I recently had the opportunity to chat with Tony Mandile, a first time director who's feature film MIDNIGHT MASS was recently picked up and released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment. Since we're both from the East Coast, we found much to chat about including inspiration, striking deals, NOT shooting at Coney Island and Weddings/Bar Mitzvahs, enjoy!

I'm a huge fan of end of the world human survival films. As a first time director, what is it exactly that attracted you personally to the project of Midnight Mass?

Several things. Firstly, I'm also a huge fan of that particular sub-genre. I've always enjoyed films like "Last Man on Earth" and Romero's "Living Dead" films. It was interesting to me to see a story where the vampires weren't approached as the romanticized characters they've become in the past few years. I saw it as an excellent opportunity to "re-invent" vampires the way I thought they should be - as horrific creatures, not love objects. I also found myself drawn to the crisis of faith that plagues the two main characters. I saw it as a real opportunity to make a film that really meant something. I wanted to prove that low budget doesn't necessarily mean you have to forsake a truly excellent story.

I'm not going to ask you what your favorite horror film is. However, we would like to know to what extent you feel horror's past has influenced you and your filmmaking.

I've always seemed to gravitate more towards the films whose endings are a bit ambiguous. I hate to see things wrapped up neatly with a little bow by the end. I really enjoy films that leave you scratching your head and saying "huh?" as you're leaving the theater. That's something I always enjoyed about Carpenter's stuff. It never TRULY ends. You've only been shown a piece of the story. That's why I chose to alter the end of "Midnight Mass" slightly from the book. I wanted to give it more of that open-ended feeling.

Many moments within Midnight Mass are truly character driven, what kind of rehearsal time were the actors given? Were any of these personal onscreen moments improvised or worked out on set?

We all knew from the very beginning that "Midnight Mass" was a character driven story. It wasn't going to be a film that relied on action or special effects, but on the relationships. I believe you can never bee TOO prepared. We (the actors and I) rehearsed for weeks to develop the characters' relationships. Once we got to the set, very little was improvised. It had all been worked out in detail beforehand. Any alterations to the way the characters reacted within any give scene was "tweaked" in the rehearsal process. It allowed me more time to concentrate on the visual look of the film once we got to set because the actors knew their characters so well.

Could you tell us a little bit about the look of the film? I loved the interesting lighting techniques used including the cool blue look of the outdoor scenes. It really helped to give the impression of a barren, virtually lifeless wasteland.

And that's exactly what I was going for. I knew the film had to have a cold desolate look to it. It was a conscious decision early on to saturate all of the outdoor exteriors with that blue look. It helps transport the viewer - pulls them into this could unfeeling world that our characters must move through. I always felt that the best sense of this is the first time we see Gwen in the beginning of the film. The combination of her silent performance and the cold photography really communicated the feelings of emotional emptiness that I wanted.

Since Midnight Mass was actually shot on film, was there any point in the pre production process in which DV was considered or did budget and your original vision always entail film?

I always knew it had to be shot on film. I'm a film purist of sorts. I'm also something of a technophobe. I think DV is great for some people who don't want to spend a lot of money on their first film, but to me it will never look like film. There's a certain texture to film that video just can't duplicate. I knew it would be more costly, but for me, film is the only way to go.

MAP: Despite the fact that Midnight Mass does contain some gruesome moments, they are quite sparse in retrospect. Was this a conscious decision on your part?

Absolutely. I don't believe in gore, special effects, violence, anything like that unless it's motivated and helps push the story along. I know that sounds odd coming from a special FX artist, but I believe less is more and didn't want to detract from the story of our characters.

I noticed quite a bit of what appeared to be Coney Island in the film. Was it indeed Coney Island I was seeing or a lookalike? Were you forced to shoot really early in the morning in order to give the appearance of such a lifeless town - how did you manage to get rid of everybody?

Actually, what you thought was Coney Island was really Asbury Park, New Jersey. Every bit of this film was shot in various locations in Ocean and Monmouth Counties in New Jersey. I don't like to be too far from home and I'm also a BIG supporter of the New Jersey film industry. As long as I can keep my productions entirely in New Jersey, I will. As far as your "lifeless town" question - if you've ever been to Asbury Park, you know that's exactly what its like! There are very few people on the streets, especially in late September when we were shooting. We did close down a few streets for shooting, but there wouldn't have been much traffic anyway. At one point, it was supposedly a booming NJ shore community, but now (as you can see in the film) its full of abandoned buildings and overgrown property. It's a shame that something like that has happened to what was once a beautiful town, but it provided us the perfect location for a post apocalyptic setting.

What types of budgetary restrictions were you and the crew dealt with? Any interesting on set horror stories or did most everything work out according to plan?

Because we planned everything so far in advance, almost everything worked out accordingly. I'm a nut when it comes to preparation. We had every shot in the film storyboarded and tried to plan for every possible set back on locations. The only thing we couldn't plan around was the weather. On out first day of filming, it rained for hours. We didn't get our first shot off until three hours into the first day. It wasn't exactly the best way to start your production, but we recovered.

How did Midnight Mass and Lions Gate get hooked up? Were you both involved from the start or did Lions Gate jump in after production had started?

Lions Gate didn't get involved until the film was completed. "Midnight Mass" was financed completely independently. My partners and I then began to shop it around to possible distributors. I actually don't know the details to how or when Lions Gate got involved. I had left on a two-month trip to Mexico to do special makeup FX on a film down there. I spoke with my partner Greg Morelli (the film's producer) once a week to get progress reports. Greg and the film's executive producer, Paul Trimboli, are the ones who get total credit for working out the deal with Lions Gate. I was south of the border splashing blood around on another film set.

What's up next for Tony Mandile? Anything in the pipeline you want our readers to know about? Attending any interesting weddings or Bar Mitzvahs in the near future?

We have another project in development now - a bit of a departure from vampires. I needed to get away from the bloodsuckers for a bit before I go back and think about a part 2 to "Midnight Mass". We're keeping a tight lid on this new film until we're closer to financing and production. Keep your eyes peeled for future news... Its gonna be a really classic "creepy" kind or story. No weddings or Bar Mitzvahs, but you can always find me roaming the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors conventions every January in New York.

Tony, many thanks for sharing some of your thoughts with us, we wish you the best of luck in the future, keep us posted on future projects, would ya?

Will do! It's been great. Thanks a bunch.