BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS, a horror/comedy where vampires raid an office starring Fran Kranz of CABIN IN THE WOODS and Pedro Pascal of GAME OF THRONES, will premiere at Slamdance Film Festival 2015. The inspiration for the film is explained by filmmaker Brian James O’Connell, who talks about his comedy group Dr. God, the state of low-budget films, moving to Hollywood and breaking into the film industry, and shares the trailer for BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS, in this interview with The Insiders, hosted by Sebastian Twardosz.
GUEST BIO:
Brian James O’Connell is a working actor, writer, director, filmmaker and teacher in Los Angeles. Brian is a graduate of the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts (David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Jody Hill, Ben Best, Peter Hedges, Mary-Louise Parker, Dane DeHaan, Terrence Mann, Chris Parnell, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Jeff Nichols) and moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to follow his dreams of a career in filmmaking. Dr. God recently completed their first feature film project BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS, starring Fran Kranz, Pedro Pascal, Joey Kern, Joel Murray, and Emma Fitzpatrick, which O’Connell directed as well as co-writing the script with Dr. God. His first feature film as writer/director, KILLER VIEW, was purchased by Fabrication Films/Grindstone Entertainment. KILLER VIEW is the first feature film in history to be shot exclusively on a disposable video camera.
Recently, Brian was the Director of the 35mm feature length comedy, ANGRY WHITE MAN (Scoot McNairy, Matt Berry, Mary Birdsong, Steve Agee) which is being released June 2014 by Indica Films. Brian (or BOC as his friends call him) is now deep in development on his next feature directing gig, MIDDLE SEAT, and beginning work on writing his next feature length script, a Dr. God action comedy vehicle set in 1987 Hollywood. A regular performer, coach and teacher at the iOWest Theater in Los Angeles, Brian derives most of his approach to improv from The Deconstruction, the form created by iO’s legendary team, The Family (Miles Stroth, Neil Flynn, Ian Roberts, Matt Besser, Adam McKay, Ali Faranahkian, and Pete Hulne). Brian has been with the iOWest Theater since March of 2003 and celebrated his 10 year anniversary at the theater with Dr. God on March 2, 2013. Brian currently teaches as part of the Core Faculty at The Miles Stroth Workshop (his mentor), and is the founder of the MSW series of weekly comedy shows. With his internationally touring improv duo Billyhawk and iOWest’s legendary improv group Dr. God, Brian has performed and taught in festivals in Denver, Phoenix, Toronto, Philadelphia, Austin, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chapel Hill, NC. Well-respected as one of Los Angeles’ premier improvisers, Brian is famous for his encyclopedic knowledge of minutiae and his insane recall ability and memory.
BOC also serves as the Director of Camp Outreach and is a board member for the non-profit Camp Improv Utopia, the premiere improv, acting and training retreat in the country.
A member of the Screen Actors Guild, Brian’s on-screen credits include the festival favorites THE GIRLS’ ROOM (with Soleil Moon Frye and Wil Wheaton), RED DIRT RISING, and in the internet television series, Mr. Wrong and MODEL BALL.
ADD’L LINKS:
http://ift.tt/1u4ETPo
http://ift.tt/1Cp8TEJ
http://ift.tt/1C4yip7
http://milesimprov.com/
http://ift.tt/x9r9p9
http://ift.tt/XPKB15
http://thelip.tv
http://ift.tt/1sSmktf
More Full Episodes of The Insiders:
http://ift.tt/1tKJbeS
The Insiders Short Clips Playlist:
http://ift.tt/1tKJbva
http://ift.tt/19gRJeW
http://ift.tt/1qQBCOB
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:10 Welcome to The Insiders.
00:25 Trailer for BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS.
02:50 Introducing Brian James O’Connell, Director of BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS.
03:10 The cast of BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS.
05:35 Dr. God and improv cage matches.
08:45 The influence for the boss character from BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS.
10:00 Is it more difficult to scare the audience or make them laugh?
11:30 Do stand-up comics have a dark side to them?
12:20 How O’Connell got his start in Hollywood.
15:00 How O’Connell made his first movie on an ultra-low budget.
20:35 O’Connell’s advice to those trying to break into the industry.
22:00 Why Dr. God doesn’t have a web-series yet.
25:00 The Miles Stroth Workshop, and Stroth as a mentor for O’Connell.
26:45 Slamdance Film Festival 2015.
27:40 Thank you and goodbye.
28:00 Zombeer, video game being released in connection with BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS.