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- Interview by: Thomas M. Sipos
- www.hollywoodinvestigator.com
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- * INTERVIEW WITH A MAVERICK
Like Hudson, filmmaker Christopher Alan Broadstone is not native to L.A. He hails from Texas.
"I came to L.A. about ten years ago with my band," Broadstone said exclusively to the Hollywood Investigator. "But my band fell apart when I got here. I thought, well, I'll see what I can do with film. There's so much film, if you're gonna do it, here's the place to try to do it.
"I had always been a musician, hadn't done film. But I had been a huge film fan, forever and ever. Studied it on my own, reading magazines, books, watching lots of movies."
Broadstone attended several "seminar classes" at the American Film Institute, but never enrolled fulltime. "After about a year, I decided my next step is either go to film school and spend a load of cash, and still have to make a movie in the end, or spend the money to make my own film. I choose to do that instead."
Broadstone's Shriekfest entry is My Skin, a short film wherein Death, apparently angered by people infringing on his turf, plants evidence at a murder scene, then calls the police. The plot is not obviously related to 9/11, yet a desk calendar before Death reads: September 12, 2001.
"For me it's kind of weird," said Broadstone, "because I don't try to make horror films or write horror stories specifically, but all my ideas turn out that way. Always falling into the macabre or supernatural."
Broadstone wants to break new ground in horror. "My goal is to try to get something new and interesting happening in horror, because I think it's gotten, gone by the wayside, in many ways. Some good supernatural film thrillers have come out, but on the indie side, it's usually either gore or zombie movie, schlock, or this kind of movie, or that kind of movie. I want something more unique, more interesting, more intelligent, and try to appeal to a broader audience than only people that watch the zombie movies, or Dracula films, or what-have-you."
Asked how My Skin appeals to a broader audience, Broadstone replies, "Number one, I always try to achieve a fairly decent production value. I think that's one way to appeal to a broader audience. And number two, having a story that kind of sucks you in, and keeps you thinking, is gonna appeal to a more intellectual crowd. People that are looking for more in their films than Oh look, the zombie's head got cut off, and that's the story. There's a hot chick, now she's taking her clothes off. I try to do something that's a little bit different. A story that people can relate to in their subversive mind somewhere, whether they would normally watch that stuff or not. Try to get offensive. I don't know, it's hard to explain."
My Skin won 2nd Place in Shriekfest's Short Horror category, and is available on DVD via the Nightmare Collection.
- http://hollywoodinvestigator.com/2003/shriekfest.htm
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