5 Questions with Max Rosen
The horror comedy “Thread,” by director Max Rosen, uses an all-star cast of Brooklyn comedians to delve deep into modern dread and anxiety. We asked Rosen how the project started, what his biggest challenge was, and a recent favorite film…
1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?
I think I started making silly little movies as soon as our family got a video camera. I made Indiana Jones / Brisco County Jr. ripoffs with my older sister on a VHS camera, then moved on to ripping off the 1999 Mummy and Dante's Peak on my own, with some weird late 90s digital camera that looked like a handheld videogame. I haven't stopped making silly little movies since, but hopefully the ripping off has gotten a little more discreet.
2) What’s the backstory here - what was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there?
For some unknowable reason I take all my notes down in a single iPhone note. It's an endless scroll of quotes, contact info, movie ideas and garbage dating back to May 2011. Somewhere around May 2016, there's a note that says "person finds string coming out of their skin, starts to pull it - things go wrong all over their body." I don't know where that came from, but it popped into my head and once I revisited it, I immediately thought of Lorelei and asked them to be in it.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And generally what part of the creative process do you enjoy the best, and the least?
I did a Kickstarter for post-production to pay for digital effects, sound mixing and an original score, but before that the budget was $300. So the biggest challenge is almost always money, or resources in general. I do not like producing at all. All the money and organizing stuff sucks so bad and I am not the right personality for it, but - due to resource and time constraints - I usually end up doing it. Everything else - writing, directing, shooting and editing - while often stressful, brings me joy. Producing does not.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
It's been almost a year since I watched it, but nothing has come close to Possession [from 1981]. I have still only seen it the one time, but, for me, it's one of those where you watch it and it immediately enters your top ten. When you really love something, ya gotta be careful not to sound like a dummy talking about it, but it's one of the only movies I've seen that feels alive. Like it's a living thing and you're just watching it run around the room and you hope it doesn't get too close to you, but you're excited to be there with it. I'm not trying to be an ad for Syndicated, but I googled Possession just now to double check the release year and I saw that it's playing this weekend at Syndicated in Brooklyn. So, if you're reading this and you live in New York, you should go!
5) What’s next for you?
I have another slow, moody short I'm editing right now. Then I want to make something short and fun and not twenty minutes.
