In the latest issue of RockRevolt Magazine, we included our first movie review for Detention of the Dead. With the movie coming out shortly (on demand on June 18th, and in select theaters on June 28th), we had to dig further and deeper. Per a post on the Detention of the Dead’s Facebook page, “Open PUS OOZING SORES and a LUST for fresh meat? YES!!!” With promises such as these, how could we NOT follow up with the film’s director, Alex Craig Mann? The film delivered sufficient gore filled morsels of horror to induce horror fanatic wet dreams; however, we wanted to know MORE about what was going on behind the camera and get to know who could deliver such succulent teenage zombie pleasure.
And a pleasure it was to speak with the director, Alex Craig Mann!
In looking over your biography, I see that you actually have a degree in theater from the University of New Hampshire. Knowing that there are actors out there that never go to college, and still maintain an acting career, how do you feel your degree and subsequent education differentiates you from the rest, or does it?
Wow. (laughs) Start with the toughest question. Honestly, I don’t think it differentiates anybody. I have students who are 18 and are going to college because mommy and daddy said that they have to. They don’t particularly care what they are studying. They are just there to be an actor, and they are taking their professional studies much more seriously than they do their academic studies at the University. For me, I don’t’ necessarily know that a college degree makes the biggest difference in the world, except that for me, that’s when I was first on stage. I didn’t do it in High School. I always had wanted to. When I got to college, I was in the business program and not attending, to put it lightly. (laughs) I was more interested in everything but attending classes.
I think that is most 18-19 year olds. Isn’t it?
I think it’s possible, but every once in a while there are teenagers who realize what they want and what it is that they love, and have the support of their family’s early on. They go after it and God bless them. That wasn’t my case. It wasn’t that my family didn’t support me. I just didn’t go for what I wanted. I think in my heart, when I was 8 year old (this is a silly part of my story), I didn’t like Ricky Schroeder. (laughs) I didn’t know him. I loved Silver Spoons. I liked him, but I said, “I want to do that.” I was actually just jealous. I told my mom (we lived on the very eastern tip of Long Island), “Can we move, and can I get an agent? I want to try this acting thing.” That was not in my mother’s scope of possibilities. My parents divorced really young, and we had just moved out there, away from family, and just as far away as she could get from my dad relative to the divorce agreement. (laughs) So, that wasn’t going to happen. I never really confronted it through junior high school and high school. One day, in college, I said to a fraternity brother who was involved in the theater, “I always wanted to try that.” He said, “Well, go.” It was some children’s show; I think it was the Phantom Tollbooth. I auditioned and I was terrible. (laughs) I wasn’t terrible, but I did it completely wrong.
How so?
That’s another silly story. Basically, the way they did the audition was that you were up there with a group of six or seven and they gave you a stack of cards. You would draw the top one, it would say, for example, “beg for a dollar.” So, you had to beg for a dollar. Then they would say, “Switch.” You would draw the card beneath that and it would say, “a cat.” Now you had to act like a cat, begging for a dollar. Then they would say, “Switch,” and the next card would say, “Mr. Rogers.” So, what you were SUPPOSED to do is act like Mr. Rogers begging for a dollar. In my excitement, I started doing Mr. Rogers, acting like a cat, begging for a dollar. Then they would say, “Switch,” and the next card would say “a witch.” So, I thought I had to be a witch, as Mr. Rogers, pretending to be a cat, begging for a dollar. (laughs) I was all over the place, but I had the best time of my life! That was my first time on stage. It was an 800 seat theater at the University of New Hampshire, and I fell in love right there with the craft. It was what started my love affair with theater. For me, that was what college was all about. Then I started studying professionally. There is definitely a difference in studying professionally than most college programs. I remember I was cast as a 50 year old, ornery character, which in college they have you do. You are cast into them, and sometimes you develop bad habits. There are some good things about it too, but professional studies definitely take it to a new level, where you are also learning how to pursue the career and understand the business. You ultimately have to see yourself as a product and learn how to sell your product, or put your product on the shelves, so to speak. I don’t know if that differentiates me from other actors, but it is certainly part of my story in terms of how I fell in love with what I do.
How did you feel that moving from acting to directing was the correct path for you and what were the steps that you took to make that goal a reality?
I had actually been working a lot since I came out here, whether it was 
in theater or doing the various T.V. jobs that you see on my resume, or independent films, that you might not see there. One of my first leads in a film was a film called Festival in Cannes by a director named Henry Jaglom. He is one of the original independent film makers. They call him a film auteur. Kind of like Robert Altman, he works with a treatment and has the actors improvise and really creates the film in the moment with them. Another one of his real talents is editing. Of course, sometimes when you improvise things can go all over the place. It’s not as tight or exact as a scripted format. So, that’s how he creates his films. To make a long story short, I flew myself to Cannes for that experience, in hopes that I would have a role in this film. It’s with Ron Silver and Greta Scacchi and Maximilian Schell and Anouk Aimee (legends of cinema). I ended up being on the DVD cover as being one of the young leads on this film. What was great was watching him work. Around that time I had actually started painting as well – so I had this mind-set of how to create something from nothing, in a way. I said to myself, “I can do this.” When I teach, I will ask actors what their original dream was. In acting, it’s a tough career, and you want to know what is providing you the enthusiasm and energy that helps you overcome obstacles – for example, like what you do with RockRevolt along with other jobs. It takes great passion to do that. I kept going back to this moment in time from childhood when I would learn how to play a game, and I would want to teach everybody how to play it, so we could play together. There was something about bringing people together to create something that would have an impact on our community. That really inspired me. I never saw how that would fit into acting, but I do see how it fits with directing, in which you are creating the entire vision and are collaborating with a lot of people, and hopefully your work can affect many many people. Then, the other part of that was, a decade ago, I started directing scenes in acting class, and then workshops, and then plays around town. I fell in love with helping actors do their best work (which is also why I teach), and helping a group come together as one unit, towards one vision: working together. I fell in love with that whole process, not to mention, falling in love with being the guy who (for the most part) controls the whole vision.
Coming from a background in andragogy (obviously in a different field), I am curious to know: how do you structure/plan your courses, and what type of measurement strategy do you employ to determine the success of your courses?
Well, it’s a little different, because it is scene study. At the Beverly Hills Playhouse, there are three levels: Orientation, Intermediate, and Advanced. I teach Orientation and Intermediate. Initially, I’ll give a student a bunch of casting. I assign actors their scenes, and they go off and rehearse, doing everything that they know how to do. Then they perform their scenes and I give them a critique. That critique is designed to teach technique and provide self-knowledge. It is also on a gradient. If you have never acted, then the gradient is much different than for one of my students who has done it for years, I know is quite good, and knows the fundamentals.
Out of the multiple roles that you held, which one do you feel gives you the most satisfaction or sense of pride?
By far, director. I’ve been lucky to have done several cool things as an actor. Within acting you are not only the painter, but the painting. The experience you have as an actor is wonderful, and it’s a great gig if you can get it. I met Kevin Costner a long time ago on the set of The Bodyguard. I went up to him and said, “I really would like to be doing what you are doing.” What he said to me was, “It’s a great gig if you can get it.” I would say the same thing to anybody who wants to act. If you can get consistent work, you are treated like a King/Queen. You have to be good. It’s hard work, but when you are doing what you love, it’s just wonderful. Directing is definitely more challenging, and in the case of Detention of the Dead, writing/directing/producing, it’s been kind of like climbing Mt. Everest about ten times, but it is so much more fulfilling. I know that I can look at all the performances, and I know that I affected them. I had to look at the visual effects, practical effects, the makeup, the writing, hiring the department heads, locations, everything! When it says “a film by Alex Craig Mann” it truly is very much a piece of me – a piece of my soul. I would certainly do that as an actor as well, but as a director you are responsible for everything – the entire vision. Really, years of my life are in this. There is more risk, but with that, there is more reward. I don’t know if it will be a financial reward (laughs) I hope so! That one day that might happen! (laughs) Certainly, on an artistic level, and as a man bringing a dream to life, it has been extremely rewarding.
How did you get into Detention of the Dead?
It was with the theater group that is associated with where I teach, which is the Beverly Hills Playhouse out here in Los Angeles. A play was brought to me, called Detention of the Dead. I actually looked at it and said, “Are you guys crazy? This is not a piece of theater.” I didn’t think it was theater, but, I recognized its potential in film. It was more directed towards sketch comedy, which I knew I had to change for film. I took the opportunity to do a workshop production, and opened Halloween 2009. I optioned the material from Rob Rinow, the playwright, and he and I really worked together in developing the screenplay, and giving it the story that it has today. That is how that happened. I sort of reverse engineered what I thought would HOPEFULLY make money and added my sense of aesthetics and artistry– we’ll find out. Who knows? (laughs) When you talk about genre films, there is a pretty big audience, as I learned at Motor City Nightmares and Horror Hound. The horror fans love their horror. I was a fan, but not at the level of a fanatic yet. So, when I got this play, I really tried to delve into that world, and fell in love with it. I realized that I could maybe raise the money, and something like this could be done low budget, be a lot of fun, be campy, and have the potential to get my investors back their money, which is obviously a huge goal of mine.
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I just reviewed Detention of the Dead, as you know. How do you feel RockRevolt’s review measured up to other reviews? Were we on par with the rest? Did we spank you harder, or were we nicer than most?
I thought it was a good review. It was simple and to the point. Here’s the thing with reviewers: you said to me that the first part would sting, and then “we will soften the blow”. Here is what I’ve experienced over my many years, and even with Detention of the Dead, and I reference this all the time, even when I’m teaching: One night, two reviewers came. We were reviewed by everyone here in L.A. (Backstage Times, LA Times, Variety, whatever). Two of them came one night. They sat across from each other on opposite sides of the aisle. The play was only around 58 minutes. The reviews came out that week. One complimented the director and the pace – “It was really well paced, and funny.” It was a positive review. The other guy said that it felt slow and needed edits. Same show! So, for me, with reviews, I generally don’t criticize what they are talking about. I just take it for what it’s worth. It is your viewpoint. If there are certain things that they didn’t like, and it was exactly what I was going for, well, ok, you didn’t like it. Sometimes I agree and sometimes I disagree. I thought your review was exactly what I would want for the Rock and Roll crowd to read. Quite frankly, and I even say it in the actual behind the scene stuff that we are putting on the DVD, if people come to the movie, or they rent/download it, however they see it, and they just had a really good time, then I’m happy. For me, it’s not one of those films that needs to be dissected like Lincoln, or something. (laughs)
Can you give us a funny anecdote that occurred during filming?
Sure. Obviously, this is a huge opportunity for me. I decided to go and shoot in Michigan. I have a friend who lives there who has become a producer, Michael Mannaserri, and Brooke Anderson, my producer, and I thought it would be a good place to go. We were in Pontiac, and when we first arrived we did a location scout. It’s not a great neighborhood. The first High School we went to go look at literally looked like the zombie apocalypse had hit during lunch one day, and the students just ran for it. Literally. This is not an exaggeration. (laughs) Instruments (like cellos) were strewn about. There were books all over the place. It looked like over time vandals had come in and pulled out the pipes and the wiring to get to the copper. Ventilation shafts were sticking out through the walls. There were holes all over the place. It was something to behold. It was a commentary of the state of education, especially in Michigan. They were going through a rough time. In fact, while we were there, they were closing another 70 schools. It was a pretty sad state of affairs for them, but not bad for the film-makers. We didn’t choose that particular school. We chose another one that had the aesthetic that I wanted, which was more of this Midwestern vibe, kind of like the Breakfast Club. It had wood-trim, and nice lockers, and nice a 80s style. It was still closed and run-down. We had our challenges, but it had the aesthetic that I wanted. So, we arrive there for pre-production, and that week the crew begin cleaning up in this school. The first night, vandals (this is gang-land territory) came in and spray-painted all over the place. No big deal, we are in the process of cleaning up and the place is in poor condition anyway. In my head, I had this attitude of “nothing is going to stop me.” Obstacles are just opportunities to create something else. Then we get a phone call in the middle of the night saying that the vandals went back in and set the school on fire. (laughs)
Just so, you know, I’m immediately trying to think if we could incorporate smoke damage or something (laughs) into the story. In my frame of mind, I was going to climb Mt. Everest, no matter what. It ended up being a blessing – a small curse, but really a blessing. At the same time, our production designer was off looking at another school that my Michigan producer did not think was on the list of possibilities because it was a storage facility. All these schools in this neighborhood, all their junk was there – uniforms, books, desks, chairs. There was just junk everywhere. It was going to be obviously very challenging in regard to cleaning it all out, and what to do with it. They ended up allowing us to go there. It not only ended being a better school, because the aesthetic was actually similar, but it also was in a better part of Pontiac. It also had electricity, so we didn’t need to deal with generators. On the downside, we had to use 24 hour security, which was not part of my budget, but was necessary. It ended up being a blessing in a way. If we hadn’t found that school, that had electricity, where the security was better (the windows were boarded up too which brought another level of security), then I don’t know how secure we would have been at the other place, leaving the sets hot, which we needed to do, so that the next morning we could just pick up in the same location, and keep going, which saved a ton of time. We didn’t really have that much money, and relative to the production value that we ended up with, not to mention the music, which you and I will talk about in a second, it’s amazing.
Alright, let’s talk about the music.
Yeah – because you said that “Where is my mind?” was one thing that stood out for you. I just wanted to say, that I chose those songs, talking to a variety of teenagers that actually helped me find those songs. One is “Impossible” by Band of Skulls, which is a cool band. Another, “Good Old Fashioned Nightmare” which the film opens with is Matt and Kim. Then you have Nada Surf, which is the cover of the Pixies, “Where is My Mind?”, and “I Hope I Become a Ghost” by The Deadly Syndrome. I think there is some really cool music in there. The point is, I really did attempt to find, within my budget I suppose, bands that fit the “Breakfast Club-John Hughes” concept, that I thought kids would dig. So, there is some cool music in my teenage zombie film.
I read that you are working on transitioning Detention of the Dead to a television series?
I’m prepared to. Rob and I wrote a pilot loosely based on the film. It’s actually quite different. I reimagined it. We created it as though the zombie apocalypse happened in the past, and we created the series based on that. It’s loosely based on the movie, still teens in highschool, but it is actually vastly different. We just thought it would be smart to have, so when people ask me, “What’s next?” I have that ready to go.
It sounds cool. If I watched T.V., I would watch it. (laughs)
Thank you, I appreciate that (laughs). I think it would be really cool. I think it’s a great idea. It’s not truly a zombie thing, but more of a science fiction version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I think fans would enjoy it.
Throughout your career, whether it be movie, television, directing, or teaching, what has been your crowning achievement? Basically, what piece of your resume are you the most proud of?
Well, at the moment I would have to say Detention of The Dead. I could tell you, “My performance in Broadway Bound as an actor” or “what I did with Festival in Cannes in flying myself there for that opportunity.” I’ve done some pretty cool things. Detention of the Dead, which began coming up on four years ago, has been a journey where I’ve literally had a pregnancy.
Congratulations on your pregnancy. (laughs)
(laughs) I shot the film during the last trimester of the pregnancy of my second son, Xander, and three weeks after I came home from Michigan, he was born. The first two weeks I was on location I was crying myself to sleep because I missed my three year old, Parker, so much. That’s why it’s my “crowning achievement” – the amount of cost for me in this film, and the fact that it’s out there, is a huge accomplishment.
What is up next for you? I saw something on your page about Hercules?
Yeah – that is another pilot that I’ve written. I have the first draft. It is a procedural with a Greek mythology twist, kind of like Grimm. I’m excited about that too. I think it’s funny, because I write something and then I want to move on to the next, and then I go back and do rewrites. For me, the most challenging part of the creative process is writing.
It sounds like you do well at it though.
When I focus, I think I’m pretty good. I definitely work better with a partner. Rob and I worked well together. I’ve written another script with somebody else. It helps you to be accountable. As you are aware, I have a 23 month old, and an almost six year old, along with teaching, and this stuff with the film. I could easily not write, and not focus, and get distracted. It’s nice working within a group, or with a partner. It helps keep you focused and accountable to somebody else.
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