[00:00:06] Speaker A: This is the Sean Kelly on Movies podcast for January 25, 2021, featuring an interview with Steven Kostanski about Psycho Gorman.
Hello, and welcome to a rare weekly episode of the Shawn Kelly Amovie's podcast. So today I have an interview with Stephen Kostanski about the film Psycho Gorman, which is now available on VOD. I should note before this interview that I did it over the phone, and I noticed during the editing that the quality isn't the best. I adjusted the levels so you can hear what's being said. Just, I want to apologize in advance for the kind of muffled sound, but this is a very good interview. I talk about the film. I don't really get into spoilers, though I do talk about some plot elements, which would be fun to watch. And so it's probably best to watch the film before listening to the interview. But here's my interview with Stephen Kostansky on PG. Psycho Gorman.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: How did you come up with the idea for Psycho Gorman?
[00:01:29] Speaker C: Well, I had a few ideas from the movie that were rabbling around in my head for years that I didn't know what to do with.
One of them was I had this image of a monster, like, this hulking monster, man, like, sitting awkwardly at a drum set. And it just really made me chuckle. It's such an absurd image. And, yeah, one day I was watching the movie Rawhead Rex, and I started riffing on the idea of, like, well, what if you took this core concept of, like, ancient evil gets resurrected and, like, on the world that you match that with another genre, like, something like a kid's adventure film? Like, what would happen?
And so I started riffing on this idea, like, well, what if he had, like, the ultimate ancient evil, like, this alien warlord that's imprisoned on earth. He's resurrected, but he's forced to hang around these little kids.
What kind of, like, weird adventures did they get into? And so I instantly fell in love with that concept. And the more I thought about it, the crazier the idea got because I felt like those two genres were at odds with each other. So, like, in a family friendly kids movie, like an ET versus the, like, kind of dark horror Sci-Fi fantasy genre.
So I just like playing around with mashing the genres together and seeing what would happen. And that's where PG came from.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: So how did you really strike a balance between having such an evil character who is still likable in some way?
[00:03:18] Speaker C: Well, I found, like, the heart of the movie really came out of PG's relationship with Mimi and finding, like, once I settled on Mimi's character and her personality, it all started to fit together because. Because I needed characters that could stand up to PG. I didn't want him to be the craziest character in the movie, which is fine because, like, on paper, he should be, but he really isn't. He's the straight man of the story.
And so with Mimi, I wanted a character that could go toe to toe with this ancient evil and not be saved by him. And so I was kind of drawing upon real life experience, like, kids that I know in my life, like relatives, like younger cousins, and then also, like, kids with coworkers.
And their personalities, like, partially inspired this because they're a little, like, I don't want to say crazy, but they're, like, a little more, I guess, bold when you're young and you haven't developed, like, I guess, the self reflectiveness that comes with being a teenager and that, like, self doubt.
You know, kids are very confident, and I want to show that. And so Mimi is a very confident character, a very wacky character that can stand up to PG. And I think that helps inform his personality because he goes from being, like, basically a Saturday morning cartoon villain to being the rotated straight man throughout the story who just has to deal with being around this kind of obnoxious kid day in and day out. And so I found that really informed the direction of his character and helped him grow into being not just a one note villain, but a fully fleshed out person that just happens to be the ultimate evil in the universe.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: So was it a challenge for you to find the right child actors for the needles?
[00:05:30] Speaker C: Yes, it definitely was a challenge. Like, we cast a very wide net in terms of our casting call.
There was a lot of concern early on with the project that we wouldn't find the right kids.
And, like, you know, we were locked in, financed, and had a shoot date and everything. And the concern was like, well, what if we don't find the right kids? Like, the movie doesn't work. We don't have the right kid actors. But luckily, like, in our first round of auditions, Nita submitted a self tape.
And even though we saw, like, I felt like, hundreds of auditions after that, I kept coming back to her and kept getting her to send more tapes, do more auditions, try things. Like, you know, give her directions, try this different way. And I was so impressed. Like. Like, she clearly knew what she was doing. Like, she felt like an act. She didn't feel like a kid that her parents were, like, feeding lines to. It felt like she took the job seriously, and that meant a lot to me because I knew that we were a low budget production. We didn't have a lot of time and resources. We had to move fast, and I didn't want to have to stress about, like, like, having a kid that was, like, out of their element and, like, just having to navigate that. Like, I wanted. I needed a professional. And I saw that with Nita, and she took direction really well. And, like, with each subsequent tape and audition, she really, like, grew into the character, and it helped that she already brought so much of that personality with her. Like, Nita will fully admit I that she is Mimi already in a lot of ways, which helped a lot. And so, yeah, the same goes for Owen, who played Luke. Like, he was just such a professional when it came to his approach with the acting and his performance, but also just being, like, just a level headed dude that I could converse with and, you know, like, took the work seriously, but also was not fazed by anything and just gave Luke a, like, very subdued personality in a way that was interesting and didn't feel one mouth. Like, I thought he was very charming with the work he did on the film.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: So you mentioned the low budget. So how did you typically go about designing the many creature effects on the film?
[00:08:01] Speaker C: I mean, I was very much inspired by japanese super sentai shows and, like, just a lot of japanese genre cinema in general.
So, I mean, the north american version is Power Rangers, which I grew up on, I was very much influenced by, but even stuff like Kamen Rider, which I grown to appreciate over the years, as well as, like, movies and things that still use that same kind of effect style. One I keep referencing is mechanical violator Hokkaido, which I love.
So I really want to emulate that style of creature design and execution where it's not so much about realism. Like, I was not concerned with making everything be hyper realistic and, like, convincing the audience that these were, like, somehow living creatures. It was more just a stylistic choice to make them, like, look interesting and weird and have a lot of personality in their most static form and just make them unsettling for some of them in how immobile they were and giving them personality without having to have a lot of movement involved. In the way that creatures in a lot of, like, japanese monster movies and senpai shows exhibit personality. It's like there's not a ton of animation in their movements, but their designs have so much flair to them that it, like, tells you everything you need to know about the character. And so I wanted to emulate that with the characters in PGD.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: So when did you decide to actually have a biocomp cameo in the film?
[00:09:50] Speaker C: As I was writing it, it just, like, organically came up. As I was writing, like, I had reached a certain point in the script. I was like, I need to mix this up a bit. I want to seem like a good time to introduce a new character. And I knew that people, like, there was fans out there that really wanted a biocopenne cameo or just they were clamoring for a Biocop movie. So I thought, you know, I'll throw him into this movie and essentially give him his origin story and see what happens and kind of gauge the response off of that. If I should do more biocop stuff because I love the character and I'd love to do more stuff with him. And so this was just a fun excuse to throw him into the mix because, you know, while I, like, struggle to find ways give Biocop his own feature film, I think he fits as just a. Like, he's a good side character, put it that way. So I thought, you know, I'll throw him into this, use it as a way to gauge people's reactions to him and people are into it. Like, I have other projects that you'd be involved in that I'd love to pursue. So it's a bit of a, like, test run of bioprocesses, how he goes over with the general public.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: So do you prefer films that kind of go the horror comedy route or do you see yourself doing another dark and scary film like the void?
[00:11:18] Speaker C: I like variety. I like doing all kinds of things.
I don't want my filmography to just be the same type of movie over and over again.
I would gladly, at this point, go and do another dark horror movie. I think it would be a fun change of pace because PG was such a light and silly movie.
I definitely was getting a lot of that out of my system that I had pent up while I was making the void.
Because on that, I definitely was missing making things that were a little more lighthearted. Now that I've done that, I would return to that territory again.
I think it would be fun. So, yeah, I mean, anything is possible.
If the story is good and I like the characters, then, yeah, I'm open to any genre, really.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: So were you a bit disappointed when PG was, like, kind of sidelined by the pandemic? And what do you hope people take away from the film?
[00:12:22] Speaker C: Yeah, I was definitely saddened by the fact that we had to miss our premiere. I mean, we're supposed to have a world premiere March 13, which is right when the pandemic really kicked into high gear, so we had to put everything on pause, which it really sucks. And it's disappointing not being able to have that public screening or be able to do the festival run like you typically do with a movie and watch it with an audience, because this is definitely an audience movie. It's something I think you need to enjoy with the crowd. So that part has disappointed me for sure. But I am happy that it's finally able to come out and people are able to see it. And, I mean, I hope it reminds people of an era when movies, when we had a lot more variety in movies. It's the thing I feel like we're lacking right now in the streaming era. And I wanted to remind people of the video store eradic when they're, you know, every time you went to the video store was a new crazy adventure.
You know, like, picking out a movie was a, was kind of an event in itself. And so I want the movie to maybe make people, like, remind them of those times, in my opinion, better times for movies. So, yeah. Yeah, I hope people take that away from the film.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Okay, well, thanks.
[00:13:46] Speaker C: Okay.
Thank you very much for chatting with me.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: And that was my interview with Stephen Kostanski on PG Psycho Gorman. The film is now available on video on demand by Raven Banner in Canada and RLJE in the United States, and it will also be on shutter at a future date. You can also get PG Psycho Gorman on limited edition Blu ray dvd combo on March 16, 2021. And I will have links in the show notes for all that. And that's it for this episode of the Sean Kelly on Movies podcast.
The Sean Kelly on Movies podcast is hosted and researched by Sean Patrick Kelly and is a production of Skonmovies.com hosting music and transitions courtesy of Anchor FM. You can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts. Spotify, Google Podcasts and Warehouse podcasts are hosted. Support us by joining our
[email protected] Skonmovies or via anchor FM listener support this is the Sean Kelly on Movies podcast for January 25, 2021, and I'll see you next time.
[00:15:18] Speaker C: Our channel.
