One on One with Jamie Blanks

When the 20th anniversary of Valentine (2001) approached, a familiar name appeared in the Twittersphere. Australian horror movie director Jamie Blanks became active, wishing his 2nd mainstream film a happy anniversary.

From that moment on, he has been incredibly active on social media, discussing not only his feature films, but also those from his idols, like George A. Romero, John Carpenter and David Cronenberg.

Jamie was kind enough to give this Aussie a couple of hours of his time to sit down and discuss his career, both behind the camera and a soundboard – Jamie is quite the accomplished composer.

Check out my one on one with my dear friend, Jamie Blanks.

REI: Valentine just celebrated its 20th anniversary. What is your fondest memory of working on the film?

JAMIE: I have so many amazing, fond memories of that film. Working on the screenplay with Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harbets before we shot the movie. Sitting around pools in hotels in LA, drinking margaritas, talking about the script and laughing, having the greatest time. It’s hard to pick a favourite memory of Valentine. Now if you asked me about a bad memory, it would probably be when the studio kind of interfered on the edit and maybe trimmed the violence out. I remember feeling very, very stressed about that. But for the most part, the whole process was very pleasant.

REI:  We have to talk about one of my favourite on-screen death sequences – Paige, Denise Richards. How difficult was it to film something like that? And is it true that her stunt double was “cut up” by the jets of the hot tub?

JAMIE: Yeah, that was really bad. We had a stunt coordinator on Valentine and my producers kept asking me “Who is this guy?” Normally on a movie, you have no one getting injured. On Valentine, everybody was getting injured. You had one of the producers’ sons playing the Cherub. And he had to take a pool cue to the head one day. They were supposed to have cut the pool cue so that it would break away on Mark’s head. For whatever reason it wasn’t done correctly so when the actress swung the pool cue, he absorbed the full-force of the blow at the side of his head. He was nearly concussed.

As for Paige, he was looking for a stunt double that looked like Denise Richards. He kept saying he needed someone with a body like Denise Richards. He was looking at strippers and stuff, saying that he needed a body that was identical to Denise. I thought it was just an excuse for him to see strippers to come to his office. Anyway, this poor girl, who wasn’t a stunt girl, got thrown into the hot tub, face-first into the jets. She actually got cut from one of them and I was mortified by it. I was furious with him. Furious that he allowed that to happen. I even went to him and said, “No more people can be injured on this movie set.”

He was a well-known stunt man who mostly road horses and got a name in the industry, but I was appalled by the number of injuries sustained on the set. Especially when the Cherub was one of the producer’s sons. But as for Denise, she did everything in that scene, except being thrown into the hot tub. She was a trooper. I told her that it was going to be uncomfortable for a few days. She looked at me and said “Jamie, I just did a Bond film where they flushed me down a river for 3 weeks. As long as between takes, I’m not trapped there, I’m all for it.” She was adorable to work with. I had a really lovely time working with Denise. Another actress may have made things difficult, but Denise was lovely. An absolute trooper and really professional. I have nothing but praise for that woman. She’s one of my favourite people I’ve worked with.

REI: Are you surprised by the cult status of Valentine?

JAMIE: I was really surprised. I had been in a self-imposed social media coma and use to kind of laugh at people on Facebook who would give a status update on what they’d have for dinner. But Twitter, I joined Twitter because I got sick of being asked to create an account because I wanted to read a tweet. I only popped my head up to say happy anniversary to Valentine and I was amazed, really amazed by the amount of the people who got in touch to say they loved the film, had tattoos of the film, would host Valentine’s parties. I figured a bit of it out when we did the Blu-Ray behind the scenes as some of the actors told me how much of a following it had. Which is good because I got slammed critically in the press for it. Even the readers of Fangoria voted it the worst movie of the year. I thought everyone hated the movie, but to discover it had a fan base is really delightful. I’m glad it has entertained people for the last 20 years.

REI: So, the big question is, did Jeremy Melton get his revenge on the boys that beath the hell out of him at the school dance?

JAMIE: Well, that would be Valentine 2. But I think it’s safe to say they’re lying on a slab in a morgue somewhere. One of those boys was blown up by the barbecue in Final Destination 2 so chances are that was Jeremy Melton rigging that barbecue.

REI: Ooh crossover?

JAMIE: *laughs* You never know. Maybe it wasn’t death after all. Just Jeremy Melton.

REI: The horror genre of the mid-late 90s is having a resurgence. Scream is returning to the big screen while James Wan is rumoured to be bringing I Know What You Did Last Summer to streaming services as a miniseries. Would you like to see Urban Legend return and would you like to be a part of it?

JAMIE: I think that’s what is going to happen with Colin Minihan at the helm. And I welcome it. The company would benefit from another Urban Legend picture coming out and that makes me overjoyed to know that Phoenix Pictures would benefit. I would be delighted to see it come back in some form and I’ll be rooting for it to be a massive success. I take that with a badge of honour that someone would want to take it on.

REI: Would you like to be involved in it?

JAMIE: Oh absolutely. I would love to do a direct sequel to the 1997 film. I have the ideas and have pitched it, but for now the studio has passed. Who knows, maybe I can return to Pendleton University in the future.

REI: What are some urban legends that you wish had have been included in the original film?

JAMIE: I could tell you, but I don’t want to give the competition any ideas. I’d like to keep my sequel idea close to the vest in case it gets the green light.

REI: That is completely understandable. So let’s take a jump to one of your Australian films. Storm Warning is a brutal, gritty Aussie horror film that is criminally underrated. Were there any different challenges in filming that verses Urban Legend or Valentine?

JAMIE: The biggest difference I had was I had more time to shoot Urban Legend as opposed to Storm Warning and Long Weekend put together. People I admire like Romero, Cronenberg, Carpenter, even Franklin with Patrick, all started with small, independent films shot in their own backyards. I was the exception to that rule, and I’m grateful for that as I plucked from relative obscurity to direct two studio films. But I looked at others and thought wouldn’t it be nice to make my own independent feature in my home of Australia. No studio interference. It would be freedom to do what I pleased. There were already a couple of Aussie directors who smashed open the gates as to what is permissible to show on screen. I thought we could do [Storm Warning] in a tasteful way, but there’s no real tasteful way to make survival horror films and keep it realistic. The violence had to be realistic to keep the audience on her side. The gore hound side of me was very happy as I could keep all the stuff that had been cut out of Valentine. I just wanted to show that I wasn’t afraid of putting some of that wet stuff on screen, when it was the right story. There was a lot more freedom for Storm Warning than I did the others. Smaller budget, shorter shoot, more creative freedom.

REI: Being a fellow Australian surely you have a favourite Aussie horror movie – what is it and why should people watch it?

JAMIE: Roadgames. It’s a masterful example of taking a film like Rear Window and saying “okay, what would it look like if it took place in a truck?” Richard Franklin loved Hitchcock’s work and it shows. He had studio battles, an actress flying in from America to play an Australian, budget issues, and with all that working against him, he still made a very enjoyable film. It still holds up to this day. Likeable characters, a great score. It’s a masterful film.

REI: If you could change one aspect about any of your films, what would you change and why?

JAMIE: There are always things. I wish, for Valentine, we could have kept the lid on who David Boreanaz was playing. That getting out was detrimental to me. On Urban Legend, I would have stretched out my jump scares a bit more. I feel all the jump scares are a bit rushed. I feel like I didn’t build them up enough. I didn’t know enough about timing and staging to do those properly. If I could, I’d love to go back and do them all again. It’s all about microsecond timing and misdirection. On my Australian films, there’s a lot of things about them that I would like to change. Recalibrating the schedule to allow more time would be the main thing. But you learn as you go.

REI: How do you feel horror movies have progressed since you first began?

JAMIE: I think horror is a bit more respectful these days. Especially with Get Out being nominated and winning Best Screenplay at the Oscars. The last time I remember a horror film getting any recognition and respect in the Academy like that was Silence of the Lambs – I know some people will say it’s more of a thriller but in my book, it deserves to be a horror film as it’s truly horrific story. It’s hard for horror to be recognized and respected in the Academy, but the fans are always there. Horror goes in cycles. The slashers will dominate for years, then give way to paranormal. Horror is ever evolving and will always remain popular. There’s always money to be made with horror.

REI: What movies/actors/directors have influenced you in how you go about making movies?

JAMIE: I tried to learn a lot from John Carpenter in terms of keeping things simple. I tried to learn a lot from Sam Raimi about how to keep things fun, and I tried to learn a lot from Kathryn Bigelow about how to make things really stylish. I always show my DP Bigelow, Raimi, and Carpenter films. That’s one good aspect of the horror genre – there are so many amazing filmmakers to learn from.

REI: Is that the advice you have for filmmakers that want to follow in your footsteps?

JAMIE: My advice is if you’re going to watch a lot movies, you can make them. It’s never been easier. Everyone’s phone has a camera. You can make a finished film using an iPhone. In the old days you’d need a whole building dedicated to postproduction, but these days it can all be done on your home computer. Technology has never been easier. Just get out there and do it.

REI: You also have quite the commendable career as a composer. How did you get into that?

JAMIE: I used to spend a lot of time with my grandmother, who had a piano, and after I saw The Fog and Halloween, I tried to remember the themes so I could play them. I taught myself to play the piano to play the themes. That’s how I got my foot in the door. I remember being at film school, my first year at film school, there was a terrible accident where a camera crane fell, giving my friend who was in it a concussion, while the weight that holds it steady came crashing down on my leg, shattering my femur. And it happened on a Friday the 13th too. My Dad sued the company of the crane for the damages, and I ended up with a payout which I used to buy more modern equipment and ended up scoring a lot of friend’s films as well as my own. Film isn’t just a visual media. It’s equal parts visual and audio.

REI: Now for the big question – what are you working on right now?

JAMIE: Nothing that I can openly say, but when I can say something, you’ll be the first to know.

REI: Way to keep us in suspense! But I definitely look forward to seeing what you do in the future. I cannot thank you enough for chatting with me, Jamie. It’s been a real blast.

JAMIE: You’re welcome. It’s good to finally hear your voice. We’ll have to do this again soon.

REI: If you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods, come on over. We’ll do a barbecue and shoot the breeze in person.

JAMIE: I look forward to it!

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Jamie for his time. We could have spoken at length for hours. Jamie, if you’re reading this, I truly appreciate the time you took out of your busy schedule to chat with me.

For our dear readers of Macabre Daily, head on over to Twitter and give Jamie a follow @blanksjamie and join him for the Urban Legend live commentary with the cast and crew on May 9th 5PM PST/8PM EST  

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