INT: Mike Pereira

Last Updated on July 28, 2021

ARROW IN THE HEAD
INTERVIEWS
MIKE PEREIRA

 

Mike
Pereira is a newcomer and Canadian filmmaker who has written and directed
his first feature horror Indie film,
Dillenger’s Diablos

(read our review here) which
premiered at the first annual Indie Can Film Festival at the Canadian Film
Centre in Toronto, Canada. I was lucky enough to be able to watch the film
and get to talk to the passionate yet very humble writer/director about his
film, and it’s possible sequels. (Dillenger’s Deadwalkers and Inferno)

 

Can you talk about the
casting?

 

Molly, Dennis, and the
character of Ted (Nadiya Shah, Andrew Chang, and Dylan Ramsey) were people
that I worked with on a short film I did. That was probably a good year
before I started [Dillenger’s] Diablos. We shot something, but it never
panned out. It was so pretentious. It was a piece of garbage. It was
totally out of my element. I felt so bad that they took the time to shoot
that short film. I said,” You know what? I’m going to have something else
I’m going to work on, and you guys are going to get leading roles just for
you.” Dennis, Molly, and Ted were specifically for those three actors.

 

I was also going for people
that didn’t know the genre. I told them to stay away from anything of the
genre, so that the performances wouldn’t fall under a stereotypical
category. We’re playing this extremely real. There’s nothing worse than
doing movies with real horror fans in it. (laughs)

 

The role of Jeff is the
only part I mainly auditioned for in Dillenger’s Diablos. Dillenger’s part,
I only saw two people before I got to him. (Eran Schwartz) Eran was
perfect. He did not look like the role I envisioned, but through a
conversation, he completely understood. He said everything I was thinking
of. The role of Jeff (Brian Covert) I auditioned a hundred people to
actually get that role. The funny thing is, alot of the male actors in the
film were people who auditioned for Jeff.

 

You say this is already
a planned trilogy?

 

I wanted each film from the
trilogy to be completely different from the other. Visual style, even the
way we’re scoring it. The satire and the characters would be the only
things that are the same. The first film is definitely small. The second
one will be the “Empire Strikes Back” of the series. It will have the
multiple subplots, and they all kind of interlock. It’s really fast paced
and it has entirely different dialogue. We will take every film in the
series and reinvent it.

 

Why are you making the
trilogy?

 

I wrote Dillenger’s
Diablos, and when I was writing it, I became inspired when I finished
writing it. It just came to me. I had no intention of making a sequel, and
when we got to the ending I thought, ‘Wow. I’m just getting started. We’re
just focusing on the filmmakers, why don’t we get into the second part where
we focus on the studios?’ I was then only planning for two movies. The
second one just came naturally. I have the whole complete story structure
in my head. It wrote itself. It probably was the easiest thing I ever
wrote story and character wise. I was thinking, ‘ If I had money, what
would I do differently in the second one?’ There was no intention to make
anything commercial, since trilogies are in. When I came up with the idea,
trilogies weren’t exactly in.

 

Somebody was always asking
me, “How about a third one? You can’t just do two.” The first one we focus
on the indie filmmaker, the second one we will focus on the studios, and the
third one we will focus on the fans. What better way to end the trilogy
then end it where the idea came from?

 

Where did you get the
idea for Diablos?

 

I had the idea since
college. I thought, ‘ Sh*t, this is way too big and expensive to even
try.’ I put it on the backburner (The whole synopsis and treatment). Then
eventually after doing two shorts that both sucked, I said, “Aww f*ck, I
gotta do something that’s closer to me.” The story’s really good and it
keeps on coming back to me. The way Diablos became inspired was from
Cannibal Holocaust. When I first watched it, I felt really nauseous.
I thought, ‘Holy sh*t! It looks like a snuff film!” I was convinced this
was a snuff film. I thought this would be a perfect idea for a movie. It
spawned Dillenger’s Diablos. I thought it was kind of humorous that
somebody is making these [snuff] movies and sending them over to Hollywood
as actual films. The audience never knowing that the stars of the movies
never survive. That’s where that idea came from.

 

Writer Director
Mike Pereira

 

Is there anyone who has
inspired you in the business?

 

Oh sh*t! So many people!
Definitely John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Dario Argento, Stanley Kubrick.
George Romero, definitely. If there’s one thing that life kind of reminds
me most of is the mixture of horror and the mixture of satire that Romero
does very well. I’ve always liked that. It’s a good way to take the
traditions of the genre, and go somewhere totally different with it by
throwing in satire.

 

So how long did this
project take you?

 

The movie took eleven days
to shoot. We literally had to shoot it completely consecutively. We
couldn’t take any days off, because everyone took some time off to do the
movie. Post production was a whopping eighteen months. (laughs) Eighteen
months of working on the editing special effects, CGI work, and the score.
I was so burned out making the movie. I went through panic attacks.
Basically, I went through every horrible thing you can think of.

Pre-production was a good
eight months because I had the script completely finalized.

 

In the movie, you were
lucky enough to get great talent and plenty of gory moments. How were you
able to do that with such a limited budget?

 

First off, the budget of
the movie, I don’t mind telling you is 6,000 Canadian, which was spent
through money in my savings account. Also, my fiancée put in five hundred
bucks. My associate producer put 500 bucks in as well. We basically killed
ourselves to make this film. If you really want something, you gotta be
determined. Every person who did this movie did not get paid for it. I
definitely ensured them that I wouldn’t forget them, and if we actually made
any money off of it, they would definitely be getting a piece of it. Most
of them did not do it for that. Most actors are used to doing independent
projects and most of them never get finished. Most of them did it for
passion. They loved the script. The understood what I was trying to say.

 

Matt Dillenger (the main
character/villain in the movie) is very passionate about filmmaking. Would
you say a part of him stems from your personality?

 

Definitely. There’s
definitely a lot of me in it. Not everything of course. I definitely don’t
hate actors. Dillenger has a bit of Orson Welles in him. When the series
progresses, we kind of get into why he hates Hollywood so much. He’s
talking through experience. There’s a reason why he thinks the way he
does. He’s like the tragic villain. Definitely Dillenger is insane, but
he’s not completely off either, and when the series progresses, he becomes a
little more sane.

 

You have very
interesting characters in this film. Essentially the villains. I find the
villains are the ones with the most personality and their the ones that
audience gets to watch the most. My personal favorites are Titus (Jay
Clarke) and Cross.( Neil Green) Will we be seeing more of them in the
sequel?

 

Oh yeah. I won’t say how
long they will last though. I like in sequels when you can knock off
characters that you like. In Diablos, I do that too. Some of the
characters that you get attached to, you try to bump some off. It gives you
a sense of danger and unpredictability when you do something like that.
Cross and Titus will have much bigger roles in the second one. The sequence
in the kitchen is very reminiscent of what the tone of the second one is
going to be. More comedic, far, far more gory and more disturbing. I
probably will definitely have problems getting this onscreen. (laughs)

 

Are there any plans for
distribution?

 

We have had offers for DVD
distribution. Nothing about theatrical distribution because I have no idea
how this will plan in theatres. You can’t market it as a straight horror
movie. It’s something very different. I decided not to settle with any
distribution when it goes to the festival circuit. I will get feedback from
people and just build up a hype or interest for the sequels, because the
second and third one are more interesting and bigger. I want to let my
imagination go, and not be restricted by the budget.

 

What are you planning to
work on next?

 

I have another script I’m
working on. It’s a more traditional horror movie, and I have the sequel. (Dillenger’s
Deadwalkers) The interests for the sequels are getting more and more hyped
up.

 

Are there any words of
wisdom or advice you would like to give any young and inspiring filmmakers
out there?

 

Just keep at it. You hear
that a lot, but making a film is an uphill battle. It’s not fun. I mean,
sure there’s a lot of fun in making films, but it’s probably the worst time
I ever went through. I think I got every white hair imaginable making this
film. (laughs) It’s really hard. Everyday is a test. You’re going to go
through a lot of obstacles. It’s not going to be remotely easy, but if you
really want to make it, go ahead and do your movie the way you want to.

 

Thanks to Mike for the film and
his time!

 

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