ASSASSINAUT Writer/Director Drew Bolduc Talks Ambitious Storytelling on a Micro-Budget
Dread’s July release, Assassinaut, is unique for its ambitious scope and DIY aesthetic. We were lucky enough to sit down with the film’s writer/director Drew Bolduc to discuss what it takes to make a movie about aliens and intergalactic travel on a minuscule budget. For a deep dive into what it took to bring Assassinaut to fruition, and how the film evolved during its production, check out our exclusive interview below.
Synopsis:
In the near future, aliens have invaded Earth and declared a galactic war resulting in thousands of human casualties. To save Earth, a team of four teenage astronauts brave the alien wilderness of a distant planet to stop an assassin from changing the course of history forever.
Assassinaut stars Shannon Hutchinson, Vito Trigo, and Jasmina Parent.
Dread Central: Your IMDB bio is pretty slim, so can you tell us a bit about what got you into filmmaking?
Drew Bolduc: Originally, I wanted to do comedy writing but I didn’t really know how to do that. I’m from Richmond, Virginia and there isn’t much of a film industry there. I just started making movies on my own. There is an art school and a film school in the area with a lot of people doing some really great stuff, so I just started working out with them. I eventually made The Taint, which was my first feature, and we did everything ourselves. I was really into the DIY aspect of making movies and that’s how I got started.
DC: What horror or sci-fi movies made the biggest impressions on you growing up?
DB: The standard stuff that all horror people love. Evil Dead 2 was huge; I loved that when I saw it. I’m also a big fan of Akira and those kinds of ultra-violent films. I also loved body horror and gore, like Dead Alive. And Jon Waters was an inspiration to some degree as well. I really like horror-comedy, but that’s a genre that hasn’t been that popular since the 1980s, so it’s kind of a weird place to be.
DC: Horror-comedy is ripe for a resurgence. What were your inspirations for Assassinauts specifically?
DB: [Assassinaut] is almost like a Power Rangers movie and it started campier and funnier. But as we started filming things changed. By the way, we started filming in 2015 so it was before Stranger Things and the resurgence of 1980s nostalgia; what we were doing was very different at the time. But we started getting rid of the jokes and became a much more somber movie. That wasn’t really the plan when we set out to make the film.
DC: They say never work with animals and kids when you’re making a movie, but you cast is primarily young adults. Was that challenging?
DB: I had already directed a short film with kids so I learned a lot then. And honestly because I’m involved with micro-budget filmmaking, I’m used to working with non-actors. Regarding the kids, they were professionals as far as I was concerned. They knew all of their lines. It’s not necessarily experiences or age that makes someone a good actor. It has to do with the essence of the character. And, with kids, the parents have to be cool and understand the process to a degree. And so if you have those things, for me, it was super easy. I didn’t have any issues. It might have been different if they were really young, but the youngest actor in the film was 12.
DC: What were the biggest challenges you faced during production?
DB: Usually, with a budget as small as we had, it’s best to make a ghost story in a haunted house or something. There were so many locations in Assassinaut; we had to go all over the state of Virginia. We shot in the mountains, we shot on an old battleship in Norfolk; it was a retired Navy battleship where we shot all of the space station stuff.
DC: I thought it was a submarine! it has that dystopian military look. That set was a score for you guys.
DB: If I was smart, I would have made a smaller film with no CGI. I feel like if I had brought the script to a producer in Hollywood, he would have said, “There’s no way you can make this film for less than a million dollars”. I don’t recommend it.
DC: What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers?
DB: Work with what you have. You want to find an aesthetic that works with your limitations. Know what your good and what you’re not good at. And collaboration is key; always try and work with people who are better than you. If you’re the smartest person on a movie set, you’re screwed.
DC: Without giving anything away, Assassinaut feels like the beginning of a trilogy or a franchise. Are you planning a sequel?
DB: I wasn’t originally, but there could be a sequel there—if anyone cares. I want to do more with puppets and aliens.
DC: Anything else you’d like to tell our readers before I let you go?
DB: A lot of people worked on this film to make it happen, so I’ve got to give a shout out to the crew and everyone who worked on it.
You can pick up your own copy of Assassinaut on Blu-ray, HERE.
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