Nicholas Brendon

"Buffy" star Nicholas Brendon and Adrienne Barbeau team for the upcoming indie supernatural horror thriller "Unholy" about a conspiracy involving an experiment called "The Unholy Trinity," which involves Nazi witchcraft that the US government smuggled into small-town Pennsylvania following WW2. Daryl Goldberg directed the feature and spoke with our correspondent Allyson Wilcox about the gig.

Question: So Daryl, how would you describe your film Unholy in a single sentence?

Answer: Unholy is a dramatic thriller about a mother who must fight horrific obstacles in order to protect her family.

Question: Good set-up

Answer: Yeah, I don’t think there is any stronger or more primal instinctive force than that of a mother fighting for her children.

Question: Hell hath no fury like a mother scorned?

Answer: You could say that, I guess.

Question: Can you tell us, what are some of these obstacles she fights?

Answer: Psychopaths, a government conspiracy, and Nazi Witchcraft. Just to name a few.

Question: Damn, I don’t think I’ve seen that before.

Answer: (laughs) Yes, there will be a lot in this movie you’ve never seen before.

Question: So that scorned mother is none other then Adrienne Barbeau, right?

Answer: Yes, she was my dream casting from the beginning. She’s an icon in the genre [The Fog, Creepshow, Escape From New York], a phenomenal actress, and also happens to be one of the most genuinely sweet people I’ve ever met.

Question: How would you describe working with her?

Answer: Incredibly educational. I learned more in 18 days of production with Adrienne than I could have if I went to film school for 40 years or read every book on film production ever written. She’s a consummate professional. Being on set is organized chaos. But no matter what sort of anarchy was going on, Adrienne would be completely immersed in character. It was truly remarkable, I feel very fortunate to have had her as my leading lady.

Question: How about your other star, Nicholas Brendon, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame?

Answer: Nicky plays Adrienne’s son ’Lucas.’ The part was actually written with him in mind. Sam [the screenwriter] is an obsessive Buffy fan. Nicky’s an incredibly gifted actor, and also happens to be a hell of a lot funnier than people realize. We’d be in the middle of an incredibly tense scene. I’d call cut and within seconds, Nicky would take everyone from the edge of their seats to rolling on the floor. I’m very excited for Nicky. I think this movie will really show people the range he’s truly capable of as an actor.

Question: You mentioned you shot this film in a mere 18 days, how the hell did you pull that one off?

Answer: Fortunately I was too naive to listen to the many, many people who told me it couldn’t be done and I just kept fighting. I knew it was ambitious, I knew I was doing what should have taken twice as long, but I knew what this movie could be and it meant a lot to me to achieve that.

Question: So if this movie had not been independent and you’d had twice as long to shoot it, what would you have done differently, more time in your trailer?

Answer: If I had 36 days to do a movie, I’d probably just be twice as ambitious and try to squeeze a 72 day vision in there. And I still wouldn’t have a trailer, I wouldn’t spend anytime in it anyway! Also this could never have been a studio movie anyway. The movie is about a mother, her son, and their struggle. A studio would have never let me have a female protagonist who’s over 40. They would have made the character male or in her 20’s, and weakened the basis of the film. We would’ve ended up with Ben Affleck or Jessica Simpson. I wanted Adrienne Barbeau.

Question: How did you prepare for the shoot?

Answer: Well about the time everyone was saying, "You’re gonna shoot in how many days? You have how little money? It’ll never work.’ I read Robert Rodriguez’s Rebel Without a Crew. He made El Mariachi on $7,000 with no crew. I had more than that, so I decided I was spoiled despite what people were telling me and that if I couldn’t make a great movie with what I had, then I didn’t deserve to be doing this anyway.

Question: So was this your El Mariachi, did you do it all yourself come hell or high water?

Answer: I did fight like hell for this thing, but I can’t for a second claim I did it all myself. I went into the project thinking, ’Sure the cast and crew will show up every day because that’s their job. But this is my baby, it’s up to me to fight this thing through. I’m the only one who really cares about making this good.’ I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was amazed by just how much everyone involved really believed in me and this project. The cast, the crew, and even my executive producers really rose to the task. We worked through some horrible conditions; 20+ hour days buried in snow with sub-zero weather. And yet, there were times at the end of a day when my gaffer would come to me to tell me how sorry the guys were that I had to cut a couple of shots because we had ran out of time to shoot them. I was really amazed by just how invested everyone was in this project. Everyone involved absolutely killed themselves to make this movie great.

Question: Did you find yourself cutting a lot due to the time constraints?

Answer: No, I pretty much shot my original vision, just under a lot of pressure. There was one day we shot a 3-page scene with stunts and action in about an hour because we were racing the sunrise. As I was panicking to get it done, I couldn’t help but think of a David Fincher quote I had heard once where he said, ’You haven’t directed a movie until the sun is coming up, you got 9 shots left and you’re only going to get 7 of them.’ Well, I just edited that 3-page scene the other day and it works great. I wonder if Fincher would think I passed his directing test.

Question: So does this movie have a lot of action?

Answer: The film hits the ground quickly and the tension doesn’t really ever stop from there. In the beginning of the film, Martha [Adrienne’s character] witnesses her daughter’s horrific suicide. Martha and her son immediately set out on a journey to find answers and end up unraveling mysteries that should never have been uncovered. It’s a constant ride that doesn’t give you a chance to sit back or stop thinking.

Question: You’re fairly young aren’t you? Was that ever an issue?

Answer: I was 23 when we shot Unholy, I’m 24 now. But no it was never really an issue, I don’t think most people even realized it. People seem shocked when they find out just how young I am. John Singleton had a best directing Oscar at my age, so I figure I’m behind.