An emerging director in the Canadian indie scene, James Watts has come together into a solid start in the genre with the new feature Death Trip, co-written with Kelly Watts. Now, in honor of its release from Gravitas Ventures and Kamikaze Dogfight, I talk with him about his early experience, his directing process and the making of 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?
James Watts: Honestly, like Dawson Leery and many other 90s kids, I was obsessed with Steven Spielberg.
When I was a kid, they would also push a lot of special FX or “making of” movies books for children at the Scholastic Book Fair. I think that it was the one-two punch of devouring those and watching Steven Spielberg hang out with Animaniacs that got me interested.
There’s a reason why so many millennials and Gen-X kids wanted to be directors. When we were young, directors were getting all the press. It was kind of unavoidable.
Me: Were you always into genre films growing up? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
JW: In Ottawa, Canada, there was an exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Nature where they would show different clips from movies that featured different kinds of insects - like a video watching station or something. One of the clips was from the Vincent Price Fly - the scene where he takes off the sheet and Patricia Owens sees him for the first time all “Fly-ed out” and she lets out a huge scream. I watched that on repeat as a kid - it was easily my favourite part of the Museum.
The truth about me is that I get scared really easy but I’m also a bit masochistic, so I would continuously seek out the “most extreme” movies I could watch.
I love genre movies - the broader the better. They always age well and tend to be a more accurate representation of an era than anything else.
Me: How would you describe your directorial style? Who are some of your influences regardless of genre?
JW: When I look at my Letterboxd account from the year we made Death Trip, the two directors that I watched the most of were Robert Altman and Brian De Palma.
I‘ve always liked Robert Altman (probably because every actor says they like Robert Altman) and if there’s one notable style element I stole from anyone for this movie, it would be the way he directed actors and mixed dialogue in his movies. I guess that’s two. Anyway, this is a horrible influence because (even though I love it) it is famously one of the most objectively annoying things about his movies.
The big thing I stole from Brian De Palma is probably his ability and willingness to steal from Alfred Hitchcock.
It’s so easy! No one really does it and De Palma was one of the best to ever do it! So steal away!
Me: Having worked as a voice actor on several projects earlier, what made you decide to take the leap into filmmaking and directing?
JW: When I was young, I went to Canterbury High School (which is like a Fame-style arts school in Ottawa) and I was training to be an actor. During that time, I got two roles on two different cartoons as recurring characters.
At one point in my angst-filled youth, I took a hard left turn and proclaimed “I do not want to act anymore, I am a director”. Embarrassing in retrospect because, currently, I am not comfortable calling myself a director out loud for whatever reason and who was I to “retire” from a profession at 13?! The moral of the story is you can do both - I’m doing voice work again and I really wish I had never stopped…I really could’ve used that money.
Me: That brings us to your latest project, "Death Trip." What can you tell us about the project?
JW: It is the first feature I have ever made and I got to make it with the smartest person alive, Kelly Kay Hurcomb. We are both very insecure people in a lot of ways, so I’m naturally uncomfortable saying that you’ll love it, but I will say this about it: the vibe is good, the acting is good and the soundtrack is good.
Other than that, you can be the judge.
I’ll also say this: watch it and if you don’t like it, I’ll be more than happy to talk with you about it :-)
Also, it might just be the greatest film ever made.
Me: Being the co-writer on the film as well, where did the inspiration for the film come from? How did the relationship with your co-writer Kelly Kay Hurcomb evolve over the course of writing it?
JW: The inspiration came from Kelly.. 100%.
This is how we work: she tells me the story, I write the treatment and then she does the most invaluable job of them all, she’ll tell me what’s lame.
Without her, this movie would be nowhere near as cool as it is.
Me: What was the set like while shooting the film? How did the cast and crew react to the type of film being made?
JW: The thing I am the most objectively proud of with this movie is the performances. With the exception of Kelly, no one had any real experience with acting. We rehearsed for, at least, three months leading up to the shoot and when we went to film it, everyone what in their element.
The other thing is that we didn’t write the characters in full detail, only the broad strokes. So, in the original script the names of the leads were “Ross”, “Rachel”, “Phoebe” and “Monica”. We had everyone use their own name and develop their characters in a way that made them the most comfortable.
So, we rehearsed the movie with the four leads and I would write down all the best stuff they said. Then Kelly and I would look at those notes and create the shooting script from that. In a way, the entire movie was improvised but none of that improvisation happened when we were actually shooting, if that makes sense.
Me: Do you recall having any odd or funny on-set stories about yourself or any of the other cast/crew members?
JW: This is less funny than it is miraculous; during the filming of the final scene on the ice, we needed someone to drive a snowmobile across the frozen lake and now week before the shoot, we still didn’t have anyone. I was wandering around the street near where we were filming and I see this dude just hanging by his car.
I asked him out of the blue, “you have a snowmobile?”
“Sure”
“You think you could drive it on the frozen lake next weekend?”
“Alright”
So, when we set up the shot the following week, I explain to him what he has to do and he just nods.
I ask him, “You think the ice is thick enough today?”
“I dunno, I’ve never driven this on the frozen lake before. Might fall through.”
Then he shrugged and drove off. That’s the coolest thing I have ever seen anyone do in my entire life.
Me: Lastly, what else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers? Thank you again for your time!
JW: We loved working with Kamikaze through the distribution process of this project and we have two more movies we desperately want to make with them, so here’s us crossing our fingers.
If Kelly and I get to exist in a place where we get a small budget to make a movie, and that movie makes enough that we can talk someone into helping us make another one, then we’ll be happy.
I will say this though…if you watch Death Trip and you find yourself thinking, “I wish there was a whole movie of this” during the scene where a woman at the party corners Tatyana and starts to peel at her skin… you are in luck.
AND thank you, Don :-)
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