Featured image: Last Days on Mars. By Nick-Wall, courtesy of Fantastic Films.
Dublin-based Fantastic Films have emerged as one of Ireland’s leading film production companies since their establishment in the early 2000s. Focused mainly on horror, their filmography includes some superb feature-lengths, from the acclaimed Let Us Prey (2014) starring Liam Cunningham, to the sinister, unforgettable The Hallow (2015). They have also been recognised globally, with Martin McDonagh’s Six Shooter winning Best Short at the Academy Awards in 2005 and The Summit winning the editing award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013. In the run-up to their appearance at this year’s Horror Expo Dublin, co-founders John McDonnell and Brendan McCarthy sat down with me to discuss the ins and outs of managing a production company and what it’s like to scare people for a living.
How did Fantastic Films come about?
John McDonnell: I think we just decided that we wanted to stand out. We felt that there are a lot of film companies in Ireland who are all doing the same sort of thing. We wanted to establish how we define ourselves from the get-go. Both of us are mad horror nuts. We’ve been around the block a long time, we have plenty of knowledge about how the industry works [McCarthy was a screenwriter and Film Adviser to the Arts Council of Ireland; McDonnell was a founding member of the Irish Film and Television Academy]. We thought, if we’re going to go for this, we need to do something that is fun and why not do what we love? Essentially, we make the films that we would want to see on the big screen.
John, you’re Head of Production and Brendan, you’re Head of Developing and Financing – what is an average working day like?
John McDonnell: The thing is, because we’ve been around for so long in this industry, we can do each other’s job. It’s handy, especially since we both travel a lot. If one of us is busy, the other can take over for the day. From my point of view, what really works is that what Brendan enjoys doing and what I enjoy doing are separate sides of the business so it’s really an ideal working environment.
Brendan McCarthy: The most important thing we have to remember is to always keep in mind our vision for the future because you’ll never get there if you’re not aware of those plans for upcoming projects. Typically, it can take a project about four years to come together. So if you want to make films regularly, and we need to, then you always have to stay on top of those plans.
How involved are you in the making of a film – from pre-production to the final post-production stages?
Brendan: Once we all agree on the vision of a project, we like to see the directors take it from there. Our job really is to enable, so actually, it’s that four years where a lot of our work comes in – trying to get the script working well, get the right cast, right director and persuade financiers to buy into the vision that we present. But once we’ve done all that and we are confident that the project is in good hands, we are happy to step back. It’s always a bad sign if we are busy during production. Every few weeks we would meet up with the director and have a look at it so far, and discuss the standard that is being produced. You have to trust the production team, otherwise there’s a problem.
What horror movies have inspired you?
Brendan: The first film that truly scared me was The Exorcist. It scared the life out of me – to such a degree that I had to go back a week later to see it again! I loved it. I’ve always loved the likes of Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street) and Carrie is one of my all time favourites. I think at some level I’m always trying to re-make Carrie [laughs]. But there’s so many recent great horror films too, I love The Witch, and The Conjuring has some very effective jump scares.
John: The first film I saw that scared the living daylights out of me was The Poltergeist – the original one in the cinema. I just remember grabbing the sides of the seat but I was really thrilled by it, the whole experience. I remember being desperate to see Alien also. And because I was slightly underage when it came out, it was quite difficult to come across, but I got it and I absolutely adored it! I think because I’ve been involved in a lot of mainstream drama, I thought it would actually be a lot more fun to start the day thinking “how can we kill people in interesting ways?” I say to people that we go to work everyday thinking “what’s the coolest way to kill somebody on screen that hasn’t been seen before?” And that’s not a bad way to earn a living is it? [chuckles] You just get such a buzz out of it. I love being scared by films and scaring people by making films like these.
The Hallow heavily features Irish folklore in its storyline. Is it important to include Irish elements in your films?
Brendan: I think it’s something that occurs naturally – if it feels appropriate. For instance, with Wakewood, we never purposely went into the project thinking ‘Ireland 1985’ because it can very easily become a distraction. If a setting or a location is too specific it can actually take away from the story. Horror films aren’t about a specific setting, they’re much more concerned with the human story behind it. If we’re looking at The Hallow, people who have been to Ireland, who live in Ireland, who recognise various landmarks or whatever, it’s a little bonus to spot those things. But Wakewood, for instance, is recognised as a British film, internationally speaking – and that’s fine, it doesn’t really bother us.
John: All films have to play on a world stage anyway. With The Hallow at least, it was wonderful to mine this Celtic folklore that it is so rich in Ireland. But at the same time, it doesn’t mean it has to be Irish. The best films are set within their world and we would be of the view that our films are set comfortably in their own world and whether that is Ireland or not is not really important.
Brendan: One of the debates we had with Hammer Films when we got involved with them in the production of Wakewood was whether we should place typical ‘Irish’ landmarks around, like a church, or a few priests – that sort of thing. But we felt that that really shouldn’t take priority. Once you introduce those things, the film starts to pull in a different direction. So we just said, look, let’s ignore that. We can mention that the town is religious but once you start to delve into that sort of thing, it begins to deviate from the main storyline. Wakewood at its heart is about a couple, rather foolishly, trying to resurrect their daughter. The Irish cultural context falls second in priority.
John: Generally we try to avoid the 5 P’s, which are Pubs, Pints, Priests, Paedophiles and Potatoes. In other words, we want to avoid those cliches. Our stories are international and if we do them well, they should affect all audiences to the same extent. As Brendan said about Wakewood; a couple in New Zealand should feel the same effect as a couple watching in Donegal. It’s really about a loss of a child, it’s the human aspect.
So Fantastic Films are set to show a special screening at the Horror Expo. Can you tell us anything about that or is it all strictly classified?
John: We’re going to show a few bits from projects that haven’t been released, it’s very exciting. It’s great to engage with the horror community and it’s interesting to meet professors of horror, theatre writers – it’s wonderful to take part in something like this and just ‘nerd off’.
The Summit, a documentary that focuses on the tragic deaths of 11 men on Mount Everest, differs from your previous ventures in horror. What attracted you to this project?
John: On the surface it doesn’t feel like it’s linked to horror, but what happened that day at K2 was terribly horrific and it’s not actually that different from what we normally do. We’re both fans of documentaries. There was a great team behind that project, and its tone is actually very similar to our horror films.
Six Shooter is another success story for Fantastic Films. Do you think that winning an Oscar for Best Short Film in 2005 set a higher standard for your projects that came after?
John: That was a wonderful experience. But it was actually around the time that we decided to properly concentrate on making horror films. It was great to work with a genius like Martin McDonagh on that project, he’s so intelligent and a great director to work with. And there’s some pretty horrific things in Six Shooter, like exploding cows and psychopaths with guns and an assortment of other things that we associate with any of McDonagh’s later films and again I would argue, that a short film project like this was not a million miles away from the stuff that we do now. It has a lot of horror elements to it.
Are there any other films you’ve worked with that you are particularly proud of?
John: The next one! We have two very interesting ones about to be released – I Am Not a Serial Killer, that will be premiered in Cork. It is just an amazing film, Christopher Lloyd stars and I feel that it is the performance of his career.
Then we have P.O.V. coming out next year, with Shauna McDonald from The Descent. There’s rumours we may be showing clips from those at the Horror Expo…
Do you think horror films are being taken more seriously these days?
John: Horror as a genre is growing very popular but at the same time, it’s vastly underestimated. There is a perception among some, that horror is kind of …sub drama. It is looked down by a lot of people and we think that is such an unfair assumption to make. To make a good horror film takes enormous amounts of talent and skill and we try to surround ourselves with the most talented people we can work with.
What do you both think is the reason behind the success of Fantastic Films?
Brendan: You have to keep it fun, otherwise you lose interest and so does the audience, and we always try to be true to the genre we’re working with and produce films that can be welcomed by cinemas internationally.
John: We always think of audience – and I suppose in a nutshell that is why we’re successful, and because we ourselves are part of our audience, making films isn’t really a tedious job. We make films that we want to see. Sometimes you come across films that just feel like a product and we can’t do that. At the end of the day, we’ve enjoyed our success because we love what we do. We’re incredibly passionate about each of our projects. And we’re complete fanboys too!
Fantastic Films will be attending the Horror Expo this year to show exclusive material from their upcoming projects. The Horror Expo takes place Sunday, 30th October at the Freemasons Grand Lounge, Dublin 2. Tickets priced at 42 euro and are available at eventbite.ie.
