Condemned director Eli Morgan Gesner spoke with Daily Dead about the film and the Q&A is featured after the jump. Also in this round-up: preview pages from Dark Horse's Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 Vol. 3 hardcover comic and a cool monster creator website from the team behind 20th Century Fox's Victor Frankenstein.
Condemned: "Fed up with her parents’ bickering, poor-little-rich-girl Maya (Dylan Penn) moves in with her boyfriend, who is squatting in an old condemned building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. With neighbors that are meth heads, junkies and degenerates, this depraved hell hole is even more toxic than it appears: After a virus born from their combined noxious waste and garbage infects the building’s residents, one by one, they succumb to a terrifying pathogen that turns them into bloodthirsty, rampaging killers and transforms their building into a savage slaughterhouse.
RLJ Entertainment will release CONDEMNED in theaters and on VOD and iTunes on Friday, November 13th."
Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us, Eli. How and when did you come up with the story for Condemned?
Eli Morgan Gesner: Well, here’s the unabridged TRUTH about how Condemned got to be made. This whole thing begins in 2002 after seeing The Ring (2002) by Gore Verbinski. Me and my boy Yancey were walking home after the film lamenting about how there are hardly any horror movies set in New York City. The problem, we assessed, was that there are too many people to run to your aid in NYC. That’s where Condemned had its start for me. By the time I finished a draft I was happy with and registered it with the WGA, it was about 2004. At the time, I was set to direct another film I wrote (an NYC romantic crime thriller) with a well-known production company and starring some well-known actors. That’s where my focus was.
So, a producer friend of mine set up Condemned to be helmed by another director. And so I optioned the rights to them to go make the film. But, as I can tell you firsthand, sometimes things don’t go as planned. After a few years of putting my “crime” movie together, it fell apart at the last minute in pre-production. Different production companies tried their luck, too, at getting Condemned made. And then the 2007 release of The Condemned and the 2008 release of Quarantine didn’t help either. Regardless, the Condemned screenplay I wrote was optioned every year for over ten years, so at least it was earning some money for me. Then, around the end of 2013, I was getting interest from various new producers to make Condemned with me set to direct. I have had a long relationship with the guys from Caliber Media (Dallas Sonnier and Jack Heller) and they had been after me for a few years to make the film with them. So, after the rights reverted back to me, the planets aligned and I felt it was time to tackle Condemned with Caliber.
Where did filming take place and what did that environment add aesthetically and atmospherically to the movie?
Eli Morgan Gesner: When I first wrote Condemned, it was for a much larger budget and I envisioned building a large set on a back lot somewhere. Well, a lot can happen in ten years—mainly the housing market crash followed by the opportunistic, vulture-like attack on cheap New York City real estate. The New York City that I wrote Condemned for doesn’t even really exist now. “New York City is a gated community”—I unintentionally wrote in Condemned ten years earlier! And look what came to pass. WE COULD NOT FIND AN EMPTY OLD BUILDING TO SHOOT IN!
I shit you not. This was the biggest obstacle the producers and I had to overcome. I live in a tenement-style building in New York City. Most of my friends live in tenement-style buildings. But those things are like gold nuggets in the city now. If they do exist, it’s impossible to negotiate with developers and landlords because of the potential money to be made. Then, finally, we learned of the building that John Turturro shot his film Fading Gigolo (2013) in. The quaint gentleman who owned the building had inherited it from his dear departed mother. He was very precious about the building. But he did have a good experience with Turturro and Woody Allen on Gigolo and we promised him more of the same. Just with a lot more blood. All in all, he was a good sport about everything.
The absurd thing was that the building is located on the Upper East Side in a very posh neighborhood. And here we are dragging fake dead bodies around the street while our fancy neighbors walked their poodles, all the while making a movie about how poor people have nowhere to live. It was just madness to me. The building directly adjacent to us had NYC’s biggest indoor waterfall. The entire building had a single window cut off it to show off the three-story waterfall. And the owners didn’t even live in the building. The building was used to house their private art collection. Absurd!
Aesthetically, the building was spot-on. That’s why I fought so hard for it and even had to pull some Jedi mind tricks to get it. Getting that specific tenement-style building was key for making this film work for me. The hallways and stairs are the only space in the film that all the characters interact in and it was of paramount importance that the space be very narrow and confined so that the characters are forced to confront one another, whether they want to or not. Also, the actual building only had four floors and in the story there had to be six stories. This was a bit of a nightmare. But with a few camera tricks, clever set decoration, and a lot of logistical pre-planning, we faked the four-story building for six.
We were also lucky enough to get Rayna Savrosa and her awesome husband Amorino Bortolin to do production design. These two literally did the work of twenty men. They worked themselves to death. I designed and engineered the artistic direction of all the different rooms, but Rayna and Rino just worked without sleep for three weeks to make everything happen. Actually, everyone on set went above and beyond the call of duty. I can’t thank everyone who worked on this movie enough. I love all you guys.
What was the most challenging scene to shoot?
Eli Morgan Gesner: For me, the most difficult scene to shoot was the “fuck your phone” scene, the scene in the middle of the film where all the people in the building realize that they are locked inside. The main reason being the amount of characters in the scene and the lack of time and space we had to shoot in. Listen, we made this film with minimal resources. Practically every shot you see in the film was the ONLY shot that was usable. In fact, that’s how I managed to fabricate a movie with this kind of complexity and scope with such a limited budget. “Was that take usable?” “Yes.” “Then move on!” This tactic was manageable up to four characters at once. But that “fuck your phone” scene was poorly scheduled and had EIGHT characters, all taking, all making different points, and all crammed into a tiny stairway. In the real world, that scene should have been at least a full day. On Condemned, I would have been happy with a half-day. We ended up only having a few hours. We literally got half the shots we needed. But maybe that panic helped with the scene. Who knows? In the end, as time goes on, you forget all that day-to-day mayhem on set and are only left with the end result. Does the film suffer because of it? No. I don’t think so. Not really. But that day, for me, was easily the most challenging.
What was your most memorable experience from your time on set?
Eli Morgan Gesner: The entire thing! We shot Condemned in only eighteen days! So the time on set, to me, is just one big experience. Every single day was rife with tragedy and triumph. People laughing. People crying. People cheering. It was amazing! If anything, and I say this as a seasoned artist, the thing I will treasure the most is watching my cast and crew work! As an artist, I am very realistic about “the work”—what we make on set is just one part of a much larger process. It’s very matter-of-fact for me and I do not get emotional about it. But what I did get emotional about was watching all the people involved come together and rally around making this movie. When I think back to the shoot now, that’s what I think of. The people.
Do you have any favorite infection films that influenced your approach to filming Condemned?
Eli Morgan Gesner: As a child I was always fascinated by the original Night of the Living Dead (1968), specifically because they never clearly state HOW the dead are coming back to life. Uncertainty and the unknown—that is true horror, that is helplessness. Once you assess a problem, you can start to deal with it. And that’s not scary. That’s a “procedural” on television.
As far as my approach to dealing with the idea of infection? Well, at the risk of sounding pompous, infection is a space that I’ve operated in my whole adult life. The idea of virology and spreading ideas through that device is what I’ve done for years. Only I methodically and very intentionally spread fads. Fashion. Trends. How to disseminate an unknown concept into the populous and, through specific methods and efforts, have that concept multiply and grow into a universally accepted standard is something I have successfully done more than a few times. But I don’t see that as some special skill. Rather, I see it as the most common and natural form of communication.
We associate “virus” and “infection” with things like the flu and AIDS. But this is how agriculture spread across the world. This is how all major religions spread across the world. And, sadly, this is also how trucker caps spread across the world. This is what all TV and advertising tried to accomplish. Infection. And this idea, for all its good and evil, is what my movie is about. That is literally why it’s an “infection” film. Not simply because people in the film become physically ill. That’s just symbolism.
The apartment setting of this film allows a large number of eclectic characters to naturally become part of the story. Which characters and personalities did you have the most fun creating?
Eli Morgan Gesner: That’s like asking which of my children do I like the best. They’re all awesome and they’re all horrible for their own unique purposes! But if I had to pick one character, I’ll pick the character that I worked the hardest on: the BUILDING!
Did you set out to use more practical effects than CGI inCondemned?
Eli Morgan Gesner: When I graduated from high school in 1988 I asked for a Macintosh 2 computer. It was the first COLOR Macintosh computer ever, it could handle photo-realistic imaging and cost a LOT of money. Because of this, there weren't many people around who had one. My mother, at the time, was an art director and through her I got to “beta test” Adobe Illustrator 88 and Photoshop 88. So I’ve been around “modern” CG from its baby steps. And that was a good thing because I grew up with CG when it SUCKED!
Throughout my twenties, CG was so limited and clunky that I just ended up doing much of my art by hand and using computers only to fill in the gaps. In fact, you can see this in most of the graphic work I did throughout the 1990s for my old skateboard company, Zoo York—especially the ads. I would fabricate parts and segments by hand, scan them in, and then assemble the different artistic elements in Photoshop. And that’s how I work today. It’s my “thing.” I do whatever I can practically and then use CG to composite everything, clean it up, and add a little flourish or blood splatter here and there.
As if to prove my point, look at the “pipe” sequences in Condemned. Those were initially done all CG. But, sadly, weren't up to snuff. Dissatisfied and out of money, I ended up doing all the pipe shots in my kitchen and bathroom with practical crap I picked up at my local hardware store (Garber Hardware—since 1884) using a skateboard and a GoPro and lots of trial and error. But once I nailed an effective “look” for the pipes, I assembled all the sections together in post, using CG to give the illusion of a massive network of twisting and turning pipes.
Regardless of all that, the amazing practical GORE effects were done by the very talented and hard-working Brian Spears. He is really the hero behind all the blood and slime. He really worked his tail off for Condemned and if you love the visceral blood and carnage, you can follow Brian at @brianspearsfx on Instagram, I know I do!
With Condemned due out November 13th, what projects do you have on deck that you can tease for our readers, and where can they find you on social media?
Eli Morgan Gesner: You know, I am no longer a fan of talking about what I have coming down the pipe because... see my answer to your first question! Ha! But rest assured that I am always working on a fresh batch of crazy shit for your enjoyment. In the meantime, if you like skateboarding, check out my original skateboard company SHUT SKATES at shutnyc.com, New York City’s FIRST skateboard company—established 1986! And, as always, feel free to follow yours truly at @ocularge on all social media (But Instagram mostly.)
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 Vol. 3 Hardcover Comic: "Buffy, Xander, and Willow confront new enemies—a superbeing bent on revenge, a Slayer gone rogue, and the ancient god who created vampires—in a battle that will change the shape of the world. Buffy, with a little help from her friends, rediscovers what it truly means to be a Slayer. Collects Buffy Season 9 Volumes 4 and 5.
* Expanded sketchbook and deluxe oversized format.
Writers: Joss Whedon, Andrew Chambliss, Jane Espenson
Penciller: Georges Jeanty, Karl Moline, Phil Noto
Inker: Andy Owens, Dexter Vines, Karl Story
Colorist: Michelle Madsen
Cover Artist: Steve Morris"
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 Vol. 3 hardcover was released on November 11th by Dark Horse. To learn more, visit:
Preview pages via Dark Horse:
Tamika hails from North Beach, Maryland, a tiny town inches from the Chesapeake Bay.She knew she wanted to be an actor after reciting a soliloquy by Sojourner Truth in front of her entire fifth grade class. Since then, she's appeared in over 20 film and television projects. In addition to acting, Tamika is the Indie Spotlight manager for Daily Dead, where she brings readers news on independent horror projects every weekend.
The first horror film Tamika watched was Child's Play. Being eight years old at the time, she remembers being so scared when Chucky came to life that she projectile vomited. It's tough for her to choose only one movie as her favorite horror film, so she picked two: Nosferatu and The Stepford Wives (1975).
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