INT: Clint Hutchison

Last Updated on July 28, 2021

The Arrow interviews
Clint
Hutchison

I
recently watched the very fun “Terror Tract” which prompted me to get some more info on it. The film was directed
by Clint Hutchison and Lance W. Dreesen and it stars
“John Ritter”. Arrow hunted down writer/director
Clint Hutchison and got some chit-chat going with the lad.
Here’s how it went down:

1-
What’s your favorite scary movie?

Wow, that’s a tough one — because there are so many! JAWS
scared the hell out of me as a kid, though it’s not a horror
film per se. CARRIE really creeped me out and when that
bloody hand popped out and grabbed Amy Irving’s arm at the
end, it scared the shit out of me! (I saw it on its
original theatrical release and every seat rocked back and the
theatre was filled with blood-curdling screams). I loved
ALIENS, even more than the first one, ALIEN, because, in
addition to the horror, it rocked with its balls-out combat
sequences. Other movies that really
scared me: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE EXORCIST, HALLOWEEN,
PSYCHO. But if you pin me in a corner and force me to
pick one, I’ll have to say ALIENS.

2- Terror Tract is your directorial
debut; you were mostly a writer before. What made you want to
hop on the directorial bandwagon?

The ultimate goal was always to direct. I started out
making Super-8 films as a kid, graduating to 16mm in college,
and went through the directing program at the American Film
Institute. In fact, I started writing as a means
to direct, figuring that nobody was just going to hand me a
great script to direct, so I’d better get to work creating my
own!

3–
You wrote “Terror Tract” but share directing credit with Lance
W. Dreesen. Who directed what? Was it hard sharing directing
duties with another director? Were there lots of
“artistic differences”?

Lance and I are buddies from way back and got along
splendidly. We did not, in fact, co-direct. The
unique nature of TERROR TRACT allowed us to split the
directing chores. Lance directed the middle story with
the monkey and the wrap-around with John Ritter, while I
directed the love triangle /creeping dead story of the first
segment and the final tale with the Granny Killer.

4- Was John Ritter your first choice
of casting for the part of the real estate agent? How was it
working with the man? Did he improv a lot?

John was one of a few names on our short list. We wanted
someone who was instantly likeable and trustworthy, who could
play the black comedy of the wrap-around story, while coming
slowly unhinged. John was the perfect choice. We realized
that when the entire cast and crew cracked up watching the
dailies! John was great to work with, very professional
and a nice guy. Not a lot of improv, but then, we didn’t
ask that of him. He pretty much stuck to the script.

5- Of the three stories, which in your
opinion is the most effective?

Another
tough question! Like a parent with three children, I
love ’em all. Interestingly, we get feedback from viewers that
is all over the board — an equal number pick each of the
three tales, for different reasons. My first blush
reaction was that the monkey story was the strongest, in terms
of the script itself. But over time, the Granny story is
growing on me. Brenda Strong and Will Estes are terrific
and really brought it to life. I love the visceral
intensity of the piece, which was great fun to direct. And
more and more people are saying that story is their favourite.

6- “Terror Tract” was released by
Giant Leap Entertainment. Did you co-found the
company? Will you guys specialize in releasing genre films or
will you touch all kinds of films?

Giant Leap was formed by six partners with the same goal of
getting our own projects made. We don’t really have a
mandate as to type of genre — just anything we’re passionate
about.

7- “Terror Tract” must have been a
tough shoot. You worked with kids, a monkey and had underwater
sequences. What was the hardest aspect of the shoot?

We joke about this a lot! We tackled everything a
modestly budget movie should avoid — children, animals,
pyrotechnics, prosthetics, underwater scenes, stunts, and CGI.
What the hell! We didn’t want to make MY DINNER
WITH ANDRE! Actually, most of it went very smoothly.
We were smart enough to seek out the best professionals
we could afford in every category, so we didn’t really have
too many insurmountable problems. The little girl,
Katelin Petersen, was a pro and a real delight.

The
animals were well trained and performed admirably. But the
underwater sequence was a bitch! We filmed that
in a swimming pool in which the bottom was covered with black
plastic and sand. The sand got stirred up and murked up
the water so much that visibility diminished to almost zero!
At first we despaired and thought we wouldn’t be able to
shoot, but we improvised and restructured the sequence
visually. Actually, it worked out pretty well, because the
scene is supposed to take place on the bottom of a lake, where
there would realistically not be much visibility anyway.
And that lack of visibility
even makes it more creepy.

8- Any funny set stories you can share with us?

Some strange things were happening in the neighbourhood we
were shooting in Chatsworth, CA. Nearby, a rampaging
killer opened fire on some innocent citizens. One
morning, a drunk driver crashed into one of our production
trailers, which was fortunately unoccupied. And on
another morning, some of our crew were startled when a man in
a pickup truck screeched up
with a shotgun, asking if anyone had seen a stray dog that
killed his cat. He spotted the dog, jumped back in his
truck, and, to the horror of the onlookers, plowed over the
dog in his truck, flattening it, then wheeled out of sight.
By this point, we were starting to wonder if we had
truly descended into the TERROR TRACT!

9-
What’s next on your plate
as a writer? As a director?

I am gearing up to direct another script of mine, GINGER AND
JACK, which is a comedy-action-thriller. I am also writing
another screenplay, a supernatural thriller.

Thanks
a lot, Clint. If you have more quality genre flicks coming
soon, give me a holler. Or better yet, just rent the damn
thing. It’s fun stuff!