COMMITTED EXCLUSIVE: An Interview with Battle of LA Writer/Director Mark Atkins!

Mark Atkins has worked on more Asylum films than anyone I've come across, and in a wide variety of positions. But most recently, he's the writer and director of Battle of Los Angeles, a sci-fi spectacle that debuted on SyFy last Saturday night and hits DVD a week from this Tuesday. Mr. Atkins was kind enough to take time out of his very hectic schedule to answer some questions for COMMITTED. 

977: What started your love of film? How old were you when you decided you wanted to make them for a living?

MARK ATKINS: I grew up in a family that appreciated films and filmmaking, my parents put out a magazine when I was a kid a called THE FILM JOURNAL. It had critical reviews/interviews and great full page color photos, storyboards etc. So I grew up in a family that was into films. My uncle also became a recognized natural history filmmaker, now he is shooting features…I always wanted to kind of follow in his footsteps. I made the decision to really focus on film when I was accepted at the University of Central Florida's Film Program. 

977: Give us a sampling of the films you've found inspiring over the course of your career.

MA: Bladerunner,  The  Thing, Wages of Fear, Vertigo, Brain Dead, The Fifth Element, Hellboy 2, 

977: What was your first job in Hollywood?

MA: I don't know about Hollywood exactly but I began my career working as an assistant cameraman for Paul Atkins my uncle. I worked on his nature films, GREAT WHITE SHARK, and SECRET KILLERS OF MONTEREY BAY, BBC and National Geographic Specials. I learned a ton working with Paul and my aunt Gracie who was the Producer of those.   

977: How did you get involved with The Asylum? 

MA: My first feature film, NIGHT ORCHID was playing in LA at the Methodfest film festival and they asked to see a screener. Eventually I met them and we struck up a distribution deal. I kept in touch and when they started doing in-house movies they hired me to direct EVIL EYES. 

977: When you chose to write and/or direct, what kind of project are you drawn to? What are you looking for in a concept?   

MA: I am drawn to projects where I get a opportunity to bring to life a world that does not exist in reality. Hense, I love monster films, fantasy, action and adventure, etc. Not that I wouldn't do a more realistic type of story…I am working on a period war movie script right now but ..I am drawn to making the unreal real. 

977: You've worked as a cinematographer, a director, writer, editor and more; which part of the process, which job, do you enjoy the most?  

MA: Directing is the most rewarding because most of the other jobs work in service of the director's vision.  Or at least that's the way I like to do them if I am hired as a cinematographer or editor.  On my own films, I like to work as my own cinematographer mainly because I enjoy it but also it save a lot of time I on set. 

977: When taking on a project like Battle of Los Angeles - a tie-in - how do you approach the script in terms of distinguishing it? How much awareness of the Hollywood production do you allow yourself? And how much did you rely on the facts of the original incident?

MA: One of the things that few people are aware of on this project is that I actually pitched a film based on the 1942 Battle of Los Angeles incident back in 2008. I made a pitch video, sort of teaser with some photos I doctored up from the original incident and I pitched that to the Asylum. Shortly afterwards I learned that the studios had bought a pitch based on the Battle of Los Angeles. I still wanted to get my project going even though it is kind of disheartening when you hear someone else is doing the same thing. The Asylum folks liked my pitch, I think they even showed the video to Syfy back then and it was put on a some kind of side burner. Of course in 2010 when the studio movie goes into production, the producers at the Asylum decide to greenlight our Battle of Los Angeles. But the reality is, it has origins much earlier. 

I didn't really concern myself with the particulars of any other movie made with a similar concept. The only people I need to answer to are my producers so I have to model the script based on their input. Originally I wanted to set Battle of Los Angeles in the 1940's but it wasn't deemed commercial enough. Everyone liked the idea of having a super secret paramilitary group called MJ-12 who had knowledge of aliens so that was woven into the story. Also thankfully they supported the idea of having Nia wielding a Katana. I doubt that any other alien invasion movie would have that angle….

977: From a directing standpoint, did the production of B.o.L.A. present any unique challenges?

MA: We had a ton of pryotechnical FX, explosions and the like, those were very challenging. They take a lot of time to set up. Art department had a huge challenge in creating the Mothership set and MJ-12 bunkers. Aaron Martin, Production Designer did a ton with little resources. All the interior sets were done at the Asylum studios. Plus the fact that we only had 12 days to shoot the movie. That's standard for an Asylum budget but this movie had many complicated battle scenes and we didn't want to compromise the action. 

977: What's your favorite of the Asylum films you've been involved with?

MA: I have many favorites….Battle of Los Angeles has to be one of the tops especially for the cast we were able to work with…this was one of those times were the synergy amongst the cast members helps to elevate the script and you end up filming relationships on screen that surpass what you've written on the page.   I also really enjoyed Merlin and the War of the Dragons and Allan Quatemain and the Temple of Skulls and Haunting of Winchester House

977: What would you consider your dream project(s)?

MA: I have many many dream projects. As I mentioned I am currently working on a period war script. I have a werewolf movie called Bad Dogs I want to make called that would be way over the top like Peter Jackson's Brain Dead.  I am working on a stream punk fantasy that concerns an alchemist apprentice from 1860's San Francisco who awakens in modern times.  And finally I would love to do an animated feature film. I studied cell animation in college and have a few concepts I think people would love. 

977: Any new projects on the horizon?

MA: I am posting a feature called Sand Sharks which stars Brooke Hogan, Corin Nemec, Vanessa Evigan, Eric Scott Woods, Robert Pike Daniel (from Battle of LA), Delpaneaux Wills and Gina Holden. If you're a fan of horror, and over the top action I think you'll love it. The script by Cameron Larson was outrageous. So expect that out before the end of the year. I have another Sci fi horror adventure coming up and with luck a medieval action movie for Asylum….

inmate profile: David Michael Latt

This is the first time COMMITTED has slung an inmate profile the partners' way (I wanted to hone myself a little), and I think the perfect partner to start with is producer/ director/writer/editor/Asylum co-founder David Michael Latt.

A California native, Latt's first job in Hollywood - or at least the first job that seems studio-oriented as reported by his IMDB bio - was as an Art Director for Absolute Production, which, if my googling skills are accurate, is an events management company. From there he moved on to a position as Vice President, Production, for Chimera Multimedia. But despite this success, it wasn't until 1997 that Latt found his true calling and, along with former Village Roadshow executives David Rimawi and Sherri Strain, he strode out down his own road and formed The Asylum. 

Latt's present role at The Asylum is to oversee production and marketing, placing him in charge of a small crew that produces 10-15 feature-length motion pictures a year, each with an average of three- to four-week shoots. In a nutshell, this means every single Asylum production is steered by the practiced hands of Mr. Latt; think of him as the James M. Nicholson to Rimawi's Samuel Z. Arkoff, or the other way around - one of 'em's one of 'em and the other's the other, I know that much. 

Furthermore, not only is Latt an ace behind the scenes, he's darn good at creating them as well, as he's an accomplished and award-winning filmmaker in his own right. For The Asylum, Mr. Latt has directed eight titles, three of which he wrote. Another 16 Asylum-scripts bear his name. 

A look at Latt's Asylum filmography:

WRITER: Jane White is Sick & Twisted, Scarecrow Slayer, War of the Worlds, King of the Lost World, Da Vinci Treasure, Pirates of Treasure Island, Halloween Night, Supercroc, The Apocalypse, Universal Soldiers, Alien vs. Hunter, Monster, War of the Worlds 2, Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls, Countdown: Jerusalem, The Terminators

DIRECTOR: Rock and Roll Fantasy, Killers, Jane White is Sick & Twisted, Killers 2, Scarecrow Slayer, War of the Worlds, MegaFault.

Also worth noting, Latt is married to Asylum staple Kim Little, and together the two have made seven films together.


And there you have it, a look at one of the founding partners of The Asylum, writer/director/filmmaker extraordinaire and the head of production, David Michael Latt. Call me a sycophant (and some have), but this guy's pretty much got the coolest job in the universe, and - like the other partners and indeed anyone working in the arts - he carved it out for himself. Where I from, that's worth saluting.


So, Mr. Latt, consider yourself saluted.
 

observation notes: Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg could have learned a lot from this one; when trying to breathe new life into an old character, sometimes it's better to go back to the basics instead of stretching into foreign, bizarre, insulting and childhood-ruining territory. Released to coincide with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls (that's a lot of italics) returned to the source, the H. R. Haggard character Indiana Jones was based upon, Allan Quatermain, for this latest version of the classic King Solomon's Mines.

Twice before this novel has been adapted: in 1950 starring Stewart Granger as the adventurer and the ravishing Deborah Kerr as the client, and again in 1985 as a reaction to the popularity of Raiders of the Lost Ark, this time starring Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone. The Asylum's version falls solidly between the two: not quite as good as the 1950 version (which, incidentally, is one of my favorite films of all time) but markedly better than the 1985 version.

The story's pretty simple: guy finds a map for a treasure hidden in the little explored interior of Africa (this is the late 19th century, give or take); he goes looking for said treasure; he never returns; his faithful sister comes looking for him, engages a famous hunter-tracker-adventurer to aid in her search. And that's where the story really begins, a picaresque expedition on the trail of either great treasure, or great peril.

I'm having trouble thinking what to say next. I have notes about the competent performances, the pacing, the action scenes, this tribal-decapitation-claw thing a native uses on a dude , but truthfully I'm not feeling a lot of enthusiasm toward those things now, the next day. The movie was fine. But that's it. And it's not because it was poorly written or directed or performed; none of these elements were lacking. It was certainly more enjoyable than that soulless ass-rape of a film the franchise guys put out. Thing is, I just didn't care. And remember, this is coming from a guy already biased toward the story. The 1950 version, as I said, is truly one of my favorites, I re-visit it at least twice a year. But thinking about it now, I think it's because that version of the film, like the story, is dated. This version, the 2008 version, though still set in the original era, looked modern - the actors, the action, the effects - and as such felt tepid, tame, because by modern standards the source story doesn't quite hold up to the adrenaline-fueled, high-octane, apocalyptic action films of this era. I mean, Roland Emmerich totally fucked up the entire planet on screen last year; I can't really get it up for a steam engine/truck chase anymore, unless that's the best the era could offer.

Perhaps if The Asylum had gone with an update of the source material, like they did with War of the Worlds, 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea or the upcoming Moby-Dick, I would have been left with a better taste in my mouth. Or perhaps I'm just a cranky jerk today, and taking it out on A.Q.a.t.T.o.S., which really is an entertaining film, if you're into rollicking yarns of yesteryear.

The film stars Sean Cameron Michael (Supernova) as the titular adventurer and Natalie Stone (30,000 Leagues Under the Sea) as the saucy, pouty-lipped sister. Also worth noting that director Mark Atkins edited the film as well, as well as doing his own cinematography. See his inmate profile below for more info.