Cinema Retro London
correspondent Mark Mawston recently covered the London tribute to John Landis'
classic horror flick An American Werewolf in London. (Click
here to read). Mark also got an advance look at the forthcoming documentary
Beware the Moon which will be the centerpiece of the forthcoming Blu-ray
special DVD edition. He recently sat down with the man behind the project, Paul
Davis for an inside look at how he overcame great odds to make his tribute to American
Werewolf a reality.
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Hair of the werewolf that bit him: John Landis at a recent London tribute to his classic horror film. (Photo: Mark Mawston. All rights reserved.)
Mark Mawston: Paul, it's wonderful that
something made by a fan for a fan has made it onto such an A list title. Why
did you decide to target AWIL? Was it out of love or that fact that you
simply thought there was a more comprehensive story to be told?
Paul Davis: An American Werewolf in
London was the first monster movie I ever saw. I must've been about 3
years-old when I watched it. I was a big fan of Michael Jackson and had ‘The
Making of Thriller’ on video, and through that I learned about Werewolf,
John Landis, Rick Baker etc. Because it showed you the ins and outs of
creating a film, and more importantly a monster, I was able to grasp at an
early age that movies were works of fiction. So from then on I could watch
anything and pretty much did. Fast forward some twenty odd years later and I
found myself writing a 25th Anniversary retrospective article on the film and
it just struck me that, while there are so many documentaries out there for
classic horror movies, this had nothing! I spoke to my partner Romy Alford and
she agreed to produce it with me, and I then got in touch with an
acquaintance who I knew was nifty behind a camera and was also an
editor, Anthony Bueno. So that's kind of where it came from. The three of
us just went out there and did it.
MM: John Landis said he couldn't believe
you'd pursued this without any real backing from him or Universal. Yet, he was
so pleased with what you'd compiled he decided to back you and pushed the
powers that be. That's a rare thing these days, but do you think it helped that
John was such a fan boy himself?Â
PD: The great thing about John is that
he is incredibly encouraging toward toward young filmmakers to just
go out there and make their movies - after all he did the same thing when
he was 21 with his first film Schlock. It must have been very weird
for him to have this kid from England making a movie about one of
his fondest films, and at the same time worrying because while John does
nurture new talent, he knew that it was going to be a large task for us to get
anywhere with the finished product. The film is owned by Universal and the
chances of a non entity making something and being taken seriously by a major
motion picture studio, as you said, rarely happens. There's a lot of risk
involved and a lot of strenuous legal work to clear before anything can
see the light of day. As soon as John knew that we were taking the
project very seriously and we had secured interviews with a lot of
cast and crew, that's when he really went to bat for us, and it literally
would not have seen the light of day were it not for John's bullying of
Universal to release it.Â
Â
Documentary maker Paul Davis (left) with Jenny Aguttyer, John Landis and wife Deborah and Kim Newman. (Photo: Mark Mawston. All rights reserved)
MM: What were the most difficult obstacles to overcome?Â
PD: Shooting and editing the movie was the easy part [laughs].
It's still remarkable to me that we found so many people and interviewed them
in such a short space of time. We actually shot and had a first cut between
March and November 2007. The long and arduous part was negotiating with
Universal and clearing the 17-pages of legal issues that their lawyers had
highlighted. With the help of Constantine Nasr and the lovely folk at New Wave
Entertainment, we were able to get pretty much everything cleared by March
2009. I'd say that was the most difficult part because there were a few things
where we couldn't find the owners to get clearance for something and we'd be
sent on a wild goose chase with no results. We were lucky though because I
think out of everything we had to clear, only two things, I think, had to be
cut.
MM: If push comes to shove, what are your favourite scenes in both
documentary and the film itself?Â
PD: My favourite scene in the movie An American Werewolf in London is when Jack visits David in
hospital. I love the performances by David Naughton and Griffin Dunne.
The dialogue is absolutely wonderful and witty, and, of course, Rick
Baker's outstanding make-up effects on Dunne are just mind-blowing. You
can't help but look at that wiggly piece of flesh on his face while he's
talking. It's hypnotic. There's a lot of stuff I love in the doc, but my
favourite part, or the bit that always makes me smile and reaffirms
that we've done something special with it, is the small piece of
never-before-seen make-up test footage that Rick gave us. The clip in question
features Rick and his crew testing the walking mechanism on the four-legged
wolf monster. It's an amazing piece of footage and I really can't wait for it
to grace the screen at the Empire in Leicester Square at ‘Frightfest’ this
year.
Â
Beware the Moon Remembering An
American Werewolf In London (2009)
Genre: Documentary Run Time: 98mins Production Co:
Kesslerboy Productions Ltd. & Bueno Productions Ltd. Distributor: Universal
Studios Home Entertainment Release Date: 2009 Written & Directed
by: Paul Davis Produced by: Romy
Alford-Sancto & Paul Davis
Featuring: John Landis, Rick Baker, David
Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne and John Woodvine.
‘Beware
The Moon: Remembering An American Werewolf In London’ retraces the making of
this remarkable film, as told by those who made it nearly thirty years ago.
Hosted by horror journalist Paul Davis, this extensive documentary uncovers the
production of the film from its conception in 1969 to its release in 1981.
Featuring brand new interviews with over twenty members of the original cast
and crew (many of which have never spoken publicly about the movie before),
rarely seen photographs and exclusive never before seen footage from the making
of the film.
Reviews/Comments:
“It’s
terrific! Very informative and very entertaining.†– John Landis
(Writer/Director of An American Werewolf In London)
“It
was so nice to see AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON treated with that much love
and respect. Truly Brilliant!†– Rick Baker (Special Effects Make-Up Artist)
“This
documentary is all heart. Made me fall in love with the movie all over again!â€
– Brad Miska, Bloody-Disgusting.com
“BEWARE
THE MOON is, by far, one of the best documentaries about a movie created.†–
DreadCentral.com
“…amazing
stuff. A huge achievement.†– Edgar Wright (Writer/Director Shaun Of The Dead
& Hot Fuzz)
“BEWARE
THE MOON was great….I loved seeing all the actors and their genuine enthusiasm
from “I knew this was going to be special†to “I had no ideaâ€. All great stuff
and truly remarkable documentary film-making…a lot of people could learn from
this!†– Greg Nicotero (KNB Effects)