Paul Solet – Interview

A week ago, the kick-ass Toronto After Dark Film Festival ended another terrific run at the infamous Bloor theatre in Toronto with its intense closing gala film, Grace. Sadly, having been in Louisiana with Donny Broussard shooting our short, ”Based on Actual Events,” I missed a good chunk of the film festival I can’t get enough of. Luckily, I was able to catch writer/director Paul Solet’s stunning feature film debut that has had genre fans buzzing about its controversial subject matter since it premiered at the Sundance film festival earlier this year.

I was also lucky enough to meet Mr. Solet in person and was grateful that he was able to take some time to answer some questions for KillerFilm.

Honest to God, this man is probably one of the most humble and charismatic horror directors out there and after watching Grace, I will forever be a fan of his work.

I hope you enjoy Paul’s ancedotes, humor, and much welcomed honesty as much as I did.

Check out the interview below!

1. Considering this is your feature film debut you have written and directed, did this story stem from anything personal that happened in your life?

When I was 19 my mother told me I had a twin that didn’t make it.  That was when I think the subject matter became sort of fundamentally compelling to me.  But it wasn’t until a few years later that I was having a conversation about the medical science behind the film that the creative genesis of the story took place.  I was talking with someone about the real medical phenomenon wherein someone loses their unborn child, and decides to carry it to term and deliver naturally anyway.  It was just such a powerful jumping off point.  It said so much about the commitment a mother makes to a child, and the sanctity of that connection.

2. From a female’s point of view, you really seem to understand and convey a woman’s strong connection with her baby effortlessly. Were you aiming to please the female horror aficionadas?

I was aiming to be true to story.  The genre convention of neglecting or alienating half your audience is just stupid and boring.  I’m tired of every woman in every horror film being either a whore, a victim, or a macho testosterone fueled action hero.  At the same time, this isn’t a woman’s horror movie, and it isn’t a man’s horror movie, it’s horror for humanity.  We’re dealing with themes you can’t not have an intense personal response to.  My allegiance is always to story.  If you get that right, gender becomes irrelevant.

3. After Inside come out, it seemed to stir up an outrage amongst male viewers far more than female viewers surprisingly enough. Did you experience the same reactions for this film, and what would your theory be as to why  men are more sensitive to “baby horror” than women?

I think, with very few exceptions, men are just not raised with any exposure to the processes of birthing or female cycles, and it just becomes terribly embarrassing and taboo for them.  GRACE hasn’t prompted any outrage, as far as I know.  It’s pretty clearly not an exploitation movie. I think you’re always going to get people that want to unite against whatever they can for their cause.  I had one woman come up to me after a screening in Toronto and sort of abrasively ask me “Why are all midwives lesbians?!” I explained that in a film about women, and about love, you’re going to see women in love. Until a straight male filmmaker can put a gay woman in a movie, because a story demands it, and not for the sake of making a political statement, without raising anyone’s eyebrows, we’ve got a long way to go.

4. Your film deals with a lot about nautropathy and vegetarianism. Do you have a strong stance on the subject or did you use it as a plot device to explain Madeline’s transformation?

Like I said, I’m not interested in making any political statement.  I don’t care what you eat, who you sleep with, or how you deliver your child.  I care about getting under your skin and kicking your soul around for 90 minutes.  In order to do that effectively, I believe you need to create a world that is authentic enough and consistent enough, that an audience can’t escape.  Part of that is creating real characters with real belief systems and world views and traumas that drive them.  In this case, the story of a woman who is forced to consider what – or who – she’ll sacrifice to keep her child alive, is much more interesting if her arc sees her starting as someone who literally can’t kill a fly.

5. There are some pretty disturbing scenes in Grace, (most notably the “childbirth” sequence) there are any scenes that were toned down from your script, and will there be any grisly deleted scenes on the DVD?

Sadly, with the schedule we were shooting, you don’t get to shoot scenes unless you damn well know they’re going in the movie, so no deleted scenes on the disc.  As for toning stuff down, we just basically said no, and accepted a hard R from go.  This isn’t a movie for children.  The DVD is FULL of amazing extras though.  We really set out to put together the ultimate geek DVD from the start, because we all grew up with these things as our film school, and really felt strongly that we needed to get it right.  I hired real directors to shoot the behind the scenes material, so you’re going to see some amazing shit.

6. There has been a lot of talk of faintings at the screenings for Grace. What was your initial reaction to this news?

At first I was concerned that it would set up the wrong expectations for the film.  You hear people fainted at a movie, especially when it happens more than once, and you think of a movie with serious gore and torture or something, and GRACE is so not that movie.  There’s hardly any blood.  That’s not what got people to pass out.  It’s the subject matter.  The reality is, this is not a movie that will make hardcore horror fans pass out.  I don’t think hardcore horror fans do pass out.  We never thought this was a movie that would make people faint.

7. You told me the other day that you filmed Grace in Regina, Saskatchewan. How did this come about?

Money.  There’s a great tax incentive there.  It turned out to be one of the best things that happened to GRACE because the crew was great, and the aesthetic we were able to get there was just perfect.  Just alien enough to make it unrecognizable, but not so much so that it became distracting.

8. How was it working with “scream queen” Jordan Ladd and Canadian’s own Samantha Ferris?

They’re both absolute pros, and wonderful women.  They are smart, thinking actors, who care about bringing their A-game, and that’s what every director hopes for.

9. You leave the ending of the film pretty open-ended and fans are already speculating about a sequel. Would you be game for doing a second installment?

I’m glad people are speculating.  You should leave a film wondering what happens to the characters.  You should care about them enough to want to know where they go next.  As a storyteller, you should know where your characters are heading, just as you should know where they came from before the story began.  But I’ve never had any plans to do a sequel.

10. Did you enjoy screening your film at this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival?

I had such a great time at the festival.  I love Toronto, and I love Adam Lopez, and what he’s done with this festival is a real achievement.  He’s got a fabulous slate every year, and this festival is genuinely on the rise.

*Killerfilm questions

*We like to ask our interviewees random questions as well….

1. Betty, Veronica, or Cheryl Blossom?

Betty, Veronica AND Cheryl Blossom.

2. William Sadler or Michael Rooker?

Rooker.  Close, though.  But HENRY clinched it in 1986.

3. Toilet paper up or down?

Down.

4. Crystal Pepsi or Pepsi Blue?

What’s Pepsi Blue?

5. Fright Night or Vamp?

DEATHDREAM.

Thank you Paul!

Thank you!

*Please be sure to catch GRACE on DVD and Blu-Ray on this September 15th, 2009 and read my review here!