A hot upcoming genre effort on the heels of several previous projects, the upcoming short "I'm Everywhere" is set to become a key component in a slowly-expanding vampire universe of their own creation. Now, with the launch of an Indiegogo crowdfunder to bring it to life, I'm joined by director Chai Simone, Executive Producer Lourdes Viray, and Lead Actor Landon Munoz to talk about their plans with the short and the crowdfunder.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First, let's talk about the new film 'I'm Everywhere,' where did the inspiration for the film come from? Were there any unique stories about its conception?
Lourdes: The inspiration came from the time I was filming a student vampire short horror “Allure to Darkness” as director. I pitched an idea of a short film series within its own universe of vampires this includes backgrounds for each character and their relationship with each other a few days before the shoot to each cast and crew member. I was struggling to come up with a backstory for Victor until I had dealt with a toxic setting, which resulted in my self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and resignation from the space. During the pandemic, I was alone with my own thoughts that many memories of someone who is similar to Victor kept popping up. During the rough cuts of “Allure to Darkness”, my professors and colleagues are enthralled by Landon Munoz’s character, Victor, asking about Victor’s background and when they can know more about Munoz’s character. I told them to wait for another installment. Three years later, it’s happening! It was tough coming back into the space of writing with Chai and Landon about Victor that I put myself in mental health resources in order to cope with my trauma that surrounded the conception of Victor.
Landon: When Lourdes came to me about the concept and concerns of making a prequel to ‘Allure To Darkness' ', I was immediately sold! We started bouncing around ideas, I pitched the idea for Chai to come on board and here we are!
Chai: It’s all Lourdes! Her mind is amazing and from the stuff she’s experienced, she creates this whole world with these interesting characters.
Me: Is there anything from your childhood that helped to flesh out the characterizations?
Chai: For me, it was definitely vampires from all corners of pop culture that helped us shape what the tone and voice of this installment is gonna be. Lately, I’ve been getting into the 90s and 2000s dark fantasy action films as a source of comfort, entertainment, but also inspiration. I’m a HUGE fan of those sorts of movies, like “The Crow,” “Spiderman,” “Blade,” “The Matrix,” “Queen of the Damned” and others like that. I love the pulpiness of how movies were edited, their bombastic soundtracks and style, and all that good stuff, so I really wanted to use those to help shape and inspire our movie! Not to mention Victor, who, since we’re giving his character the reigns on this one, needed some more inspiration in order to really flesh out his character. Definitely, my own experiences with narcissists and the observation of the “energy vampire” in media helped us shape Victor in what it was he wanted, how he perceives his world, and his relationships. For him, definitely “A Clockwork Orange,” “Vampire’s Kiss,” “The Sopranos,” and “American Psycho” were our biggest influences for Victor.
Lourdes: I grew up watching horror films and vampire-horror films/television series such as “Dracula” (1992), “Queen of the Damned” (2002), and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” tv series (1997-2003). And then it eventually expanded to “Twilight” (2008) and “The Vampire Diaries” (2009-2017). I’ve carried a bunch of trauma prior to directing “Allure to Darkness” ranging from death, bullying, and any toxicity in places and people that have worsened my mental health. One of them is where Victor’s background story slowly fleshes out after I’ve been hurt by someone like Victor to where I’ve struggled with self-harm at one point in my life. I used the settings in the film industry mixed with vampire mythology and my trauma within my personal life.
Landon: Growing up, I was always a huge fan of horror films. Before I was able to watch R-rated films, “Halloween” was my favorite time to really dive into these villains of cinema, and make them my own. I feel I got to embody Ghost Face from “Scream”, Freddy, Jason, etc. Fast forward later into my film career, the first feature film I got to play in is “Christmas Slasher” (release date TBD), in which I portrayed the lead's boyfriend. Now getting to be on the opposite side of the playing field. The horror genre as a whole is my favorite to be in!
Me: With a cast of experienced and talented indie actors, how'd you settle on the cast getting involved in the film? What about the actors were you looking for to bring the characters to life?
Chai: I think first of all this production is very lucky to have a strong antihero/villain type at its core, being played by Landon Munoz, who also happens to be my husband! So having him at the front of the film, we all knew that we already have a strong foundation and assurance that he can carry this film and bring that tyrannical, larger-than-life energy the role of Victor calls for. For the rest of the casting, we definitely needed some strong voices. How we started developing the other characters was basically, me and Lourdes would have in-depth conversations about what the film’s meaning is, and what we want to say underneath it all. In that, we also would start designing the characters. I’m a huge nut about Pinterest, so we made in-depth Pinterest mood boards to base those characters off of so we know what their essence and aesthetic would be, at least starting out. From there, the audition process went by really smoothly, we got a lot of really vivacious and fantastic video auditions! Through that process, we were able to cast our characters pretty quickly; there were some tough calls and choices, but we’re proud of the actors that we chose, a few of whom I turned out to know personally! Even one of the actresses, Waverly who’s playing Chanel, pointed this out to me--turns out we went to and graduated from the same high school in the same year!! What are the odds? But on that note, we’ve been so blessed to have a production that in its cast and crew, seems to have this great karma and aura about it to where things are just falling into place like that. Each actor brings something really big and really purposeful to the film--with Waverly bringing this unique edge and spunk to Chanel’s character, who also has the MOST choreography and action. Shannen, who plays Jane, really brings an extra added humanity, awareness, and personality to the role. Nick, who plays Evan, I sort of had in mind because I knew he already has this really fierce sense of protecting others, but seeing from his audition he could really portray this in a really real way where, in character, he didn’t want to overstep anything, but something inside him reacts to Victor and kind of snaps. And we were really lucky to have Sabrina on board as Thanas, which has a lot of the plot on her shoulders. Thanas is a really strange, powerful, and witchy character who’s super important to the plot and Victor’s story, so it was integral that the actress could pull this off, and thankfully, Sabrina really does. I’m literally so excited for you guys to see it, but she has this really great way of inciting this odd sort of ethereal nature to the role, to the point where it was actually frightening, to say the least. Me and Lourdes were definitely daunted by the hypnotic performance she brought, so her as Thanas is a match made in heaven.
All-in-all, we wanted every actor to reel in different qualities of strength, whether it’s being protective, learning lessons, manipulation, physical strength--things like that, and we want the audience to be able to resonate with those qualities.
Lourdes: Giving the reigns to Landon as lead actor pave the way for me and Chai on what to look for in actors and see how their characters would react in real-life situations in any place whether it’d be personal or professional settings. About bringing characters to life, me and Chai have discussed how each different type of character would react or act in a situation where it’s toxic and problematic and brought the blueprint to the actors that are auditioning. This includes a history where filmmakers and actors have to deal with a problematic person on set.
Landon: I didn't have much to do with the casting process, Chai and Lourdes have a keen eye on what they were looking for. Although I did see a handful of the self-tapes, I do have to say, boy was there some competition for the roles!
Me: How did you design the crowdfunding campaign for the film? What did you go through to give the film the best chance of being funded?
Chai: We wanted the campaign to be as beefed-up and reliable as possible to our viewers, supporters, and backers, so we’re giving it our all. You can find a lot on there, not everything, of course, but a lot of collages and excerpts to things like our storyboard (drawn by me, obviously), and we even made a little promo video to show our beautiful faces! At the moment and thanks to the help of our executive producer Destiny Soria, who we were lucky enough to have brought on to the project, we’re pushing outreach as much as we can! Sorry if we annoy anyone, but you’ll probably find us all over the film Facebook groups here pretty soon. For the most part, the challenge is definitely finding people who are genuinely interested in our project, what it means to us, and what it’s going to be. Because it’s a dark fantasy horror, and you’d be surprised, it’s been a tougher sell to people, so we’re putting as much fun stuff into our Indiegogo as we can, including originally designed merch, by me, movie props, and even a speaking role! But at the end of the day, sharing is our best bet to getting to our goal.
Lourdes: I created a pitch deck prior to contacting Landon returning as Victor and Chai being introduced as director with various ideas of what perks donors get. I consulted with Fran Padunan, Brylle Gaviola, Destiny Soria, and Chai about what needs to be popped out more, and how to put yourself out there. I am grateful to have the cast and crew on the project that has resonated with each and every one of them on the story. We are using the movie “I’m Everywhere” to good use with marketing online or in real life!
Landon: It has been a group effort in reaching as many people as we can! Advice from Fran, Brylle, and Destiny has made a huge impact on our strategy for getting outreach and crowdfunding. Chai and Lourdes are huge proprietors in the creation of content, keeping schedules in order, emails, interviews, podcasts, etc! The list goes on! I like to help out where I can, as an actor, by creating content and sharing through social media.
Me: What are you hoping to achieve with the film's release once the campaign is finished?
Chai: I want people to see something that genuinely excites them, that feels like an outlet to anyone who’s worked with narcissists (see how we used a vampire to represent energy vampires?) in their industry, the conflict that comes with that, but also to see an entertaining story about this guy who’s at the end of the day, just really absurd and doesn’t fully realize how much he’s in the way of his own objectives. I want audiences to come out of screenings and say “Wow--that was fun! That was a crazy movie, but now I want more!” Not to mention, like I spoke of in the previous question, I’d like to tug on that old nostalgia bone a little and bring back the pulpy, sometimes campy entertainment that those stylistic 2000s movies brought to us back in the day.
Lourdes: With experiencing a problematic person like Victor. I want the audience to not feel alone, to heal and move on from toxic people or places. Given that it takes a long time to heal from.
Landon: I hope we hit all of our goals, as in getting the proper funding, all the shoot days go as planned, we as actors hit all of our marks, and the crew achieves their vision in creating this piece. What is seen on the screen can then be translated to the audience in such a way that this collaborative project worked to bring the feelings and emotions that Lourdes portrayed in her inspiration. With Chai's eye for details visually, this will be one hell of a treat! Buckle in, ladies and gentlemen!
Me: Lastly, what else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers? Thank you again for your time!
Chai: Oof, a lot, too much, and not enough, if you know what I mean. I’m living it up though, there’s a lot going on in my life at the moment, including taking on a third job to help support my creative endeavors. But, at the moment, my plans are to give this film my all (it’s my number one priority at the moment) and then once we’re out on the festival circuit, I’m jumping back into helping others create their projects, wherever it is I fit. I’m typically found in the art department, so anything from creature design to storyboarding to screenwriting is on the table, but I’m also going to be returning to acting, which is going to be exciting! I’ll also be working on some music videos for my friend Nick who plays Evan and is also the frontman for Futillitarian Librarians, and on my dark fantasy revenge horror comic series Holy Underground. There’s definitely a lot on the table!!
Lourdes: Hmm. For film, I’m still brewing with a lot of ideas. It will come to me at 3am but I’ll let you guys know haha. When I’m not filming for a film production, I’m active on social media doing makeup tutorials and beauty videos on tik tok and Instagram @lourdesalden. I have a collection of YouTube videos as well as Halloween-related tutorials at Lourdes Alden YouTube channel!
Landon: I'm always creating content, whether it be music, comedy, photography, or film. Visit my website at Landonm.biz or find me on Instagram. I will say I am currently working on a screenplay of my own. As I near finishing it I will release more information on my socials, so stay tuned!
To follow the campaign online, check out the Indiegogo campaign:
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