An upcoming name in the indie scene, Robert Cuffley has worked in a wide range of genres while still sporting a few touches to the genre with a handful of shorts sprinkled into his other work. Now, with his first full-length horror effort Bright Hill Road being released, I talk with him about his start in the business, his style of directing and working on the film itself.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, where did you get the urge to go into directing?
Robert Cuffley: It’s going to sound cliché, but the moment I wanted to do this with my life was when I first saw Star Wars in 1977. That’s right, I was there and it was fabulous. I was too young to know what a career in film meant or entailed, but that was the first urge.
Me: Were you always into genre films growing up? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
RC: I am into genre films for the specific reason that I was banned from watching them as a youngster. Horror was a forbidden fruit, which made it all the more tantalizing. Absolute earliest memory was Kolchak: The Night Stalker and also seeing commercials for The Shining that grabbed my eyeballs and held them (even though it would be years before I could see it). In the meantime and thanks to VHS rentals, I started with Cronenberg: The Brood, Scanners and especially Videodrome.
Me: Having worked on various aspects of film production, do you have any particular preference for working on any?
RC: I’m a director and a sometimes screenwriter. Directing I love. Less so with screenwriting. It’s more of a means to an end. I’m also new to composing, which is the first and only thing other than directing I’ve fallen in love with.
Me: With plenty of short films early in your career, what tools and skills do you acquire working on those that transferred to feature-film projects?
RC: I’ve made five feature films and only started making shorts after growing tired of years of development between features. It can take forever to finance a film. What drew me to shorts was technology. How, with our smartphones, we can make shorts that I would have drooled over as a youngster when I was saving money to buy super-8 cartridges and then more money to process them. With our smartphones, we now have amazing tools to practice with and to hone our skills.
Me: So, that brings us to your new film 'Bright Hill Road.' Where did the inspiration for the film come from?
RC: Our Producer, Colin Sheldon, said to me, do you have any ideas that are horror related. That he had a way of producing something in short order (which never happens) as long as the concept was contained. I went to Susie Moloney, a novelist and screenwriter and asked. She had a few rough ideas sketched out and the concept of Bright Hill Road stuck with me. So I said, let’s go with this one.
Me: Having worked with writer Susie Moloney before on the short "Romi," did that allow an easier time during the writing process knowing her style and approach?
RC: Susie has been a novelist forever, but writing for film is different and she quickly developed a knack for it. And we both love horror, so we’re joined at the hip.
Me: With the small cast required for the film, did that help or hinder the process you've acquired so far? How did the cast and crew react to the type of film being made?
RC: Though the meager size of the crew initially made me nervous, I quickly began to see it as advantageous. We were in a tiny hotel, sleeping and shooting there. It had skinny hallways, which would have bottlenecked with congestion had we a bigger crew. Also, sometimes it’s easier to just make something happen as opposed to trying to track down a particular department head.
Me: Do you recall having any odd or funny on-set stories about yourself or any of the other cast/crew members?
RC: I don’t know about funny, but there was something sweet and genuine about everyone staying in the hotel (sometimes in the very room) we were filming in. People would stagger out of bed looking like zombies, shuffle to find coffee (which was subpar, incidentally), then just start filming. If you’ve been on larger sets, you’ll know that this rarely happens. It was like summer camp.
The makeup hair team had a “find a ghost” app on their phone. They promptly found one standing by the window in Michael Eklund’s room.
Me: Lastly, what else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers? Thank you again for your time!
RC: We are scheduled to film the feature version of the short, “ROMI”, Susie’s and my first project together this spring/summer. It has had some excellent festival response and since it is also quite contained, it’s the obvious choice to film during COVID 19.
And thank YOU for the interview.
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