Q&A: Director Christopher Lawrence Chapman Discusses the Time Loops and Hospital Horrors of INOPERABLE

Combining the eerie atmosphere of The Twilight Zone with the time loop predicament of Groundhog Day and the immersive qualities of a first-person shooter video game, Inoperable was one of my favorite viewing experiences of 2017, so I was especially pleased to catch up with co-writer/director Christopher Lawrence Chapman to discuss the film in a new Q&A feature.

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us and congratulations on Inoperable, which made my list of Favorites of 2017. When did you and Jeff Miller first come up with the idea for this movie?

Christopher Lawrence Chapman: Thank you so much! I was really flattered to make your list of favorites for 2017! I am so fortunate to have critics and writers like you who really know this genre and help tell the filmmaker’s stories!

I had shot a few films in the past, and began working on a film with Jeff Miller. He and I met on the project Clowntown, and there we began the discussion of making another horror film. Jeff is a very accomplished producer and has produced many films. He gave me some thoughts about what he felt was interesting generally and what he felt would “move the needle,” so I took the ball and ran with it. I drew on an experience I had (years and years ago) in a hospital while an actual hurricane was threatening the general area where this hospital was located. My mind began to wander and I felt it was such a great “world” in which to create a narrative to operate inside of. Natural disasters in films, especially if done discretely, are a really interesting tool to help drive a story along.

I love the hospital setting of the film. The operating rooms and long hallways really add another dimension of creepiness to the story. Where did filming take place, and how long was your shooting schedule?

Christopher Lawrence Chapman: We shot Inoperable in Pasco County, Florida, which is located about 30 to 45 minutes north of Tampa. It was actually an empty building, and production designer Bobby Marinelli and his team turned it into a hospital. At one point, many years ago, the location had been a functioning hospital, but then it was a government administration building, and then finally vacant. We resurrected it, and with proper production design, turned it back into a “hospital.” After shooting, it was slated to be demolished.

It was fun shooting there. The building had character and one could feel the eeriness and loneliness in simply being inside. Personally, I felt really connected to the building since we were likely going to be the last real bit of “liveliness” and activity this old building would ever see again. The building, in my opinion, really helped sell the story.

Filming took 20 days, not including the time we spent prepping the location. Like most directors and filmmakers, I wished I had a little more time to shoot, but in our budget level, 20 days was about all we could squeeze out of the funds we had available.

It was so much fun to follow Danielle Harris on her character’s journey throughout Inoperable. Did you already have her in mind for the lead role when you were writing the screenplay?

Christopher Lawrence Chapman: We didn’t have her in mind when we wrote the script. We had a few names we wanted to talk to once we refined the script and began to crew up. Jeff brought up Danielle’s name and the more we talked about her, the more we felt she was a great fit. She was great to work with, honestly, and very professional. A wonderful actor!

I have to commend you and cinematographer Giorgio Daveed on filming long, fluid scenes. Each segment felt like an orchestrated dance, because Harris had to travel through these labyrinthine hallways and hit her marks around every corner, and it was so fun to follow her via Daveed’s immersive camerawork. How important was it for you to put the viewer right next to Harris in these time loop scenes?

Christopher Lawrence Chapman: Thank you for noticing that! We really wanted to bring the viewer along on an adventure of horror. Giorgio and I had worked together on numerous other projects and like the past projects, we always spend a lot of time in pre-production discussion and perfecting what we are trying to accomplish. I wanted this film to have a different/non-standard feel to it. I was kind of going for a third/first-person shooter type video game, to where the viewer felt like they were really experiencing all the sights, sounds, and feelings that “Amy” was experiencing.

Giorgio is an excellent DP and camera operator and by working as a team we were able to take risks with the camerawork that can pay off. Directors should allow their DPs (and other department heads) to use their craft and take the film to the level in which they have the skill set to achieve. After all, they are experts at their craft, and directors should realize that they were hired for their skill set and let them do their job and provide them the tools they need to accomplish this.

Again, Giorgio and I truly felt that we could take some leaps with the camerawork and push the envelope on what is more or less expected in horror films. I wanted it to have a very eerie feeling and be unsettling, almost to the point of being claustrophobic and physically uncomfortable. Since horror films especially are adventures of the senses, we wanted to immerse the viewer in that experience.

Looking back at your time on set, what was the most memorable experience you had while making the movie?

Christopher Lawrence Chapman: I love working with a good crew and cast. I love it when the cast and crew are enthusiastic about the film and bring that energy with them to set. I really enjoy sitting with them at a meal break or during a different scene set up and working with them to extract the most out of their character and sell it to the audience. For Inoperable, it was really fun, too, because some of our actors were related and two were actually married to each other, which I didn’t realize until we were actually shooting, which was humorous the way I found out. It is very rewarding when a complicated shot, a long shot, works out well and everyone hits their marks perfectly. The energy you feel from the cast/crew is magical. I’m not a big sports fan, but I guess it would be like watching your favorite sports team win a game by scoring the final deciding point.

What was the most challenging scene to shoot?

Christopher Lawrence Chapman: It was probably some of the scenes where multiple actors are all running down a hallway and they have to break apart as a group and different things happen to different characters. Since we shot the film with a lot of long shots, this was especially complicated as the camera department, sound, and cast all had to be on their “A” game to the highest order. It's hard enough delivering your lines well with believability, but also when you have to run around, grab weapons, escape bad guys, and fight, all with crew members buzzing about their duties, it's much more difficult.

Were you inspired by any movies, novels, comic books, or video games when you were making Inoperable? To me, this movie feels like The Twilight Zone meets Happy Death Day meets Metal Gear Solid—a combination that I really enjoyed.

Christopher Lawrence Chapman: That’s an interesting combination! I hadn’t seen Happy Death Day, but I think, in retrospect, the film does feel like a combination of The Twilight Zone meets a third/first-person shooter/adventure game. We wanted the film to have a realistic, almost immersive feel to it, so the video game component was definitely a thought and design in the shooting. If horror films can be compared to rides at amusement parks, what better way than to have the viewer follow our lead than in an immersive, video game type of experience. As far as inspiration, I wanted a sort of psychological, thinking type of film where viewers would have to pay attention to be rewarded. But I don’t think that a specific film or films really inspired me in the development, it was more of a combination of creepy thoughts and ideas that I had and the way we could weave that fabric together into a cohesive film.

Have you and Jeff thought of making a sequel to Inoperable or would you prefer to leave this story as one movie?

Christopher Lawrence Chapman: We didn’t think of that possibility when working on the concepts/film, but it could totally work as a feeder for another film or sequel/prequel. The world we created, a hospital with a hurricane and time disturbances, would be a fun world to play in again and there is a lot more we can do to expand upon the story or tell a new one within a similar film universe. In fact, there was a good deal more to the story, originally, with a lot more depth and eerie backstory, that we were not able to tell due to budget and time limitations. It would be amazing to tell those backstories!

With Inoperable coming to VOD and DVD on February 6th, what other projects do you have on deck that you can tease, and where can our readers follow you and your work online?

Christopher Lawrence Chapman: Actually, we just wrapped on another project last week, where I was in a production/executive production roll. I can’t give away too much detail, but it’s a sort of horror film within a horror film. But for now, it’s a closely guarded secret!

But check out our website at zoryafilms.com and also a new company that I started with a website of Akhlys.com. It’s a film support company which is already off to a good start! Of course, we have Instagram and Facebook pages as well.

If you like other horror films, check out Clowntown, which is out on Amazon, iTunes, and various other sources. I was one of the producers on Clowntown. If you like simple love stories, I produced and directed a film called The Accident, which is out on iTunes, Amazon, and others. The scenes in The Accident are absolutely beautiful and it shows off, again, some of Giorgio Daveed’s stunning camerawork. I loved working on The Accident and it is such a sweet and innocent love story which takes place around the holidays and Christmas.