Friday
Sept 23, 2005
SGN.org
Volume 33
Issue 38
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Monday, Dec 01, 2008
06:57
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Lovecraft, all that he was, if he was able, would be proud of these two guys |
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| Lovecraft, all that he was, if he was able, would be proud of these two guys | |
| By Rajkhet Dirzhud-Rashid
- SGN A&E Writer
Another writer, in another publication called what director Daniel Gildark and writer Grant Cogswell do, 'chasing the zeitgeist', and since I love words and didn't understand what that meant, I asked the two when we chatted recently. We were talking about the film they're working on, 'Cthulhu', which takes its basis from an H.P. Lovecraft story, about a man who has to return to the same small town he grew up, where the townspeople worship a fish god named 'Dagon'. So, I asked them, what did 'zeitgeist' mean? "It means spirit of the age," Grant Cogswell, who also ran against Councilman Richard McIver in 2001 answered. He said that what he had hoped to convey with the film, 'Cthulhu', (which is being filmed both in Seattle, and in Astoria, Oregon) was the way anxiety pervades our daily lives because of the atmosphere of fear and repression we live in since September 11th, 2000. "We decided to do a horror film, because it was a way we could convey a story, with metaphors of what's happening in our society today," said Cogswell. He added that the Lovecraft story the film is loosely based on, worked for him, in writing his script for 'Cthulhu' because the young man returning to the small town, reminded him of stories friends had told him about being Gay bashed or having to return to a town they'd earlier left to get away from discrimination and being judged. "Something comes up, like a family emergency and they have to return to the same small town to face that same past. That made me think of the idea of heredity and how it impresses into our consciousness," said Cogswell, explaining some of the plot of the film. So, then I wanted to know how had these two met and come to work together on a modern day horror film. "We met ten years ago, when we were both working a job as pedicab drivers at the waterfront, here. Two years ago, Grant was staying with me down in Portland, and he wrote the screenplay, and he wrote the story, but I also helped," said David Gildark, the director of the film. And Cogswell added that the story changed, and changed before it finally came together, to be the script they are working from now on the current film. "We've gotten good response to the script from everyone. People have just flipped," said Cogswell. He added that Jennifer Roth, who introduced 'The Squid and The Whale', at the Sundance Film Festival had helped them get the script seen. "People have gotten involved, and are helping and we need more investors. Given the things that are going on, people need exorcising, and that's what horror movies do," said Cogswell. He went on to say that he doesn't see the film so much as Gay film, as a film with a Gay love story at the heart of it. "I think we're coming out with this film at a time when this idea is more accepted, or more able to be accepted by a large portion of the population. I think our possibility of successes are very large, " Cogswell added. The production team behind the film is a new company the two started, called Cascadia Film Collective, which both said they hope will continue to bring together like-minded people. So, when can we all see this film (I saw some of the rough footage, and I liked what I saw)? "We hope to be done with shooting the film by October of this year, and we hope to release it to the public in the Fall of 2006," Gildark said. Cogswell added that he saw the two of them, as part of a movement of artists who are responding to how the country is going, by speaking out and putting the message in front of people, but in a way they can accept, the horror film. And for those who did see Police Beat, in the Seattle International Film Festival, you can also know that many of the cast and crew from that film are working with Cogswell and Gildark on 'C'thulhu'. Also, if you want to be part of the investment part of the film, you can e-mail the guys at Grant@CthulhuTheMovie.com. The SGN will keep you posted on when the first screening is and where. |
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International Readers |
 THE GAY AND NON-GAY PARTNERSHIP WORKING TO WIN MARRIAGE EQUALITY NATIONWIDE |
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