Welcome back for another installment of Interview. This time around, Last Resort Films president Phil Dolan sits down for the first time with writer Holden Abbott (Fading Star, Three Rounds)....
PD: Despite positive reviews, you have yet to write a financially successful film for the studio. Do you think this season could break that unfortunate streak?
HA: I try not to get too down with not making a profit yet but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t effecting me upon releases. By no means am I saying that I will change what and how I write but it does frustrate me a little bit. In saying that I know the films I have written thus far are not to set the box office on fire. I’m hoping two genre films this season can break that with this film, Bloodsong, and my late season film Forbidden Planet.
PD: What were your inspirations for Bloodsong?
HA: The film started in a totally different area. I really loved Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and was strung up on the idea of the Native American Vampire Hunters that were a very tiny part of that film and I just started writing. I wasn’t happy with what I wrote so I researched a lot more into various Native American peoples before settling on the Choctaw people. After doing the research it turned into what I thought was a lot better of a film. I hope everyone else likes the film as much as I did writing it.
PD: Since you're relatively new to the studio, I of course have to ask - do you if you have any favorite LRF releases or writers?
HA: I’ve gone through just about all of the best picture nominees and it blows me away the talent of the writers here at LRF. As for favourites, my top 5 that I’ve read so far, in no order, would have to be Caesar, Territory, At Night All Blood Is Black, Splendour and Judas Iscariot. But yeah, like I said I am in awe of the talented people that found this to write for.
PD: What's next for you?
HA: I’ve mentioned this seasons films so I thought I would look further into the future. My last two recent submissions are both co-written, Bible, I wrote with my roommate Johnny Mercer, and it took a lot of research and time (it was actually the first film either of us started for LRF). The second newest is an adaptation of The Time Tunnel that I wrote with Jimmy Ellis, we had a blast writing this film and I look forward to the release. As for other films, the ones coming in season 39 are; The Drop Edge of Yonder, a trippy Robert Eggers horror and Dad Patrol, A John Cena led comedy. The film in all of my upcoming ones I am most excited for, however, is Winnie the Pooh and The Last Leaf, which I hope will allow me to write more Winnie The Pooh stories after growing up on them.
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