[Music]
Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of Pop Culture Junkie Podcast. My name is Shauna and I am here with my fellow junkies, Olivia. And Nicole. So I recently got the chance to talk to somebody pretty cool. His name is Ansel Faraj. He is an independent director, a screenwriter, a producer. And we had a lot in common. I could have kept going with this interview for a long time. This guy is so cool. Very much into monsters and horror. That's very cool.
Yeah, he's a great guy. Thanks for being on the podcast, Ansel. And you can listen to the interview now. Okay, everybody. Shauna here. And I am joined by a special guest. We have with us today Ansel Faraj. He is an award-winning independent director, screenwriter and producer. Thank you for coming to the Pop Culture Junkie Podcast, Ansel. Thank you very much for having me. I love your shirt, by the way. Oh my gosh. I know this is just audio, but Ansel's shirt is filled with universal horror.
What have we gotten here? It's Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman and the Mummy. I got it from my birthday a couple years ago. I was about to say happy birthday, but I guess that doesn't really matter. No, it's too soon. And I had a meeting today and I wore it to the meeting. Oh my gosh. I love that. I love that. That was the meeting shirt, right? It's like you got a kind of repertoire interested and I got my Pop Culture Junkie t-shirt on. That was my surfers shirt on the boat below.
Sometimes I feel kind of like a shirt for wearing this though, because it's like a picture of me on it. I got a person wears a picture of themselves on their own t-shirt. Anyway, I digress. Thank you again for being here today. Let the audience know who you are. What are you into? What kind of films are you directing? What got you started in this amazing career that you've formed for yourself? Yeah, I'm a independent director as you said in the intro.
And I mostly have worked in the thriller fantasy horror genre, but I do do. I don't want to call them mainstream films, but traditional music. I've made a love story, Will and Liz. I have a comedy coming up called The Great Nick D. I work in, I'm versatile. I work in all sorts of genre. Yeah, I'm sort of best known for my work in the spooky side of things with my film Loon Lake, which is based on a Minnesota Hotel of Mary Jane, The Witch of Loon Lake.
The Dr. Mabuse trilogy that came out in 2012 and 2013. No, 2013, 2014 and 2020. Can you say that's a trilogy, right? That's awesome. That's so cool. Mabuse, is that how you pronounce it? Yeah, it's German super villain. It's long done a couple films about him way back when. I rebooted the character and told three new tales. That was my first professional film. I was 20 years old. I was 20 years old. I've always been making movies since I was six years old. I was doing this.
I used my VHS camcorder in my Universal Monster Action figures and then friends from school. I did not attend film school. I'm fully self-taught. I grew up in Turner Classic movies and a lot of books in the library. Then 20 years old, I did Dr. Mabuse and it starred Jerry Lacey, Catherine Lee, Scott Mar Parker, all from Dark Shadows and Lyndon Childs who done Twilight Zone and worked with Alfred Hitchcock. A lot of them. That was the start of everything. You live in Los Angeles, right?
Did you grow up there where all of your films originally were all directed there? Yeah, I'm from LA. Having said that, I'm not a nepo baby. Who is your dad, Ansel? I have no... I grew up not having any industry connections and nothing. I was totally self-taught. I'm doing it myself and somehow making it happen. That's an amazing journey. Did you always know that it was going to be horror and spooky films? You're action figures, right? That's always going to be a movie.
I was always in with the Universal Monsters and Hammer Horror and Roger Corman and Dark Shadows. Always writing horror stories and stuff in school. Yeah, but also, as I said, I don't like to stick to one thing. One day I'm going to make a musical. I did make a musical when I was 17. I was in my senior year's high school. I gathered everybody together. I was going to make a Ken Russell-esque rock opera about Faust.
I know there were two thoughts on musicals and they all were like, "Who's Ken Russell and what's Faust?" "What are we doing?" "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, just just..." "Just go along with it!" "Just go on these songs and then we're going to shoot it." And then we get into that. That sounds amazing. I remember those experiences from high school and college, just getting the handheld camp quarter. Some of it was for school projects and others was just goofing around.
I tell you, home those skills, absolutely. I got the chance to watch Todd Tarantula and I absolutely loved it. It was so amazing. Yeah, I'll admit when it first started, I was like, "Where is this going? This guy's like a motorcycle rider." And then as soon as the, I don't want to spoil it for anybody watching or listening.
As soon as the mystery kicks in, I was absolutely like, "What on earth is going on here?" When he's talking on the handheld to his dad's assistant, those are my favorite scenes because it was just so intense. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. That means a lot. Todd Tarantula, that's something I wanted to make since I was 17. And many, many years of trying and trying to get money and trying to, you know, trial by fires and failing.
And finally I got to make it when the lockdowns and all that kind of subsided. Yeah, and I paid for that out of pocket. I bust tables and I entered the kitchen and I waited on people and bartended and just saved every cent to make that. Oh, yeah, I know that bartending life. That's what. Not fun. It's not cocktail with Tom Cruise. I said, "No, it is not." But anyway, yeah, Todd Tarantula, it's been a real passion project in line. And we finally made it.
We shot it all in the month of June in 2022. And it opened in last year. And David Selby is in it. He won Best Supporting Actor for his role as Lucifer. And I know it's up for Best Independent Film in the Rondos. So if you do vote, I hope you'll consider a real grass works independent. What is the Rondos? I'm not too familiar with that. Rondo Awards or the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards are the sort of the people's choice award for horror and sci-fi and the genre at bar.
And yeah, it started from the Classic Horror Film Board. And yeah, I was one a couple. Yeah, everybody vote for Todd Tarantula. It was so unique, the, I guess, film style or the art style that you went with. What the road is so-- Yeah, what kind of drew you to that? And why did you want to film it that way? It always just felt like-- I mean, the story is your normal conventional story.
It's a larger than life mystery that delves into urban legends of Los Angeles and Angeles history and sort of drug-fueled and very surreal. And originally, when we were going to make it a decade plus ago, it felt more like a science fiction blade runner-esque cyberpunk thing. And I mean, it's classic and especially from LA. That movie freaked me out when I was very young. It's LA 2016 and I was like, "I don't want to live in LA."
I'm like, "I'm going to be like, "What?" I was like, "I'm going to be like, "What?" I'm like, "I'm going to be like, "What?" I'm like, "What?" You know, I'm not sure. I'm just going to be like, "What?" But by the time that we finally did make it, now we have, you know, AI technology and smartphones with the Siri and all this, you know, the metaverse was being talked about. And I was like, "These are things that I was writing about in Todd Trancel.
You know, these things kind of, they freaked me out. I don't like that, you know?" And so the movie felt less sci-fi and more timely. But I wanted it, that's a long answer to your question. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Never apologize, I love it. That's amazing. It's better than short answers. Yeah, I guess. [laughter] But to answer your question on the style, yeah, it felt like a larger-than-life cartoon.
And I always envisioned it as like a Japanese anime like Akira or like a 70s French comic book that's something like Mobius would have drawn, or it's very rich in color. And the, and rotoscoping was just the right way to bring that story to life. And so it adds to the drug-fueled nature, the main character. And he doesn't know if he's in reality or if he's tripping or what place in time is he in? I totally agree. Like, and there's some shots that it just adds so much to the creepiness.
Like when they're like a random street in LA and the fog starts rolling in. And it just gets so intense with the rotoscoping when the fog is there. And then all of a sudden his friend is like, "Pooled away." The scene that freaks me out the most, oh my gosh, I guess we're just gonna spoil this movie a little bit. When you, when you, when you see his dad, I'll say that. Oh my God, that show of coming. Yeah, it was that all. I mean, filmed just in your house.
I mean, did you have like a good set? No, that was amazing. We did, I did graduate over time to, you know, some locations and stages and stuff. It's not all in my, I started out in a garage with a blue screen cyclone. Yeah. And now it's not that anymore. But, no, we had a set that we sort of built and I don't dress. And, yeah, and, uh, lids. And so, I mean, we shot. There was a lot that was done in camera. There was all practical effects and, and there was stuff for the actors to interact with.
And it was on the green screen and, and, you know, imagination. We were there. And yeah, that was a cool, that was a cool set. That was a long day. That's amazing. I think there's so much loss to like the beauty of practical effects and practical sets. And, you know, no hate and CG or special effects and those artists work so hard. But, you know, Marvel movies and stuff. Sometimes those things are all just filmed on a green screen or blue screen, I guess.
But, there's, there's something kind of tangible and creepy when there's just tubes and sheets and, I mean, in an actual practical set. And that, that kind of adds to the, yeah, kind of like the 80s cyberpunk aesthetic too. Kind of those like, June, the original June movies and play the letter. I loved that. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So your movie that you're promoting right now is called The Great Nick D. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
It is a project, my frequent filmmaking collaborator, Nathan Wilson. He's been talking to me for years about this guy that he's wanted to play. A Wasteporn star. So, okay, well, what's the story? And so, what's the story? It's about, he was a, he was a, he's a Nick D. He's a Wasteporn star. He's a Wasteporn star and a Venice Beach nobody. And he embarks on this Odyssey to restart his mainstream acting career.
So that he can win back the lost love of his life who's now like the equivalent of the Mara series. And so, you know, not just your normal run of the mill. The lead story. And there's a musical number at the end. And we just like it, it was, it's a film that we've been talking about for years and years and years. And finally, actually while we were shooting Todd Transula, Nate was like, let's just, we just got to do it. Let's just do it.
And so, we prepped and we shot last year, last April till September. It was a very long shoot. And many, many characters in many locations. And we have a really great cast. It's again with the dark shadows things. So we have David Selby, Kathleen Lee Scott, Laura Parker, and her final film role, Lisa Richards. We have Ola and Jones who's worked at Tim Burton frequently. And we have Sam Irvin, who's, he's a film director. He's directed Alvirus, Haunted Hills.
And he's a good friend of mine and I called him up. I said, Sam, the Fabelman Stevens-Fieldbergs movie had, it was playing. And David Lynch plays John Ford in that in a, in a cameo. So I said, Sam, I need to be my David Lynch. And come in and do this role. And then we have all these, these wonderful new young actors that are coming up. And yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun long shoot. But fun. That's really cool. I watched some of the clips on, I guess it was like a trailer.
And it's just Nick D just kind of talking to the camera about it. I got a movie coming out and it just seems so funny. Just that energy of just, yeah, just like a California dude who's like, "Oh, I'm a journey man." I love it. It's a, it's a, it's a fun character. Do you have, you mentioned you have a partner that you work with in a lot of films, right? Do you have a lot of the same actors who kind of follow you film to film?
Yeah, I do sort of like to have a repertoire company that I can rely on. I can give them different roles to, you know, change, not change it up, but like... Like their muscles a little bit. Yeah, I know that they don't normally get to do and see, you know, what's something crazy that you're a really like calm, normal person. Let me give you something that's just out of this world. And also, you know, with grassroots independent filmmaking, there's no money. There's no time. There's never time.
There's hardly a crew. And so you need people that you know can deliver and deliver well and be reliable. And so there's, you know, there's a group of people that I do, you know, rely on to come and fill in. And it makes the job easier. It's a little more fun and silly. You know, we've worked, we've all, on this film, we called it "Everybody" that we've worked with in the past with our like really good friends and stuff.
And so it was kind of fun seeing actors that we've worked with, you know, 10 years ago on something come back and like, hey, you know, how have you been? Yeah, I'm having some fun. That's awesome. Especially on a comedy. I feel like that's the perfect chance to do it because you... There's inherently going to be silliness and you can play around and just create their scenes together. Yeah, although I think making our films, you... They're, you're crazier behind the scenes.
Like there's more laughter and more just like shenanigans with horror. Because you have to break up between like something devastating just happened on screen. Yeah. And also like, you know, someone's getting made up to be on dead or something like... When we shot "Loon Lake," which is the, the "Sfolk Horror" film that we did in Minnesota. You know, we had like fake dead birds and... And we were chopping off the witch's head and just like... I don't know, it's... That's my dream.
I want to be in a horror film and I just want to be splattered with blood. I just want just goo. Right? Like the boys, I always see the like behind the scenes picks of them and they're just joy. I mean, constantly. I love it. Yeah. No, it's just fun. There's a lot more... There's actually, it's more serious behind the scenes. There's a lot more thought and a lot more discussion that's happening.
Because comedy and horror are similar in that there's a rise in a fall and, you know, room's intention or building tension, what have you. But with horror, you know, so much of it is created in the editing. You know, with comedy, it's performance and it's timing and it's precision. And it's hitting, it's like music. It's like hitting that note. So you're talking a lot more like intellectually is the wrong word.
But you're a little more in depth together behind the scenes on something like the Great Nick D versus, you know, Loom Lake or Todd Transchulo where it's like, we're able today this guy is a lizard. Oh my God, the lizard is so out of nowhere and I loved it. Well, it comes from Los Angeles mythology. There's this old LA history of like in downtown LA or they're supposedly there, and I want to believe it because I'm just a certain guy. Oh, these are people of Los Angeles.
And you know, there's tunnels supposedly under Bunker Hill and there's a lost city of gold and... I hope so. Maybe like when they founded LA, there was some sort of deal that was made, I mean, like all sorts of crazy shit. And I just pulled from a lot of Los Angeles folklore and history for Todd to rent. I love letter to LA, yeah. Yes, it is totally, it's my LA film. A, you know, "Repeo Men" once upon a time in Hollywood, "Southland Tales" which nobody likes for me.
But those are all like LA movies and I wanted, this is my LA film. And especially being from LA being in Angelina, if you want to call me that. An Angelina, it sounds familiar. I'm a fanish. You know, I think it's equally as weird. I totally thought that. I mean, obviously I live in Arizona, but I've gotten the chance to visit LA a lot. And it absolutely had that LA feel to it. Like, it made me want to go on vacation. It made me want to do drugs and ride a motorcycle to California. I mean...
Well, Todd is trying to escape to a desert, which we can move over and I am. Yeah, it's a wild movie. I'm very proud of it. So you mentioned that you want to do a musical someday. Do you have anything on deck that you're going to work on next or anything you can kind of tease us with? You know, most of my life since last April has been consumed by the Great Nick D. I've been... and it won't come out until June on Blu-ray and DVD only.
We're not doing a streaming release for very physical week for this one. So, and it's a combo pack. So by once you'll get a Blu-ray disc with a bunch of special features and you'll get a DVD that also has the film. And... but I've been writing... I've got a couple things that I'm thinking of. And yeah, I don't know what those will be. We'll just have to follow you on Instagram and kind of follow your journey and stay tuned. So, it's the Pop Culture Junkie podcast.
We've already kind of talked about your beginnings and your interest in Universal Horror. But I want to hear more about your main fandoms. What are your favorite movies? I mean, you've mentioned so many, which are some of my favorite movies too. So we're five and Anson, I love it. But what are you watching now? What are you into? What are your main pop culture obsession? I mean, that's like not a fair question. No, there's so many I know.
I mean, if we... if we have acknowledged Universal Monsters, if we've acknowledged, you know, Roger Corman, Vincent Price movies... I mean, I'll be... I'll be that... I'll say like five favorite movies. Let's do it, I love it. The Prestige. That's a good movie. That is Nolan's Best Movie. That's Nolan's Best Movie. Dark Movie, the movie changer, but Prestige, there's so much to unpack with that movie. Time and time again, I've seen that movie countless times.
Every time I see it, I see something new. I interpret the story in a new way. That's his best. That is a movie that I left the theater and I was just... It stuck with me for days. You just keep running over it and over it in your mind. And I honestly haven't watched it in years, so I'm gonna have to do that. Very unrelated. It's very... I tell the room, like, you guys go to watch the Prestige. And then there'll be people that have never heard of it. Like, we're worthy. It's amazing.
Yeah. It's a good film. We're off to a good start, too, so far. Yeah. Prestige. I don't want to be very film geeky. Filini. I do love Filini. His film, "Julee Ed of the Spirits." Okay. Well, he did acid before... It's his first technicolor film and he dropped acid before he shot it, so he could like... And it worked. It's... Ten out of ten would drop acid again. So, you know, "Good Movie." What's another favorite of mine?
Black Narcissus. It's a British film from the '40s about a group of nuns starting a convent in the Himalayas and they all go mad. That sounds good. And there was a remake on FX that the BBC did, like, two years ago I hated it. But the original is a great movie. Pretty wild. Again, technicolor, just like, divin-ness and very mystical and... What's another movie? I could think of... I mean, we already covered... I would say you've been named so many. These are all amazing.
Yeah. And I'm also a fan of horror and you mentioned Del Vira earlier and I love her. My favorite show of all time is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." So anything that's kind of horror, camp, adjacent is just... That's the sweet spot for me. Yeah. Okay, yeah. I mean, that's... I don't want to say "Dark Shadows" as camp, but "Dark Shadows" is in the... There was no "Buffy" without "Dark Shadows." There was no forever night if anybody remembers that show without "Dark Shadows." No, the forever night.
Is that out of the vampire? Long forgot that "Dark Shadows." He's a cop or he's a detective and he's like a Canadian thing. He was on Sci-Fi channel back in the 90s. But yeah. And then Vira, I love Bob's Brothers. And that is called "Rain to my friend." Absolutely. I'm obviously into the spectrum. I can quote that show. Bob's Brothers is great. Like "Pallet Clensary." If you watch something like "Super F-Dub" and you're like, "Okay, I need to just kind of... I need a hug."
Bob's Brothers is my field good. This one I'm depressed and frustrated and hating my life. Okay. But what's Bob's Brothers? Okay, that's a good question. Yeah. What's your show that you put on? I guess Bob's Brothers, like you said, when you're just kind of like, "I need this in the background. I need something low stakes." Yeah. Bob's Brothers, the office, when it was on Netflix. Yeah. I mean, I don't do that much TV. I should do more. But I get all consumed with movies and... Awesome.
Any good films that you watched? I mean, any of the Oscar-nominated ones that you thought were amazing this year? Well, Godzilla-1. Incredible. Devastating. Incredible. Yeah. I mean, that was a... I mean, everybody was like, "Oh, it's really good. It's really good." And I saw it the second weekend. So I was like, "Okay. The internet can say a lot of things, and I don't always believe it." So I go in, and I'm not the biggest... I'm not the biggest Godzilla fan.
I do really like Godzilla versus the Smog Monster. It's so weird. I love the film. I love Godzilla movies where he kinda goes on his tail and flies across screen. Yeah. Yeah. So I go in and... The audience was very much Godzilla fans and the old tow-ho-low with the whole theater gast. And then when it really got going and stuff, I'm like, "Wait, this is really good." And then they played the theme and then like the... It just got better and better and better.
By the time it was over, I was just like emotionally devastated and like on the verge of tears. I'm like, "This is the movie because Akira Kurosawa, who did Seven Samurai, and you know, he's one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was friends with the Shiro Honda." And he always wanted to make a Godzilla movie until he was like, "No, no, no, no. You make epics and we're gonna... This is... We don't do epic Godzilla's, we do cheap and you're too expensive and no, that's never...
And like this was that movie, this was that Akira Kurosawa's "Algo Zoola." I think I was gonna cry in a Godzilla movie and I absolutely was crying. I don't think anybody would want to cry. What is happening to my body right now? I'm going through something. I'm going through it. Every sat in the theater too, like during the credits. And it wasn't like, you know, every day just like had an experience. So that was amazing. I liked "Oppinheimer" Nolan.
I really liked "Ananami of a Fall" if anybody saw that. That was on my list. That was really good. I've been trying to make my way through. I just finished poor things. I loved that. I liked it a lot more than I thought I was going to. I'm a stone was amazing. It's just laugh out loud, funny at times. It is Mark Ruffalo. Oh my god, right. He says so. Yeah, it was good. I really liked Barbie. Barbie's incredible. I want Barbie more than once. I'll admit it. It's Venice. I really liked it.
I thought Ryan Gosling. And also, I love what he did. I'm just can at the Oscars. I love that he totally just leaned into it in the pink velvet suit. And I love the original Kins. Like, surfed his backup dancers. These are actual big time actors. Like, Dr. Who is back there in this right now, dancing as a Kins. They did a good show. And everybody, even Scorsese, there was a video that I think was raised as his daughter put. And he's just like digging it. And who's good?
I thought it was a good show. Yeah, I mean, I've seen, yeah. Yeah. There's been so much. I know. So I'm getting to vibe that you and I are from the same generation. What growing up, like what were some of your favorite TV shows? Or, I mean, you mentioned anime and passing. Are you still an anime fan? Yeah. I'm not really been an anime fan. I mean, I really like Akira. I think that's a good film. I was never, I was that weird kid that was talking about Humtree Bogart.
And everyone else was like, Pikachu? Sure, man, Pikachu. Yeah, totally. But TV shows that I watched growing up, well, yeah, now we're going to like start dating ourselves. I've been doing that for years on this podcast. 90210, I watched that. I watched, you know, friends. I mean, that was just like so 90s. I'll implement 7th Heaven. 7th Heaven. Oh my god. I'm. What else was on? But then I was like watching TCM. There was like some, there wasn't, there was a horror show.
I remember the, well, X files. When I was allowed to that, I had to speak that one past my parents. Because like, we're not going to put up with your nightmares. And I remember there was, I remember two, I do remember the episode with the mom on the tray under the bed. Things you're probably not supposed to be watching. I really scary like, yeah, the one they still talk about, I remember that. My sister would like, like, Stephen King's it.
My sister and I watched that and that did a number on me. The Tim Curry. I remember watching Pulture Guys as a child and pet cemetery in thinking, I should be watching this. This is going to affect me later. Like, I'm making a mistake by watching this. And now I watch them again. I'm like, okay, I mean, now I love that stuff. But as a kid, I was like, this is going to mess with me, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there was always, there was always like, you know, a couple movies that I always wanted to see. But then weirdly like my mom would show me Dracula with Franklin Jell-o, which like, are rated. It's very sexy. Yeah. I was very young. And I think she just wanted to watch it. We had it on video tape. I think she really wanted to watch for some. Yeah, I'll be fine. Oh, okay. Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you not scared?
Okay. There's boobs just cover his eyes a little bit. Yeah, or, no. I think I just filled their box. Yeah, there wasn't much censorship on that one. There was a lot more with like, Braum Stoker's Dracula. Yeah, there's a lot of boobs in that movie. Yeah, there's a lot of boobs in that one. But the video tape cover kind of freaks me out. And my dad, I remember he showed me, he did a weekend where it was Blade Runner, 20,000 leagues under the sea with James Mason and Seven Toy, just in bad.
You showed you some good films. Yeah, and they did. Blade Runner also did a number on me for a four-man-chum reasons because I was this way. I don't like the future if it's going to be like that. Well, I remember, Interview with the Vampire was a very big deal. I want to tell me the stories of Anne Rice's books but would censor it a bit. So, all the homoeroticism and all that stuff was left out from the four-year-old. That's the entire film. Yeah, it's just homoeroticism.
Especially now, the show, the show, it's very graphic. Oh my God, the news show yet. But I know, gosh, it has that actor from The Ambrones and I can't believe I don't remember his name. But I really liked him in Game of Thrones. So, I've been thinking maybe I'll give it a whirl. Yeah, it's different. It's different. I'm still on the fence. But the movie was a big deal. Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise was a big, you know, that was a big one. You were watching some pretty important films, absolutely.
And then the normal cheesy stuff. Yeah, yeah. And then I would watch Al Madayas and one sort of the Kutapoo's and asked a lot. It took me forever to convince my parents that let me see the shining. Yeah, you know, it was always like the barometer. Okay, are you gonna have a nightmare? Do we have to deal with this later? How far can you push it until you don't have those nightmares? And you're like, oh, this is kind of what I want to do with my life now. Right, yeah.
Awesome. Yeah, I'm not scared. Just two weeks. I'm a little bit more and then I'm like, hi, my fellow. I was on the side like you had Disney movies like I used to run behind the couch with Snow White. Like the queen and the witch and the four. Like I'd be behind the couch hiding. The face just got like satin on a cliff like that stuff's scary. Pinocchio. So, but then Franklin Jella and Dracula with, you know, making out with crazy point lasers and stuff. Yes, I see. This is cool. This is fine.
It sounds like a lot of the movies that you watched, I mean, formed who you are today. Like the films that you were interested in and watched kind of formed what you wanted to make. Oh, yeah. You know, so that's amazing. Yeah, I mean, I got the musical thing from my sister with all the MGM Judy Garland musicals she would have. And so, yeah, I mean, it's, but yeah, your formative years you're gonna be influenced by what's immediately surrounding you. So like now my nephew was two and a half.
It's been nothing, but I've got him. I'll say what does King Kong do? And he beats on his chest and what does Franklin's like do any walks and how like the wolf man? So I'm like, you're gonna. Right. No only good ones. Yeah, I'm the fan, so I'm and he'll like hide his face behind like a cape and so I'm like, yeah, I've done my duty. He's gonna. How could you feel about a couple years ago they were going to make that the universe, right? And they were gonna have the mummy. You mean it? Right?
Immediately. And I just totally don't know. I was, I was working on a film. I, well, there was a production company in Universal and they were interested in me doing a film and I was writing a thing for them. And so I was there at the same time and I'm like, where is, where are the offices for these people? Because I know how to do this. What you're doing is, yeah, like, um, and I guess they're still trying to do those. They know they still need to call me. I totally agree. I mean, the original.
That's very, ever gonna be to say, but like, you know what? I love it. They need to call you. You obviously know what you're doing. Look at your shirt, man. Yeah. I mean, yeah, the mummy doing it as an action thing was wrong. I totally agree. It was to so off base. Yeah. So one final question. This might be the hardest of the interview so far. Of all of our Universal horror characters. Who's your favorite? That's actually no hard. Uh, the Phantom of the Opera.
How did you feel about the, I was going to say the recent one, but that wasn't recent. I think that came out when I was in high school. Was it a Javard Butler? Yeah. That's 20 years old to see. That's a 20 years old. 2004, I remember. No, I absolutely aged myself. You know, that recent movie from 20 years ago. It was in 2004 as well. I'm like, yeah, I've got no hair left as it is. I refused to believe that. But I remember really liking that movie when it came out. I remember I was so excited.
I was like, oh my god, it's a Universal Monster. And I remember reading early press where they said that the creature from the black of you was going to be in it. So, and now the storyboards have come out where he would have been in it. He wanted to. I was like, I remember walking out there and like, but why wasn't the creature like that? I want to see the creature in color and see how green and, you know, it was fun. And now it's, it's, I like it a lot more now than I did then.
I don't know, I guess because I've adjusted to it and I see what. But it is, it's not as bad as, as reputation would have. I agree. I heard some bad things about it. But me and my friends rewatched it maybe a year ago. And to be fair, we did. We had some beverages were consumed. So maybe they were like, this is incredible. We were just singing the whole time. Maybe it's the 20 year nostalgia that just kind of set in there.
But also it's, I mean, it's got some cool stuff like the whole steampunk atmosphere with like all this bad tree and, and I mean, yeah, there's a lot of action. But, but you're kind of engaged and you kind of give a damn versus I think now there's, it's, it's so just like chaotic and stuff you can't. But, yeah, the CGI is a bit rough around the edges, but it still feels old school universal monster. It isn't as far removed as like, we probably thought it was back then. Really, at least I thought.
But yeah, to Phantom of the Opera, the musical Gerard Butler. That's another one that's sort of appreciated in time. I don't like his disfigurement. I think he looks still too good. It's hard to make sure our Butler look ugly man. It's a handsome dude. He's got some acne. Oh god, he's so hideous, but not really still pretty good. He's pretty good. You could do a bit more. I think that was our consensus too. We were like, I do him. That's fine.
But it's, I know I kind of, again, the fact that they did it and it's all like they built those sets. They had those extras there. They did it, you know, in camera. And Joel Schumacher's passed away now. So it's like, oh, he's dead and I love the lost boys and I like Batman for, I'm a 90s kid. I'm a 90s kid. It was a good movie. But I just don't like it just, he needs to be more screwed up looking. I really like the Robert England fan of the opera. That one never gets enough. Yeah, absolutely.
But at least he's messed up looking in that. Would you ever be interested in doing like your own remake of one of these movies? Yeah, that's my end game. Yes. In IMAX, with IMAX cameras on location at the Paris Opera House and do it like the mystery novel that the novel is. I'm going to rush away the glittery romance and it's like, no, just do it as the ghost story. We're going to manifest that for you because I think that would be absolutely incredible.
And your Phantom is going to be disgusting and no one's going to want to sleep with them and it's going to be perfect. Proper disfigurement. Right, right. And a proper match. Yes, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for chatting with me today, Ansel. I want to give you the chance where can people find you? Where can they learn more about your work? Where can they buy The Great Nick D when it comes out? Yeah, the best sort of home base to find all of my work.
All of my feature films, my web series, my couple short films. Buy them on Blu-ray DVD or stream them. It's my website, Hollaninsworth Productions and I'll spell it. It's H-O-L-L-I-N-S-W-O-R-T-H Productions. And there's also a YouTube channel again, Hollinsworth Productions. And yeah, that's where you can find all my stuff. Awesome. And everything who supports independent film and the three cents that I make and streaming, I put that into the making of the movie.
And one more time, when does the great Nick D come out? When can people buy it? The great Nick D comes out on Blu-ray and DVD in June. Beautiful. Thank you so much for chatting and I will definitely give all of your pages a follow. Thank you so much, Ansel. So Sean, he seemed like a pretty interesting guy. How was that interview? Yeah, that was awesome. Anytime you get to talk to somebody about their project and something that they made and you know, get to know them better, it's pretty cool.
So yeah, shout out to Ansel and everybody check out the great Nick D. That's it for this episode. But before we go, where can our listeners find you online? You can find me, Shauna, on Instagram, TikTok and Threads. I guess that's still a thing. @ShaunaTrinidad S-H-A-U-N-A-T-R-I-N-I-D-A-D. You can find me Nicole on Instagram and TikTok at Nicole_Eldridge. And you can find me, Olivia, on Instagram @livimariez L-I-V-I-M-A-R-I-E-Z, or on TikTok @livyolife420.
And you can find the Pop Culture Junkie podcast, social media links on our website, popculturejunkie.com. From there you can find us on all podcast platforms and you can make our day by clicking subscribe or following us and giving us a five star review. And come back next week for another hit of pop culture. The Pop Culture Junkie podcast is produced by Jeff Martkn and Cheryl Lightfoot for the Pop Culture Entertainment Network. So entertain me, entertain me right now.
I need it bad, I need it bad. Cause I need it bad, I need it bad. [MUSIC]