VFX Supervisor on M:I-2, Eric Pham on making his new film, FLAY

Eric Pham cut his teeth working VFX on studio hits as Mission : Impossible 2, Sin City and Grindhouse before turning to directing. His latest film, Flay, is a visual effects spectacle (no surprisingly) that pits a deadly mysterious, faceless man against a group of teens. Flay hits VOD in March.

indieactivity: When did your filmmaking career kick off?
Eric: Although I’ve produced/directed lots of short form works and directed my first feature film called Action News 5 years ago, I didn’t really have much control with it and it’s stuck in limbo somewhere without a release. I feel like my filmmaking career is actually kicking off now with the upcoming release of Flay.

indieactivity: And why movies? What was it about movies that had you fixed on building a career around making them?
Eric: Movies are complete stories that can really fulfill one’s imagination and take you on a journey like a good dream. I’m an artist at heart and I see movies as the ultimate art form. You get to tell a story with words, visuals, music, emotions, ideas and intentions. Movies can be as creative and subjective as you want, given the restrictions of the tools, money and time that you have. You still have to find a balance between storytelling for a specific audience and for yourself. Then there’s the balance of creating movies as a product and still having your own voice and story.

indieactivity: Most cite “Star Wars” as one of the films that spurred them towards a career as a filmmaker. What film was it for you?
Eric: 20 minutes into Blade Runner, I was in awe of that overwhelming feeling of really being in another time and place and saying to myself, I want to create stories and worlds like this.

indieactivity: What was the first thing you shot?
Eric: A 15 minute short film called Kat. Luckily for me, it was awarded the $10,000 Grand Prize in a festival sponsored by Showtime Network. That really spurred me on the path of being a filmmaker.

indieactivity: And how do you think you’ve improved as a filmmaker since then?
Eric: For the most part, I’ve gotten wiser and learned how to be on-time and on-budget without sacrificing the fun and creativity of trying new things. Some scenes definitely need to be storyboarded, but I’m not afraid to throw it out and improv with a new direction if I see something else that may works better at the moment with an actor or location.

indieactivity: Is there a sequence in the latest movie that you’re truly proud of, one you can genuinely step back from and say ‘wow, that looks great’!?
Eric: I love the end sequence in the forest where Moon (Elle LaMont) was being hunted and dragged on the ground by Flay. It was pure improvisation in terms of camera setups and how the all the action played out. We had a big thunderstorm that morning that made us lose a half a day of shoot. During a ground scene, Elle got a big rash of poison oak on her arms and had to go to the ER. Even with all the unexpected delays, Elle was such an amazing and committed actor that we still managed to pull off something that looks good. As for planned sequences, I really liked the painting POVs and paint drip related shots.

indieactivity: How did you get the cast? All auditions?
Eric: We had a great casting agent, Sarah Dowling, who guided us throughout the auditions.

Bethany (Violett Beane) at crime scene in FLAY

indieactivity: Did they have much time to get to know each other before the shoot began?
Eric: Not much. We only had about 2 weeks of prep before shooting. It was 2 intense weeks of working together while developing the characters and their motivations in relation to each other. We had a good bond that continued throughout the shoot.

indieacWhere did you shoot the movie? Do you believe the city is as much a star of the movie as the human players?Austin, TX. Yes, for the first part of the movie. Otherwise, the actors were the stars.

What do you hope audiences get from the movie?
Hopefully the audience will get a sense of mystery, suspense and fear and get an impression that these characters can exist in real life. With writer Matthew Daley, we purposely wanted to play with the tropes of horror and also take a step beyond by blending in other genres. In the beginning, historical photos of Native Americans were shown to reveal how their assimilation was forced upon them. Men had to cut their hair, shed their tribal clothes and wear Western suits.

That was the only explanation we made for Flay and his appearance. We purposely avoided talking head scenes to explain every detail. We assumed the audience is smart enough to figure things out and that it was okay to leave some things open ended for interpretation. The relationships among the characters were also important to us and we tried to make sure that came across. Visually I wanted to constantly juxtapose the dream world/visions to the waking consciousness/reality to show how much one can affect the other.

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