Excerpt from B-Movies Quarterly Issue #4
They Filmed It In Skeletorama!
An Interview with Larry Blamire, writer/director of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
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Image courtesy Larry Blamire.
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This Spring, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra graced art house theaters across the country, attracting b-movie fans who were charmed by its gentle ribbing of the classic science fiction films of the 1950s. Christopher Holland caught up with director/star Larry Blamire in April to talk about the film.
BMQ: The IMDb lists the release date for Skeleton as 2001. How long ago did the film become a twinkle in your eye, and when did production begin in earnest?
Blamire: We shot the film three years ago and it all happened over a very concentrated period of time. I wrote the script in five days (I suspect it had been lurking inside for a while) in a sudden possessed urge. We then launched into a couple of intense months: I storyboarded the entire film, listened to a ton of background music, while producer Miguel Valenti budgeted the production and handled a ton of paperwork, including city permits, and SAG contract stuff. Then there was casting, two table readings (one in Bronson Canyon with the final cast), location scouting, hunting for a DP, renting cabins at Lake Arrowhead, making props, designing the alien costumes and having them built. Then, suddenly, there we were shooting it in 10 1/2 days. It was exhausting and exciting at the same time. All in the span of like 3 1/2 months. Ironically, from the time Mike Schlesinger of Sony saw the film at the Egyptian Theatre and decided they must pick it up, to its subsequent release, it took two years!
Tell me about Schlesinger’s involvement in bringing Skeleton to Sony. I understand that he was also instrumental in the translation of Godzilla 2000 to English. Is it fair to say that he’s the guardian angel of cult cinema at Sony/Columbia?
That is a very good way to describe him. I never thought I’d meet a studio suit who knew more obscure movie trivia than I do. Or, for that matter, one with such an appreciation for cinema history – a real sense of what happened more than five minutes ago. I understand he pretty much re-edited/rebuilt Godzilla 2000. I have a feeling it’s really his baby, in more ways than we know. And if he hadn’t decided to go to the Egyptian Theatre the night we screened Lost Skeleton two years ago, we wouldn’t be in theatrical release right now – simple as that. When Mike heard our budget at the Q&A he decided “he had to have this film.” It took a long couple years but he was a pitbull about it, fortunately for us. Now, at Sony, this film has become his baby, and he’s working his ass off shepherding it through its theatrical life (he even sketched out the poster design). If I sound biased it’s because I count Mike a friend now, and he regularly joins the Lost Skeleton cast on “bad movie” nights.
The Lost Skeleton cast has bad movie nights? That almost sounds like too much fun. Were b-movie screenings part of the preparation for the cast, before and/or during filming?
Our bad movie nights are fun (though something like Herschel Gordon Lewis’ Jimmy the Boy Wonder can really be a test!). We crammed a bunch of films in before shooting Skeleton cause many of our group weren’t that familiar with the '50s low budgeters. So over a few nights my wife and I were host to Fire Maidens of Outer Space, Beginning of the End, and The Brain from Planet Arous. “Bad movie night” is really a misnomer, isn’t it, used more for clarity. We should call it “odd bizarre low budget cult film night” or something. I love these movies! Nothing that entertaining should ever be called bad.
To read the rest of this article, please order B-Movies Quarterly #4.
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