| Premiere Magazine, 10/08 issue |
[26 Sep 2008|02:46pm] |
When a man is as notoriously private as cult classic director Holden Kennison, it's often nobody's surprise when you see him in person. The 29-year old director who created his first film at the age of 21 after dropping out of college is shockingly not what you'd expect at first glance. Dressing often in blue jeans, t-shirts that are often as vivid in imagery as some of his films, Kennison is definitely a gigantic kid. While visiting him on the set of this Halloween's most anticipated release, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Kennison managed to take a few minutes to talk to us about the art of his work, how working with his wife makes work that much more fun, and why it would take an angry mob to drag him away from his favorite genre kicking and screaming.
Premiere: So what exactly is Repo! about in ten words or less.
Holden Kennison: Fun. Oh, blood too. There's a bit of that. Is that over ten words? I was never really good at those things.
Premiere: What encouraged you to do a rock opera of all things?
Kennison: I've always found myself totally enamoured with my rock sort of being majestic and anthemic. I listen to these classics like Iron Maiden, and I'm like "I could totally tell a story this way!". I collaborated with Raleigh Illidge in her downtime from being in bands and producing albums, and before we knew it, we wound up with this whole concept. I mean, in over ten words, I can tell you that this is an amazing tale of society going totally wrong and the price some people will pay for health, but it's so much more. It's something you have to see to truly believe, because you can't just talk about it.
Premiere: So you've been making your films, and your two episodes of the show Masters of Horror without a degree. How did you pull it off?
Kennison: It takes a lot of people believing in your project. You don't absolutely need to go to school to do what I do, but I think you need a vivid imagination and lots of creativity. I'm a child of cinema, as my grandfather ran a movie theater in Savannah, Georgia. I was a little kid, and I'd get to watch all the weekend matinees, and it was just an incredibly catalyst for what I wanted to do. Savannah is just a town to create art, and when you're the most haunted city in the United States, it's easy to just sort of make that transition to horror films. Doing what I do is no easy road, though. I have a lot of people who love to work with me that come back time after time. On top of that, Emi keeps everything going, makes it all stay in line.
Premiere: Speaking of your wife, 2009 is the start of new projects for you guys without one another. She's currently in Toronto shooting Midnight Meat Train, and you are burning the midnight oil to finish your adaptation of Watchmen. Do you guys find it hard to work with one another?
Kennison: Something like that is hard to say. I mean, we're two people and we often see things differently in a creative viewpoint. That's what makes our work good though, because as we work on these things, we share ideas and viewpoints, and that's what makes our movies so stunning visually. The couple of times her and I have managed to not be paired together creatively, I think you sort of see what we come up with. She has this very visceral and graphic imagery she paints in her work, and believe me when I say that she has scared the crap out of me more than once. She's beautifully imbalanced, and I am head over heels in love with her for it.
Premiere: This was just a huge year for you at the box office, Holden. You basically made your entire career with one film, The Dark Knight. Where do you really believe you can go from here?
Kennison: I don't know, but I honestly think that I love that feeling. It's been easy for me to think I'm going from one place to another, but it's hard to determine what I can do with my career from this point on. It's hard to say what will happen, but I'm hoping that it's sort of opened up more creative doorways. I know that the week after the opening, I got asked for any other ideas and other things I wanted to do. I thought about getting into more television, but I want to wait and see where it all goes. I mean, people are even hoping there's a sequel to the movie, and I want to at least let this one simmer still. There's potential for everything. I know that I would love to work on some other things, but it will all come in time.
Premiere: Lastly, how much longer can you scare people?
Kennison: I could do this forever. A good artist never gives away all his art at once. I may not write all I put out there, I might not direct all my scripts, but it will take an angry mob to pull me from horror films. I'll make one worthy of an Oscar someday, wait and see.
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