The film is said to be “based on true events” (of course) and follows three aspiring filmmakers trying to document unexplainable events in an abandoned insane asylum known as Greystone Park. Urban legend has it that anyone who ventures into the forsaken hospital will suffer the consequences and face their own horrors. The trio stumble across a mysterious realm of escaped patients, ghosts and demonic shadows, as they try to uncover the truth behind Greystone Park.
ShockTillYouDrop.com spoke with Sean about the “true events” his film is based on as well as the challenges of his first feature production. Head inside for our discussion.
Shock Till You Drop: There’s a scene at the start of this film which finds you, your father, other family and friends sitting around a table discussing the supernatural. Is this how Greystone Park got its start? With a dinner and wine conversation like the one in the film?
Sean Stone: Essentially, it was Alex Wraith talking about the supernatural – with a name like his, you wonder why. [laughs] He had been going to Greystone and other mental hospitals breaking in and ghost hunting. He’s been doing it for years. He found Greystone at some point. It’s a famous abandoned hospital and thought it was the creepiest place, it was like the Twilight Zone for him. You go in there, it’s another world. It’s easy to get lost, you see shadows… Shadows, that’s what he kept talking about. We all have shadows, but shadows that moved by themselves. [laughs] Alright, man, whatever, let’s go find out, right? So, that’s what happened and what you see in that dinner table discussion is similar. I was very skeptical and I laughed about it. He was a believer, I was not. The next night we went out and by the next morning, I was writing the script.
Shock: This being your feature film, did you find it easier or more difficult jumping into this by way of a “found footage” story?
Stone: At the beginning, I thought it was supposed to be the most fun experience of my life with a video camera and to shoot in a haunted hospital with my friends. It turned out to be a three year process of getting the movie out, the financial setbacks, the locations, we thought we were going to shoot in the real Greystone at one point and we couldn’t get permission, there were so many issues. By the end, you’re thankful to be done and out. It was not an easy process. In that first month of writing it, we thought we had financing so we could have it out in 2010, but that’s filmmaking. You have to live through the ups and downs and it taught me about what it takes to make a film and sell it.
Shock: With “found footage” you can play the narrative a bit loose, yes? Find moments to improvise?
Stone: It was interesting because we tried to do something a bit different from the found footage. We wanted the viewer to feel what it would really be like to break into a place and carry the camera. Like, you were on the adventure and you don’t know if what you’re seeing is real. The idea was to take it to a meta-reality. Make it feel like what End of Watch did really well recently. You’re on the inside but on the outside. But it’s really about keeping that aesthetic integrity with the tone. Through the tone, you’re starting to lose touch with reality. You don’t know if Alex is possessed if he’s making it up. Can you trust him? The encounter with the paranormal is an echo of what madness is like. So, going into that hospital, you become like those patients. We really didn’t know if we were going crazy or not. It wasn’t easy in the way Paranormal Activity in which the audience is left out of it. As an observer, we draw the audience in and have them choices: Are ghosts real? Or are these guys just going crazy? You have to get engaged in that world of shadows. It’s hard to figure out.
Shock: Given the difficulties you mentioned earlier, how hard was it to balance being not only the director but the star as well?
Stone: The hard thing with acting and directing a movie like this is that you’re both the performer and the orchestrator. I’m trying to focus on my performers and myself without knowing what’s in the frame because either they have the camera or my d.p. has it. I wanted that urgency though. You have the camera in your hand – where do you want to go? What do you want to see? But you also have to hit certain moments – I need the camera to hit that spot when dust is coming out of a door, which I have to cue and we have to react to it. That was difficult. Having to cue things while being in the scene.
Shock: Is this an avenue you want to explore again? Or would you rather tackle a more traditionally told film?
Stone: My intention with the next project is more traditional. It’s going to be a martial arts comedy, ’80s-style action movie.
Shock: Starring you? Are you training hard?
Shock: Since you’re film is hitting at the best time of year, I have to ask, what do you have planned for Halloween?
Stone: In the old days, I would have said ghost hunting. [laughs] I think, at some point, we might have to go do a sequel and go explore another cool place, but right now, I might go to Knott’s Scary Farm or Halloween Horror Nights and keep things more public.
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