Film Name: Stalker
Director: Steve Johnson
Writer: Chris Watt
Starring: Sophie Skelton, Stuart Brennan, Bret Hart
Rose Hepburn, a young actor working in horror movies, returns to her empty hotel. Forced to use the old freight elevator, it jolts to a halt on the twelfth floor, leaving her trapped with an unusual stranger. Left with no mobile phone signal as a storm approaches, tensions escalate and suspicions rise when Rose discovers the identity of the mysterious man is Daniel Reed, a camera operator on her latest movie, who is seemingly obsessed with her. As the elevator hangs precariously high about to plunge down at any minute, some harsh truths and actions start unfolding.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds, I got a chance to ask director Steve Johnson a few questions about the film Stalker which will be making its World Premiere at Arrow FrightFest on Sunday 28th August at 21:05hrs
Q. Your film Stalker has been selected to play at Arrow FrightFest. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. First off, I am immensely privileged to be showing ‘Stalker’ at FrightFest, being the UK’s foremost genre film festival. If you love a slow-burning, psychological thriller with horror elements, then this will be the film for you. I love films where you travel with the characters on their journey and where potentially everything they say or do means something in the end and that’s what I think we have achieved with this film.
Q. What attracted you to the script written by Chris Watt?
A. The great thing with Chris’s script was the fact that 98% of the film is set inside the elevator. From a filmmaker’s perspective, that makes this a challenging project because there is literally nowhere to go except within that 6’ x 8’ room. That’s a big risk because you can’t just cut away to another scene or character if something doesn’t work. We are there, in the elevator with Rose and Daniel this whole time, so it was interesting to see how the tension builds up between them throughout the film. I love films that are set in one location, like ‘Room’ or ‘Cloverfield Lane’ but then you look at the size of their “one-location” and compare that to ours, and I would say we did a good job in finding a story in such a small space.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. We did a fair amount of research into old-style elevators both in the UK and the US. We wanted to move away from the silver metallic standard feel of an elevator and make it feel more like a character in the film. I think the history we came up with, it was once the actual elevator in the hotel before being turned into a freight elevator later in its life. It’s gone through years of being repurposed for different things. You see this from the soft velvet of the walls and the side lights down to the rusted metal at the bottom and the worn floor. The production design department did a brilliant job at giving so much character to the location. When we got to filming, I think we shot a fair amount on wider lenses but closer to the actors which gave an interesting feel, and of course, we used longer lenses to give a claustrophobic feel when we needed it.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. I wouldn’t say that we made any story changes to the original script during filming. Both Sophie (Skelton) and Stuart (Brennan) would sit each morning and go through their lines for the day and bounce ideas off one another so that when they came to set, they would be like “we tried this” or “this felt more natural”, so there would have been tweaks to the dialogue but nothing major was changed. It also helped that we shot the majority of the film in order, except for the opening when Rose arrives at the hotel and the flashbacks. This certainly helped the actors as they knew what state of mind their characters would be in, where they had been and how those feeling would be building or simmering based on the previous day’s scenes. That became a big advance throughout the production.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. There were loads of great moments during filming, but that was down to the fact that we were filming during Covid, so we were all locked in the same hotel with one another for this short, emotional period of time. The entire team were such a pleasure to work with. We had these moments of very intense work and then evenings of relaxing and joking. It seems like a real cliché to say that we all bonded, but we really did. We were filming at the end of October / beginning of November so we had Halloween at the hotel and the owners’ children went trick or treating around the cast and crew – that was really fun! Then we had Guy Fawkes night with fireworks. Gareth (Wiley) our Executive Producer put on a brilliant firework display for us that night and we had a few drinks around the outdoor fire pit.
Q. What were some of the biggest challenges in making the film?
A. Like I said earlier, the biggest challenge was the one set location and the lack of a safety net that it gives you because you can’t cut to some other actor or some other location if something isn’t working. So ensuring that the performances were the best that they could be in the timescales we had was the biggest challenge. We had 12 days of filming and on average we had to complete approximately 9-11 pages of dialogue per day. That’s a lot of dialogue, and within that, you have to make sure that you capture multiple takes and multiple angles, plus all the inserts, all with only one camera. So I had to be confident that when we had the performance, we moved on. Those challenges can seem very daunting at the time, but it also makes you more focused on the performances and the story.
Q. What makes Stalker stand out as something different in the genre?
A. Horror film fans are wonderful audiences that expect a great deal from the films on offer and I think that the nature of ‘Stalker’ being a minimalist one-location psychological thriller with horror elements is what sets it apart from probably anything else showing at FrightFest.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. It’s funny. When the film was announced as showing at FrightFest and we started doing some pushes on social media, there were a few comments that I came across which were like ‘women as prey, no thanks’ which are very fair comments to make in this day and age. But I would say don’t judge a book by its cover. As for what people can take away after watching the film, firstly, be weary when using a Freight elevator and secondly, you never know who you are in the elevator with!!!
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on, or can talk about?
A. I have a few projects that I’m developing both as a writer/director and just as a director. The biggest challenge for any independent filmmaker is funding, so I’m actively looking at options for these projects as well as looking for representation.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give?
A. I would say just go out and make something that you can be proud of! Make sure that your story is as solid as you can make it; make sure you have the best actors that you can find; and make sure you have the best sound recordist that you can collaborate with. I think the sound is very overlooked by filmmakers. Also, plan and prepare before you start shooting. Visit the locations you want to shoot. Check atmospheric sound. Embrace what limitations you have and try and find a way to make them a strength. You don’t need a huge crew to make a film. When you make a big production out of things, then it becomes a big production and sometimes being bigger means more problems. Go lean and mean. Write the story that you want to see on the screen, shoot the movie that you want to see on the screen, but most of all, have fun during the process because this is a hard industry to break into. Just make it and put it out there but accept that not everyone will like what you make. Art is subjective after all.
Stalker has its World Premiere at FrightFest on 28th August 9.05pm at the Prince Charles Cinema, London
Tickets: https://www.frightfest.co.uk/2022Aug/stalker.html
Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment presents Stalker on DVD and Digital from 10th October
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Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
