SLIFF 2016 Interview: Griff Furst – Director of COLD MOON

Director Griff Furst’s COLD MOON screens Friday, Nov. 4 at 7:00pm at The Tivoli Theater as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. Furst and COLD MOON screenwriter Jack Snyder will be in attendance. Ticket information can be found HERE.

The supernatural crime thriller COLD MOON tells the story of Nathan Redfield (Josh Stewart), an arrogant man of great wealth who has either lost his mind or is being tormented by terrible forces beyond even the most paranoid of imaginings. In a sleepy Southern town, the Larkins have suffered a terrible tragedy, but the family is now about to face an even more grievous trial. As traffic lights blink an eerie warning, a ghostly apparition prowls the streets, and corpses erupt from the graves of the local cemetery in an implacable march of terror. And beneath the murky surface of the river, a shifting, vaguely human shape slowly takes form, rising up from the deep to seek a terrible vengeance. Featuring a cast that includes Frank Whaley, Christopher Lloyd, Candy Clark, and “The Room” auteur Tommy Wiseau, COLD MOON is co-written by native St. Louisan Jack Snyder (“Ghost Image,” “Fatal Call”). The film is adapted from a novel by Michael McDowell, hailed as “the finest writer of paperback originals in America” by master of horror Stephen King.

Griff Furst took the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks about COLD MOON.

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman October 26th, 2016

Tom Stockman: You’re coming to the screening in St. Louis on the 4^th. Have you ever been to St. Louis before?

Griff Furst: Yes, I shot a movie there in 2006 for director Jack Snyder who is from St. Louis. GHOST IMAGE it was called, I had a good time doing it.

TS: I’ve interviewed Jack.

GF: Yes he’s a good friend of mine and we’ve done tons of projects together and are planning on doing more.

TS: How did the script for COLD MOON come about? It was based on a novel, correct?

GF: It came about because I had we re-watched BEETLEJUICE one Halloween and remembered how solid and unique the story was.  I looked up the screenwriter, Michael McDowell, and found out that he was also a novelist. I touched base with his manager and find out that he had written a bunch of novels, many of which have never been produced as screenplays. So, I read all of his novels and ended up purchasing the rights to a few of them. COLD MOON was the first to turn into a movie and I’m working on having a couple more of them filled as well.

TS: I spotted a visual BEETLEJUICE reference in the film COLD MOON. That snake monster with a Beetlejuice-type head pops up.

GF: Yes, that’s actually straight from the book. That author Michael McDowell wrote the screenplay for THINNER and he also wrote some episodes of Tales From the Darkside. He wrote BEETLEJUICE and NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS after his novels have been written, so in his movies you see a lot of similarities, and characters with the same names. That snake creature for one, you recognize things that he had already created in novel form, modified and used in the later movies.

TS: I was looking at your filmography. You’ve directed a lot of horror movies, especially a lot of monster movies. Do you prefer these more character-driven horror films like COLD MOON, or do you like the monster stuff?

GF: They’re both fun. I prefer character-driven stuff. I am an actor and I come from theater and I love creating a scene and working with actors as opposed as opposed to working with CGI. But there is some fun to be had with the B-movie monster movies as well especially today because they are so self-aware, you can have a lot of fun. But I definitely prefer the more straightforward horror. COLD MOON is something of a supernatural mystery thriller.

TS: Right, it’s more of a ghost story. Are you a lifelong horror movie fan?

GF: Oh yes. When I was a kid I had every horror movie I could find. I had an extensive collection of VHS tapes of horror movies and I would just wear those tapes out. Loved them.  And I still do. Anytime a good horror movie comes out, I am first in line.

TS: Who are some of your favorite horror film directors?

GF: Alfred Hitchcock of course. Genius. I really like the stuff that Marcus Nispel has been doing. Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino are also great horror directors. I also loved the Wes Craven stuff growing up, but a lot of it is just nostalgia, especially when you get high up in a series like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. Spielberg is a great horror director though he hasn’t done a lot of that. JAWS is it such a great horror film.

TS: You’ve acted in a lot of films. Who are some of the directors that you work with as an actor that have inspired you?

GF: This past year I worked with Antoine Fuqua on THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and with John Lee Hancock on THE FOUNDER. I’ve worked with some fantastic directors. Reecntly I’ve had great luck with directors such as Glenn Ficarra and John Requa who directed me and FOCUS and I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS. Those guys are so much fun.

TS: Let’s talk some more about COLD MOON. Where was the film shot?

GF: It was shot outside of New Orleans in a town called Slidell which is close to where the novel is set. We also shot a small portion of it in Pensacola.

TS: What were some of the challenges in making this particular film?

GF: Whatever you’re shooting a movie in a limited amount of time, which most independent films are, the challenges are to get that studio-level quality in a fraction of the time that a studio would allow, probably less than half. That’s always a challenge on any production. We shot this movie in about 18 days but it felt like more of a 60-day shoot.

TS: You do have a great cast, which of course always helps.

GF: Yes, I think they nailed all of their roles.

TS: How long was Christopher Lloyd on the set?

GF: Just two days. We had two long days with Chris.

TS: How the heck Tommy Wiseau get involved in your film and what was he like?

GF: He’s a nut but he does it on purpose.  I think he’s a lot more sane that he leads on to. One of the co-producers on the film was friends with Tommy because they used to work out together in Los Angeles and Tommy just happen to be in the neighborhood with one of the screenings of THE ROOM. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment, offbeat thing. Tommy came by and had all these wild ideas. He wanted to have a knife fight and a big dramatic sequence that didn’t exist on paper. But he just ended up doing what he did. He has a good sense of humor, he’s a funny guy.

TS: Yes, I’ve interviewed him. I can’t tell whether he’s in on the joke or not, but I guess it doesn’t matter. What about Candy Clark? Tell me about working with her.

GF: She really busted her ass on this film. It was a very emotional role. Her character is in a perpetual state of grief pretty much the whole time. She’s not a method actress, but she may have been borderline method on this shoot, being in a constant state that her character is in after losing her granddaughter. She was fantastic though. A real pro and team player, really down to make the best movie that could possibly be made.

TS: And Josh Stewart. He looked so familiar. I guess I recognized him from THE COLLECTOR movies.

GF: He was in those yes. He was also in THE DARK KNIGHT. He’s done a ton of stuff.  He’s got a really nice role in INSIDIOUS 4 which is coming out next year.

TS: Did you allow your actors to have much leeway with their roles, or did you insist on sticking to the script?

GF: I love for my actors to bring anything to the table because if they’re doing their job well, which they were, they know more about these characters than I do. But no one really expressed a desire to go off of the script despite permission from me to do so. As far as far as dialogue and story goes, it was pretty much on page.

TS: How has COLD MOON been received so far? 

GF: We’ve shown it at five or six festivals so far. I’ve read some very positive reviews and some negative reviews. Nobody seems to be on the fence about it. But people who get what it is really love the movie. People who are expecting something like THE CONJURING or INSIDIOUS may not get it because it’s not exactly that genre of horror. It’s more of a Tales From the Crypt kind of feel.

TS: What’s next for you?

GF: We’ve done so much since COLD MOON. I’ve just finished a Hallmark Christmas movie which was quite the change of pace. We shot that in Atlanta and are just wrapping that up. Then we’re doing another one of Michael’s novel called How Bitter the Blood. We also have deals coming in from sci-fi and Hallmark so we’re keeping busy.

TS: You’re going to keep acting?

GF: Oh yes, I have several jobs lined up. That’s what I do a lot of the time and I love it.

TS: Well good luck with COLD MOON and I hope you have a good time here in St. Louis at the St. Louis international film Festival.

GF: Thanks a lot