Exclusive: Writer/Director Joe Begos Talks The Mind’s Eye
Staci Layne Wilson
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In The Mind’s Eye, writer/director Joe Begos tells the supernatural tale of a man (Graham Skipper) and his girlfriend (Lauren Ashley Carter), who become the prisoners of a deranged doctor (John Speredakos) that wants to harvest their telekinetic powers.
The movie is violent, thought-provoking, and highly stylized in the same vein as Begos’ breakout film, Almost Human. We sat down with the filmmaker to discuss the methods to his cinematic madness.
Dread Central: The Mind’s Eye has gotten some great buzz from its festival run; many compared it favorably to classics like Scanners and The Fury. What were some of your thoughts when you wrote the script… were you going for that vibe, or were there other influences?
Joe Begos: Well, it was sort of influenced by all the really violent films you mentioned. I think organically it comes from that place, but aside from some themes I feel that enough of the movie is different from Scanners. But I can’t deny that vibe of the whole setting, but hopefully there’s enough different stuff where it’s kind of its own thing.
DC: This is the second time you’ve worked with Graham Skipper (see our interview with Graham here) – how has your working relationship evolved since the first time on Almost Human?
JB: The first movie we really didn’t know each other and I didn’t know if he’d want to do it but thankfully he did. And then when it came time to do Mind’s Eye, I wrote the role for him and kind of developed it with him, and he’s got those great eyes, which obviously lent itself to being a telekinetic soul. He had all the attributes I wanted to see in the character so it was kind of a dream to be able to develop this for him specifically.
DC: Larry Fessenden is in The Mind’s Eye playing Graham’s kick-ass dad. He’s mostly known for directing (Habit and Wendigo are faves), but it seems all the fanboys-slash-filmmakers now want to cast him in their films. Tell us how it all came together…
JB: He kind of pops up in cameos in different movies, and I just think he’s a fantastic actor, whether he’s a lead in something or has a limited role in something. Nick hooked us up and Larry was really responsive to the script; originally he was supposed to play the sheriff character, and then they’re were complications with the original actor we were going to have play the father so I was kind of thinking that Larry would be good for that role, he’s used to playing cops that get killed in a minute, so he was really able to grasp that role. He was awesome in it, almost the emotional anchor in the movie. It was really good, it was like supernatural, he and Graham played off each other, being able to see Larry literally change the entire tone of the movie with just a glance or a look; he’s just a fantastic actor.
DC: The Mind’s Eye is gorier than most of these types of thrillers. Please tell our bloodthirsty readers what they can expect in the way of mayhem, and what was your favorite scary scene to bring to life?
JB: Well, the thing was I kind of wanted to make a movie like Aliens and jack it up with aliens. You’ve got Scanners with the exploding head, you’ve got The Fury and the exploding body, you’ve got something like Aliens where a body is ripped in half so we’ve got all that in there and more so we had to figure out how we were going to top ourselves from there. I don’t want to reveal too much before [people see] the movie, but there are a couple in particular that I’m really fond of.
DC: Do you believe in psychokinesis? And what are some of the more interesting things you learned while doing your research for this story?
JB: I don’t know if there have ever been any real cases of it; everyone speculates that we know so little about brain power that it would be possible, especially with stuff like sensory deprivation. The coolest thing that I was able to come across was this video shot on 8mm black and white film, and it’s this lady that is supposedly able to move basic objects like pencils with her mind. It looks really cool; I don’t know what kind of techniques they would use to fake that seventy-five years ago, but that was one of the coolest things I came up with. I was thinking about re-creating it for the movie, but it didn’t really have a place in the story.
DC: Will you always only direct scripts that you’ve written? Tell us a bit about where you hope to see yourself as a filmmaker a few years from now and whether horror will always be your go-to.
JB: I love horror, but ultimately I’d love to mix it up genre-wise. I only want to do genre so I’d love to do horror, action, sci-fi, thriller… I’d like to eventually do a straight sci-fi movie, maybe a straight horror movie, maybe a straight action movie because my films are not really grounded in one genre so I think that might be interesting.
Regarding my scripts, I definitely love coming up with concepts myself because I’m like the three hundredth person to be given any scripts so usually they’re not very good and not something I want to tackle. I hate the process of writing, but I love coming up with my own stuff, like being able to sculpt things to my directorial abilities, so I can work with a really good writer to develop something or I can just do something that I imagined.
The Mind’s Eye is available on VOD and Digital HD NOW (order on Amazon)!
Synopsis:
Zack Connors and Rachel Meadows were born with incredible psychokinetic capabilities. When word of their supernatural talents gets out, they find themselves the prisoners of Michael Slovak, a deranged doctor intent on harvesting their powers. After a daring escape, they are free from his sinister institution, but the corrupt doctor will stop at nothing to track them down so that he may continue to siphon their gifts for his own use.
Categorized:News
