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For starters could you please tell us about yourself and the projects you have done?
Been in the business for about ten years, directing shorts, commercials and TV pilots. “Cutting
Room” is my first feature, thanks to producer Jeffrey Magnussen.
How did you get into the film business?
Started off working at Walt Disney in Feature Animation when I first wandered to Los
Angeles. While at The Mouse I was scraping together any extra cash and spending my
weekends and nights writing and making my own short films. The first short wasn’t great, but
the second was better and introduced me to Director of Photography Mateo Londono, who
also shot “Cutting Room”. We collaborated again on my third short, “Richard Roe”, which
screened in a bunch of festivals, won awards, got distribution, and started to convince
people I actually sort of knew what I was doing.
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What films were your major influences?
Always loved Sam Raimi and John Carpenter. Before writing “Cutting Room” I went on a horror film binge and watched dozens
of horror films (thanks Netflix) until I was dizzy. I finally stopped when I got through most of the good stuff and found myself
enduring some really terrible ones from the 70s. I was a big Carpenter fan growing up-- “They Live”... still the best fight scene
ever.
What are your top 5 favourite movies?
A tough question and I always hesitate when I get asked this, but here goes... (subject to change) “The Bicycle Thief”, “Bridge
on the River Kwai”, “Dr. Strangelove”, “Sunset Boulevard”, “The Seven Samuri”. Crap, gotta throw in “Once Upon a Time in
the West”, “Fargo”, “All the President’s Men” and “Das Boot” too. Oops, left out the horror genre... Roman Polanski’s
“Repulsion”. Sorry, that’s more than five I know...
Congratulations on getting your latest effort Cutting Room released, would you care to tell us how you went about
making the film?
We were ambitious in what we wanted to do with the film from a style perspective, and with a limited budget that meant
condensing our shooting schedule to 15 days. It was pretty insane, especially considering the amount of production design
needed for the project to achieve the colors and vibe we wanted. The primary location was the old Howard Hughes Studios in
Hollywood, and the other was Raleigh Studios a few miles away. It was fortuitous that both locations have a similar color
scheme-- beige colored walls and blue doors, so this made continuity easier. With all the logistics and planning, sometimes you
have to get lucky too.
Credit must be given to your Cinematographer Mateo Londono for giving the film a rich vibrant look, the colours almost
reminded of Suspiria! How did you get that look?
Thanks I agree, Mateo was did an amazing job. I’ll let him answer this question himself.
(Mateo wrote this): The color was an inspiration from the films of Dario Argento, which were shot in three strip technicolor. His
films had the most saturated colors I’ve ever seen. I thought it was an interesting idea to shoot a horror film with this look, a
sharp departure from what we usually see in the horror genre.
The way we achieved the colors was by a combination of three things. First the production design-- very strong colors on the
sets and the wardrobe. Second, deep colored gels on the lights to achieve mostly the green and the blue. Third, accentuating
the color saturation in the color correction stage (DI). Due to budget constraints we shot on Kodak 5277, which is not a very
saturated stock, but fortunately could counter this by saturating the colors in the DI. (end Mateo’s writing)
How did you get E.G. Daily and Jon Polito to be part of the film?
E.G. is a friend Lindsey Labrum, who played the role of Mindy. Lindsey and I were friends from our collaboration on short film
“F8”, and she invited me to E.G.’s one-woman show in Los Angeles. The show was brilliant (E.G. is a rare triple threat), and I
immediately asked her if she would be in my upcoming film-- at the time still an unwritten script. She hesitated at first because
she didn’t know me, but then finally agreed after our first read a few weeks later. Jon we got the old-fashioned way-- sent the
script to his agent, brought him in for a meeting, battled with the agent over salary, and then signed him up. Both E.G. and Jon
brought so much value to the project and were fantastic to work with-- plus listening to stories about working with Tim Burton,
the Coen Brothers and Rob Zombie never gets old.
Alternatively where did you find the rest of the cast?
Most were actors I’ve worked with previously on other projects. It helps constructing a script with a certain actors in mind
because you can play toward their sensibilities. The exception is Richard T. Jones, who we got the same way as Jon Polito,
through his agency. Richard often plays serious dramatic roles, but he’s a natural comedian. He had one comedy clip on his reel
from “The Wood” that had me convinced he would be perfect for the role of Steve in “Cutting Room”.
What was shooting like in the old Howard Hughes studio in Hollywood, and how did get to use that Location?
While Howard Hughes Studios were once a magnificent deco landmark, the creepy old decrepit building is now literally falling
apart. Its unkempt old rooms littered with junk from the past eight or so decades, it’s long narrow hallways and hidden secret
passageways made it a perfect location for the film, but also an eerie place to shoot. Sometimes bizarre and unexplainable
things would happen, such as doors closing and people getting locked in rooms (always women for some reason-- was Howard
still up to his old tricks?), toilets that hadn’t been used in years suddenly all overflowing at once, power outages, plaster from
the ceiling collapsing, funky smells, footsteps and other strange noises coming from empty rooms. All of this contributed to the
general ambiance of the film, and resulted in the authentic feel of demented spooky weirdness.
A bit of trivia: Howard Hughes old projection room that he locked himself in for weeks and relieved himself in jars lined up
against a wall (as shown in “The Aviator”), was the actor’s lounge for “Cutting Room”.
Were there any major problems with the shoot?
Our producer Felipe Pimiento ran a tight ship, so no major problems. The lack of bathrooms, electricity and running water at
the location made things interesting though. We rented a couple porta-potties that got pretty ripe after ten days of sitting in
the hot June SoCal sun.
Alternatively did anything just fall into place without causing any dramas?
The food was good. That’s the key to a well running production = good chow. Best way to prevent mutinies.
I noticed that Cutting Room picked up 2 awards (Best Music & Best Production Design) at it's debut screening at the Milan
Film Festival, You would have been happier than a pig in shit about that right?
Hell yeah! The production designer, Kambiz, and composer, Kays, not only have cool names, but they busted their ass on
“Cutting Room” and really deserve the awards they received.
Do you have anything you would like to say to budding film makers wanting to get out there and make a feature?
Filmmaking is a great profession. If you want to do it, take it seriously, just don’t take yourself too seriously.
What future Projects are in store for Ian Truitner?
Bunch of stuff in the works. Halfway through the third of three scripts I set out to write in October. I also directed two TV pilots
in 2006 that are being looked at by networks now, so who knows. At the moment I’m editing a children’s book. Children’s
Book?? Yeah... a children’s book. Don’t ask.
I noticed on IMDB that your brother Vincent is a CG animator, any plans for a future collaboration?
A distinct possibility. But he usually works on huge studio movies like Spider-Man II, Matrix and Monster House, so I haven’t had a
big enough budget to be able to afford him yet!
Finally, is there anything you’d like to tell the readers of DVD Resurrections?
These guys at DVD Resurrections are completely mad! They threatened to slowly tear out my eyeballs and guts with a dull
corkscrew and eat them if I didn’t do this interview!! I’ve been trapped in a cold dirty meat locker with rotting corpses for
weeks!!! Help me!!! muwahaha it's a shame when no one can here you scream....
Thank you very much for your time Ian, best of luck with Cutting Room and your other projects. For more information on Cutting
Room just visit www.cuttingroommovie.com or www.anthemdvd.com
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