Eric Stanze is certainly a busy man. The Ratline writer/director/everything man is currently working on a plethora of new films. For fans of Ratline, he is working on putting together the roadtrip film Stoplight, starring Eli DeGeer. Lucky for Legless Corpse, he took the time out of his hectic schedule to answer a few questions for us, ranging from Ratline and Stoplight to what it takes to bring his thoughts and ideas to life.

LEGLESS CORPSE Ratline brings together a conglomeration of indie horror stars. What was it like bringing together all of that talent into one movie?

ERIC STANZE: For much of the Ratline shoot, we were flying by the seat of our pants.  Obstacles and setbacks assaulted us every day, and it was a huge challenge to complete the shoot.  But one area of production that presented zero problems was casting.  The timing was right to bring together Emily Haack, Jason Christ, DJ Vivona, Joe Engle, and Steve Potter, who had all been in past movies I’d directed.  Plus we got Sarah Swofford, who’d been in an impressive film called Sugar Creek, and Amanda Pemberton, who had built a name for herself as a model, especially modeling for Suicide Girls.

Emily Haack and Jason Christ have their followings, but I wasn’t really thinking about that.  I just needed talented, reliable actors who could help me bring a challenging film across the finish line.  Everyone rocked.  All names mentioned above were wonderful to work with, and they all contributed great performances.

LC This film incorporated a historical backstory with the paranormal activities of the Ahernbe, which was an actual psuedo-paranormal side of the Nazi SS. How much research went into this? I was pretty convinced and fascinated by that storyline.

ES: I did a ton of research, and I enjoyed every bit of it.  I tend to do a lot of research when I write.  Partly, I want to make sure the historical aspects of my fiction get as close to historical fact as possible… but I am also often inspired by the research.  A lot of the facts I dig up spark new ideas that make the fiction I’m writing pop.

LC The ending of the film brought about memories (for me, at least) of Luc Besson’s The Professional. What path do you think Penny went down after the film ended?

ES: That question is interesting to me because there were multiple endings proposed and debated.  That was the toughest part of the story to nail down.  In one version, Crystal and Penny both ride off into the sunset together.  In another version, the BloodFlag is destroyed.  In another version, one of the other Nazi scientists pops back up at the end.  Eventually I decided the vague ending – what now appears at the end of the film – worked best.  I liked not knowing where Penny is headed or what her frame of mind is.  Some people think she’s taking the BloodFlag to go initiate a new string of evil deeds.  I think she’s going to try to destroy it.  We’ll never know… unless there’s a sequel.

LC: You’ve got Stoplight coming up next. Can you give us a little backstory on this film?

ES: I currently have multiple projects in the works, but I’m working with bigger studios, pulling together bigger budgets… which means everything is moving very slowly.  I set Stoplight in motion because I wanted to do a smaller project while I waited for the bigger films to gain momentum.  Ratline was released long enough ago that I was getting antsy to make another movie… and I’ve always been a “C’mon keep up with me!” filmmaker, not an “Okay, I’ll wait here until you tell me I can start,” filmmaker.  Stoplight was designed to be done on a smaller budget.  And it is a much less mainstream film… darker, edgier, more confrontational… it goes for the throat… and, at the same time, it is probably more thought-provoking and more multi-layered.  This isn’t the kind of thing a bigger studio wants to touch – not even at the million or half-million-dollar level – which is why we are raising the budget ourselves (again) and (for the first time) conducting an Indiegogo campaign to bring in some cash.

Also, Stoplight is a road-trip film… and I’ve been dying to do a road-trip film for about fifteen years.  I have a multitude of story treatments and screenplays dating back a decade-and-a-half… all road-trip films, and all terrible.  Stoplight struck a deep cord with me, though, and I knew I’d finally found my road-trip film.

5) As always, your fans have eaten up everything you’ve put out. I love your films and eagerly anticipate all of your upcoming work. If you could put out any film (regardless of budget), what would the story be and who would your dream cast consist of?

Firstly, thank you for the kind words.  That means a lot to me.  As far as “any film” and a dream cast… that’s hard to say, because I tend to select my next project based on the kind of experience I want to have at that time.  I’ll want to experience a certain method to getting a movie made, so I’ll pick a project that delivers that experience.  I’ll want to experience being submerged in a specific “world” a movie creates, so I’ll start building a story around that.  The cast who joins on are the like-minded collaborators who desire to share these experiences with me.

I’ve heard people say that 95 percent of making a great movie is getting the script and the casting right… and that actually shooting the movie is just the mechanical necessity of creating the final product.  I disagree with this.  Strongly.  To me that’s like saying, “I’ve stretched the perfect canvas and put all the perfect colors on my palette, so now I don’t really need to put any effort into painting this painting.”

I think script is storytelling, selecting the cast is selecting your storytellers, and making the movie is creating art.  A great script and perfect cast can still result in a lackluster, forgettable movie if nobody bothers to turn these resources into art.

I want the experience of painting the painting.  That’s my reward for all the hard work, sacrifice, bullshit, and agony that goes in to making a truly independent film.  So at the end of each project, I sit back and think about what kind of experience I’d like to have next.  Cast and crew either gravitate to me, or run away terrified.
We would like to extend a huge thanks to Eric for taking the time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions!
Just a heads up to all fans, hit up the following link to help bring Stoplight to life!
The Stoplight Indiegogo campaign runs through July 26th: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stoplight–2