Hi all this is George Cook of the deadwarseries.com. Please check out my interview with Tyler Glodt, the director of the recently released zombie comedy Buck Wild. Check out the crazy trailer first and then read our interview below.
TDWS (The Dead War Series): Please let us know a little about yourself and how you came to do a zombie comedy?
TYLER: Matt (co-writer and 'Craig' from the film) and I are longtime friends from Texas. He was in my first short film, A GLARE. Since that time, we've been making movies, shorts, music videos, you name it with each other. Several years back we made a feature on his ranch and learned a lot of hard lessons about filmmaking. After the experience was over, we were infinitely wiser and naturally wanted to make another film. So on a Wednesday night in 2010, Matt and I met at an International House of Pancakes on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood and formulated the story using locations we knew we had and characters we either personally knew or had met and thus, BUCK WILD was born. We love comedies...especially buddy comedies and knew that that is what we wanted to do. We really wanted nothing to be off-limits (comedically speaking) so we threw in slap-stick, blue humor, farce and lots and lots of male nudity. We're also huge fans of Dead Alive, Evil Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead, etc.
Actor's Jarrod Pistilli ('Jerry') and Mark Leslie Ford ('Billy Ray') inspired their own characters. I met Jarrod Pistilli several months before that fateful Wednesday night at IHOP via Craigslist. I was in search of a roommate and Jarrod showed up in a tweed coat with leather patches on the elbows. Needless-to-say, he's a character. Don't believe me...watch BUCK WILD because in a lot of ways...that's Jarrod. By-the-way...as I type this I can hear him in his room playing some sort of Native American flute...I kid you not!!! Mark Ford was in our previous film and being British, struggled with his accent. He was such a trooper on our first movie (at one point wrangling cattle that production had accidentally let loose) that we had to ask him to be in BUCK WILD. We thought it would be a fun reversal to make him British which was great for Mark and his accent.
TDWS: Without giving away too much give us a synopsis of the movie.TYLER: Craig Thompson's idyllic hunting trip with his two buddies and unstable cousin is wrecked after hearing that his fiancée and best man-to-be have been cavorting behind his back. To make matters worse, Craig's cousin appears to be on the verge of a murderous rampage, while a rapidly spreading Chupacabra virus is transforming locals into the undead. After taking drastic measures to protect themselves, the boys must put aside their differences to survive an insidious hillbilly gang and impending zombie melee.
TDWS: The trailer for the movie is crazy. For those that have not seen the movie does it live up to or surpass what's in the trailer?
TYLER: The trailer is a pretty good representation of what you're gonna see in the movie. However, there are some great moments that didn't make it in the trailer that you can only see in the film.
TDWS: Was there anything that was originally supposed to be in the movie that was taken out because it may have gone too far?
TYLER: There were a couple scenes that were left out but not because they went too far. There was a great scene between Jerry and the Chupacabra that found it's way on the cutting-room floor. I believe it might be in the deleted scenes section of the DVD.
TDWS: How did you go about getting the movie together when it comes to financing and casting?
TYLER: Matt and his father had some investors initially interested in the film. They really liked the Texas-vibe as well as the Chupacabra element in the script. However, there was still a lot of favors and begging. :-) Casting was pretty straight forward. Once we raised the budget, we began casting. We had written the roles of 'Jerry,' 'Billy Ray' and 'Craig' for Jarrod Pistilli, Mark Ford and Matt respectively. Jarrod introduced us to Dru Lockwood ('Tom') who introduced us to Isaac Harrison ('Lance') who introduced us to Meg Cionni ('Candy'). We knew we were going to be roughing it out in Texas, so we really wanted the cast to be friends...on top of all being excellent actors.
We had trouble casting the role of 'Clyde' and hadn't hired someone up until a week before shooting. We wanted an actor with bravado and an authentic Texas flair that could be both funny and scary. One of the crew members knew Joe Stevens and sent him the script. He put himself on tape and completely nailed it. it was a no-brainer after that. For 'Billy Ray's' posy Matt had some friends from college in mind that were perfect. I wasn't originally supposed to play 'Officer Shipley' but Matt pushed me to do it as I occasionally acted in some of the things we did together.
TDWS: The movie has already been released, how is it doing?
TYLER: I'm not really sure! :-) It's been positively received. Hopefully more and more people will check it out in the coming months.
TDWS: Where can people see the movie?
You can buy/rent it on Amazon , iTunes as well as other online rental services. It will continue to be rolled out in the coming month.
TDWS: Is there anything you would like to say in closing?
TYLER: Final words...GET BUCKED UP AND SEE BUCK WILD!!!
STREAMING VIDEO--------DVD
