Billy Senese Gets Closer to God and More!
Matt Boiselle
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The frightening prospect of human cloning comes face-forward in director Billy Senese’s disturbing thriller Closer to God (review), which hits select theaters and VOD services on July 3rd, and he was gracious enough to take a little time out of his schedule to field a few questions regarding the film, so settle in and enjoy!
DC: Starting off, can you set up the film’s creation and premise for us?
BS: Well, it’s obvious that it’s Frankenstein-inspired – I’ve always really been drawn to that story and always wanted to do a modern interpretation of it and reinvent those ideas. The Victor Frankenstein character always especially interested me, and to take on treacherous things like that was really interesting, because if you think about it, he’s always had to have his blinders on to take on something that big, and if he thought for a second about all the potential horrible outcomes, he wouldn’t have ever acted. A lot of the other Frankenstein films have spent the first part of the movie with him creating the idea; whereas, my movie picks up within the first two minutes, he’s already created, so this is more about the rollout of those consequences, so you can sit back in suspense and watch the bad things happen.
DC: What is it that scares you about this movie, and how do you think that will transition over into scaring the viewers?
BS: Well, I don’t know if this is really a horror film. Do you think it is?
DC: It’s definitely got some horror elements to it – while not a complete horror film, there are instances.
BS: Yeah, and I think that some of the Frankenstein stuff will do that, but if people go into this movie expecting to be scared, I think they’ll be disappointed – it’s sort of a sci-fi/ drama/thriller/horror film all wrapped up together, and what I wanted to do was make a movie not about cloning, but about the inevitability of progress. What scares me are the consequences, and the progress a little bit, but just seeing the idea that it’s inevitable is scary to me – what we don’t know, the unknown. I did a lot of research for this film, and I ran across an article by this geneticist, and what he said really stuck with me, and it was “make no mistake – it can be done, and it will be done.” Those were the ideas that I was struggling with when I was writing the script, and the inevitability was how we cut the film, and how it resulted in the consequences that were there for him.
DC: You’ve done a little bit of everything behind the cameras: directing, producing and writing – which one do you see as the most personally rewarding?
BS: I’d say writing – it’s just you, and it truly is such a creative endeavor. You have to sit there, and one day you’ll be feeling really good, and the next you’re feeling like shit, and when you think really hard and have this great epiphany, and that’s what it’s all about – it really is a great feeling.
DC: Lastly, after the release of this film, what can we expect to see from you down the road?
BS: I’m writing another feature, and I really can’t go into the details right now, and I’m going to be looking for funding, of course. I want some proper funding this time – I didn’t have the proper funding on this last one, and it hurt! (laughs) I just can’t do that anymore – I need something for a proper crew and all the other things.
Directed by Billy Senese, Closer to God stars Jeremy Childs, Shannon Hoppe, David Alford, and Shelean Newman.
Synopsis:
Dr. Victor Reed is a brilliant geneticist who has just achieved a huge scientific breakthrough by successfully cloning the first human being, an adorable baby girl named Elizabeth. This immediately becomes a media spectacle and ignites a firestorm of debate concerning the moral and religious implications of such a discovery. Soon, Dr. Reed and his family lose all sense of privacy and safety as they are swarmed by protesters and the media. Their biggest threat, however, could be Victor’s own secret.
Categorized:News
