Meet Local Filmmaker Jon Springer

Local
filmmaker Jon Springer’s new film The Hagstone Demon will be
shown as a free sneak preview Thursday, May 8, at the Riverview Theater.
The film stars Mark Borchardt, the subject of the Sundance award-winning
documentary American Movie, which made him a cult celebrity of
the indie film set.

This
locally produced film — presented by Flat Earth Brewery, Copycats,
Cine-o-matic, and the MN Film & TV Board — will screen at the Minneapolis
theater, located at 3800 42nd Ave S. Cast, crew, and guests
are invited to an informal reception in the lobby beginning at 6 p.m.
General admission begins at 7 p.m. Mr. Borchardt will attend the screening.

Jon
Springer is an award-winning horror writer/director with regional and
national acclaim, and is regarded as an established cult filmmaker.
Ain’t it Cool News described Springer’s film Living Dead Girl
as a "hilarious silent-movie spoof…a grotesque, full-color, Romero-style
gore fest," and in 2003, Film Threat called him "a filmmaker who
sees nothing as taboo and whose imagination is something to behold."
City Pages has described Springer as "the state’s most audacious narrative
filmmaker." Springer was recently awarded the 2007 McKnight Filmmaker
Fellowship.

An
after party will take place at the new Nick and Eddie Restaurant and
Bar
(1612 Harmon Place, Mpls 55403.) JUST ANNOUNCED: It has been confirmed
that Grant Hart of the legendary post-punk band Hüsker Dü will be
performing live at the after party.

The
following is an interview I had with Springer regarding the film:

The Rake: What is the
film about?

Jon Springer:
I guess you could say "The Hagstone Demon" is about a person who
discovers his own free will. This character, Douglas, is confronted
by his past and literally attacked by it. It seems to me that anyone
confronted with a situation, especially a traumatic or even a horrific
situation, are then faced with a set of choices on how to deal it. So
here’s a guy who doesn’t think there’s a choice because he’s
been so traumatized and so complicit himself. He thinks it all comes
down to fate and that he has no power to change anything. But at the
crucial moment he discovers that he does have that choice and that power
and he acts on it. In the case of Douglas, he makes the discovery simply
because someone else in his life gave a shit, and that person had the
strength and the courage to show him the way.

The Rake: How did you
get the idea for the film?

JS:
The idea for the story came from two sources: my co-screenwriter Harrison
Matthews said he began with the image of a man vacuuming a long hallway
in an old apartment building. The story expanded from there. Harrison
happens to be a caretaker of a Brownstone in Powderhorn Park, where
most of the film was shot, and I really fought hard to get that location,
because it was essential to the character of the film. But the point
is that the character of Douglas was autobiographical from the very
beginning for Harrison. My own interest in the story stemmed from reading
the Joris-Karl Huysmans novel "La Bas", in which the author
includes an infamously vivid description of a Black Mass that he attended
while living in Paris, during the Occult Revival of the late 19th
Century. I believe that this actual excerpt from "La Bas"
was used in the obscenity trial of Oscar Wilde, who was a contemporary
of Huysmans. Anyway, I had an intense interest in filming such a ritual,
using Huysmans’ description as a starting point, and from my other
research. But I should say that the location itself was an inspiration
for the story. The inside of this thing is amazing, with cracked plaster
and exposed pipes running everywhere, like the insides of an organism.
So the idea was that this organism is situated at what might be called
a confluence of negative spiritual energy that both feeds Douglas and
slowly destroys him.

The Rake: Whom did you
work with on the film? How big was the crew and budget?

Where did you get funding for
the film?

JS:
The film was self-financed, as were all my other films. This is my eighth
film and my second feature. I like to work with the same small group
of people for my crew. I find that I can achieve about twice the visual
detail of other films in this budget range by using a small, mobile
crew. It’s like shooting with a MASH unit. We were doing company moves
in less than 45 minutes. As far as cast, I worked with Mark Borchardt
on my short Living Dead Girl back in ’04, and at some point
I thought he might be a good choice for Douglas, although that was not
the original intention. I remember seeing Nadine Gross in a few local
films in which she was horribly directed and under-utilized; I saw the
potential she had and I asked her to play a multiple character role
in my short Heterosapiens back in ‘02. She is an incredibly
versatile and technically competent actor. In fact she is one of the
best character actresses in town…probably the
best. Diablo Cody was interested in the part of the succubus at one
point back in ‘06 and we set up a meeting. Her agent found out and
quickly nixed the idea, citing her many writing deadlines (in retrospect
I can see that was probably true). Hagstone definitely would have been
a different movie because Diablo is not an actress per se…but of course
the film would probably already be in distribution.

The Rake: Is this your
first full-length feature? What other films have you made or been a
crewmember of?

JS: I don’t usually
crew on other people’s films anymore. I started out back in the early
90’s as a commercial and movie cinematographer. I am a DP at heart.
And I actually relish the thought of going back to shooting movies for
other directors – which would allow me to concentrate on the photography,
which I love and not worry about anything else. But I don’t get much
work as a DP anymore because I think in part most directors don’t
want another director shooting their film. Although I must say I would
never try to direct someone else’s film. The strength of a good DP
is not only the technical competency and ability to make stunning pictures,
but also the experience to get a director through a 22-day feature schedule,
for example, or the ability to successfully mount the director’s vision.
Many first time directors search for a DP and are wowed by a technically
fantastic reel, but overlook these other aspects.

The Rake: What films
and filmmakers inspire and have influenced you?

JS:
That is always such an academic and boring discussion.

The Rake: Who are some
local filmmakers you like (either working with or their own work)?

JS:
I thought Todd Cobery’s trailer "The Dead Won’t Die" was refreshingly
competent and showed his love for the zombie genre, which I share. I
shot Jesse Roesler’s "Secret of the Symmetrical Gentlemen" which
was the Minnesota entry in the National 48-hour Film Contest, and I
shot Chris Gegax’s "Forgotten" which won the local Screenlabs
Competition. I thought both of those films were well directed. I liked
"Sweetland" and was impressed by Ali Selim personally the few time
I’ve spoken with him. I also share an office with Matt Ehling and
have great respect for his documentary work and for him personally.

The Rake: What kind
of equipment did you use (camera, sound, etc.)?

JS:
We shot the film in 720p/24 with the JVCHD110 camera. I used a set of
Nikon film lenses I had laying around and a Redrock adapter. I did some
very detailed macro photography in this film, and I also used a film
grain/dust plug-in in my Avid that was excellently subtle and the results
were amazingly convincing on an HD display. The company who authored
the Blu-Ray at Cine-O-Matic in Minneapolis actually thought it was transferred
Super-16mm – and these people look at different formats and codecs
all day long. So I was able to fool the experts…and that was a good
sign!

The Rake: What is your
hope with this film? Where do you see it reaching its biggest audience?
Who is the audience for this film?

JS:
Well first and foremost this is a serious horror film. Secondly, it
is a film that stars Mark Borchardt as the main character. And I’m
sure both Mark and I would both consider it in such a manner. If you
watch Mark’s film "Coven", you will see that it is a serious horror
film, yet Mark’s humor shines through the seriousness of it. There
is a reason why Roger Ebert loved "Coven" and invited it into his
festival back in the 90’s. He liked it for the same reason he liked
"Dawn of the Dead" – because the film took itself seriously, and
because Mark is an interesting person to look at and listen to. People
just like to watch Mark…especially in a good, creepy low-budget horror
film. Hopefully they will like him in this film.

The Rake: What kind
of films do you want to make?

JS:
The kind that can support me and allow me to remain in the Midwest.


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