5 Questions with Jake Hammond
The Super Bowl is this Sunday, which means we’re trotting out “Pigskin,” a new horror short about a troubled cheerleader and her date with the dreamy quarterback. Director Jake Hammond answers 5 Questions from us about the writing process, disturbing ideas, and his committed lead actress…
1) How did it all start? This was a student project?
Yes, this was my BFA student thesis film at Florida State University. I have always been interested in characters who feel that they're inherently wrong, or have a self-image that's disturbed in some way. A goal of the film was to combine a glossy, idyllic image of high school life with the horror of someone's deeply repressed insecurity.
2) The film was co-written with Nicola Newton. How did your writing process work?
Nicola is one of my closest friends and frequent collaborators. We were roommates for 3 years leading up to this project and, over that time, we realized it might be interesting to collaborate on something together. After I presented the initial idea, we went through a few months of watching films that would help inspire us as we wrote. A few particularly influential ones were “Carrie”, “Nightmare on Elm Street,” and “The Loved Ones”. In addition to being a co-writer, Nicola also shot the film.
3) I’m not much of a horror film guy (although of course I like this one). Does it come naturally you to create scary images? Are there visuals in the film that you thought would be more or less scary than they turned out?
I grew up watching horror films and my love for them has never left. I'm less interested in creating scary images and more so appreciative of horror's capabilities to match disturbing ideas with sentimentality, americana, romance, etc. It's why I love films from the 50's-80's so much! Slashers are filled with both genuine beauty and terror. What could be better! As for the visuals in the film, I'm very happy with how the underwater shots in the pool scene turned out, particularly the one of the silhouette in the deep end. Nicola was able to achieve lots of deep shadows that fell off into total darkness in that scene, which I think helped create this sense of impending dread.
4) Your lead actress is captivating. Is she a star yet?
She was born a star baby! Isadora is an amazingly talented actress who also went to FSU with us. I've collaborated with her on a few projects since “Pigskin”. She's a joy to work with and so committed, no matter how much blood she's covered in!
5) Anything else you can say about the new projects?
I recently filmed two new shorts that I'm currently editing. One is set on Halloween and the other on Christmas - two holidays that are very exciting backdrops for scary stories!
Contact Info:
Email: jcl.hammond@gmail.com