December 6th, 2012 
Brian Leak 
The Short Cut is a new column on Under The Gun that showcases the careers of short film directors. Shorts are often overlooked when it comes to the entire spectrum of film, and by including interviews with the directors themselves and information about their creative efforts, this column will highlight the work of some of the category’s dignitaries that we feel deserve your attention.
If you’re a director of short films or know someone who is and would like to be featured in The Short Cut, please send an inquiry with your information to formlessfaces@gmail.com.
The thing I love most about writing this column is having talented directors like Paul Williams contact me with a link to their works. It gives me an opportunity to see something new and get all giddy with excitement as I compile questions I’d love to ask them about said works.
The Furred Man is a great 15-minute werewolf-themed gem from Williams and his company, Evil Hypnotist Productions. It’s not his first film and it certainly won’t be his last but it’s his newest and it’s been recognized with several well deserved awards in the festival circuit. The Furred Man is creative and displays a fresh take on a tired genre and you can watch it below, post interview, then log it on Letterboxd, my favorite website.
Paul Williams took some time to speak with me about his career, including The Furred Man, and what he has up his creative sleeves for the future. Read through and get acquainted with a short film director that deserves your attention!
For those that may not be familiar with your work, can you explain what it is that you do?
I am a writer/director and co-founder of Evil Hypnotist Productions (EHP). I have been making films since I was 15 when I picked up an old 8mm camera and found a few gullible friends to star in them. To date, with EHP, I have made six shorts and one feature film.
What first inspired you to get involved with filmmaking and how did you originally get your start?
I guess films inspired me to get into filmmaking. I grew up in the 80s when you had to queue around the block to get into the cinema, no online booking. Where there was an interval in the middle of the film when you got to run down the front and buy ice cream. Where you had to wait a long year before the movie came out on video. I got caught up in the magic of cinema and I saved and saved to buy a little 8mm tape camera and started to try and copy what I’d seen on the big screen.
I had an enormous amount of support from friends and family when I was a teenager, and especially from my art teacher at school, Mr. Denham. He let me make films for my art projects and really inspired the “can do” attitude in me that every filmmaker needs. And once you have that, it’s hard to shake.
When I got to university I met Paul Terry, the other co-founder of EHP, and we made a short film together called Sold for our course’s final piece. Everyone was against us doing it as the course was more writing and theatre based, but that “can do” attitude kicked in and we convinced the lecturers that a film was basically a play in front of a camera and they let us film Sold. It was also down again to the backing and belief of one lecturer, Stuart Olesker, that not only got the film made, but helped form EHP which is still going strong today. And Stuart still comes to all our premieres.
What are your thoughts on the under-appreciated status of the short film genre?
The genre is so rich and diverse and accessible that it is crazy that it’s not better supported. I had dipped my toe into the festival circuit with our previous shorts, but with The Furred Man we dived straight in. The short film community is as diverse as the short films they screen and festivals range from the very supportive and run with love and passion for film, to a projector in the back of a South London pub. You really don’t know till you get out there – and out there are a ton of amazing films and far too many talented filmmakers. Shorts are the starting point for almost all filmmakers and there needs to be a more stable platform for not only screening these films but funding them too.
What inspired your most recent short, The Furred Man?
I love horror films, but I always thought they never dealt with consequence very well. At the end of a horror film our hero has slain the vampires/werewolves/zombies and all is well in the world – credits roll. But what about when the police show up and to them our hero is surrounded by a pile of corpses? Will they believe his “they were all vampires/werewolves/zombies just a minute ago, officer” explanation? This idea of consequence was the starting point for The Furred Man and the story spun out from there.
Is the short still in the festival circuit? How long do you expect it to run?
We finished the film in June 2010 and had the idea of doing a year festival run as most festivals are annual. 36 festivals and 12 awards later we stopped sending the film out, but the great thing about the festival circuit is that once you’re out there you get suggested and recommended, so we are still requested to screen at festivals.
Any plans to expand this into a feature?
I sometimes think about it, and I have a small kernel of an idea of how I’d do it, but shorts are so hard to make. You have such a small amount of time to tell your story and I think The Furred Man works because it’s told over 15 minutes. It’s a campfire story. A cautionary tale with a sting in the tail.
How can you describe the satisfaction of being recognized and winning awards for something you worked so hard on?
You work so hard on a project along with 26 other people. You write, you shoot, you edit, you dub, you mix, you grade, you finish and you are so close to the film you can’t see the werewolf for the trees. To send out the film and get the response we’ve had is so gratifying for everyone. We achieved what we set out to do – to connect with an audience – to entertain and scare. It really inspires you to get the hell on with the next one.
You released your first feature, The Wake, in 2006. What would you say are the major differences between working on shorts and full-lengths?
Other than the length of the shoot – not a lot. You have to approach a short like you would a feature – plan, plan, plan – get on the set and throw all the planning out of the window and shoot for your life as time rapidly runs out. You have to have stamina for a feature. Where a short is a 100 metre sprint, a feature is a 26 mile marathon. But that’s where your team comes in.
What can you tell me about Evil Hypnotist Productions?
See what I did there, I lead onto the next question. EHP was formed way back in 1999 by myself and Paul Terry and over the years it has grown to include Eugen Gritschneder our DOP, Henrik Kolind our tech guru, Jon Moore our SFX genius and a gang of talented actors including Chris Courtenay and, the furred man himself, Daniel Carter-Hope. It sounds cheesy but we like to call it a family as we don’t just get together for projects – we are all friends. Friendships forged under the amazing stress only a film set can muster. But once you have that friendship and trust it makes working on the next project a dream, because it’s a bunch of friends getting together to tell a story. I’m just lucky to have such talented friends.
I’ve seen hints about something else you’re working on… What can you tell us about False Teeth & Fangs?
I can tell you we’re switching beasts – from werewolves to vampires. It’s a horror/comedy in the same vein as The Furred Man and deals with another horror film trope – that vampire don’t age… but vampire hunters do. You can follow the project here.
Who are some filmmakers that have been big influences on your work?
In my early years: Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Joe Dante, Ivan Reitman, John Landis, James Cameron, Tim Burton. Then as my interest in film grew: Sam Raimi, Alfred Hitchcock, Kevin Smith, David Lynch, Joel & Ethan Coen, Billy Wilder, Alexander Mackendrick, Terry Gilliam, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Stanley Kubrick, Peter Jackson. And now the works of Rian Johnson, Joss Whedon, Chan-wook Park, Paul Thomas Anderson, Edgar Wright, Tomas Alfredson, Joon-ho Bong. And the biggest influence on my writing is the late, great Douglas Adams.
Do you have any personal favorite short films?
While we’ve been on the festival circuit we’ve seen some great shorts like: Never Ever Open It, The Legend Of Beaver Dam, All Men Are Called Robert, Relationship Crates, My Itchy Eye. And I love the Pixar short Presto for a bit of Looney Tunes meets CGI magic.
Who are some actors you would love to work with?
As with directors, the list is too long, so let’s just stick with one: Toby Jones. He is a chameleon, being able to slip effortlessly between playing the creepy sliminess of Percy in Tinker Tailor Solider Spy to the comic genius of the Dream Lord in an episode of Doctor Who. I’d love to create a character with him.
What have been the biggest obstacles for you in your career?
Time – there is never enough of it.
What is your ultimate goal as a filmmaker?
To become Peter Jackson. I admire his career path from the splatter horror of Bad Taste to the epic majesty of The Lord of the Rings via the infected muppet mayhem of Meet the Feebles. He has created his own film industry down in New Zealand with the same filmic family he has grown up with. I’d love to create my own studio where I had to ability to tell any insane story I wanted and be able to support other people’s crazy ideas.
As of now, what would you say has been the biggest highlight of your career?
When The Furred Man aired on UK television on Channel 4. It all happened so quickly. We sent the film in, it got picked up and we received an email a week before it aired saying you’ll be showing on Saturday night between Alien Vs Predator and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I always keep my ego in check and my feet firmly on the ground as I’m only a filmmaker, but hearing my name read out on national television, before something I’d work so hard on aired, was an enormous shot in the arm. People I’d known all my life suddenly turned round and said “So you’re a filmmaker.” And I’d say, “Yes, I’ve been doing it for twelve years!”
Full version of The Furred Man via Evil Hypnotist Productions
Written and conducted by: Brian Lion – Follow him on Twitter
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