Verbal Masturbation with local Calgary Director Adrian G. De La Pena

[00:00:00] Film Rage presents Verbal Masturbation with Bryce and Jim.

[00:00:12] Welcome to a special edition of Verbal Masturbation.

[00:00:15] In this edition, we are talking with local Calgary Director by way of Mexico, Mr. Adrian G. De La Pena.

[00:00:22] Welcome to the show, my friend.

[00:00:25] Thank you so much for having me.

[00:00:27] Awesome. Now, we have a little bit of fun to just kind of loosen people up.

[00:00:31] I know we had a little bit of a chat before we started recording.

[00:00:34] First thing to know, we don't edit anything.

[00:00:37] Everything we do is live.

[00:00:38] So if you fuck up, if we fuck up, it usually goes in the interview.

[00:00:43] And it kind of gives us this raw feel that because we like it kind of raw on Film Rage.

[00:00:49] So we do a little thing I call or where I'm going to ask you a question and I'm going to ask you something or something else.

[00:00:58] So it's a real easy one to answer, but it's surprisingly how a lot of directors sometimes go, I need to expand.

[00:01:07] So have fun with it.

[00:01:09] It's kind of like one of those acting exercises where everybody just stretches their brain and has some fun.

[00:01:15] All right.

[00:01:15] So the first question is Guillermo del Toro or David Cronenberg?

[00:01:21] Guillermo del Toro.

[00:01:22] Okay.

[00:01:24] Easy.

[00:01:24] We're starting easy again.

[00:01:26] Wait, but you're Canadian.

[00:01:28] Well, we both live.

[00:01:30] We're both Mexicans living in Canada.

[00:01:32] Oh, yeah.

[00:01:33] Yeah.

[00:01:34] Okay.

[00:01:36] Documentary or narrative film?

[00:01:39] Narrative.

[00:01:40] Okay.

[00:01:42] Now, this one may sound, it's not the actual disease.

[00:01:47] So hopefully you know what this is.

[00:01:50] Leprosy or Agora?

[00:01:54] Leprosy.

[00:01:54] Okay.

[00:01:55] Awesome.

[00:01:56] So you knew what that was?

[00:01:58] Metal band?

[00:01:59] Yes.

[00:02:00] Yeah.

[00:02:01] Okay.

[00:02:02] Perfect.

[00:02:02] We understand you're a pretty big metal head.

[00:02:05] Which one is Agora, by the way?

[00:02:08] They've been around a long time.

[00:02:09] I think they're rated as like the biggest of all of the Mexican metal bands.

[00:02:15] Oh.

[00:02:17] You like your more indie stuff, do you?

[00:02:20] Not really.

[00:02:22] My favorite band is Angra from Brazil.

[00:02:26] Oh, okay.

[00:02:26] I've got like every Angra album that they got, man.

[00:02:31] Best band.

[00:02:32] Best band ever.

[00:02:33] They're so good.

[00:02:33] Melodic metal.

[00:02:34] It's at its best right there.

[00:02:36] Yes.

[00:02:37] Nice.

[00:02:37] Nice.

[00:02:39] Okay.

[00:02:39] So I also understand you like pizza.

[00:02:41] So Una or Lina's?

[00:02:46] Could you believe I haven't tried Lina's?

[00:02:49] Oh.

[00:02:50] Well, they used to have half price on Sundays.

[00:02:52] So I have to wait until they started that.

[00:02:54] Can I say another brand?

[00:02:55] Yeah, of course.

[00:02:56] Noble Pie.

[00:02:57] Noble Pie.

[00:02:58] Noble Pie.

[00:03:00] Noble Pie.

[00:03:01] Yeah.

[00:03:02] Yeah.

[00:03:03] Good choice.

[00:03:04] Okay.

[00:03:04] And the last one, this one may be a tough one for you to answer because I'm sure maybe it's

[00:03:10] not your first place you go when you go back and visit.

[00:03:12] But Cancun or Puerto Vallarta?

[00:03:15] Hmm.

[00:03:16] Well, Puerto Vallarta.

[00:03:20] Okay.

[00:03:21] Closer to home.

[00:03:22] Yeah.

[00:03:23] Okay.

[00:03:23] I was just going to go because you're like, well, it's not hip hop where you go like East

[00:03:28] Coast versus West Coast.

[00:03:29] I don't think metal does that.

[00:03:34] Depending on the subgenre, maybe.

[00:03:37] Hardcore will do that.

[00:03:39] Nice.

[00:03:41] All right.

[00:03:41] So tell us about the cryptic in your new film.

[00:03:47] Yes.

[00:03:48] So Nahuales are these cryptids from Mesoamerica.

[00:03:53] That is south of Mexico and part of Central America.

[00:03:57] And depending on the country or region, these Nahuales might be interpreted differently.

[00:04:04] Spanish colonizers interpreted to the closest of their knowledge, which were basically werewolves

[00:04:11] for their understanding.

[00:04:14] But Nahuales are either like evil sorcerers or witches, or they have as well the power

[00:04:23] of creating the illusion of animals.

[00:04:26] Then they could also be interpreted as shapeshifters.

[00:04:31] Not to wolves, but just like sort of twisted animals.

[00:04:36] Okay.

[00:04:37] So not like vampires, which can also be bats.

[00:04:40] Exactly.

[00:04:41] Yeah.

[00:04:41] Oh, wow.

[00:04:43] So is this like all different regions within Mexico?

[00:04:45] It kind of...

[00:04:47] Yeah.

[00:04:47] And Guatemala as well.

[00:04:49] Okay.

[00:04:49] Yeah.

[00:04:50] And in other regions, for example, Guatemala will...

[00:04:54] Their Nahuales are more like protective spirit animals.

[00:04:59] And either they are...

[00:05:01] These protective spirits are assigned to you at birth or through a ceremony with spiritual

[00:05:12] plans as well or psychedelic plans.

[00:05:14] Wow.

[00:05:14] Oh, okay.

[00:05:15] Well, I might be in for that.

[00:05:17] So I can just...

[00:05:17] Just have to go to Guatemala...

[00:05:21] Guatemala and then actually just hit some psychotropic drugs and I might get my own...

[00:05:26] Finding your Nahuala.

[00:05:27] Nice.

[00:05:28] I love it.

[00:05:30] So yeah, what I wanted to bring that into...

[00:05:32] It's just like as a foreigner here or just like in Mexico, we consume all that Hollywood

[00:05:41] produces, good and bad.

[00:05:43] And it's always vampires.

[00:05:45] It's always werewolves.

[00:05:46] It's always the same creatures.

[00:05:48] So then now that I'm here, it's sort of like my way of bringing this not so explored creature

[00:05:58] into this international setting because there are so many great movies being produced in Mexico

[00:06:05] and each of the countries.

[00:06:07] But then similarly with the movie Parasite, which won the Oscar, but at the same time, it's

[00:06:17] just like subtitles is a big filter for English speaking countries.

[00:06:22] Yeah, we would agree with you.

[00:06:25] It's actually international horror and drama is our favorite genre.

[00:06:29] So genre is plural.

[00:06:31] Yeah.

[00:06:31] We do love our Mexican horror films.

[00:06:33] We can tell you.

[00:06:35] Nice.

[00:06:37] All right.

[00:06:38] So the dog in this, in Na'ali.

[00:06:42] How do you say that?

[00:06:43] I haven't even...

[00:06:44] Na'wali.

[00:06:45] Na'wali.

[00:06:46] Na'wali.

[00:06:46] Perfect.

[00:06:47] Yes.

[00:06:47] So the dog in Na'wali.

[00:06:48] How was this done?

[00:06:49] Can you share any secrets?

[00:06:51] Yes.

[00:06:52] Well, no secrets.

[00:06:54] Just probably utilizing the budget properly.

[00:06:59] Always key.

[00:07:00] But always key.

[00:07:02] But to begin with, we had a team of puppeteers on set that created three different puppets.

[00:07:11] Or I think even four.

[00:07:15] Well, one I have here.

[00:07:17] One second.

[00:07:22] Oh, nice.

[00:07:22] Oh, cool.

[00:07:23] Cool.

[00:07:23] Basically, the skull that comes from the dirt.

[00:07:28] But silly me, I never...

[00:07:30] I didn't know how dirt behaves at minus 30.

[00:07:37] So I thought it was just going to be falling like sand.

[00:07:40] And in reality, it's just like chunks of frozen dirt.

[00:07:43] Ice blocks.

[00:07:44] Yeah.

[00:07:45] So that didn't work.

[00:07:47] Then that was one.

[00:07:49] The other one is a hand puppet that we used for close-ups.

[00:07:56] Then there was one that it was coyote skull, like 3D printed, but with a sort of like a sleeve and just like goo and lots of like textures that the puppeteer team had control that it could sort of like articulate the movement.

[00:08:13] And they pulled like a sleeve that we could then reverse on post-production.

[00:08:20] And that just sort of like looks like coming back to like just skin crawling onto the skull.

[00:08:27] Yeah.

[00:08:29] I'm so impressed with the fact that like here it looks so good on it.

[00:08:35] It's like it sounds like you're not a big CGI fan.

[00:08:38] Well, I'll get to that in a second.

[00:08:41] And lastly, we had like the full-size puppets for the wide shot.

[00:08:46] Then, and this was more like for reference for camera and performers to have something to interact with.

[00:08:54] Yeah.

[00:08:55] Then we replaced all of the puppets with CGI.

[00:09:01] So we had a team of CGI artists, 3D artists from Mexico, two animators from Peru, and then two BFX artists back in Mexico that replaced all the puppets.

[00:09:16] Not all of them.

[00:09:18] The one coming from the dirt is all physical and the one with the skin crawling, that it's also all physical, all practical.

[00:09:27] But the rest of them, the one, all the finished version of it is CGI.

[00:09:35] And that way we were able to expand just like hair.

[00:09:41] It's a little bit more alive in a sense.

[00:09:45] We were able to then work with the creature design after the fact we shot the project.

[00:09:51] So we were able to just make it a little bit more scary.

[00:09:55] But integrating that nature element, it's supposed to be created out of the ground, right?

[00:10:03] So nature elements, branches, wood, etc.

[00:10:06] Like the bones and skull are covered with this sort of like woody texture.

[00:10:13] And even like this one, this is all like dried cactus from Mexico that the production designer brought.

[00:10:25] And these are actual coyote fangs.

[00:10:29] Oh, wow.

[00:10:30] From a witchcraft market back in Mexico City.

[00:10:36] That's so cool.

[00:10:38] That's awesome.

[00:10:40] So how long was the actual shooting schedule for it?

[00:10:44] We shot over two days in this location.

[00:10:47] We bought, hopefully.

[00:10:49] But no, we didn't buy the house.

[00:10:52] We rented the house for a week.

[00:10:55] So it was nice because then rehearsals happened without having to rent a place.

[00:11:01] Like we were just there.

[00:11:03] From the crew, we stayed, it was eight of us that stayed in the house.

[00:11:08] Then the lead actress came from Toronto.

[00:11:10] So she stayed there.

[00:11:13] And well, myself as well.

[00:11:15] So it was nice because we were able to just like one hour, go out, figure out things, come back and just like keep on working on some other things.

[00:11:23] And the actual shoot was two days on that location.

[00:11:29] Everything happened around that Airbnb that I rented.

[00:11:33] And all the rebirth scenes are done in a third day on a studio.

[00:11:43] Once we were editing, obviously we could like chunks of dirt didn't look good on the coming back to life scene.

[00:11:52] So we had to figure out how to make that happen.

[00:11:56] And chatting with Kyra McPherson.

[00:12:00] She's a special effects lead and special effects artist.

[00:12:07] And she helped out and just, I basically told her like we need to find all these elements that connect dirt with a full alive creature.

[00:12:20] So then she started playing around with stuff.

[00:12:23] She had guts.

[00:12:24] She had a bunch of like practical mechanisms that she has used in other productions.

[00:12:31] And I got us a studio and it was basically three of us and a standing performer because the actress was in Toronto.

[00:12:43] So the standing performer and the three of us just like playing around with what could look good.

[00:12:50] We used even like coconut fibers as well for all those sort of like veins type of looking things.

[00:12:57] And it worked out amazing.

[00:12:59] Like I'm surprised of how well both, it was a different camera.

[00:13:06] It was just like one light that we had there at the studio.

[00:13:10] And it just like being such different worlds.

[00:13:13] It sort of like blended together super good on the final project.

[00:13:20] Yeah.

[00:13:21] No, the look is beautifully shot.

[00:13:27] So the shooting location wise, was it actually in close to Calgary that it was kind of shot?

[00:13:40] Yeah.

[00:13:42] Yeah.

[00:13:42] Yeah.

[00:13:42] Yeah.

[00:13:42] We were closed in between Calgary and Cochrane.

[00:13:50] Gotcha.

[00:13:52] Yeah.

[00:13:52] Sort of like 10 minutes away from Tuscany Station.

[00:13:56] Ah.

[00:13:56] Okay.

[00:13:57] So, and it was minus 30 even then.

[00:13:59] Wow.

[00:14:00] In Calgary.

[00:14:01] I don't even think it gets that cold very often, but apparently.

[00:14:04] Oh.

[00:14:05] It was such a, like I'm super happy about that because it looks great.

[00:14:13] Just like the, that snowstorm and just all white out in the, like fresh snow on the location.

[00:14:22] It's so cold.

[00:14:23] The performers are cold as well.

[00:14:25] They're, they're suffering from, from the cold.

[00:14:28] But then you see on the beard how it's just like getting a little bit of snow in there.

[00:14:34] And it's just like such a unique look.

[00:14:37] Originally the project I envisioned it to be fall, but then just like the timing of the

[00:14:43] grant, the timing of everything sort of like it had to happen in that month.

[00:14:47] Yeah.

[00:14:47] And even timing for those weeks, it was basically, I needed to have that finish shot by those dates

[00:14:59] because I wanted to have it ready for Cannes this, this past May.

[00:15:04] So then I needed to have that post-production time and then people coming from Mexico.

[00:15:10] It was that weekend.

[00:15:11] Then we were just like checking weather, checking weather and like, yeah, well, fuck minus 30

[00:15:17] storm.

[00:15:19] It, it looked great though.

[00:15:20] Yeah, it looked great.

[00:15:21] And we all know art's always better when you suffer.

[00:15:25] Exactly.

[00:15:26] Exactly.

[00:15:27] It was such a, it was such a religious experience, I would say.

[00:15:32] Yeah, no doubt.

[00:15:33] Just like having survived that.

[00:15:35] So you made, you made two, two films that you released this year.

[00:15:41] Yes.

[00:15:42] So tell our listeners the challenge of, of working.

[00:15:45] So now are you a, are you a full-time teacher or slash professor?

[00:15:49] I am part-time.

[00:15:51] Okay.

[00:15:51] I am just a contractor.

[00:15:53] Okay.

[00:15:54] Not even part-time.

[00:15:54] So, so in, on top of being a teacher and I think you're also a producer and you also

[00:16:00] have a bunch of things going on.

[00:16:02] How did you, how, how were you able to manage shooting two, two short films at the same time?

[00:16:08] It's difficult.

[00:16:09] Obviously, like I quit my, my previous job.

[00:16:15] I was a lead editor for a studio team at Neo Financial and also directing a couple of pieces

[00:16:22] there.

[00:16:24] But I quit back in December and I was teaching for 30 hours a week, I believe, in, in that

[00:16:34] winter semester.

[00:16:36] So I obviously got the people to cover me and just like working the rest of the hours

[00:16:43] that I, I guess it's basically trying to find ways to be efficient at whatever projects you

[00:16:53] have going on or I had going on.

[00:16:56] I, at the same time, 2022 was a really good year.

[00:17:01] I was part of a development lab in Blood in the Snow Film Festival.

[00:17:05] Mm-hmm.

[00:17:06] And, and that development lab and meeting all the people there sort of like kickstarted

[00:17:10] this drive for me or even the knowledge and inspiration to start my own company and pursue

[00:17:17] producing more professionally or just like seriously.

[00:17:22] And then I started like studying where funds come from and like what's the process like and what are the multiple

[00:17:31] options that I have at my disposal or what are at everybody's disposal.

[00:17:38] And then you start figuring out this gazillion catch-22.

[00:17:45] So you cannot direct the feature without a feature.

[00:17:48] You cannot do a commercial without directing a commercial.

[00:17:50] You cannot direct TV without directing TV.

[00:17:53] And, uh, so then doing, it's sort of like finding that strategy and working ahead on, okay,

[00:18:03] telefilm talent to watch.

[00:18:05] Let's create a project that is, uh, aimed for that.

[00:18:08] So I shot a proof of concept short for that, uh, project called, uh, Little Fangs Horror Club,

[00:18:16] which is a dramedy about a junior high teacher trying to prove his theory that horror movies are good for kids' development.

[00:18:24] So then shows horror movies to kids.

[00:18:28] Obviously that could be really bad and traumatic as well, but, uh, that's the fun.

[00:18:33] That's the, that's the comedy of it.

[00:18:36] Then Nawali, it's another one.

[00:18:39] That was a project I was part of, uh, the lab with.

[00:18:43] Then, uh, I'm also working on another documentary about the benefits of horror.

[00:18:50] Hmm.

[00:18:51] And lastly, there is this, uh, I'm shooting this feature next, uh, spring.

[00:18:57] It's a hockey flasher titled Ice Run.

[00:19:03] Nice.

[00:19:04] And that, yeah, that's, uh, it's also sort of like playing with budget levels.

[00:19:11] Nawali has been proving a little bit hard just because the budget is higher.

[00:19:15] And I'm getting lots of rejections in the sense of, uh, I need to either make it cheaper or just, uh, being told that I cannot get those budgets as a first time director.

[00:19:29] So instead of sacrificing the project, then I am making another movie so that I, so that I can have that, uh, movie under my belt and I can move on to direct, uh, Nawali.

[00:19:43] I'm getting those budgets.

[00:19:44] Oh yeah, yeah.

[00:19:45] That's, that's, it's kind of the leapfrog, isn't it?

[00:19:48] So, so with all of your credits and there's, there's numerous of them, um, what, what, what one are you most proud of?

[00:19:58] Well, Nawali, it's, uh, well, there's, okay.

[00:20:01] T-minus.

[00:20:02] It's a short film that I did back in 2018.

[00:20:06] And that sort of, uh, it's one of those milestones in my career that I'm actually really proud.

[00:20:13] I got a couple of, uh, awards and even monetary awards as well.

[00:20:17] So that, uh, that project I did for a thousand and so far I've gotten 2,500.

[00:20:27] So that's already doubled the spend.

[00:20:30] Score!

[00:20:31] Score!

[00:20:32] Yeah, for sure.

[00:20:34] And, uh, but at the same time, it's such a, it's a, such an intimate drama.

[00:20:39] It looks great.

[00:20:40] Uh, we accomplished so much with just so little.

[00:20:43] And, uh, so that's one that I'm really, really proud.

[00:20:49] And I still look at it and I'm like, hmm, this is good.

[00:20:52] Because sometimes.

[00:20:52] It's damn good for a thousand bucks.

[00:20:55] We, we look back at our projects and some of them are like, oh, maybe I'll just hide this from now on or stuff, uh, like that sort of thing.

[00:21:05] But then with T-minus, it's like, this needs to stay there and it's still in my reel.

[00:21:10] Uh, obviously, Nawali, it's another one that I'm super proud.

[00:21:15] Like, it's, uh, such an accomplishment in level of production, level of, uh, amount of people and crew that I had involved.

[00:21:26] And just like the, all the people that I had in post-production as well.

[00:21:31] And how that is like based out of my feature script, then distilling that into a short film and just like what was important for the feature and fit that into, into the short.

[00:21:47] And there's a bunch of details that I had to take out of the script.

[00:21:52] And still there, there are many questions that are left unanswered on the short film.

[00:21:58] Um, but at least it, it works in a sense that it's just a simple revenge story.

[00:22:02] Yep.

[00:22:03] If you don't pay attention.

[00:22:04] Yep.

[00:22:04] If you pay deeper attention, then you can find certain details here and there to keep you guessing, but in a good way.

[00:22:12] Yeah.

[00:22:12] So with Nawali, I'm super proud of that one.

[00:22:15] And it's the way I see it is that, uh, it's as an artist, uh, you're always like doubting yourself, right?

[00:22:26] With that project, I'm sort of like, okay.

[00:22:29] I, I, I know I can achieve certain things and it's not me, but it's the cruise obviously.

[00:22:37] But I don't feel like I, I now feel confident about myself.

[00:22:45] Nice.

[00:22:46] Well, it does.

[00:22:47] Yeah.

[00:22:47] Yeah.

[00:22:48] You should be proud.

[00:22:49] It's a good job.

[00:22:49] So, so speaking of your past work still, um, where can people see it?

[00:22:53] Where, where can we see some of these, these shorts from the past?

[00:22:57] I want to see T minus now.

[00:22:59] Where, where am I looking for that?

[00:23:01] Go to like on my website, it's Adrian de la Pena.com.

[00:23:07] All right.

[00:23:08] And, uh, on my Instagram as well, there, there, there is a link to my website.

[00:23:14] And, uh, basically I try to keep everything very, all my social media and web presence on the same name.

[00:23:22] So Adrian de la Pena, Adrian G. de la Pena.

[00:23:25] Yep.

[00:23:25] That's how you find me Facebook in, uh, I'm not on Twitter.

[00:23:29] I'm not on TikTok, but, uh, you find me on, on Vimeo, on YouTube, uh, my website, uh, Instagram.

[00:23:38] And the other is machakiller.com and machakiller productions on Instagram.

[00:23:43] Cool.

[00:23:44] Nice.

[00:23:44] Um, okay.

[00:23:46] Well, that kind of takes us to the formal part of our questions.

[00:23:50] Um, is there anything that we missed that maybe you want to share with our listeners?

[00:23:56] Uh, what's that again?

[00:23:57] Well, is there anything that you maybe want to share that we didn't ask you about, um, that you can share with our listeners?

[00:24:03] Yes.

[00:24:04] So one thing I am launching a crowdfunding campaign for IceRats, the hockey slasher that I mentioned.

[00:24:12] Mm-hmm.

[00:24:13] Um, so, yeah, like right now the campaign is not yet active, but same thing, Instagram, IceRatsMovie.

[00:24:21] Uh, my, my, uh, Instagram has a link to that, uh, website as well.

[00:24:28] Perfect.

[00:24:28] I'll be posting more about it.

[00:24:30] And, uh, yeah, we need that hockey horror movie to happen.

[00:24:34] And, uh, this is it with some metal involved, obviously.

[00:24:39] Nice.

[00:24:41] Nice.

[00:24:42] Awesome.

[00:24:43] Well, uh, Adrian, thank you so much for joining us.

[00:24:47] It was great to see your film at it in cinemas, which we all got, all three of us got to see it.

[00:24:52] So, uh, we were super happy and the film that follows it is, is also very brilliant.

[00:24:58] It must've been fun to be a part of that.

[00:25:00] So, you know, thanks so much for, for joining us.

[00:25:03] And, um, well, thanks to our ragers for listening.

[00:25:08] Find us on social media everywhere at FilmRageYYC.

[00:25:11] Check out everything FilmRage at FilmRageYYC.com.

[00:25:15] Please like, subscribe, share, and send us emails to FilmRageCalgary at gmail.com.

[00:25:22] That's it for this special verbal masturbation episode.

[00:25:25] Now, try and watch all of Adrian's films and get ready to give him some money.

[00:25:31] Until next time, rage on!