Chris Gore is a speaker and writer on the topic of independent film. He is also the main writer and founder of Film Threat, a project dedicated to covering independent and underground movies. He appears weekly on the G4 television program “Attack of the Show” in a segment entitled DVDuesday in which he reviews the newest DVD movies released that day. His books include The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made , The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide, 3rd Edition, and The Complete DVD Book: Designing, Producing and Marketing Your Independent Film on DVD. Sidenote: he remembered me as the guy who loved “Amalgam Comics”.

Yep. I’m the second caller.I called him up recently so get an insight of the future of film and any other projects he has in the works and to see what lies in that spiky head of his.

What was it like growing up Chris Gore?

I was a weird kid and I had an obsession like any other kid. Mostly related with film. I mean everybody has that epiphany and for me that was Star Wars. I mean, I was totally into movies before that, just monster movies and Planet of the Apes and whatnot. When I saw Star Wars it blew me away. That’s when I started reading magazines about it all. I wanted to go behind the scenes. An actor, director, you name it. Though it all started with Star Wars

How long have you known this is what you’ve wanted to do with your life?

I’m going to say around twelve years old. You know I had an interest in movies, but I never saw it could be a job or a career or something that you could be involved in, I don’t mean just making films. I mean being apart of the whole industry and business.

You’ve written books, manage your own site and made your own independent movie. Do you ever see yourself going outside the independent scene?

Yeah. I mean definetely. There are good people at the studios who really care about making great movies and if one of them were interested in making one of my projects that would be great. For the most part, a lot of stuff that is independent and, even like, big studio movies you see that get made, those are financed independently outside by other investors.The business is going through through a huge change now; a bizarre shift. So, I could definetely see myself working with the studio, but there’s some people who thinkg the studios are evil and whatnot. I don’t believe that. The studios consist of some good people, so it’s a matter of those people being in a position of power which they can actually do some good. I will say this: when it comes to [big budget movies], they have less of an excuse to fail because they have the studio behind them. They’ve got their own marketing department and whatnot.

Right, but even that doesn’t always help all the time.

Yeah. Indie films tend to be more forgiving because they don’t have all of those advantages. I like indie films because in a way, they’re like a bird with a broken wing. You want to nurse it along, but they’re not perfect. They are flawed, but they do have heart and that to me is what’s so compelling and so much of an obsession more so for me. When anybody who makes a movie independently that makes a success out of it, it’s just amazing to see that.

Who are some of the people whose films inspired you as a kid?

Oh wow. I would say David Lynch. He’s a huge inspiration when I was a kid. You can’t forget [Steven] Spielberg. As much as people like to bag on Spielberg, there’s not anyone who directs action as good as he does. Spielberg can really tell a story through action. What happens mostly with action movies that people walk away saying “that was a good action scene”, but it’s usually a scene that doesn’t really show his or her character and has little to do with the story. However, when you watch an “Indiana Jones” movie, Spielberg will show that action can really be used to tell a story. Oh, and also John Waters. Pink Flamingos, as a kid,really influenced me. He’s just hilarious.

You’ve done tons of interviews, when was the first time you felt starstruck or do you still even get starstruck?

Well, I don’t get starstruck anymore, but the first time was meeting Oliver Stone. I just thought THAT was really cool. JFK had just come out, but yeah that to me at the time was a pretty big deal. Though, when I first moved to Los Angeles, I actually had a kind of fear of meeting celebrities. I just didn’t want to meet them. Since then, I really don’t care. I mean in fact, now I just treat them like regular people. In all my travels and whatnot I get to me meet celebrities and politicians, VIPs and etc, so now I’m not particularly a starstruck person. I do however seek a “real” moment with them. When you can connect in a real way, and you run into any particular celebrity again, they remember you. Like Robert Downey, jr, I met the guy two or three times, he’s always been really cool to me. I think he’s just an amazing actor too.

Have you had any bad experiences with a celebrity?

Not really. I had heard that Quentin Tarantino wants to beat me up. We tried to get an interview with and he completely brushed us off when Pulp Fiction came out. We were the only magazine that gave Reservoir Dogs a cover story and he and his publicist brushed us off. I think that Tarantino is one of those film makers that they steal from other movies, George Lucas does this also, but combine aspects from those movies that is so unique it creates a whole different tone and feels fresh and new. Though I don’t think less of them as filmmakers.

Aside from The Dark Knight, what films do you think the general public should really see? Anything under the radar?

Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? You might be dissapointed that he doesn’t find him. It’s actually about how America is viewed by the outside world, post-911, and they freakin’ hate us. They hate us and for good reason. As much as I am a patriot and love my country, we have to be responsible for our actions. The movie is good in the way you think you’re going in to watch one more and it’s something different.

Have you seen a movie that was so good or so bad, but the general population disagrees?

I’m not a big fan of the “Pirates” franchise. I’m a big fan of movies that are described as a challenge. I also enjoy a discussion. I would love to hear your reasoning for disliking a certain movie. I’m a strang individual to the point of I don’t take your dislike for any particular film to heart. I want to hear what you have to say. I think people take it personal when I say I dislike something without proper reasoning. That’s why I like a discussion. I won’t call myself a film critic, because I don’t think I’m a very good one. Because I write books I’m sort of in the category of where I’m just voicing my opinion.

Do you think the Superman franchise is dead after “Returns”?

I don’t know. I’m not sure it’s dead, but the problem is that Bryan Singer was so in love with the old Richard Donner film that he thought he could remake it. Even by casting someone who looked a lot like Christopher Reeve. Then having a similar story to the first Superman movie, but with more money and better special effects. I don’t know. I tink Singer had a vision for how he wanted to approach it and it fell and that was dissapointing.

So, what is next for Chris Gore?

I’m doing a new show on G4 which will air around San Diego Comic-Con, and I’m working on a new film hopefully that will be out in 2009.

Before you go, do you think I can have Blair Butler’s phone number?

[Laughs] No sorry, man, can’t give it to you. Though she’s not hard to get a hold of. She has her own website and such.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 11:55 am and is filed under Lan Pitts, The Big Question (Interviews). You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.