Austinist Interview: Filmmaker Lucky McKee, Live from Fantastic Fest

Lucky McKee’s cult began to grow like wildfire the day his first feature May was released on DVD. Since the release of that film, he has directed The Woods; been crowned a "Master of Horror" by Showtime; and produced and starred in Roman, a companion piece to May. Tonight, Lucky will be in town at Fantastic Fest for the world premiere of Roman and the U.S. premiere of The Woods. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about his work, as well as possibly revealing the title of the second top-secret AICN screening.

Your fans have been waiting for The Woods for what seems like forever. Although it's awesome that we will be seeing this for the first time at Fantastic Fest, why did it take so long?

I skipped some major grades in school going from a low-budget indie film into the studio system. Chalk it up to growing pains. And a little corporate hassle for good measure. All in all, I'm proud of the film and the experience it has given me. If anything it's reminded me that I work best when the material is personal.

In addition to The Woods, Fantastic Fest is also screening Roman, which you star in and is reportedly a quasi-sequel to May. What's the story behind Roman?

I've been kicking aroud Roman ever since my senior year at USC back in 97. It was written as a small movie to be made (on Hi8 at the time) with what was available to me and my friends. After college, we all scattered all over the place and got into some other things. Eventually, I got the chance to make May and decided Roman might be better handled by a different director, to make sure the two movies were distinct from one another. With Angie coming on board, it just made sense that we should take that same creative core and just play a little musical chairs with it. It's worked out quite nicely and I really feel like it's the purest movie our little group has made yet. It kind of proves my theory that you can make a compelling movie with very limited resources if you are a dedicated student of film.

After two features, you are already a "Master of Horror." (Lucky recently directed “Sick Girl” as part of Showtime’s Masters of Horror series) How does it feel to be a Master of Horror?

I wouldn't go so far as to call me a Master. The fact that I've been lumped in that group seems to be a bit surprising to genre fans. "How the heck is this scrub a master of horror after only making one movie that anyone's seen?" I can see their point. But what the hell am I supposed to do? The veterans called on me and I would have been foolish not to take them up on the opportunity. It was a very smooth and enjoyable experience and all those veterans continue to help me with advice and encouragement. I hope I've held up my end of the bargain by trying to push the genre in some unusual directions.

Is there anything at Fantastic Fest that you are looking forward to seeing?

Garsh. I really want to see the new Gilliam and Del Toro movies, but am afraid I've either already missed them or won't have time to see them at this event. I think those two are a couple of the handful of truly great filmmakers still on this planet...along with Tarantino, Lynch, Scorsese, DePalma, and a few others. I really think Del Toro is at the tippy-top of his game right now, and what I've seen of early footage from Pan's Labyrinth just had my mind reeling for days.

Have you been to Austin before? If so (or even if not) is there anything in Austin that you are looking forward to checking out?

Austin has been like my second home since moving out to the midwest last year. I'm there all the time. Good people, good movie fans, and great three alarm tacos at Magnolia!!

Can you tell us anything about what you have planned for your followup to The Woods?

Well, in all honesty, Sick Girl was my follow up to The Woods. One just came out before the other. I consider Roman the next project in line considering we've just now finished it. I kind of played every other role (besides the most comfortable for me, which is directing). I got to help produce; I wrote the script, and I played the lead. Producing and acting have been a big challenge for me, as I'm terrible in money matters and organization, and have terrible stage fright. Fortunately, Angie gave me the confidence I needed to do all of those things and that is what makes her a great director. I'm really excited to see what she does next. I'm hoping she finds a script written by someone else so she can stretch her directorial muscles outside of my twisted brainspace.

You can get into Lucky’s twisted brainspace tonight at Fantastic Fest. Roman premieres at 6:40 with Lucky and director Angela Bettis (star of May) in person. The U.S. premiere of The Woods follows at 9:05 p.m.

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