Aaron Botwick
He is the filmmaker of Here There Be Tigers Dollar Baby film.
SKSM: Could you start with telling me a little bit about yourself? Who are you and what do you do?
Aaron Botwick: Hi! Joshua Meadow and I are students at Oberlin College in Ohio. I study English and Film, Josh studies film and Comparative Literature.
SKSM: When did you make Here there be tygers?
Aaron Botwick: We had just completed our previous film, The Last Ache, which is a noir modernization of the Edgar Allan Poe story, The Tell-Tale Heart. We were looking for another story to adapt and I remembered reading years ago about the Dollar Babies project.
SKSM: Why did you choose this particular story to adapt? Did you have any other in mind?
Aaron Botwick: Here There Be Tygers was actually our second choice. The first was The Moving Finger, but it was not available for adaptation.
SKSM: Are you a Stephen King fan? If so, which are your favorite works and adaptations?
Aaron Botwick: I read some of his novels years ago, and I enjoyed them, but I wouldn’t tag me the title of “fan”
SKSM: What are you working on nowadays?
Aaron Botwick: We are working on the script for a horror movie about abortion.
SKSM: Can you tell me a little about the production? How long did it take to film it? How many people were involved? Any bloopers that has happened?
Aaron Botwick: Filming was very short and quite accelerated. Our cinematographer, Jason Outenreath, had to travel out of the country in the spring and we wanted him to be involved in the project, so the shoot took over a weekend.
As for the bloopers, this was definitely the most disastrous production I’ve ever been in. On the first day, we burned out an electrical phase in the school’s science room, so we had to shoot the hall scene afterwards. The next day, Jason plugged a light into a faulty outlet and he almost got hurt by a fireball. Later, when the actor who played Kevin did not appear, we found out that he was about to be expelled from school and that he had to go to his house to talk to his parents. In the end he showed up three hours later.
SKSM: Do you plan to screen the movie at a particular festival?
Aaron Botwick: The film has just been completed and, for now, it has not been selected for any festival.
SKSM: Do you have any plans for making more movies based on Stephen King’s stories? If you could pick -at least- one story to shoot, which one would it be?
Aaron Botwick: We have no plans to adapt another King story at the moment. But the last word is never said.
SKSM: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Is there anything you want to say to the fans that read this interview?
Aaron Botwick: Thanks to you! Greetings to all readers!
THIS INTERVIEW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN SPANISH IN MAY 2010 ON INSOMNIA DIGITAL MAGAZINE
