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The
Jekyll Journals:
The Final Cut Approacheth...
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| We
cast our eye on Jekyll once more... |
A
year ago, Creative Light Entertainment flew Fanboy Planet
down to Los Angeles for an on-set visit to their production
of Jekyll. We spent time in the abandoned Linda
Vista Hospital, watching as a modern-day Henry Jekyll
(Matt Keeslar) turned
his obsession with virtual reality into a very real monstrosity.
The
overall shooting schedule was somewhat quick, with three
weeks for principal photography. Director Scott Zakarin
captured what he wanted, though Keeslar returned for pick-ups
a few months later, to tighten a few scenes and make sure
that the actor did not get lost inside the special effects.
As Zakarin told the Hollywood Reporter, he intended for
Jekyll to be "...a genre film with the heart of
an art film."
Does
that mean we'll get another The Devil's Backbone,
or will we see another Blade:
Trinity? So far, it seems we should have high hopes.
For the director (and CEO of Creative Light Entertainment),
that meant that Jekyll had to be about heart. Last week,
he reflected on the project which will see its premiere
for potential distributors in March.
"Filmmaking,
like any art form, is built on compromises," he mused. "Ultimately,
I had fun going in. The performances weren't shortchanged,
and that's what it comes down to. It's satisfying on a sci-fi
level and a human level." More importantly, though, "I think
people are going to like it."
It may seem
like a while for Jekyll to be in post-production,
but that's because the small production company was making
sure the film looked right.
Special
effects lead Mark Teague
enthusiastically concurs. "I never knew the meaning of the
word teamwork until I did the effects on Jekyll, because
I worked with ...incredibly talented people. Scott pretty
much gave us free reign to come up with concepts and effects
and present them."
"We
were like hound dogs," he continues, "coming up
with an idea and figuring out the program we needed. We'd
do a series of tests and 80% of the time they worked, and
Scott liked them. We just had three little Macintosh computers."
As was once said, only the day that film becomes the cost
of a pencil and paper will it become an artform. "That day
has come," Zakarin chuckles, but he takes little credit
for it. He has nothing but praise for the special effects
team, which includes Teague, Evan Unruh, editor Joe
Vallero and Sean C. Cunningham.
"We're
doing effects not possible for this budget even a year ago,"
commented Zakarin, who also stepped away for a while to
let his team really work. While they created Mister Hyde's
virtual world (and much, much more), Zakarin oversaw the
launching of the successful "The
Fishbowl," the interactive online community devoted
to reality television, as well as its sister community "The
Fandom, dedicated to, well, many of the things that
Fanboy Planet holds near and dear. For both sites, Zakarin
hosts a weekly internet radio show called "What's Hot" with
co-host and longtime Creative Light guru Rich Tackenberg.
But as their
March due date approaches, Zakarin returns to Jekyll
with refreshed eyes. "As it draws near, I'm getting more
excited about it. We're moments away from locking the cut,"
he enthuses.
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| Face
it. Writers don't get these opportunities. |
The effects
work is "...98% done." What really remains, according to
Zakarin, is just reserving the right to tinker with it for
right now. Unruh works closely with color correction in-house,
to continue delineating the feeling between Jekyll and Hyde.
All of Hyde's shots have been done with a handheld documentary
style, which Unruh will be desaturating to increase the
intensity. On the flip side, the Jekyll scenes, shot more
traditionally, need to have a richer, more luxurious look.
While most of
the work so far has been done in-house, Creative Light went
out for the sound mix, finding Steve McCarty to do the audio
post-production that will encompass a score by James Claytor
and the sound design of Robert Kubilos.
What will Creative
Light do next? Zakarin still hasn't made a final decision,
but he does know that whatever it is, it will involve the
internet. Ideally, he will be online the whole time, allowing
the audience to interact with the production.
"It's
all about, for lack of a better way of saying it, keeping
it real," he says earnestly. "I want to make movies that
make sense for the audience that I'm speaking to."
Previous
interviews with Scott Zakarin:
12/19/2003
12/23/2003
1/19/2004
1/24/2004
2/13/2004
3/04/2004
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