Interview with Filmmaker Gregory Blair: Deadly Revisions and The Mystery of Emma Thorn (2024)
A filmmaker who has demonstrated excellence in acting, writing, and directing, Gregory Blair is here to discuss two films in which the darkness lies as much in the unseen, deep in the psyche, as it does in the chills and thrills on the screen.
Deadly Revisions (Director’s Cut)
An amnesiac horror writer becomes trapped in his own nightmare as terrifying images emerge that could be memories, madness, or both!
The Mystery of Emma Thorn (Filming May, 2024)
A woman’s unusual disappearance leaves her distraught husband and son—and a sympathetic police detective—to try to unravel the how and why.
The Interview
1. Your Revisions. What’s the difference between the Director’s Cut of Deadly Revisions and the original? Why did you decide to do a Director’s Cut? Did you have any nightmares about the different versions, or, in this case, did life not imitate art?
GB: No nightmares in my real life, thankfully; I’d hate to experience what Grafton Torn does in the film! The reason for the Director’s Cut was my desire to improve the film. It won plenty of good reviews and awards as it was, but I always wanted to tweak different things after the first cut was out in the world. I think that as you grow as a filmmaker (and I hope I’m growing), you see things in your earlier works that you’d do differently. I’ll wager most filmmakers feel that; I just decided to act on it. So, the Director’s Cut was my opportunity to make as many of those tweaks as I could with the footage we had. There are small changes in editing, lighting, color—even effects that come across as camera movement: all things to tighten a scene or moment or give it more punch.
2. Writer Stories. “Writer Stories” with protagonists who write fiction are practically a horror subgenre, mostly thanks to Stephen King (though he didn’t invent them). To what extent, if at all, did you think about Stephen King and/or the “Writer Stories” phenomenon when creating Deadly Revisions? And, if not, why did you choose to focus on a writer for a horror movie?
GB: I didn’t intentionally decide to add to that genre slice. I had an idea for a novel where a horror writer was terrorized by his own creations, and that became the main idea that I turned into Deadly Revisions. The basis for the novel was intellectual and metaphorical and not particularly cinematic, so once I decided to turn the idea into a film, the whole story changed into something that would manifest well in that medium. Also, being a bit of a horror film fan, having written some horror fiction and scripts, as well as having a lot of peers entrenched in horror filmmaking, I thought it would be fun to create a piece that would both pay homage to and comment on the genre and its creators. The scene where Grafton is grilled in an interview about his work was very much born of that whole idea.
3. Writer Sanity. Thanks to Edgar Allan Poe and a few other figures, a lot of people have a romantic view of a thin line between creativity—particularly dark creativity—and madness. Deadly Revisions plays with the idea that horror writers might have a weaker grasp on sanity. Is there something to this idea? Either way, how do you think this idea about horror artists affects those artists and their art?
GB: While I think any correlation between a person’s art and their grasp of reality is best left to mental health professionals, I’d argue that it’s probably unfair to believe that a writer’s genre choice reveals much about their sanity. Mental illness is hardly discriminatory in that way. There are those outside of the industry who have a low opinion of the genre and its creators, thinking they all must be sick in the head. But, like most “holier than thou” types, those people often reveal their own hypocrisy by enjoying violent action films, video games, or blood sports. Moral high ground is usually shaky ground with skeletons just below the surface.
Moral high ground is usually shaky ground with skeletons just below the surface.
4. Cabin in the Woods. Okay, so it’s a house, but Grafton retreats to an isolated woodsy location early in the film, which aligns the film with the “Cabin in the Woods” tradition. Did this tradition make an impact on your film? What’s so useful about this setting?
GB: The tradition stands because that setting provides a variety of things: narratively, an isolated location adds to a sense of loneliness, helplessness, entrapment—anything a storyteller may need to heighten the situation with which the character (or characters) must grapple; from a budgetary standpoint, a remote location usually avoids a host of issues (pricier permits, urban noise issues, etc.) and that usually helps keep costs lower. When something serves the narrative and is also budget-friendly, it’s easy to understand why filmmakers would take advantage of it.
5. Representing What Isn’t Present. What strategies involving lighting, shot distance, shot framing, editing, and other film techniques does Deadly Revisions use to represent memory… as well as experiences that may or may not be real?
GB: I think lighting and color play a big part in the film toward that idea. Many of the flashbacks/memories are contextually clear: we know we’re seeing something from the past. But often the color palette will be a little off, indicating that the memory may be off as well, meaning what we’re seeing may not be completely true. And then I played with that in the new version where a scene starts off looking normal and then the color suddenly goes wrong—just as we realize the scene is not reality. It was a way of using color as metaphor. Horror is famous for doing that in bold fashion, so it seemed appropriate.
6. Mystery Surrounding Emma Thorn. IMDb only shares a scant amount of information about your film in pre-production, The Mystery of Emma Thorn. It classifies the film as a drama, but the title, of course, says “mystery.” How would you classify this film, and what sort(s) of audience(s) will it be right for?
GB: The Mystery of Emma Thorn is a blend of genres. On the one hand, it’s certainly a mystery about a missing woman, but it’s a character study and a family drama as well. Funny thing is, the original idea led me to think it would be a horror film, but as I started writing it, the honest emotions of the family members left behind came to the forefront, and I realized their story was more of a drama than anything else. Sure, there’s fear and dread lurking, but there’s also hope and the need to care for each other.
8. The Mysteries Ahead… In how much detail will you have planned the look and feel of The Mystery of Emma Thorn before you start to shoot? What can you tell us about the viewing experience you plan to construct?
GB: I’m a big believer in planning everything down to the finest detail: that way, we head into production with everyone having a clear picture of what we’ll be accomplishing each step of the way. That fosters efficient filmmaking. My extended shot list concept uses color shading to mark which shots will cover which lines: I know what line I want to be in the close up, what line I want to see in the wide, etc. That helps me direct more efficiently and helps the script supervisor know what the editing goals are, so they can make sure we haven’t missed anything. As for the feel of the film, I’m aiming for an almost dreamlike, hypnotic feel: I want people to be lulled by it…and then slowly start to become more and more engaged and intrigued as more information gets revealed and they start to get suspicious—just as some of the characters do.
9. Favorite Role? Your bio (below) states your multihyphenate status and then breaks it down by role, highlighting your accomplishments as actor, writer, and director. If you had to choose, what role would you say makes you happiest? What takes the most energy? Where do you hope to develop most in the future?
GB: This is a tough one, but I’d say acting would (still) win out, because it was the role I first fell in love with; everything else just branched out from that. And although a 7 ½ hour show like Angels in America does take a lot of energy out of an actor, directing indie film takes more out of me… which is why I don’t do a film every year like some people can. But that’s partly because in much of the indie film world, the director isn’t just a director: they are often also a producer, a UPM, the art department, and whatever else a production may need that the budget can’t afford. So, you’re often using multiple parts of your brain, moment to moment, the entire day, as the production needs shift… and that can be incredibly exhausting. Rewarding… but exhausting!
Thanks for the great questions! I hope I provided some insightful answers for your audience.
[Thanks, you did! – Andrew]
About the Filmmaker
Gregory Blair is an award-winning actor, writer, director, and producer.
As an actor, Gregory has graced the stage (Angels in America, Working, Six Degrees of Separation, etc.), the big screen (Craving, Fang, Garden Party Massacre, etc.), and the small screen (Escape the Night, Love that Girl!, Deep Undercover, etc.). He was awarded “Best Actor” for his roles in Fang, Beasts of the Field, and Angels in America.
Gregory’s writing has been represented on stage (Cold Lang Syne, The Last Banana, and Nicholas Nickleby), in prose such as The Ritual, Little Shivers, and the Stonewall Award winning Spewing Pulp, and in films including the screenplays for Deadly Revisions, Garden Party Massacre, and the story for The Convent. He won the Claw Award for “Best Screenplay” for Deadly Revisions and a 2021 Impact Award for his screenplay Convenient Living.
Gregory directed the features Deadly Revisions and Garden Party Massacre as well as two shorts. He won the EOTM Award for “Best Director of an Indie Horror Film” and the Flicker Award for “Best Picture” for Deadly Revisions as was as handfuls of awards for Garden Party Massacre, including “Best Feature” from the Fantastic Horror Film Festival and “Best Director of the Year” from the Southern Sykos Film Festival. He is also the proud recipient of the esteemed Phil Tucket Spirit Award for filmmaking.
Gregory loves to teach as well as entertain, so he also provides writing consulting and enjoys being a guest speaker at learning events. In everything he does, Gregory’s goal is to entertain and enlighten people to make the world a little better for his having been there.
GREGORY BLAIR:
IMDb: https://rb.gy/yqkq4b
Official Website: www.gregoryblair.info
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGregoryBlair
Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/TheGregoryBlair
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegregoryblair/
DEADLY REVISIONS (Director’s Cut)
Amazon: https://shorturl.at/uGWX3
Google Play: https://shorturl.at/hBIKT |
Trailer: https://rb.gy/mhp72
THE MYSTERY OF EMMA THORN:
Official site: http://www.2writers.com/TheMysteryOfEmmaThorn.htm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092660858924
Teaser: https://youtu.be/Z36RUtVigbA