BROCK BODELL TALKS HELLCAT
Daniel John
A woman wakes in a moving camper with a badly infected wound, told she has an hour to get help before something bad happens. From the plot alone, I expected more of a race to survival, but the film instead stays in Lena’s claustrophobic new reality, showing that chaos doesn’t need scale, and even feels all the more immediate because of it?
We were confined both physically, and budgetarily. And I think out of challenges like that, typically come the most unique ideas, because sometimes the only way to get past those hurdles is something truly creative. Something that you’d typically not come up with in a regular brainstorm. You need the contrast of challenge to access certain creative ideas I think. The flashbacks inside the trailer were a perfect example of both of those retraints being overcome with a creative solution that felt really unique and set the timbre for the film.
Of course, a lot of what makes this as captivating as it is also comes down to the performances of Dakota Gorman and Todd Terry?
We went wide with casting and got a lot of tapes. I didn’t give much direction for the character of Lena, because I was looking for instincts. And out of the few hundred tapes we got, only two or three came from a place of strength, where most tended to wake up to this scenario with pure fear, and understandably so. Dakota woke up and said, “What is this? Who’s got me here and what can I do to help myself out of it.” She came from a place of strength and I fell in love with that approach, and then after a little more time, it was clear she was Lena. Todd Terry just completely captivated me right out of the gate. A rough and tumble rancher type that was able to go to really endearing places that showed a ton of vulnerability, and that duality was really important to me. He is also a father, and that was very important to me.
After 'Grief', your 2019 short film, how did you find the move to now directing a feature?
After 'Grief', I got some traction with a feature script, and ultimately kicked around some projects, got a development deal, and then Covid stopped that momentum in it’s tracks. 'Hellcat' was born out of my obsession with making a feature. I’ve been an editor for nearly twenty years and directing a feature was the top of the mountain and I needed to do it to be able to sleep at night. I got tired of waiting around for Hollywood to give me a million dollars to make mine, so I took a real chance on myself and paid for this film out of pocket. It was dangerous. I wouldn’t recommend it. But I had to.
What is the draw to telling stories on the darker side, what do you find in there?
I think there’s something that feels really natural about showing the dark side of humans. Showing the grey area. But I think it’s more vulnerable, and compromising and dangerous to show the light side of darkness.
As those staying for the end credits can hear music is another part of your artistic world. What has your creative path actually been like, from exploring it for yourself to finding your way more professionally?
I’ve always been a storyteller. Whether it was rewriting episodes of 'Are You Afraid of the Dark' as a kid, or filming my friends in high school, bands in college, becoming an editor, and so on. I’ve always liked creating worlds and atmosphere. I think there’s something really great about playing god in a world where there’s no real stakes for that kind of crazy desire. I started with my free time writing songs, writing novels, scripts, drawing, making movies, and I followed the music path for a while. I was really into turning my friends onto stuff they maybe hadn’t heard and then into the idea of starting a small record label. But ultimately after a stint in PR in NYC, I realized that music is too sacred to compromise with business. For some reason I’m ok when it comes to films. I got started in cutting promos for MTV, Nickelodeon and more and then some films and then I started hunting down my own feature dream.
Todd Terry's Clive-character at first can come off as a big nerd of paranormal pop-culture, his camper littered with sci-fi, comic books and literature of the sort. What obsessions in this genre-space do you hold close, regardless of influence on this one movie?
I love the worlds created by Stephen King. Even in his non-genre stuff. 'Stand by Me', 'Needful Things', I love that New England coastal vibe and also Americana. I love trailers, drive ins, diners. I love the picturesque, Norman Rockwell Americana. I also adore what movies like 'Scream', and 'The Blair Witch Project', and 'In the Mouth of Madness' did for me as a kid. I love small town, big world stuff like 'Twin Peaks', the video game 'Alan Wake', 'Deadwood', 'The Leftovers'. I’m obsessed with a small town that feels cosmically important.
The story of 'Hellcat' drives off in a trippy direction. There’s certainly something to be said for leaving a film open-ended but do you leave it there or do you have ideas of where it’s going?
I can’t say for sure but if there’s money for a second, the idea I have for it will at the very least be very unexpected.
