Jason Dudek is the Producer/Writer/Director of the upcoming film “Infected” with Vinnie Jones, Beverly Mitchell and Danny Glover. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Jason about his new film and what we can expect from it.
Mike Gencarelli: Where did you come up with the story for “Infected”?
Jason Dudek: During the swine flu outbreak, the stock prices for the vaccine manufacturers skyrocketed. That got me interested as to why exactly. After some researching, I found there were cases of vaccine manufactures involved in unethical behavior, one case in particular where a vaccine company began testing on a strain before the FDA had approved the strain, just to get an upper hand on their competitors — that I found frightening. What happens when corporate greed goes unchecked in a business that truly is: life or death. being a conspiracy theorist myself, I wanted to construct an emotional human story within this larger system of corporate interests related to our health
MG: “Infected” started off as a sci-fi campy movie and has developed into a more sci-fi thriller and more grounded in reality, tell us about that process?
JD: The process was organic, in that it wasn’t planned; it just evolved as the project neared principal photography. The film is in constant flux until you shoot, and even then in post it’s another chance for a re-write. As a filmmaker I had two choices, try to be somebody that I wasn’t (a horror director), or embrace my instincts which was to create a realistic sci-fi thriller that had to be grounded in science in order to work. The initial concept of the film involved lots of gore and what I would call paranormal elements – situations that required a leap of faith in order to buy the particular gag. When dealing with an issue so real as manipulating the health of the masses, the gore was not an organic fit. The tone of the film is the exact opposite of camp now. We tried to create a world that is as photo-realistic as possible, where the scares, fear, and terror come from the performances – and the cast nailed it.
MG: Tell us about how rounded up once hell of a great cast for this film?
JD: To this day I still don’t know how I rounded up such a great cast. I can say there was no formula. I just believed in the project 110% and we have a very complex and unique theme that I haven’t seen before, so when the script went out, the response was fantastic. I wish I could say there was an intricate play-by-play strategy to casting “Infected”, but the fact of the matter is that projects that have a fresh new spin on something will usually garner interest. If your characters are unique and we haven’t seen them before, actors will want to play them. Actors love to be challenged and constantly push themselves to new limits, which is why I love working with them so much.
MG: What was the hardest aspect of working on this film?
JD: The amount of work we had to shoot per day. The schedule was grueling; we started the first week with some of the most technically challenging scenes because of actor availability. Shooting so out of order, during the summer in 110-degree heat in an old house dressed as a hoarders, made the physical demands on the cast and crew enormous, on top of the high-intensity performances and company moves. We all got physically beat-up, but we had a great production staff team and medic and thankfully nobody got heat stroke or severely sick.
MG: Tell us about your transition from working in the comedy genre to the horror/thriller genre?
JD: It was so natural. Comedy is all about surprising the audience. The set up, the build, and the punch line. The same beats go for horror, instead of ending in a laugh, it ends in a fear. I love to elicit emotion from audiences, that’s why they go to the movies, and I learned in comedy that the audience is the boss. In the comedy business, the answer to whether a joke is funny or not is: did the audience laugh? A joke that kills in Texas can bomb in Manhattan, so the challenge is to make sure the film doesn’t have an identity crisis, in that it switches tones. “Infected” is filled with an emotional roller coaster, but the tone is consistent, and that helps the audience not get lost from the story.
MG: What makes this project unique and stands out from other sci-fi thrillers?
JD: We have created a new lead character! Taylor Handley has a modern Steve McQueen quality and while most films in this genre have alpha males that kick serious ass, ‘Dean’ is just as badass, but he’s got no ego. The film is as much a thrill ride as it is a spiritual journey for Dean and we’re vested in his journey, so the film is probably the most emotional in the genre. It is definitely a big risk we took, but one that paid off. We have not seen the character “Dean” yet in any films.
MG: What do you have planned next? More writing? Directing?
JD: More of it all! I’m writing a script that I’m incredibly excited about. All I can say at this time is that’s I’m working with a writer on the true story of an Internet steroid scandal spanning across the globe during the dotcom bubble. Think 21 meets Social Network (on steroids). Pardon the bad pun.
