We love all things that rock. It’s what we do. We reviewed a pretty cool movie in our last issue of RockRevolt Magazine by the name of “All American Zombie Drugs”. With a tagline like “Nothing kills a buzz like a zombie attack,” how could we not love it. Because we did enjoy it so much, we reached out and spoke with the director, Alex Ballar, to get more insight into where he was coming from, some intricacies of movie making, and what he’s up to next on his list of projects.
In looking over your bio, I learned that you’ve worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade: acting, writing, producing and directing. When/how did you discover that this is what you wanted to do for the rest of your life?
I think it happened when I was in college. My competitive nature made me want to win at it. I felt like I’d gotten pretty close in some auditions for some big movies, and I said to myself, “I’ve got to do this.” I felt that since I had gotten so close that it was within grasp. I didn’t know back then what the industry was like. I probably never would’ve done this stuff if I had known the way the industry really was, which is about favors and connections, and who you know. I’m not trying to put the industry down, because I understand that it is very much a business. The entertainment industry is just like any other company. Within this industry, when it comes to being an actor, the downside is (which totally makes sense to me now from a producer standpoint) is that it is all about what you bring to the project. Do you have a name? Do you have fans that are going to watch my movie? What do you bring? That’s why rappers and musicians will go right to the front of the line sometimes when they want to do movies, because they have a fan base. Producing has taught me a lot about the things that would make me angry as an actor.
What was the starting point then? The first steps into becoming the film-maker/actor you are today?
Basically, I fiddled around with this stuff for a while in New York, and decided to move out here because a friend of mine at the time moved out here (he was on the first Ozzfest, believe it or not). I came out here because I wanted to check it out. I wound up doing some of my own rock band thing for while. I stopped acting all together, wound up needing some cash, and found myself a job in venture capital where I raised money for movies. From there I started raising money for a kid’s TV series called Grandpa’s Place. From there I met Jamie Gannon, one of my best friends. He and I started writing scripts, and the next thing you know, he and I were getting signed as writers. That didn’t pan out the way we wanted it to. We decided to make our own little movie called Feeding Grounds. That was the first movie I was part of producing. It was a learning experience because I had no idea what I was doing. The movie did not turn out the way we wanted it to. The script got me more writing jobs, but the film’s director’s vision was different than what we wrote. He wanted it to be a psychological thriller versus a horror movie, which is what we had written. It wasn’t very well received, but it has been very popular. Some people really dig it for what it is, so that’s kind of cool. Then, since I knew how to produce movies, I started working with some friends of mine (like Michael Worth). The great thing about where I am now, I feel like I’m more empowered and I’m more in control over the things I want to do. I know I can go make a movie, if I wanted to. I know it’s not easy, and it is something that takes a lot of willpower, but I know I can make it happen. It’s like moving a mountain, but I know I can do it.
It’s like moving a mountain.
Once you’ve made the decision, “We are doing this. We don’t care,” you’ve’ taken the first step to making a movie: it is really wanting to get it made. Every movie I’ve ever seen get made has usually started with that. You may not have the money to make a movie, but if you have the determination, it wills the universe to make it happen. You find the money and you find people that are willing to volunteer time. You have to have that take no for an answer type attitude.
What I’m finding right now, after making my own movie (with help, of course), I feel that it’s been such a learning process because I’ve gotten to this place. I can’t wait to try to do it better. I know I can take it to another level, or hope to anyway.
What did you learn from making Zombie Drugs that you used later on, or what did you learn that you were not going to again?
First off, I learned that it’s good to be prepared, and as much as you can prepare, you can always prepare more. Our preparation helped us to shoot this movie in 10 days. I don’t know if you knew that or not, but Zombie Drugs was shot in 10 days, which is incredible. Most movies are shot in two or three months, or even 30 days. We shot it in 10 days.
The biggest lesson was marketing. I realized that there is so much to do. It doesn’t matter how great your movie is, if nobody sees it. That is how some of these movies that are horrible are getting seen by massive audiences: because they have the cash and the know how to market it. We’ve done pretty well so far, but the next time around I definitely want a bigger budget for marketing. I want to partner with a marketing company. That’s the biggest thing to us. We’ve done pretty well, as we have a major VOD release, like every other studio movie, which is pretty rad. We also have a decent DVD release too. I would’ve started marketing the film right after I knew it was going to be released. We started marketing the film as soon as it was completed, and weren’t able to release it right away. Timing is important, because you can lose your audience really fast. Everybody could be really into it, and then it doesn’t come out, they get over it. Then it comes out a year later. People don’t realize this, but there are studio movies that get made and they are not released for three or four years. Postproduction can take some time.
Come read our thoughs on “All American Zombie Drugs”
How do you feel your film was received?
I’m very happy and surprised by the whole thing. I feel blessed. 80 to 95% of the people that reviewed it really liked it. It was “good” to “very very good.” That’s been very exciting, and I feel tons of gratitude. I didn’t know what people would want to think about it. One of my favorite things about the movie, and the fact that people are liking it, is that I made a movie I wanted to see, and I made a movie without letting the audience affect me. I want to bring that into my next project as well, but I definitely, from the marketing side of things, I want to be more conscious about the audience too. I don’t want to scare somebody away from paying attention to the movie before they have the chance to pay attention to it. We are very grateful and happy that people are liking it.
Out of the multiple roles that you held, which one do you feel gives you the most satisfaction or sense of pride?
They are all different, but ultimately if I could be a working actor, I would choose that over anything, because you get the most immediate satisfaction from it, especially when you get to lose yourself in the character. I definitely love the directing part too. I love the directing because I feel like I get to see the growth in other actors and you get to be part of everyone’s performance. It becomes more of a team environment.
As far as the entire process of your movie, from inception to culmination, what were your greatest obstacles, and what were your greatest triumphs?
The greatest obstacles were when we were shooting the graveyard scenes, and we were on that tight schedule, and realizing that the place we were shooting was not going to work out and having to find a new graveyard location within a day. We constantly had to be innovative and smart. I was very grateful for Alexander Berezovsky and Beau Nelson in particular, because they did a lot of the groundwork. For instance, on the first day of shooting, the production designer and art director, never showed up. So, Alex found Luie and Chelsey, who came in from out of nowhere, without any preparation, and just killed it. In fact they won an award.
The hardest part about making a movie is putting the proper team together. All the people that we worked with, they were all great at what they did. That allowed the film to get made in 10 days. One of my favorite complements about the film is, “wow! This is not like an indie movie.” DVD Verdict said that it looked 100 times more than what the budget was (or something like that). That is a big compliment, knowing that we worked with an indie budget, and it looked like a bigger film. That says a lot about the people that worked on it. We worked hard, we couldn’t settle. That is difficult, because it’s so easy to say, “Screw this. Let’s just use this sound guy,” or “let’s just use this composer.” We got tons of resumes, and it gets kind of exhausting looking through all of them. We had the tenacity to stay in there and search and find the right people. That was the hard part, but the rewarding aspect was knowing that we did something that turned out pretty decent.
What’s next?
I have a couple of films that will be released this year: Bring Me The Head of Lance Henriksen, that I helped produce and play a part in. Seeking Dolly Parton, that I also play a part in and I helped produce. And Enchanting the Immortals that I made with Michael Worth (all three of those films actually). Those will be released at film festivals and hopefully into distribution. I’m currently writing a studio style romantic comedy with my writing partner, Siri Baruc. We’ve had a couple that have had some big distribution opportunities at times, but they didn’t go through yet, but are getting really close. I’m also writing my next movie that I’m planning to make. It doesn’t have a name yet, but it involves aliens.
All American Alien Drugs 2?
How did you guess? (laughs) No. It’s going to be different. It’s going to be a comedy/horror again, but with some action. I don’t want to give away what it’s about, but it’s an alien movie. One of the compliments that I get from Zombie Drugs is “I’ve never seen that before.” I hope that people still feel that feeling.
Watch the “All American Zombie Drugs” Trailer
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Are you going to shoot it in 10 days?
No. I’ve found some potential investors and some people that are helping to support making of the movie. So, it’s not going to be such of a rushed type of a project. Zombie Drugs was one of those things that we decided to do before we had the money. With this, I hope to have that all taken care of in advance, so I’ll be able to plan better. I hope to shoot this one (worst case scenario) in 20 days. (laughs)
I, for one, can’t wait to see it. I also noticed that your skills included doing accents: NY, Brooklynese, Long Island, Southern, All American Dialect, Cajun, Australian, Standard British, *Can learn on request*, I’d like to request a Fargo accent please.
(laughs) I can’t do that! Learning on request means that I have to go out and find somebody who does it and study it. I have to figure out how they say it. For me, accents are physical. I had to learn how to do a Cajun accent for an audition, and I learned the way they hold their tongue in their mouth, and that allowed me to do that. When I have to do any kind of accent, I have to figure out the physicality of it. Now, of course I can do a New York accent. I’m from there, and I originally spoke with a thick New York accent. I started working on my own accent because I was working on this play, and this stage actor made fun of my accent. He would say, “It’s not DAT, it’s THAT!” (laughs) I wound up taking speech classes with Sam Chwat in New York. He taught Robert DeNiro how to do the accent in Cape Fear. I learned accents change every 100 miles. There are 10 different things that I had to learn how to do physically with my mouth to stop having a New York accent.
As a polyglot, I feel you. Alex, thank you so much for taking a moment to speak with me. I appreciate it, and I look forward to your upcoming projects!
Thank you!
Check out All American Zombie Drugs. It’s an interesting movie that should be on your radar!
