Director Jon Keeyes first began creeping his name into the horror realm with American Nightmare, and proves his genre staying power with his new serial killer-thriller, Fall Down Dead. Set for the Christmas season, the movie stars Dominique Swain (Christie), as our heroine in peril, the late David Carradine (Wade) as our bumbling-yet-lovable security guard, and Udo Kier (the Picasso Killer) as our razor blade wielding psycho. Their paths collide when Christie accidentally discovers the Picasso Killer doin’ his thang, and hides for cover in a near empty office building.
Jon Keeyes talks to us about the lure of serial killers, assembling his killer cast, working with Carradine on one of his last projects, and what’s next.
Fall Down Dead isn’t your first foray into the realm of serial killers. What attracts you to them in a story, and what attracted you to Roy Sallows’ script?
JON KEEYES: As a filmmaker, I’m attracted to the dark side of humanity. With the serial killers of my movies, they are more than just faceless killers… they are three-dimensional characters driven by their own madness. I’ve always been intrigued by the dark half of the self and those that are consumed by their dark desires, by psychosis and by uncontrollable urges. I find it to be incredibly intriguing ground to explore in terms of storytelling.
What attracted me to Roy’s script was three-fold. The first is that in reading the script, Fall Down Dead was going to be a challenge, which I love. Ninety percent of the movie takes place in a citywide blackout, so the whole movie has to be lit by flashlights, candlelight, and emergency lighting. The constant battle between light and shadows created a playing field for a lot of suspense and tension.
The second was the character development. All of the characters are unique and fleshed out with their own set of problems, that are real and relatable. And the biggest was Udo Kier’s character, The Picasso Killer. I hadn’t seen a killer like this. He’s a narcissist, which I find completely fascinating. He truly believes that he can become greater than Picasso by using humans as his canvas, and his drive and belief in what he’s doing is terrifying.
Is it fair to say everything started with you on American Nightmare? How did you make the next step to keep the momentum in your career going?
JK: That’s definitely fair to say. American Nightmare did really well for me, and continues to do so even today. Just in 2009, it was featured in two different documentaries and is still invited to play at conventions and festivals. It was a really blessing.
The next step really came as a double whammy when Suburban Nightmare and Hallow’s End both hit at the same time. With Suburban, eiCinema had approached Debbie Rochon and I about doing a movie for them based off of American’s success. As we were writing the script and gearing up for production, another producing partner of mine – Brandon Baker – had come across the script for Hallow’s End and both ThinkFilm and Horizon Motion Pictures jumped onboard to get it made, also based on American’s success. And then to top it off, when I met New Films International – who I eventually made both Living & Dying and Fall Down Dead for – it was because they were familiar with American Nightmare that they ended up asking me to make some movies for them. So looking back, everything really does relate itself back to American Nightmare.
Tell us a little bit about creating the look and feel of the Picasso Killer. Patricia Mueller did a great job with costuming, and as for an actor, you couldn’t get much better than Udo Kier.
JK: Building and creating the Picasso Killer was a ton of fun and was a long process. When we got the greenlight on Fall Down Dead the first thing I did – which I do for all my movies – was to create a director’s creative treatment for the movie, that then goes out to all the cast and department heads. In this, I spent three pages detailing out the personality and history of the Picasso Killer, including back story, his psychosis and his look.
I think for his look, I said something that included, “Considering himself a man of refinement and culture, he dresses well. He wears nice shoes, a dark red dress shirt, black slacks and jacket and a long, black coat. When hunting, he also wears black gloves. He is well dressed, but neither flashy nor flagrant. He does not draw attention to himself when on the hunt.”
From there, Patricia Mueller began to sketch out looks and ideas, but the topping on the cake was when Udo joined the cast. I’ve always been a huge fan of Udo and when the producers agreed with my choice, it was incredible getting him to say yes. I spent a lot of time talking with Udo about the character and his look and Udo came up with the final two touches; the specific hat and coat he wears. He was in Germany and found both of them in a store there and emailed Patricia and I photos of them. We both loved the look, so Udo got them in Germany and brought them with him back to the States.
And let me just say, working with Udo is fantastic. He’s one of the greatest guys in the world and I’m hoping we work together many more times. Besides his professionalism and attention to detail and nuance, he’s super friendly, making friends with everyone and always going the extra mile to do what it takes to make the movie as good as possible.
Watching Dominique Swain’s performance, I became surprised she doesn’t do more horror! (Although I see she’s slated for more genre work.) How did she come into the fold?
JON KEEYES: Dominique was a blessing in disguise. I’ve always loved her acting, but when she turns on the fear and terror, she really goes there. I had a vision of what I wanted the Christie character to look like. She needed to be pretty, but natural. She needed to be simple. She needed to be young, but also believable as a young mother dealing with the let downs and mistakes of her past. One of the producers brought up Dominique and it took about two seconds to realize that she would be perfect. It became even more apparent once we started filming and she really embodied the role of Christie.
As a great example, there is a scene in the movie where she’s running down the street being chased by the Picasso Killer and heads for the building where most of the movie takes place. She’s just witnessed a murder and is running, screaming and crying, for dear life down the street and up to the door. Shortly after the first take, two police cars with lights and sirens blaring showed up at the location. Even though everyone knew the movie was being shot, Dominique was so believable that three different people had called the police believing that “this woman” was in true danger.
Seeing the fate of Wade’s character (David Carradine) was definitely jarring, in light of this year’s tragedy. How did David Carradine’s death impact you, and what was your experience working with him?
JK: Getting to work with David was fantastic. His sheer level of experience and knowledge was amazing, and he loved telling stories. He was one of those actors that embraced the roles that made him famous, and loved to talk about them. What was even more fun was getting to see him do comedy. He talked about the fact that he rarely got to do comedy and really thrived on being the comic relief in the movie. One of the first things he said was that he wanted to bring an “Inspector Clouseau” quality to Wade, and he did it brilliantly. I think a lot of people will be surprised at how well he does with comedy.
When David died, I was producing another movie and got a slew of text messages and calls letting me know what had happened. It was incredibly sad to hear he had died, and even sadder to hear how he died. The unfortunate irony is the similarity between his fate in the movie and his fate in reality. It was heartbreaking for a man of his caliber and talent.
The story ends with sequel set up. Any steady plans for this involving you, or are things still pending?
JK: There has been discussion of a sequel and we have some ideas of where we would take the story to next. But for now, it’s all in the early stages of development and we’ll have to see how things go.
Fall Down Dead is the latest in a proud line of the Christmas story gone way wrong. What’s a typical Christmas like in the household of Jon Keeyes?
JK: Christmas in the Keeyes home tends to be a slightly macabre version of the standard fare. My wife and I have a collection of Christmas horror movies we love to watch during December, and we have a variety of grim and ghastly Christmas decorations set around. And as is typical for us, we usually have most of our Halloween stuff still on display.
What’s next for you?
JK: I have six different movies in development that all keep getting closer and closer. I feel that it’s safe to say that we’ll be in production on one of them by spring. On the horror front, one is an action oriented horror flick called The Bloodwalkers, one is a horror anthology called The Gathering, that already has a number of genre greats signing on, and a third is a psychological thriller about a schizophrenic called Dark Heart.
Thanks, Jon! Keep up with Jon Keeyes’ latest work by following him on Twitter and visiting Highland Myst Entertainment.
Tags: David Carradine, Dominique Swain, Fall Down Dead, Jon Keeyes, Udo Kier
