SCOTT GOLDBERG TALKS THE FOREST HILLS

Interviewed by Culture Coast Talks editor Daniel John. Interview transcripts might have been edited for length and clarity.

It has been twenty years since your first work came out. Already then writing, producing, and directing. How did you first get set on a path to making films?

I have always loved movies ever since I was a child. I recorded a horror film on VHS–tape with some friends in 1999 called 'Dead End' and during my college years I attempted a feature-length film, called 'Dead End Massacre', both of those projects were made with friends. After graduating college, in 2005, I made a couple of short films. I've always been intent on trying to create movies and get into the business.

You do seem like a filmmaker who carries a lot of respect for those that came before you but also one eager to put your own mark on those things you love?

Filmmakers that have inspired me along the way are John Carpenter, George A. Romero, Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Stanley Kubrick, Rob Reiner, Robert Zemeckis and James Cameron. I have always loved a lot of their movies. And we are either inspired through watching them as a fan or as an aspiring filmmaker. 

‘The Forest Hills’ seem a love letter to two franchises especially, 'The Shining' and 'Halloween', with that it must've been quite something to be able to bring this ensemble together?

Those are two of my favorite films, those two and 'Day of the Dead'. So I was very happy to work with Shelley Duvall, and the talented female leads from 'Halloween III' and 'Curse of Michael Myers', Stacey Nelkin and Marianne Hagan.

Before this Shelley Duvall had not acted on-screen in over twenty years. What did that entail practically speaking. What did it take to get her to come back to acting after all of these years of not doing so?

Shelley is a natural, she still has the ability to act and to play a character unlike anyone she has ever played before, it is really inspiring to see. I had a great time working with her. She has expressed many times how much she enjoyed acting again and it was surreal to be able to work with such an amazing woman and talent.

The film is based on a short film by the same name you made some years ago?

The short film is a completely different story, the short film was more about two Kentucky outcasts that were living alone in the woods. I always loved the title, so I kept the title. But not the story.

Are there more horror icons you would love to bring together for a film in the future?

I'd absolutely love to work with Elizabeth Berridge from 'The Funhouse' and Dana Kimmel from 'Friday The 13th: Part III', Jamie Lee Curtis, Ashley Lawrence, Danielle Harris, Tom Atkins, Robert Englund and Lori Cardille, again, since I worked with her in 2011. The fact that I was able to personally choose who I wanted in 'The Forest Hills' based on them being in my favorite movies was really nice. And I would love to work with Edward Furlong again. He is a great talent. 

Do you have ideas for what is to come?

I have a lot of ideas and a lot of concepts and screenplays that I would love to create visually through the filmmaking process. I feel that lots of people have creative ideas that they unfortunately never get a chance to see come to fruition. So it was nice to see this particular one come to life.