo.
Plumbing duo. And it goes back to guys that. When I was working in construction, there were a lot of father son crews. And, you know, I always wanted to make a movie about. About these guys because they were such characters and the banter was incredible watching these guys.
So we think they have a lot of Runway and a lot more story to tell with Scared Shitless.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: All right. And probably a final note, the film is shamelessly set in Toronto.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah, we're very proud about that. It's very believably something that would happen in Toronto.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: Okay, that's good. Note and done. Toilet. Toronto has bad toilets, I guess.
RA.
