Bennet’s Song is a new heart-warming family drama which is being released, through Vision Films and Auburn Moon Productions on the 14th August. To coincide with the release, I got an opportunity to talk again with director Harley Wallen about what we can expect from the film, and some of his other projects including; Betrayed, Agramon’s Gate, Into A Dark Mind and Taken Over.
You have your new film Bennett’s Song being released on Tuesday 14th August which is a family drama on VOD and DVD. What can people expect from the film?
Some people say it’s like Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) and I think that is a big misconception. I haven’t seen a film like this, I think it’s unique. It’s a comedy of some aspects, it is very funny and definitely a drama. We’ve won best Family film at festivals and best romance at festivals, so they are having a hard time to place the film.
It starts with my character who is a widower with seven adopted children, he has given up on dating because who is going to date him with seven kids? But then he meets this beautiful dentist when he is in there with his daughter and she has also given up on dating. A divorcee whose husband had a midlife crisis and left her quite a while ago, so they are kind of in the same boat. Both of them really enjoy the chemistry of being together to the point where sparks fly, even though they don’t know about each other having seven kids. When they find out through an accident we see this big dilemma, most films would dupe that out to the end of the movie, they then get together and everyone lives happily ever after. The problem is solved very quickly afterwards, and so the dilemma becomes the kids. One of the daughters has always wanted to go to a band camp but was never able to do so because of a lack of money, so they enter a contest but its rigged against them. Everything is all going the wrong way and that’s what they overcome at the end through some interesting events. I love the movie because it’s not stereotypical at all.
The film has an impressive cast and there are some very mature performances by the kids from various age groups.
I was really scared, because with the types of movies I normally do there are no kids. To step into this was a double-edged sword, I told Nancy my business partner who wrote it that I have to do this, I knew that a lot of people could have made this into a really cheesy boring movie and I felt it had too much soul for that. I wanted to do it for that reason, but I was also scared because there were 20 kids in this movie. I was really nervous because I had never worked with them before. I told Nancy, “We had better do this right” so we had auditions, second auditions, callbacks, four table reads and a couple of rehearsals. We really prepped a lot and did out due diligence to make sure we picked the right children.
The film has been receiving a lot of positive feedback and last time we spoke you mentioned a possible sequel, is that still in the works?
It’s actually being written right now. Me and Nancy brainstormed and came up with some ideas, although she already had almost a whole plotline for the film even without my input.
We are just waiting for her to finish writing the scenes themselves with the dialogue and we are almost 60% done, so we’re almost at the end of the road with this. We are looking to start filming on November 1st.
So, you are jumping straight in there, you really don’t waste time between projects.
No, I believe in staying busy, I enjoy making films and I want the films to keep moving.
With Bennett’s Song getting a home release, you also have a Betrayed coming out for which has its LA Premier on the 26th September. That is a very different type of film.
That one has taken on a life of its own. It started with a bidding war between distributors which is a good thing and then we ended up taking the best deal we could which was with Vision. Vision immediately got the interest of Sony who picked up the North American distribution. It’s been a bit surreal, I just got off a conference call and we are virtually already full for this premier. It is going to be one of those heartbreakers when people come to me and say can I come, but I am going to have to say, “Sorry, but we are full”. It’s a good problem to have but not what I was expecting to be saying a month and a half away from the premier.
Will Betrayed be getting a theatrical release?
Not in America. Right now, the pre-orders from Europe and Indonesia have been really strong and we have had good success with that. I don’t know what the details are regarding those releases yet, but we have just passed it through quality control. It’s a little bit nerve-racking because if we didn’t hit the deadline we would need to bump our distribution date, but the distribution for the US and Canada is October 2nd and will be available in all stores and on VOD.
Betrayed itself is a much darker film which deals with trafficking
Our church is really active, they go out and actually try to do something and when we saw some of the trafficking numbers it is quite disturbing. You can sit there sometimes and think this happens over there to other people, but when you see the numbers it’s frightening. I have a beautiful wife and three beautiful daughters, so it really touches me. There are multiple ways to make people jump into action and I feel sometimes by showing the dark underbelly you can really hit people and make them say “I want to step up and to do something”. That was my attempt with this movie to shed some light and put this in everyone’s backyard.
I know you have been in post-production for a film called Agramon’s Gate which features Lauren Langdon, how is that film coming along?
I love this movie! This is one of those films which is going to sneak under the radar. The editor of Abeyance is doing the trailer for Agramon’s Gate. We are not at picture lock or editing yet, but I said, “Hey I am going to send you the file that we have now, so that way you can have a look and get a feel for it”. He put it together dead on 90 seconds and it looks amazing. I am the kind of person who when I get excited I want to tell people and show them. I have been sitting on a premiere date which I just wanted to share with the world and here I have a trailer. It has been done a low-resolution file, has not been sound designed, is not scored is properly only second to the Betrayed trailer out of all the trailers I have ever done. I am looking at this thing, it’s not even polished and it’s that good! This one is going to sneak up on people. I showed Yan [Birch] some clips when he was filming his role for Abeyance and he said “You watch it, this is going to be a cult hit, this is going to do really well. I know horror fans and they will eat this up!” It’s exciting to see and he knows.
What is it about Agramon’s Gate that you think will make it appeal to the horror fans
I think the story itself is really good and one thing that makes a horror film go further than the rest is usually a great story. That is often what’s missing in the ones that don’t go all that far, they pop up and then they go away. When you think about it afterwards there isn’t really much of a story. [Martin] Scorsese talks about film today there’s is no start, middle and end anymore, it’s just a beginning and some things fizzling out. With Agramon’s Gate it’s a really good story which is well crafted, people came in and it’s amazing when corporate say “They owned their characters” and that trailer, it’s amazing!
When do you think the trailer will be dropping for Agramon’s Gate?
My editor wants to edit it in 4k straight out of the can so to speak because he can do a lot more with it. He is getting that footage today or tomorrow and he is going straight into cutting it, I will then send it to the guys for sound and scoring, I assume this is coming out before I am back from Sweden, I don’t want to sit on this because it’s too good, it’s too exciting!
I know you were previously looking at releasing it this year, is that still the case?
I will hold out on it now because we missed out the deadline of an October release where we wanted it and I really don’t want to release a horror film in November or December, it’s the wrong time. In January people are usually broke from Christmas so I will aim at a February release at this point, it will come out around the same time as Abeyance. I just talked to Joshua from Green Apple Entertainment who are distributing Taken Over and Into a Dark Mind. He is going to have them up for sale at the Toronto National Film Market, so they are coming out two weeks before Betrayed comes out and obviously a month after Bennet’s Song comes out. It is an all-out assault on the film industry with all of our films coming together.
It’s amazing that you have so many films coming out together and very different films in terms of style and content. It’s quite a collection and has already been a good year so far.
This has been a fantastic year and almost to the point where I would call it magical.
Talking of Abeyance, you have recently just finished filming
I will go out on the limb and say this will by far be our biggest film.
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!
