An award-winning indie filmmaker, JASON WILLIAM LEE, is no stranger to the “fun” of the craft; be it in front of the camera as an actor, or behind the lens as writer, director, producer, or editor. He knows the tools in the cinematic toolbox and he knows how to use them appropriately. And talk about using those tools appropriately, effectively, and while having “fun”, look no farther than his latest film – FUNHOUSE!
A delicious commentary on society and human nature, Jason builds the world of a reality show with celebrity contestants competing against one another through varoius challenges. Sound familiar? Well, it is – to a degree. Instead of merely getting voted out of the house by the looky-loo obsessed public, the celebrities who lose, lose big in the challenge rounds. They die in various and sundry manner of “funhouse” torture with everything from being boiled in acid to being a human pinata. And the public not only watches it all but craves it.
But FUNHOUSE isn’t just a lot of gratuitous gore and violence thrown together. As writer/director and editor, Jason has crafted a solid script and follows through with well-thought-out metaphoric visual design and tonal bandwidth that is keenly edited. The storyline is intense and characters with individual traits and characteristics are extremely well-developed, perhaps the most notable being “Ferguson”, the puppetmaster of this entire “game” who is identified only by way of a panda avatar. (You’ll never look at pandas the same way again after seeing this movie.) We see relationships and alliances develop, as well as self-sacrifice and heartbreak as Jason taps into every human emotion.
Starring Jerome Wolinsky as “Nero aka Ferguson”, FUNHOUSE members include Valter Skarsgard, Khamisa Wilsher, Gigi Saul Guerrero (outstanding performance!), Christopher Gerard, Karolina Benefield, Amanda Howells, Mathias Retamal, and Dayleigh Nelson.
Dark and twisted fun, I spoke with JASON WILLIAM LEE at length in this exclusive conversation about FUNHOUSE; from its inception to execution, casting, manners of challenges and deaths, the rich cinematography of Shawn Seifert (it should be noted that after FUNHOUSE, Seifert went on to some lighter Hallmark television movies), the use of color, Heather Lidberg’s production design, some wonderful scoring by Blake Matthew, and more! And yes, as you’ll hear, we had a lot of “fun” talking about FUNHOUSE.
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview May 25, 2021
