Armed with two actors, a producer, a translator, a sound guy and a budget of less than $100,000, director Gareth Edwards set to make a feature-length film which would have him traversing from Central America to the United States border. Monsters is an interesting example of guerilla filmmaking. Besides the two actors, everyone else and all the locations were improvised from what was there on the day of shooting. Using careful Photoshop techniques and special effects, Edwards molded the movie to be what he wanted it to be about. The result: A “monster” movie that is much more than about those creatures that go bump in the night.
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Michelle Castillo: Monsters reminded me a lot of the first half of District 9. There’s a lot of social context behind it. Were you trying to talk about the immigration debate?
Gareth Edwards: I’ve never been to Mexico before we sat down and landed to start filming that movie so I had no agenda about Mexican immigration or anything like that. It was really not part of why this film was happening at all. Inevitably, it creeps into the movie because it’s so teed up, the metaphor of the wall and everything, it would apply to any country we went to. There’s always some internal politics in any country about two sides of something, so I think wherever we shot the film someone would have gone, “Ah you’re commenting on our internal problem!”
The one allegorical political thing that did interest me was the idea of labeling something a monster, calling it evil and then feeling like we have to eradicate it because it kills people, right, which is fine. But at what price do you kill a monster? If you are killing, in terms of eradicating it, if you end up killing 100 times or 1000 times more people than the thing you are killing ever kills, is that worth it? Or is it acceptable because it’s foreign people and not western people? So those sort of debates, I know we have a monster movie so it’s not serious as all that, but that’s the level of questions I really like. I again (regarding) the aliens in the film: I don’t think they would be evil or good. They just trying to survive.
MC: So, without spoiling too much what are the intentions of the aliens throughout the movie?
GE: It’s like they’re doing what the characters in the film are doing is that they’re trying to connect, they’re just trying to find a mate and they’re just trying to find a connection in a way. Their end goal is very similar to our characters end goal. I think some people it just goes over their heads.
MC: Some critics of your film have said there aren’t enough monsters in the movie. You brought up the point during your New York Comic Con panel is that some of the greatest monster movies, like Jaws, don’t constantly show the monster.
GE: I think what frustrates (people who want more monsters) is maybe in those other films they are constantly forced to think about the monster. Is it around the corner? Is it going to jump out? Is it going to do this? Whereas in our film, they are forced to think about things other than the monster. They are forced to think about are these two people going to make a connection. Are they going to get on the ferry on time? Is the military going to bomb? It’s not is this giant thing going to rip us to shreds. I think people get frustrated with the film because the main train of thought is not always the creatures.
MC: Another thing you talked about is how there are basically only two actors in the film. Was there ever a time where you basically thought, “This is not going to work”?
GE: Yeah all the time. We were given these little cameras to do video diaries, and in the end we were so busy I hardly got to touch them. The first night at the end I did a video diary, and I said how I honestly felt about the film. And, all I was worried about the next day was finding that camera so I could delete that footage, and I found it and deleted it.
The reason why I deleted it was because what I said basically – I can say it now – is that this film is either going to be, I’m not saying the film’s good, but at the time I thought this film is either going to be great or a piece of sh*t. It’s not going to be okay. It’s not the kind of film that’s going to be fine. It’s going to be really good or rubbish. I think the reality is that it’s both those things depending on who you are. Some people will hate this movie, it’s really not for them, it’s not what they want to see, and I think some people will really respond to it. I think the reason why I deleted it was because I felt like if it does go wrong it would be really unprofessional of me to be aware of that at the start and still go ahead and make it the way I wanted to. I think it’s panned out okay.
MC: The thing I noticed in this film was the editing. For a film that you say is guerilla style, it was edited really well. Had I not known all this background information – that none of these people were actors, that it cost under $100,000 that you shot on regular cameras – I would have thought it was a typical Indie film.
GE: I think it was definitely well edited. It was Colin Goudie, the editor.
MC: Did he yell at you for giving him too much footage?
GE: No, no, no. That’s the amazing thing about Colin – this is why it’s such a joy to work with him – I work really hard on a film. I kind of wake up, and I do nothing but the film and go to bed very late. Colin is one of the few people that could compete with the hours that I put into this film. When we were editing, he was there before me, and he would often be there after me. We literally would get in at least at nine in the morning and we wouldn’t go home until midnight, every single day, weekends as well, for eight months. The money didn’t warrant that, not for Colin, he really believed in the film, and he believes in me. It’s like spending eight months with one of your best mates. I really look forward to sitting next to him and chatting nonsense and talking about science fiction and girls, etc. I just really enjoy it.
Editing is my favorite part because writing is hard because you’re trying to pull an idea from nowhere. It’s like alchemy. Filming is incredibly hard because you have this tiny window of opportunity to get everything that you’re ever going to need, and it’s really stressful. But editing is when it’s all calm, and you take as long as you need to scope the best film you can. That’s the fun of it, and you have a partner who takes the sh*t with you. When you’re directing it feels like you’re on your own, but when you’re editing it feels like the two of you, you’re like a double act and you’re like a united front against who has issues with the film or who wants to change things that you don’t agree with.
MC: You said you’re first cut was four and a half hours. What is the one scene that ended up on the cutting room floor that was hardest for you?
GE: It’s not the hardest to hit the cutting room floor because it deserved to go, but the biggest regret was that there was a scene on the train about 15 minutes into the film where there was supposed to be another monster attack, and I think that would have helped pace the film. We shot that scene, and it just got cut out because a) we had to get the film down in size and b) there was this feeling we had to get them into the sh*t the get into faster. We just raced ahead in the early part of the film. I think if we left that bit in, maybe that would have bought us a bit more time because people would have had another creature moment.
But, I’m still very happy. I’ve had to sit and watch this film at least 100 times now, all the festivals, and when you do a version the director has to go and approve it, and just check it was all correct. What I’m just really surprised about is I’m not bored with it. I really like it. I can still watch it and get engrossed with it because I still enjoy the journey, and I enjoy the world. The film doesn’t hang so much on a twist or a reveal or a plot device. The film hangs on the environment and the atmosphere created by being with these two people on this journey, and that’s always true no matter how many times you watch it. It’s about being in that world, and I really like that world. I’d happily go back there for a sequel.
MC: Would you shoot it the same way?
GE: Well you’d have to wouldn’t you?
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