Interview - The Gallows

The Review

INTERVIEW – The Gallows

Chris Lofing, Travis Cluff, Ryan Shoos, Jesse Cross & Pfeifer Brown

By the MOVIE DEPUTY

July 24^th, 2015

Beatrice, Nebraska

Chris Lofing (Writer, Director, Editor, Producer Visual Effects, Student)

Travis Cluff (Assistant Writer, Director, Producer Visual Effects, Mr. Schwendiman)

Deputy — Why Horror?

Travis – Why Not, horror is something that people can watch without having to know the words and they can be scared with just the scenes and the tone of the movie. So it seemed like something we could do that could be something that could go worldwide, you know people in other countries could just watch it. Like the scene with Cassidy, there’s really no dialogue but everyone knows something crazy scary is about to go down. That translates into so many languages and we really wanted to reach a wide audience with it.

Chris — It was also a budgetary thing, when we first started this, we had very little money, very little resources. We realized we could do a found footage horror movie and it could be something we could do really out of necessity. This is what we can do so let’s do it.

Deputy — What would you say is the biggest flub that you’ve had to recover from and that you’re glad it happened?

Chris — Casting probably

Travis — From the first version of the movie to the second, we lost an actress. It wasn’t our flub, she changed her appearance dramatically.

Chris — It was a huge hurdle

Travis — We had to reshoot, we were planning on adding some scenes and maybe reshooting a couple scenes for the second version once we had producers like Blumhouse and management 360 on board. We met with the actors about 3 weeks before filming, and one of them had lost a lot of weight and looked totally different.

Chris — Yeah

Travis — So we couldn’t use… We were going to reshoot about 40% and add scenes of about 40% of the film. We ended up having to reshoot everything she was in even though we weren’t planning on that with the reshoot.

Chris — So really we had to almost essentially film a completely new movie because of that.

Travis — More time, more money, more resources, just a lot of worry…

Chris — Yeah

Travis — That was really a huge hurdle we had to overcome, but Cassidy Gifford… that’s how we met her. She came on board with the project, she did a phenomenal job. She really hit it off with the actors; there was some really good chemistry amongst all of them to make the movie more believable, more intense, more suspenseful and more scary.

Deputy — What do you have planned for the future?

Chris — We have another movie that we’re working on the script for and a TV series that we have the pilot done with. Working on the rest of the episodes. They’re in different genres; we want to explore all different kinds of genres.

Deputy — You’re going outside of horror?

Chris — Yeah, we’re going outside of horror a little bit, but we don’t mind doing horror again either. We love all movies and we just want to stick around a long long time. Keep making movies forever.

Travis — We love New Line and Warner Bros., we love Blumhouse, 360 so we want to more things with those guys as well.

Deputy — Awesome, I just want to say thank you guys for giving me a few minutes of your time

Travis — No problem

Chris/Travis — Thank you

Chris — Thanks for the awesome review

Travis — Yeah, love it

Chris — We appreciate it.

Ryan Shoos (Ryan Shoos)

Deputy – Why did you choose “The Gallows”?

Ryan – I chose the gallows because I got cast in it. All four of us were basically struggling actors and we went out for this audition. As soon as they went “you’ve got the part”, I’m in, whatever it is, as long as it’s not porn, we’re in.

Deputy – laughing

Ryan – I will say that we were up for anything, but once we got involved in the project all four of us were just like thanks, this is a good script. It was a very minimal script but it was a good concept. And the guys were great to work with, phenomenal ideas as soon. As we started up, it was the right choice. Super lucky we got cast in it.

Deputy – What’s one flub in your career and that you’re glad that happened?

Ryan – Flub, like the bust of a movie?

Deputy – A goof that you’ve made or one that you’ve been involved with that you’re glad it happened.

Ryan – I did this film for New York Film Academy, where I played like this jock, kinda dumb guy, and we did this scene where I needed to get slapped by this girl… at a distance. I’m talking full on slap, just do it I don’t care. We ended up doing 15 takes of it. I’m talking hand back wind up… smack. Anyway, we did that, they ended up taking that out of the movie. So they never put it in the film. The film was not great at all but this film showed at the same screening that Chris Lofing screened his movie Cross at. That’s where I officially met Chris Lofing for the first time. So then I think it was a year and a half later, I went to the auditions for the gallows. Chris was like; you’re like the guy from that film. I was like… That’s me, so it was the start of a great connection

Deputy – So is it fair to say that if you hadn’t gotten slapped in the face, you wouldn’t have met Chris?

Ryan – That’s actually probably very true

Deputy – Laughing

Ryan — I wonder who’s next. What do you have to do to work with David Fincher (@DavidFincher)? You know, just get punched in the balls…

Deputy – I don’t know anybody that would volunteer for that

Ryan – (Raised his hand) Verbally acknowledged he raised his hand

Deputy – Laughing… What are you set up to do next, if you’re not set up for anything yet, what would you love to be set up for next?

Ryan – Here’s the sad part, I was set up for a couple films. One being a New Line Cinema movie about Charlie Manson. Unfortunately, I got in a motorcycle accident two weeks before I was supposed to start shooting. I needed to walk in two scenes so I had to get recast in that. So, the past two almost two and a half months have been me healing up, trying to get better. I started to do auditions again, so I got a couple projects that we’re negotiating right now. That I’m not allowed to say anything about.

Deputy – I understand

Ryan – Things that I’d like to work on, just quality projects. Stuff that’s the same caliber as this, that ends up in the theaters or just with other great actors, great directors, anything really, I’m up for it all.

Deputy/Ryan – Thank you

Jesse W Cross (Charlie Grimille)

Deputy – Why “The Gallows”?

Jesse – When Chris first asked me to be a part of it, I think he was trying to find someone that he knew personally to really fit the part of Charlie. Like the theater type nerd. Ever since I was about 10 years old, I was big into stage plays. I was pretty well known around this area for doing stage plays and things of that sort.

Deputy – The Beatrice area?

Jesse – Yep

Deputy – What is one thing that you’ve done in your drama career, plays or the gallows, either way… That’s been a flub, like a goof that you’ve made or a goof that you’ve been involved with that you’re glad it happened?

Jesse – You mean, just an experience that I’m glad that happened?

Deputy – Just like a mistake in a line or something that someone else did that you had to play off of… or?

Jesse – There was a stage play, it was my senior year of high school, it was actually my fault, I forgot part of my line. The character that I was playing, I was playing an older gentleman and my son was going off to war. So I had to play that off that I was sad, to see my son go off to war. So I used that cut in my line… Oh crap… I actually forgot part of my line. I actually used it as my character getting choked up and emotional that I’m losing my son cause he’s going off to war.

Deputy – So you were able to expand on the character?

Jesse – Absolutely, I was able to give more depth, and more choked up. It was close; I had to play it off as that. I actually did, it was my fault. I forgot half the line.

Deputy – It worked out for the best though

Jesse — It did, it really did

Deputy – What are your next plans? If you don’t have anything planned currently what would you hope you next plan would be?

Jesse – I was actually told by a friend of mine, that you know whatever is available, work wise, you just take it, go with it and learn from it. So for right now I don’t have anything else acting wise on board. I’m hoping for a sequel to this movie because the story line of Charlie and the fact that he had a girlfriend and she was pregnant. I think there could be a lot more of a prequel to that. Maybe not necessarily a sequel but a prequel to that to expand on who Charlie really was. What makes him the type of person that after death, even though he was wronged while he was alive, in that play, what would cause him to want to come back. Who was he that he wanted to come back, that he wanted revenge so bad. I think that it’d be interesting to expand on that story. I think there’s a lot of potential there. I think Chris and Travis really created something special.

Deputy – yeah, “The Gallows” is pretty incredible. When they were joking about the sequel thing, “The noose is loose” I didn’t know if that was a title they were throwing around or if it was just a joke.

Jesse – I believe it’s a joke. I think it came from Ryan. Ryan is the first one that came up with it. Ryan is kind of like he’s portrayed in the movie.

Deputy – He’s a class clown

Jesse – He’s a class clown, he’s a very joking guy

Deputy – Forgive me for putting words in your mouth

Jesse – That’s okay, that is all right. He’s a very funny guy, coming from Ryan, it’s probably a joke.

Deputy – I love the title, that’s why I had to ask

Jesse – It is pretty sweet, it is pretty awesome, pretty cool.

Deputy – If they do, do the prequel, would you be willing to play Charlie?

Jesse – Absolutely, I’d really love to. This process, this last 4 years of filming. I’ve felt like I’ve really gotten in touch with Charlie. I felt like I understand him a little bit, maybe he did know his girlfriend was pregnant, maybe not. I can kinda relate to that being a father now, if I had to leave behind my wife or my girlfriend and my child. There would be that spiritual connection that you’d have, you can bond but your significant other and your child is left behind and there’s part of you that never leaves them. I felt like being a father and a husband I can relate to that.

Deputy – That’s awesome. Thank you so much

Jesse – Thank you

Pfeifer Brown (Pfeifer)

Deputy – Why “The Gallows”?

Pfeifer – I chose “The Gallows” because The Gallows chose me. It was one of the first things that I ever auditioned for out in Los Angeles. When I booked that role I was so grateful and thankful that I had finally been picked out of the whole audition process. I was really lucky to have been picked in a movie that turned out to be so wonderful, such a great project with such great people. Honestly, I chose The Gallows because The Gallows chose me.

Deputy – It’s simple but it’s honest

Pfeifer – We’re not big enough to be choosing roles, you know what I mean.

Deputy – You will be

Pfeifer –Hopefully one day, hopefully

Deputy – Remember us little people (laughing)

Pfeifer – Don’t worry, no worries

Deputy – What’s one flub that you’ve had so far in something that you’ve done, that you’re glad it happened?

Pfeifer – Glad that happened? I’ve had a lot of flubs. Trying to think of a flub that I’ve been glad it happened.

Deputy – That something good came out of it

Pfeifer – One of my flubs would probably be when Reese and I were up in the attic filming. We were trying to film a scene where we were going through the attic all scared and what not. Out of nowhere, something whispered Reese’s name between both of our ears, I freaked out. Even though we were on the job acting, we both dropped it as fast as we could and ran as fast as we could out of the attic and stopped doing what we were supposed to do with the movie. It ended up bringing so much of my character and his character out so that’s the best flub ever.

Deputy – What is the next project you have in the works? If you don’t have something in the works yet what would you love to do?

Pfeifer – The next thing I have is a movie called “My Many Sons”, a movie about a basketball coach Don Meyer. Based on a true story. I filmed it in Nashville about a year ago and it’s in the works of finding distribution now, so that’s what I have coming up next. Something I would really love to work on one day soon, next possibly would be something to do with animals. I would love to work with dogs, or with animals in a film. That would be a cool thing to do.

Deputy – That’s it, thank you so much

Pfeifer – We nailed it

Deputy – Yes, we did

The Gallows:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thegallowsmovie

Twitter: @TheGallowsMovie

Website: http://www.thegallowsmovie.com

Chris Lofing:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chris.lofing

Twitter: @ChrisandTravis @ChrisLofing

Travis Cluff:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/traviscluff