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We locked a budget at $450,000 and schedule to shoot 11 days in Argentina in early May 2008. We wired funds down to Argentina and construction of sets, props and costumes began in earnest in late April.

Then we began to have issues crop up, one was their seem to be a lack of reasonably priced hotel rooms. We were told it was due to an incoming convention. So the budget began to balloon. I wanted to see pics of the make up effects progress, but these were difficult to get. So now I was getting nervous about the production and the budget continue to creep upward. I was frustrated that it was going to cost far more than the Left for Dead shoot just a year later which stunned me as the exchange rate was even more in our favor than when we shot LFD.

Finally, I lost a bit of confidence in shooting this in Argentina. I decided to pull the plug before we went any further. It was a tough decision because we had already sent funds to Argentina and Victoria Maurete was making good progress in her prep for the shoot. We had Christopher Lambert and Kevin Sorbo ready to travel. So it was a big deal to cancel the shoot in Argentina.

But it was really the best decision. I don’t regret it because you can’t shoot in a distant location with the issues I had. I know it was incredibly disappointing to the Argentine crew and cast, but there was really no alternative. In the end, my deepest regret was losing the opportunity to collaborate with Spanish Production Designer, Sergio Hernandez. He was designing a film with scope and artistry. SEE HIS PRODUCTION DESIGNS BELOW.

So we began a worldwide search for another shooting location and situation.

I outline for Cynthia the characters I envisioned and the broadstrokes of the story I wanted to tell. I had particular actors I wanted to work with in this so characters were shaped for Kevin Sorbo, Christopher Lambert, Yancy Butler, Leah Cairns and especially Victoria Maurette, my star from Left for Dead and Bulletface.

Cynthia begin writing in November 2007 and had a first draft by early January 2008. I sent that draft to Hernan in Argentina to see if we could still base the shoot there. He confirmed it was possible. I imagined a North African setting for the movie as I felt that lent itself to the imagery and feel of what I was seeing.

So I set about putting the stars and financing in place. I made my deal which was no monetary compensation in exchange for irrevocable final cut and total artistic control. All the movies I’ve done since 2004 have been this way. No longer about doing movies as a living but as creative statements. I found its too rough to receive pay and then see your work mangled.

We got enough raised to make offers to Kevin and Christopher and sent them the scripts. Both responded, to my joy, positively. At that point we began foreign sales to raise the bulk of the funds needed. It was tricky because we knew we could raise around $500,000 in pressales but the key was whether Argentina could fit within that number plus leave enough over for the star salaries. Victoria also reacted positively and she began training for the shoot. I can’t say enough positive things about Victoria. She is not only talented and beautiful but incredibly professional and as dedicated an artist as you’d ever find anywhere. A super high quality human.

I had hoped for 24 days of shooting but that quickly dropped to 20, then to 18, to 16 and finally 11 days. It was crushing to me. I wasn’t sure, at my age, whether I could get it all done in 11 days but that’s all we could afford even in Argentina. It was hugely ambitious.

About this time (February 2008) we began talking to distributors about coming aboard as a North American distributor and financier. I also spoke with Sony, Lions Gate and Magnolia Entertainment. All were interested. We got a firm prebuy offer from Starz/ Anchor Bay for North America. And we were championed at Starz by a very astute and wonderful Australian distributor named John Vale who ran Starz Australia. He had had success with my past films.

The package and script began going out. And everything seemed to be clicking. Funny how we can be fooled by our own optimism. This was just the only bright spot leading to 34 months of Hell.

Who could’ve seen it coming? Not me.

Albert

Genesis – Fall 2007

Having finished Left for Dead and Bulletface, I was trying to figure out the next project. I knew I wanted to do something bigger with more mainstream chance of success. Cynthia was always pushing for a The Sword and the Sorcerer sequel. I thought that might be too big and elaborate, especially as I was living on Whidey Island in the middle of Puget Sound. Miles away from any location where the movie could be put together though we tried by seeing if the movie could be mounted in and around Bellingham , Washington where there was a growing and highly skilled film community. But the project seemed to complex and required too many elements not available in Washington. We also explored Vancouver, which has a very well developed infrastructure for complex filmmaking. We invested a lot of time and money in these scouts. These did explorations rekindled my interest in the genre.

I started to research what has happened with Sword over the years since its release in 1982 and clearly it had a solid fan base that was alive and waiting for the promised sequel at the end of sword.

Also, as part of that research, I watched a number of Kevin Sorbo movies and clips. And that’s really what got the ball rolling. With Kevin I could see how this could see the movie coming alive. Cynthia was already a huge fan of Kevin’s work. So right from the ouset he was in our minds the key artistic element.

So work on the script commenced in November 2007.

Originally I had hope to use and adapt a script by the young and supremely talented writer of Left For Dead, Chad Leslie. Chad had a futuristic script called “Sweating Bullets” that I thought was great. Very much a cross between Blade Runner and Total Recall.

That summer I had tried to get producer Mario Kassar to finance it and get it made. His staff gave it a good “coverage” which means a paid reader read and analyzed it for Mario. I flew to LA and met with Mario several times and it seemed it was a real possibility as he was just beginning a position for a large privately owned company that self financed a big budget film called Redline. So they had financing capability. Little did I know that Redline practically busted the company’s coffers and pushed the principals to shy away from further film investment.

But that ultimately went nowhere but I was still in love with the script. I had Cynthia take a turn at adapting it to a Sword and Sorcery story and setting as Chad couldn’t do it. He did a great job and even Chad approved when I sent it to him for his blessing.

The draft was a functional sword and sorcery tale but not organic and was just too expensive to mount. I sent the script to Hernan Findling in Argentina to see if it could be made here at a good price. Hernan arranged my Left or Dead shoot in Arentina and I had a lot of confidence in his ability to stretch each production peso. Also, I had Cynthia change the main character from male to female so we could cast Victoria Maurette, whom I really feel could be a a big action star.

But it was clear, the script’s storyline was just to complex and elaborate to do on a low budget. So we sadly, pulled the plug on that option.

By now, I was totally energized to make a sword and sorcery movie, so Cynthia set about writing an original scrrenplay from scratch, using the outline perimeters I gave her.

Albert

While I will cover all aspects in my commentary track, the making of Tales was certainly the most difficult and frustrating effort of my entire career. And that covers a great many strange and unorthodox situations.

But Tales began life in November 2007 and here we are in November 2010 and its still not yet complete. The twists and turns of the past 3 years were more than I could ever imagine.

That the movie continues forward, improving each day is a tribute to a group of special and dedicated individuals.

There’s been a suicide, the imprisonment of a producer (for cause not related to Tales), stars not showing up, stars showing up and being abandon without word at a hotel.

The writing began on Whidbey Island in Washington state. Production first tried to get underway in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The extremely talented Victoria Maurette was originally cast as Princess Tanis. Sets were built, costumes created, but we pulled out when I felt some unease at the progress of the production. That began a long global search to replace Buenos Aires as a location. First Bulgaria, then Poland, then Baton Rouge, Croatia, South Africa and on it went for months.

Then it was finally decided to shoot in Los Angeles in December 2008. The film was recast with Melissa Ordway taking the lead role of Princess Tanis.

Other casting discussions took place with Yancy Butler (who I really hoped would commit), Kari Wuhrer, Mark Decascos, Val Kilmer, Steven Seagal, Olivier Gruner, Christopher Lambert. But the crushing casting was we were forced to cast some actors against our will in exchange for production funding. It was a bitter compromise.

And certainly not the last compromise.

More later…

albert

We’re preparing our adaptation of Lovecraft’s wonderfully creepy story Cool Air for release in the next few weeks so we now have some screen grabs from the movie to share with you.

Albert