The script for Feast by Marcus Dunstan and writing partner Patrick Melton was the lucky one chosen among the five-thousand submissions Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's Project Greenlight 3 reality TV-series. If you're not familiar with the series, it basically shows the process a film goes through for it to come together and revealed before an audience. Marcus speaks about his thoughts on movies in today's genre and how some cool sequences from the script never made it to the screen. Mark your calendars for October 17th, when Feast is finally released on DVD. After you read this interview, feel free to check out my very positive review for the film here.

CONDUCTED BY: Dan AKA Master of Horror
EDITED BY: FrighT MasteR
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON: 10/07/06

How did you get your start in screenwriting?

After moving out to Los Angeles, I no longer had any connections to film equipment or video equipment. All I had was paper. The first ream of paper I ever bought was to start trying to write a screenplay. Eight years later, I am still learning as I go.

What was your inspiration for Feast?

The horror films that Pat and I were raised on had all but vanished from theatres. We put our heads together and asked, "What would you like to see?"

How did you, John and Patrick Melton come together?

Patrick and I were writing partners and our script for FEAST was chosen for John Gulager to direct per the Project Greenlight contest. From over five thousand submissions across the country, the ended up putting together three guys that lived a few miles apart.

What's some of the biggest problems you feel the genre faces?

Horror's biggest obstacle begins with the people telling the horror story. John, Pat and I wanted FEAST to be the most fulfilling, raunchy and aggressive horror film to come out in years. We're a generation that was raised on horror films and therefore have a set of expectations and predictions for each fright film. That history gave us a nice check-list to disobey. Most horror films these days are paint by numbers. Most cater to an audience far too savvy to be surprised. I think horror has to keep evolving to stay one step ahead of the audience if it is to work. It's hard, but can be damn rewarding.

Tell us a bit about your next feature, The Midnight Man, which you're writing and directing.

Patrick Melton and I wrote the screenplay and Dimension was kind enough to give me a shot at directing it. THE MIDNIGHT MAN is intended to kick the modern thriller in the ass. When was the last time an adult thriller genuinely rattled a bone out there? It has been too long and I feel we have a shot to tell a story that will be a leap in the right direction.

What kind of release do you see The Midnight Man receiving?

I'm too damn grateful to even guess at this point.

Now that Feast is finally hitting DVD shelves, have the offers come rolling in from big budget studios?

We are still fighting to maintain our seat at the adult's table. One good film doesn't guarantee membership by any stretch. It helps, but we don't dare lose sight of how hard we need to work to get a shot at telling the next story and maybe the one after that. We're tremendously lucky to have had FEAST and the future is wide open as long we keep fighting for it.

How has Feast done in screenings so far?

Incredible. Three rounds of applause broke out during moments of the film. We couldn't believe it. It was truly wonderful to watch that bumper sticker of a movie light up the crowd.

What are some of the bits and pieces left behind in the script that never made it on film?

FEAST was a $20 plus million dollar script that was ultimately carved down to $4 million bucks. We were very fortunate to only remove the scale of certain beats but never the impact of the material. For example, we could not have a bloody-drag race toward the sunrise but we could create something equally strong within the confines of the set. The lower budget was a great lesson for Patrick and I. We really had to kick ourselves into gear to meet the budgetary demands while maintaining the sordid action required in moving the story along.

What did we lose? Well, we lost an origin scene which featured a most distasteful slaughter of a Brownie troop. We also lost a really interesting beat where the characters in the bar each speculate what and where the creatures came from. It was an ambitious idea that would have each character "envision" the threat but based on the age of the character, the vision would be a reflection of the horror archetypes of their day. For example the elder Bartender would picture a black n' white '50's era attack while the younger kid was seeing something in vivid state of the art CGI. It would have been gorgeous but unfortunately the time monster took that one down.

What's your favorite part of Feast?

Watching it with my parents and sister. All my years of being a weird kid finally came into use. All those issues of Fangoria, all those USA Late Night marathons where they would cut out the nudity but not the gore...all of those moments came together and mixed with Patrick and John's childhood. We watched our collective youth under horror's wing. That was the best.

Is there any possibility of a sequel?

That is up to the horror fans. FEAST 2: SECONDS would be too nasty to pass up.

Who are some of your writing/scripting influences?

Pat Melton. He's forgotten more about writing than I will ever know. The next influence could be AC/DC or a memory of something dark...or maybe a dirty joke or an old friend. Writing and scripting influences are abundant. I just hope to be sharp enough to catch them when appear.

Special thanks goes out to Marcus Dunstan for the interview and my buddy Brian "Horror Pimp" Harris.