Hey everyone, we recently got to talk with the director of the new comedy horror film Gatlopp and how he got involved with the project, how amazing the casting was for the film, and the filming experience as a whole.
AJ: Hey Alberto, how are you?
Alberto: Hey, AJ. Good. And you?
AJ: Wonderful. So how did you get involved in a Gatlopp? Because there’s a lot of stuff going on and it’s visually funny. There’s a lot of comedic humor in this as well as, you know, tension throughout this movie. So how did you get involved with this?
Alberto: Oh, thank you. I got involved through Jim Mahan, who is a writer and who also stars in it, we’ve been friends for a long time here in LA. And then we had done together a viral video that was called, it’s not porn. It’s HBO that changed our careers.
AJ: I think I remember that. Yeah.
Alberto: Oh, there you go. Then. and then, so we were having just coffee one day catching up and he was telling me about this fun night. He had with his friends doing this drinking game and, uh, and he was like, what about if we, you know, turn this into a movie, kinda like a Jumanji version of that. And I hooked and I was like, we have to do it. Uh, so he kept writing the script probably like a year. Yeah. And then I got lucky then when it was like done, uh, I was still attached, so director to it, but it was, it was just like a fun, like easy conversation. It was like, I wanna, I could see it. I thought it was gonna be a hilarious movie.
AJ: Yeah. And you know, I’m glad you brought up Jumanji. Cuz when I was watching it last night, I was getting kind of vibes of Fantasia 2000 a little bit too with the card magic a little bit in the game, but now I’ve seen, I hear you say that yeah, that kind of makes sense. So how did the casting process for this all come about too? Cuz you got the main two actors in there. The guy from Miracle Workers. It was just absolutely hilarious in this. And you got the other guy from made for love. He was fantastic as well. So how did this casting process all come about?
Alberto: The casting we were working with the casting directors, which are wonderful. And we were trying to like, like, um, the move was supposed to be shot before the pandemic. So we were working with Claire and Charlene, finding, you know, actors who will be available. And then, so we were like open casting and then like suddenly the pandemic hit. And then so we were got very lucky that a lot of the actors who probably wouldn’t be available for us, uh, were available. So I was a big fan of umbrella academy and that’s how I, I was like, I would love to work with Emmy. And then I got really lucky that she said yes. And then John Bass I’ve seen him in a bunch of stuff and uh, and we’re like maybe he could be like that. And then he, was available too of again, we were really lucky about the pandemic and so came about, um, at the same way, like the cast directors have worked with him before and then they proposed to propose him and I was like, oh my God, he’s so perfect. And yeah, it was, it was like really but lucky with the pandemic, I guess something positive about this.
AJ: Right. And you know, another thing is this is really sought in one location at the house. So how did that all come about? Because obviously you brought up the pandemics and that may have something to do with it being sought in the house like this, but was there anything difficult or was that just easier to do in that one location for the film?
Alberto: Yeah, I think the pandemic did, did help. It helped us, it was like a movie happening in one, mostly one location. And that was always a plan because we knew we were not gonna get a huge amount of money for a movie that blends so many genres and, and stuff like that. So it was always planned to be like a smaller, independent movie. But with the epidemic here that it really helped because then you could control everything. We were very safe. We were in a bubble almost so every day. We didn’t feel like we have to do, you know, be around other people that we didn’t know. And especially was we did the beginning, so people didn’t know how things were gonna affect. So it was, it was good.
AJ: So are you excited? This film is about to come out in a couple weeks. I mean, that’s gonna film really satisfying to you guys who worked on the film as well.
Alberto: Yeah. Super excited. I’m so, so happy that people hopefully will get to see it and, and have a good laugh, which it’s important for me, for people to have fun.
AJ: And that’s really what surprised me because from the trailer, I didn’t think, you know, I would enjoy it, but it really surprised me when I watched it. I was like, you know what? This is a really fun movie. And I think a lot of people will have a good time with it. So hopefully they do.
Alberto: Amazing. So glad to hear that like, yeah, I hope people are surprised like you, you have that experience. I think, the movie is quite I’m not saying quite different from the trailer little bit misleading, but I would say a little bit.
AJ: Yeah. And well, thank you so much for joining me today. It’s been really fun and congratulations on the film and I look forward to your next project.
Alberto: Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. It was so nice to talk to you.
