Interview with Ryan Bellgardt - Creator of "Army of Frankensteins"

I invite You to read (interesting I hope) interview, which I had with Ryan Bellgardt, creator and director of amateur movie "Army of Frankensteins" - Enjoy! / Rafał Donica

Rafał Donica: Why Civil War? Why time travel? Why multiplication of the monster? 

Tell me about your inspiration, where / how did you get these fantastic ideas?

Ryan Bellgardt: I was having a discussion about classic movie monsters with my co-producers Andy Swanson and Josh McKamie. We were talking about the vampire armies fighting each other at the end of the Twilight movies and how we had seen groups of vampires, mummies, zombies, and werewolves in movies. I thought it would be fun to see an army of big green lumbering Frankenstein's monsters. Then Andy said, "Yeah, and you've got to throw them all back in time, like to the Civil War or something."  It really was very random. We were excited to try to come up with a story that would make a scenario like that actually plausible. We wanted the actors to play the parts very seriously as if all of this could really happen. We thought the movie would be more fun that way.

RD: How much is the budget of Your movie, and how long did You make it?

RB: I can't say the exact budget, but I can tell you it was very low. We paid our actors and make-up artists. We paid for props and set pieces, but most of the crew and post production was volunteer.  We shot the movie on nights and weekends over an 8 month period. I believe we had 46 shooting days. All of the post production took almost a year. 

RD: Which monsters of Frankenstein are Your inspiration for make-up of Your own monster?

RB: We wanted our monster to have a classic Frankenstein's monster look without being too close to the classic Universal Pictures version. That was tricky to do because that one is so iconic, but we wanted people to be able to look at him and say, "Hey! That's a Frankenstein's Monster!". We thought it was important for him to look more like a classic movie monster rather than a more scary modern version.

RD: Which elements of the movie are You proud, and which elements do You want to fix up?

RB: That's a great question! I have to say that I am mostly proud that we were able to finish it. It's a great feeling when a group of people can work together to achieve a goal. There are scenes which audiences really react to and it's a lot of fun to hear people yelling at the screen or cheering for a character. We tried to make a fun movie and I think we accomplished that to a certain degree. 

Sure, looking back there are some things that could be better. Some of the mustaches look pretty fake. There are some scenes that are too long. The action could be more exciting in places. I can say though, that we did everything in our power to make the movie as good as we could make it. I'm really proud of everyone who worked on it and all we can do is learn what to do better for the next time.

RD: How long are You interest Frankenstein subject, and how started Your fascination about this character?

RB: It's funny because people assume that I have loved the character for a long time, but actually I didn't know much about Frankenstein's Monster before we cast Eric Gesecus to play him. That guy is a walking Frankenstein encyclopedia. He knew so much about the book and every single movie, and how the monster was supposed to behave. I think if he could choose to be a real Frankenstein's Monster he could! 

RD: Your favorite Frankenstein movie (movies)? - Shortly argument please. 

RB: Of course, the original is a classic, but I've got to say my favorite Frankenstein movie is "Young Frankenstein". In Army of Frankensteins, we pay homage to Marty Feldman in a scene where Igor pulls over his hood and sticks an eyeball in his goggles. 

RD: Thank You for answers Ryan, and thanks for stand a chance to watch Your movie.

RB: Thanks Rafal for having me on your website, reviewing the movie and being so supportive!