Alejandro Montoya Marin talks about his 'Rebel Without A Crew' $7000 movie, MONDAY.
BritFlicks (BF) talks with Alejandro Montoya Marin (AMM) about taking part in Robert Rodriguez’s reality TV show, 'Rebel without A Crew'. RWAC invites 5 aspiring filmmakers to make a movie for just $7000, in two weeks, with no crew.
Alejandro has also launched an Indiegogo Campaign to fund his latest movie MILLENNIUM BUGS, a dramedy set in the in the final days of the 90's that deals with family issues, alcoholism, and the potential end of the world...
BF) Tell us about REBEL WITHOUT A CREW?
AMM) REBEL WITHOUT A CREW is based on Robert Rodriguez’s book of the same name. Now a TV show, Robert Rodriguez chose 5 filmmakers from across the US to do what he did back in 1992, make a first feature film (Rodriguez made EL MARIACHI) with only a $7,000 budget, no crew, in 14 days, with two days prep in Austin Texas. Plus have a camera crew following you just to add to the stress.
It’s an experience that I will cherish and look fondly back on, and then stress out coz it was a very intense 14 days.
Q) Tell us about MONDAY?
AMM) MONDAY is an action comedy influenced by movies such as After Hours and Lethal Weapon. It’s a comedy about friendship and growing up. MONDAY is about a guy named Jim, a slacker who gets dumped and fired on the same day. When he tries to get his life back on track, he manages to get caught up in the middle of a cartel war.
Q) How did you get into film?
AMM) I have always been attracted to film. I would love nothing more than to rent 3 or 4 movies at blockbuster and have movie marathons. Movies and music have been an obsession of mine. Art forms where I can express myself to others.
Q) How did you get selected?
AMM) I submitted previous work, commercials, short films, music videos and sent them my YouTube page. Did questionnaires, interviews and it was like an elimination process. You had to send a script, previous work and explain how you would handle stress on set.
Q) How do you single handily shoot a movie?
AMM) I had a +1 and help from the actors. But most of it was just GO. Plan it quick, see if it works, shoot it and enhance it in post. It was like switching my brain to instinct mode and not questioning it. Impulses, and do, then apologize later. Anything to get the shot.
Q) What were the biggest challenges?
AMM) Hahaha, Oh man. Not having a crew, we lost actors, locations, no sleep, very little money. These are things that every production faces but, there’s also cameras looking at you, you can’t re-shoot and money goes by quick. The whole situation was a challenge. But, I can’t wait to get on set again ha-ha, it’s like an addiction.
Q) What are you most proud of about MONDAY?
AMM) Oh man. I don’t want to sound like a douche, but everything. The actors, the soundtrack, the look, everything, because the odds were against us, but with hard work and passion we made a fun movie. People who I had never met before were so willing and passionate about a project that I wrote. Everyone worked so hard and so I was determined to make the best movie possible, so at the end I hadn't wasted their time hahah. I got to do what I’ve always wanted to do. What else could be better?
Q) You’ve got some great characters in your movie, tell us about how you cast MONDAY?
AMM) I had 2 actors already, Jamie H. Jung and Kenneth McGlothin, they did the short film Version of this movie years ago. Everyone else was cast as they showed on the 'Rebel Without A Crew' TV show. They gave us two hours to cast our whole movie, Yikes!
Q) Anything you have learnt in the production process that you can pass on to other indie Filmmakers?
AMM) If you love it and you can’t live without it, then do it. Learn about film, make film, tell the stories you wanna tell. Never listen to naysayers, it will take time, but it’s worth it when you see the audience responding to your film.
Q) When and where will MONDAY be shown?
AMM) MONDAY will be premiering on 18th February 2019 at 10 pm eastern on El Rey Network and then on VOD. I know there are talks about how to screen it internationally but I still don’t know the details about that.
Q) What’s next?
AMM) We are gearing up for our second project. A very personal story, a dramedy called MILLENNIUM BUGS. A coming of age film about two best friends making life changing decisions during the last week of the 90’s and the Y2K craze. I wanna do this with a crew and people I specifically wrote this for, so we are doing an INDIEGOGO campaign so we can film this in March and release it ASAP for people to enjoy.
If you liked the MONDAY soundtrack, wait till you hear this one! I’m also trying to get the sequel to MONDAY made and yes it will be called Tuesday hahaha, I’m so unoriginal right?
BF) Alejandro Montoya Marin thanks for taking time out to talk with BritFlicks about MONDAY.
