High Moon (2019)
Director: Josh Ridgway
Writer: Josh Ridgway
Stars: Sean Patrick Flanery, Chelsea Edmundson, Chad Michael Collins, Ted Ferguson, James Wlcek
HIGH MOON tells the story of a mysterious gunslinger from the Old West who returns from the grave to stop a bloodthirsty gang of werewolves from terrorizing a small town.
With the upcoming release of the High Moon on VOD/Digital from 14th May, I got an opportunity to ask producer and lead actor Chad Michael Collins a few questions about how he got involved in the film and what we can expect from western-horror crossover.
Q. You are involved in the new action-horror film High Moon as both actor and producer. What attracted you to the project and how did you first get involved?
Yes, I star as the lead actor Colt in High Moon. I remember our writer-director Josh Ridgway reaching out to me with the script a few years ago. He had seen me in some of the Sony Sniper movies that I had done and was a fan. And I’m glad that he was, because I was hooked after reading the script! An old west cowboy who returns from the grave to hunt werewolves in the present day? Sold! It was basically a dream role and my 8-year-old self was thrilled.
I came aboard as a producer about a year after we filmed the project. I always kept in touch with Josh and from my decade-plus years of experience working in entertainment Publicity, I felt like I had a lot to offer in terms of helping to get our movie sold, distributed and promoting it all along the way. It has been a great collaboration with him from start to finish.
Q. From the trailer the film looks like a lot of fun, but what can we expect from the film?
What I loved about the script and premise for HIGH MOON was that it really felt like a throwback film. It had touches of John Carpenter all over it, and the best of what we all remember from 80s and 90s action and horror films. So, I think we tried to capture that every step of the way. Audiences will love the action, costumes, and werewolves, but we also have quite a bit of levity and humor that inherently happens when you put an old west cowboy in the modern age. We definitely tried to find a happy middle between intensity and a little bit of camp, without being overly self-righteous. I think we found the sweet spot, and audiences will love it for many reasons.
Q. Can you tell me a little bit about your character Colt who you play in the film?
Colt is a gunslinger from the mid-1800s. A Civil War veteran, who crosses paths with a pack of werewolf outlaws. After they murder his wife, he becomes a one-man lycanthrope-hunting machine with the help of a mystical being called The Keeper. After finishing them off, Colt is laid to rest. However, his dirt nap is interrupted when he mysteriously finds himself transported to the present day, where he must hunt the same gang of howlers all over again while navigating a strange and beguiling future.
Q. What sort of preparation did you do for the role?
I was no stranger to doing fight choreography and a lot of action in other television and film projects. But this one was a lot of fun given the time period and the weaponry associated with it. Playing with a revolver, and axes and a crossbow was a new wrinkle for me. I remember I came in a few days early to work with our Grade stunt coordinator Freddie Poole, to go over some choreography and do a little Eskrima training, which is a Phillipines-based form of stick-fighting. Other than that, I just came in being as fit as I could, as I was playing a mortal man taking on supernatural creatures. So, Colt is a bit like Batman and the Punisher, two of my all-time favorite comic book characters. He just has his wits, fists, and athletic ability to rely on at the end of the day.
Q. Did you make any changes to the character from how it was written in the original script?
With the script that Josh had written, I didn’t feel the need to change very much at all. He nailed the character and I just wanted to do Colt as much justice as I could. We did collaborate on some things at times however, which was very generous of him to leave that door open. We Played with some humorous moments and some dialogue of his interactions with the other characters. But I think audiences will love where we ended up with it all.
Q. Are there any elements of your character which you feel reflect your own personality?
I think so, yeah. I can tend to be a bit of a Lone wolf, pun intended, and that is colt to a tee. He’s not one for making a lot of friends or pleasantries. He is a do-it-yourselfer: industrious, resourceful, and completely independent. He’s not the kind of guy that’s going to ask for help, as he is the kind of guy who gets things done himself and probably works best solo.
Q, Did you experience any difficulties during filming?
As with all independent filmmaking, there are always tons of challenges. You strive to tell the best stories you can, however, schedule and resources are always limited. We all wish we could have $200 million like a major studio superhero movie, but we are trying to make a really fun and entertaining product with a mere fraction of that budget. So there are some scenes and even some entire days that we wish we had back and could do over. As an actor, we all have that hindsight of wishing we had just one more take… It plagues us all! But given the limited resources and the circumstances, I’m pretty happy with how the filming turned out and I think it will be well-received.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
One of the things I loved about filming was that we shot it in Texas. We got to spend a lot of time in and around the Dallas area, which was new for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Even though it was a lot of hard work putting together so many action sequences, I really loved those scenes where colt is taking on all challengers, taking his lumps too, but giving better than he got and knocking them down one after another. It’s easily the most fight choreography I’ve ever done in my career up to that point, and it is always a ton of fun and there’s a lot of satisfaction in putting together an action scene well-done.
Q. What do you think makes High Moon stand out in the horror genre?
I think the fish-out-of-water element we explore with colt being from another time and navigating the modern age is a fun interesting wrinkle. And the werewolves who discover motorcycles in the modern age is also a ton of fun. We had so many cool choppers in this film, all incredible custom machines and you don’t see that every day in a movie.
Maybe it’s just me, but I have watched the film nearly a dozen times so far and I still continue to laugh loudly during many of the scenes. Sean Patrick Flanery is phenomenal in this movie as the morally bankrupt small-town mayor. Whenever he is on the screen I am constantly chuckling. In general, I think there is a lot for everyone to enjoy.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
I do, yes, it’s been a great start to 2019. I did an episode of MacGyver on CBS that was a lot of fun and will appear in AMC’s – Shudder Creepshow scripted series. I’ve been working on a massive, top secret project for months now as well but sadly cannot reveal details. Another Sony Sniper movie is in the works for this summer.
Q. What advice would you give to someone who is looking to get into acting themselves?
My journey into acting has been a unique one to say the least. I never acted a day in my life before I moved to Los Angeles and started a career in entertainment publicity. But working in the industry introduced me to the acting end of things, and once I took a bite, I was hooked.
In terms of advice, I would just offer a few things. One, know why you want to be an actor. So many actors you meet just think acting is a cool idea, but they’re not really clear and specific about what they want to be doing and why. Their career just goes up and down and meanders a bit, and sometimes never catches fire. So, clarity for yourself is of paramount importance. It’ll drive you and sustain you through the up times and the down times, and there will be a lot of down times.
Second, and maybe this is because of the route that I took to get here, I would recommend that every actor learn as much about the business as they can. At the end of the day, an actor is running their own business, their own personal brand. And that takes time, energy, effort, and know-how. You have to constantly work to build it, network, and create relationships over the course of your career. But I find this is where many actors get lazy, and maybe it’s because they are not clear as to why they are doing it in the first place, so it seems like a chore. If you open a restaurant, you don’t just build it and then open the doors and hope for the best. You have to attract customers, promote, market, and all the other things that come with running a successful business. Acting is Art-meets-commerce, but many actors don’t embrace that fact. Be a sponge in general and be incredibly open to learning because there is always more to learn!
HIGH MOON has a summer DVD release planned. Keep up with the latest by following any of the official social media accounts:
HIGH MOON on Facebook
HIGH MOON on Twitter
HIGH MOON on Instagram
HIGH MOON on IMDB
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!
