A couple weeks ago we got to interview the founder of Rue Morgue Magazine about his jump into directing his new feature film called ‘The Breach’ which was a fantastic creature feature. We also talk about him coming up through a publication that he turned into a horror juggernaut.
Rodrigo:
Hi, AJ.
AJ:
Hey Rodrigo. How are you?
Rodrigo:
Good, man. Thank you.
AJ:
Rodrigo, how did The Breach all come together?
Rodrigo:
Well, I was in the middle of the pandemic, like the entire world was, and I got a call, um, from Mike PA that Raven banner and he said, Hey, we got this script. You wanna look at it? He sent me this script, which at the time was called, gone up river. I said, this script is great. I’d love to do it. Can I make some changes? He said, yeah, uh, we’re shooting in you know, a month and a half, something like that. And away we went,
AJ:
Right. And, you’re the founder of Rue Morgue magazine. And, you know, that’s the epitome of what genre magazine its you guys and Fangoria Magazine. So what made you decide to make the jump into filmmaking and producing this film as well? Cause that’s a pretty huge leap, right?
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Rodrigo:
Yeah. Yeah. It definitely is big leap. Well, you know, back in the day when I first, started Rue Morgue I was 25 years old part of the reason I started it was to get into filmmaking. I figured, you know, maybe Rue Morgue will teach me a lot about filmmaking. So Rue Morgue was kinda like my horror movie making university, cuz I got to spend time with very established directors like John Carpenter and Del Toro and all these people, and kind of learn from them and over time being a critic and watching a lot of movies and featuring movies, I kind of got a feel for how they worked. So at some point I decided, excuse me, oh, you know, now’s the time to move to move forward. I started making short films and so on and so forth. So it’s been a kind of a long trajectory. I did it more as a hobby to be honest with you.
AJ:
And so when filmmaking, and also starting out as a critic and doing the Rue Morgue was that just kind of and feeling also making that jump into being a filmmaker while you did a critic for so long? Or was that, did that kind of make it easier for you?
Rodrigo:
I guess in some ways it made it harder in some ways, because being a critic is really different from being, um, a filmmaker.
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Yeah. Yeah. Being a critic you’re assessing, you know, you’re assessing a movie in the wider sort of like background of, of all the movies that have come before. Also the movies that are coming out that year and, and so on and so forth. And you’re kind of looking at it, you’re looking at themes and you’re looking at also, you know, how, how well it’s executed and so on, so forth, but you’re also comparing it to other movies. And, um, when you make a movie, the movie is so, um, you know, it, it kind of takes over your entire life. You don’t really get to look outside of it. Um, so all of these, these things that critics kind of see or bring into the discussion of the, um, are kind of, you know, they’re sort of like their things. They’re not really necessarily your things as a filmmaker, you know? It’s a really, it’s like a left brain, right. Brain thing. I really love being a critic or have, you know, my time with the remark, but being a filmmaker, it’s kinda like a different thing. It’s like a different muscle in your body that you’re exercising, you know?
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AJ:
Right. And I saw, and this was based on an audible original book or something like that. I think in the credits is what I saw. So do you guys listen to the audio books or was there’s something you just gotten the writes for and just kind of made it in your own adaptation?
Rodrigo:
Yeah. The, the, uh, the rights were owned by, I believe it was Raven banner and they just kind of sent me the script version. I think the script version might have come before the book. I’m not entirely. Yeah. But when I got the script, it was called gone up river and it had to do with people turning into bugs. And so I you know, I told them I would love to do it, but I, you know, if I could change it, um, you know, so I kind of was more interested in this love crafting thing and kind of introduce this idea of a breach and so on. And, so I changed it quite a bit. I’m not familiar with the book at all. I didn’t read the book the reason, not cause I didn’t want to, it was more because, you know, by the time I got the script and we were gonna shoot really quickly, I just had to fix the script and get it to a suitable place. And, you know, I had enough of my ideas. I didn’t, you know, I just didn’t have the time to, to, to sit down with the book and try to consider how to do that, you know?
AJ:
Right. And you know, when I was watching the breach, it kind of felt like an old style sixties and seventies, creature feature kind of love crafting, like you mentioned, but it also had like the fill of a Roger Corman drive-in feature. So was that like any inspiration to how you approached filming the breach as well?
Rodrigo:
Yeah. Well, I, I’m glad, glad to hear you compare, make those comparisons. Yeah, it was definitely what I wanted to do was a very old school, um, old school horror movie creature feature that starts off quiet and, and kind of ends with a bang. And it’s a tight, it’s a small, tight story, you know?
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Right. I was stoked to, to be able to show these monsters in broad daylight and to sort of get that final act, in broad daylight, I always enjoyed Romero’s day of the dead. I remember when I first saw that movie, when you first see those creatures right. In the broad daylight, it’s a different feeling, you kind of, you know, when, when you see all these creatures in the dark, it’s like a different thing going on. When you see them in the day, it just, it gives you a different feeling. So I was happy to be able to bring him into the day.
AJ:
Right. And the monster in this was so cool. So how did the VFX, team come up with the looks for this? Cause there was really cool in the film.
Rodrigo:
Yeah. Well, there, mainly practical, there were body suits and there were, they were created, with my effects supervisor, we kind of back and forth and, and gave them notes and, you know, the whole idea was that this creatures kind of coming through these people and coming out of the side of their head and on top of their head and you know, I wanted something that was unique that I hadn’t seen before. I guess that’s one of the cool things about being able to see a lot of, a lot of horror movies. And I hadn’t seen anything like that before. So it was pretty exciting.
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AJ:
Right. And, you’ve been in critic for so long. So is there any advice that you would give to kind of new critics or people that are wanting to start their own media, rather it be a website or a magazine or, you know, a YouTube channel. Is there any advice you would give people to kind of use their ability to make their own content? What would it be?
Rodrigo:
Absolutely. The one thing that I would tell them is to learn whatever it is, what they’re doing, learn, formally or you know, learn criticism and learn journalism, at least to a certain extent doesn’t mean go to school necessarily. Right. But learn, learn the basics of it because there’s a lot of people, you know, on the internet and, and elsewhere that they think they’re doing journalism, but they’re not really, they’re doing something else. They’re expressing their opinions. They’re making comments this and that. And the other that that’s, that’s fine and dandy, but, uh, but you know, actually to be a journalist and to be able to talk about films, critically demands that you know something about the craft of criticism, the craft of journalism as it has developed over decades and hundreds of years. So I would encourage people to learn the trade before they get into the tree.
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AJ:
Right. Kind of learning the tricks of the trade, so to speak.
Rodrigo:
Yeah, absolutely.
AJ:
All right. And one final question for you, Rodrigo, the cast was so fantastic in the breach. So how did you come up with the casting this cause they were all great.
Rodrigo:
I’m happy to hear you say that, that really makes me happy. I think when people say they like the monster effects, that makes me happy, but when they say that the acting spoke to them, that’s, that’s even better for me because it’s all, you know, in the end, it’s, it’s a story and it’s a, story’s about characters. And if you don’t believe the characters, it’s, you know, you can have all the monster effects she wants and nothing’s gonna happen. I found these characters with the help of Raven Banner, or these actors, um, I didn’t know any of them except for maybe Natalie Wood. I was just really happy that Natalie and Alan, um, who, who are seasoned actors and who are, you know, know their craft very well were, were able to agree to, to play in the, in the sandbox of horror movies.
You know, I was actually surprised. I thought oh man, you know, they’re serious actors. Maybe they’re not gonna wanna, you know, put on all this crazy makeup and get shot in the head and , and you know, this is such a crazy story, but no, they were just concerned about making those characters come to life. They didn’t kind of care about anything else. And, you know, that’s what an actor’s for, you know, that’s what an actor should do. And I was just thrilled that they just rose to the occasion. They didn’t care what the story necessarily was about. They wanted the characters to, to really just come off the page, you know, and I will say that for Emily and Wesley as well.
