An Interview with Paul Kratka - By Scott Goldberg - Presented by Brian Morton

Interviews: An Interview with Paul Kratka - By Scott Goldberg - Presented by Brian Morton
Posted on Wednesday, July 01, 2009 @ 23:43:06 Mountain Daylight Time by Duane

Forward by Brian Morton:

Since I began writing for Rogue Cinema, I’ve had the chance to talk to so many directors, actors, producers and writers that at times, it feels like I’m repeating myself, or asking the same questions over and over. I think something really interesting to me, and probably most of you, would be to have one of these filmmakers do the interviewing. So, this time, we asked Scott Goldberg to sit down with Paul Kratka, the two have worked together on several projects and recently traveled to New York for Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors.

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Scott Goldberg - The latest film we're in and working is called "The Project". What are your thoughts on the topics of mind-control, sub-consciously and consciously which is touched on in the film?

Paul Kratka - I know so little on the subject of mind-control that I really can’t comment intelligently about the subject. The little I did read about The Montauk Project prior to filming was eye opening, to say the least (no pun intended).

SG - Tell us more about your character in the film "The Project" and how the role came about?

PK - I wouldn’t call it a “role”, but it’s more of a cameo appearance in the film. Scott Goldberg always has something going on and right now his passion is in the area of governmental intervention, control and subversion. So he’d talked to me about making an appearance as a militia member who gets caught up in the intrigue of secret government experiments.

SG - Many of the films we’ve working on have some strong subjects, one being a film called "Illuminated" in which some dialogue was written where you talked about 9/11 being a "false flag terrorist attack" as one of the characters in the film.... Most people look at people who question the attacks of 9/11 as "conspiracy theorists". What are your thoughts on what happened on 9/11 and do you have any concerns as far as the official story?

PK - From what I’ve read about the events immediately following the attack such as the Bush Administration flying many of the bin Laden family out of the US despite a ban on any flights, the people who had advanced warning and were told to get out of the Washington, DC area the day before, the many people who were given the heads-up about their investments in the airline industry, and finally the information presented in the powerful documentary LOOSE CHANGE are collectively too aligned to be dismissed as unrelated or coincidental. I also share the belief that former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are demented enough as ‘American oligarchs’ to have concocted the idea to reap political and financial leverage.

SG - -To our understanding "Illuminated", as well as a lot of my productions are part of a feature length documentary entitled "In Production". Can you tell us more about that documentary from what you know about it?

PK - My understanding is that you have been accumulating behind-the-scenes footage of the trials and tribulations of being a rogue independent filmmaker with the goal of assembling it into a finished film/product that would help other filmmakers as well as potential investors understand what goes into making a film and at the no-budget level, how it’s all about the passion.

SG - In the film "Mr. Mullen" you play the ex-Mayor who is featured in the beginning of the film. As far as preparing for the role and actually coming up with your own speech for the role, where did you draw the inspiration for the speech from?

PK - Well one thing that always irks me when I hear most politicians speak publicly is how the “give a speech” versus talk to their constituents as a real person. It’s always some sing-songy effected inflection to their voice that, in my mind, completely erodes their credibility and makes them seem so ‘contrived’. This particular character in MR. MULLEN is all of that AND he’s corrupt. So I just tried to capture the essence of those two qualities – grandiose egospeak from a dishonest politician.

SG – Friday The 13th Part 3, which you starred in, focused on 3-D heavily. What is your knowledge as far as the actual 3-D process and how it works from your experience working with 3-D?

PK - You could put what I know about 3-D into a thimble and it would rattle around like a bb in a railroad car.

SG - Can you run us down a quick schedule of shooting your scenes for Part 3? (ie: the daily process, how you go to the location, what time, who you hung with, etc.

PK - Well, first of all, that was twenty seven years ago so my recollection of detail is fuzzy at best (had I known I was going to be queried about them, I most certainly have keep a journal). I was living in my hometown of Manhattan Beach at the time so the drive to the film ranch location was about ninety minutes. As is customary in the movie and TV business it’s really frowned upon to be late to your call time (even though you just sit around and wait once you’re on the set) and I remember once getting caught in traffic and being stressed out about being late and getting scolded about it. Once there it was a true ‘location shoot’ in that there was nothing around that hilly area outside LA – it was like a small village or circus with the catering trucks, talent trailers, big rigs with all the lighting and technical equipment. You have to remember that other than a small role on GENERAL HOSPITAL and a few commercials, I had done very little professional (i.e. paid) acting work at that point, so to have one of the leading roles in a major motion picture was indescribably exciting for me. The crew was a lot of fun and the meal times and game time afterward made it feel like we were at Camp Crystal Lake. For the first month we worked from 7am until 7pm shooting the opening scenes at the cabin and the infamous hayloft scenes. Then we switched to filming at night from 7pm to 7am when we shot the scenes of Chris and me at the lake, hiking back, and the even more famous Rick death scene. Overall, it was just so much fun, it was exciting; there was a little frustration in not getting to film many ‘takes’ because it being a low-budget major film, they weren’t interested in strong acting performances, just getting through the shooting schedule. We had a number of unexpected delays due to weather, a swarm of bees nesting in the cabin, things like that.

SG - A lot of people have not seen the film in 3-D. What is the difference would you say, between watching the film regular compared to seeing it in 3-D as you did when it was released and back in October 2007 at Screamfest LA?

PK - I’m always saddened when I meet a diehard F13 fan who hasn’t seen Part 3 in 3-D in a movie theater – it’s such a dynamic and fun experience that is so much more than what you get watching in on a TV – there’s no comparison, really.

SG - Horror remakes of today seem to look to cash in on the success of the original title more so than making something artistic and new. We've seen it evident in Friday the 13th remake, which majority of horror fans believe it was made in poor taste as far as casting, screenplay, etc. Why do you feel remakes of today in the last ten years lack that feeling that Friday the 13th Part 3 and many other classic horror films gave when people saw them for the first time?

PK - It’s funny but when you look at all the successful horror films of the 1960’s, 70’s and ‘80’s, they were fairly simple, pretty realistic and didn’t pander to anything beyond the obvious – some kids getting into a situation that turns bad. Today, they overcomplicate the process which inevitably dilutes all elements – the cinematography, the direction, the casting, the music; it kind of resembles pasteurized and homogenized milk – it appears on the surface to be the same but in reality it’s a nonfood. Hopefully amongst the many up and coming filmmakers who love horror will step up and make a simple yet powerful horror film that pays homage to the craft of slasher films of days gone by.

SG - You recently attended the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in New York City. Any interesting stories from the convention?

PK - Well, once again I was pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming passion and dedication of F13 fans. They are very cool, very enthusiastic (and in many cases, very weird) fans who seem to never get enough of their favorite films and characters. I found it to be a fun weekend – I was at the Scott Goldberg Movies.com table which was between CJ Graham (Jason, Part 6), Warrington Gillette (Jason, Part 2) on one side, who were a couple of characters, to be sure and Caroline Williams (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Part 2) on the other side, who is a lot of fun herself. That made it hilarious as I watched them interact with their fans.

SG - What's on deck for Paul Kratka? Can you tell us about any upcoming or future projects/endeavors?

PK - Well, I’m trying to get the word out to directors that I love to do some more work so hopefully in the next year I’ll have something new to report.

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Afterward by Brian Morton:

Both Scott and Paul are great guys and I’m very thankful to them for letting us sit in on their discussion. If you’re at an event with either of these gentlemen, please drop over and say hello and tell them hello from Rogue Cinema! You can find out more about Scott and his movies by heading over to Scott Goldberg Movies.com, you can find Scott on Facebook and Twitter. And you can contact Paul, by emailing him, he’s a great actor and we should all look for him in future projects. My personal thanks to both Scott and Paul for taking the time to sit down and for letting all of us ‘listen in’.