Fall movie director Scott Mann promises sky-high fun, talks casting Shazam!'s Grace Currey and more (Exclusive)
Is there any better way to end summer on a positive note than seeing a sky-high thrill ride on the big screen? Filmmaker Scott Mann is going for the knockout punch to make everyone head back to school and their post-vacation jobs with frowns turned upside down courtesy of his new Fall thriller.
Packed with twists, turns and some superb acting coming courtesy of lead stars Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner - plus the legendary Jeffrey Dean Morgan - Scott has plenty to talk to Attack The Culture about including how excited he is for the world to see his seat-gripping flick in the comfort of a jam-packed movie theater with buckets of popcorn.
As always, check out some of the interview highlights and keep scrolling to see all Scott Mann has to dish on with Fall hitting theaters nationwide Friday, August 12 with early screenings also happening at select theaters Thursday night.
How excited are you, Scott, to get this out to the masses finally?
Scott Mann: I am absolutely thrilled. I am thrilled it’s going out wide, going out to theaters. This film was kind of designed to be a thrill ride, like a theme park ride and there’s a way to experience that so it’s more. I’m super excited for people to get to see it that way. It’s always exciting.
Getting ready to share and being able to share, speaking to the likes of yourself, who are going to be able to see it. It’s been a secret for so long and it’s quite lonely making a film in some sense. It’s nice when the audience can share it and we can actually talk about the actual film. It’s great.
I’ve got to ask you, Scott. When Grace said she was not scared of heights, and I know we’re talking about 60 feet compared to 2,000-plus feet, did you take her at her word or did you see some nervous looks in her face? Because I can’t believe she doesn’t have a fear of heights.
Scott Mann: Yeah, it’s how much you trust that view, that fear of heights. Even though the scripture we were on, because it was at 2,000 feet, essentially at the edge of a cliff, on this mountain, when we first climbed up it. I kind of went first and then Grace and everyone followed together - going up it was terrifying because it is what it is. It’s what we capture on the screen.
You’re looking around and you’re really high up and the elements are battling you and you got to the top. Getting on the top was hard as well because you kind of had to go over it - then we got to the top and Grace came over and she was in tears. It was that relief, she built up to it so much and it was like a release. She cried up there and the truth of it is it was all so beautiful.
Part of this whole experience with me was finding - the location that was truthfully it, we could shoot these wide, sort of IMAX images and really capture them properly. So the beautiful of where we were and where we ended up was very apparent when we got up there. We looked down and what we filmed is what we saw. It really kind of fed into the performance and the experience so it was a lot more than what you would normally get.
I think if we would have done this film with green screens and the usual non-sense, not only would it have cost a billion dollars just to look half as good, it just wouldn’t have had the experience for the actors and the crew and everyone filming it because it all feeds through to what is captured and what works on a movie.
It’s the same way that Tom Cruise flies a fighter jet and they film it for real. It comes across. And it’s the same here. We’re up there at 2,000 feet and filming - you feel this thing.
Who is your ideal demographic for this? Because I’m thinking is this a date movie but I could see it with my family and friends. This is for moviegoers but just in your vision?
Scott Mann: I think the younger demographic for sure. We even went through a process at the end of this movie where we use this new technology to change the movie to becoming a PG-13. The original version of this movie, the girls were so improvised and had potty mouths, let’s just say, it was like 30, 40 F-bombs that weren’t supposed to be in there.
What I felt watching the film is it works really well as a thriller. That’s what works in the movie. The truth is I wanted to make a film my kids could watch because I haven’t made a film that my kids could watch yet because I’ve ended up dunking people’s heads for deep-fried - I don’t want my kids to be scarred like that.
So this one was a much more purer form of horror and thrills and it’s more like a theme park ride. So I wanted them to enjoy that and so we use this new technology to make that happen.
My view is even though I would say it’s for a wide range of audiences - I would say probably a younger group. It’s the roller coaster audience. Who wants to go to a roller coaster? That’s probably where it’s at but it’s difficult because I’m a certain age and it is honestly for me.
Check out Scott Mann talk about going with Grace and Virginia for the lead rolls, how Fall went from being a short to a full-fledged Hollywood film and more.
