CAUSING A DISTURBANCE II

Nick at Night - Vallelonga directing Colleen Porch

CCF: One of the things I thought was unique was you had all of these different characters and there’s not really like a singular main character/hero. It’s like Logan could have her own movie, Hud could have his own movie and then you kind of have Frank Russo emerging as the sort of hero. I thought that was really neat. Was it intended for your character to be the hero?

NV: I didn’t really want for him to be the hero. I sort of thought I was a broken hero. I wanted Hud to ultimately be the hero. At the end, my character can’t pull the trigger. He didn’t want to take the chance and he still needed Hud to save him. That script was sort of a stream of consciousness script. I wrote it from beginning to end and the only thing I added later was the flashback sequence. Logan is a great character and I probably shouldn’t have killed her, but I thought that would be shocking because you don’t really expect it to happen. I wanted it to be an ensemble, but I think Paul Sloan definitely carries the movie. He’s a throwback and he’s going to sort of make a comeback for those types of guys like Stallone and Arnold.

CCF: Yeah, I thought a little bit of Van Damme as well. He definitely has that tough guy 80’s, early 90’s feel. Yeah, you said once you realized you didn’t really want to kill off the Logan character, you still went ahead with it. That’s one of the other things I thought was pretty neat. You get used to a character and start thinking their pretty cool and then, “Nope. They disappear, die or whatever.”

NV: I thought for this type of low budget movie you definitely have to keep people guessing. When I was writing it and I got to that scene where Logan is killed, I originally was going to keep going with her. She was going to be the one. My character wasn’t even going to be in it. I thought he just be like some clandestine guy on the phone. Then in that scene, I thought, “Wow, what if he killed her right now? That would be freaky.” So it kind of just happened in the writing. I thought if I give enough interesting characters and have enough side stories going on, it will keep it moving and I’ll keep it interesting. I knew on this type of film I would be battling against people expecting special effects and huge action sequences. I knew I didn’t have that, so I wanted to make it more interesting with the characters.

CCF: How long did it take for you to write?

NV: I wrote it in about a week. I didn’t have a lot of time and it just poured out of me.

CCF: I can kind of see the stream of consciousness. But that gives it a unique little spin to it.

NV: After I wrote it, we shot it in less than two weeks. It was really a hard shoot to get all of that in 12 days. Well, 12 nights actually. The only day time stuff was the extra stuff with Colleen.

Paul Sloan

CCF: All the night scenes were actually done at night?

NV: Yeah, everything was done at night. There was one thing we started in the afternoon, part of the end sequence when the leader’s in the house and she has the mother. That was a real trick and great use of the HD technology. For some reason that day we had to start in the middle of the afternoon. I had no time. I just had to start shooting, so we shot that day-for-night. I remember Hayley DuMond going, “This isn’t going to be scary. What are we doing? This is a night scene. It’s supposed to look like Alfred Hitchcock.” And I said, “It will. Don’t worry.” We did some things in the camera and ultimately with what Ian did in post production, that whole sequence looks like it was shot in the middle of the night. That was one of the things that HD did that made it so much easier for me.

CCF: I could imagine you were probably worried it was going to come out looking like one of those hokey 70’s movies where they shoot day-for-night and it’s all blue and looks so bad and outdated these days when you watch them.

NV: Right. (LOL)

CCF: The score for the film was great as well. How did you get Harry Manfredini?

NV: We lucked out. We got real lucky. The music supervisor Mason Cooper saw maybe twenty minutes of the film and he said, “I got the guy, if he’ll do it.” And it was Harry Manfredini from “Friday the 13th.” When I heard that I said, “Wow, Could we get him?” Harry saw the film and he just loved it. He got it. He got all the things that you’re getting. He saw what was in it and wrote an incredible score. It’s an ingenious score for a movie of this size. To have that type of music supporting it is a dream. I think the music really elevates the movie and takes it to a higher level.

CCF: I was looking at some of the other stuff you’ve done and are working on and as far as genres go, you are just all over the place. You have the poker movie “All In,” a romantic comedy “ That’s Amore!” you’re working on now…

NV: I’m also producing a kid’s movie right now. My partner is going to direct it. I like movies, so I like doing a little bit of everything. I don’t want to confine myself to one genre. I did have fun with (“Disturbance”) and I’d like to do another one, but I don’t think I ever want to do it again if I don’t have the right money.

CCF: I mentioned the poker movie, “All In,” is that going to be getting to DVD any time soon?

NV: Yeah that just got picked up and should be happening soon.

CCF: On that film you had a great cast. What was it like working with them?

NV: Yeah, we had Dominique Swain, Michael Madsen, Louis Gossett Jr. The cast was fantastic. It was really, really good. Hayley DuMond, I used her again. Collen Porch is in that as well. I had a lot of really great actors. I had a little bit more money to do that film, but even that one isn’t a big budget. I’ve luckily got good actors that want to work with me on my films.

Dominique Swain

CCF: What are some of your other projects in the works?

NV: I have another action/crime movie called “Machine” that I produced. Michael Lazar directed it. That one has Michael Madsen and Neal McDonough. I don’t know if you know who Neal is, but he’s going to be the lead in the new Clint Eastwood movie “Flags of Our Fathers” and he was in “Walking Tall” with The Rock. He was the bad guy in that and he was Tom Cruise’s partner in “Minority Report.”

CCF: Oh yeah, yeah.

NV: So, that one has a good cast as well. Directing wise, I’m going to be doing that romantic comedy and I have a couple of other crime movies I’m working on. Paul Sloan and I are collaborating on a couple of projects. I’m also going to be writing some things specifically for Hayley DuMond and Colleen Porch.

CCF: It definitely sounds like you have a group of people you enjoy collaborating with.

NV: Well, you want to grow and work with as many actors as you can and that will open up if I get bigger budgets, but I like having an ensemble of people I can go back to. Sort of like the Orson Welles days. He used a lot of the same people in a lot of his movies. Scorsese does that. The great directors do and you want to follow that pattern. I have a good core of people. A couple of others I’ve worked with a few times are Michael Biehn and James Russo. These are all really good actors and I’m lucky to have worked with them all.

CCF: What’s it like working with Michael Madsen?

NV: Fantastic guy. Really professional. He’s got this prescience, an amazing presence and he’s just fantastic to work with. You hear stories about all kinds of people, but he was a sweetheart. He was prepared and all around great. In “All In” we see his character when he is young and then we see him 15 years later when he is an older man. It’s a great transformation and he has fantastic scenes with his little daughter and then ultimately Dominique Swain plays his daughter when she’s older. It’s just touching and warm and you would never think this is Michael Madsen. He’s fantastic.

Michael Madsen

CCF: Sounds good. I read some online about that film and somebody said they laughed, they cried and laughed some more and I’m thinking, “Michael Madsen’s in this?”

NV: Oh yeah. He’s fantastic in this. Then we did “The Machine” after this and he got to kill a bunch of guys again. He likes having a gun in his hands. He’s good at that. That’s what people want to see, but acting wise in “All In” he gives a great touching warm performance. And Louis Gossett Jr. What can I say? That was just an amazing opportunity to work with someone like him.

CCF: I wanted to also talk about your acting real quick. You were actually an extra in “The Godfather” when you were a kid?

NV: Yeah. I was 10. My father was working at the Copa Cobana in New York and they asked him if he wanted to be in it. They said, “You have any kids?” So my brother and I, we screen tested and we ended up doing it.

CCF: What was that like as a ten-year-old?

NV: That was unbelievable. That was the thing that gave me the bug. My first film set was “The Godfather.” It was crazy! Even though I was just 10-years-old I watched how they made the movie. I saw the behind the scenes and was talking to all the actors. That was the thing that started me wanting to make films. It was just an amazing experience. I was like running around so much Francis Ford Coppola grabbed me and said, “We saw the dailies, you’re in too many shots. You’re going to sit behind the camera.” They actually got me a little director’s chair and made me sit next to Coppola so I wasn’t in any shots.

CCF: (LOL)

NV: So here I was sitting next to him when he directed the wedding scenes. That obviously stayed with me the rest of my life.

CCF: (LOL) So if we watch the movie close, do we see like here you are in this scene over here and then you’re over here?

NV: Oh yeah. I’m all over the place. You won’t recognize me. I’d have to point myself out, but I’m in tons of the shots in the wedding sequence of “The Godfather.”

CCF: (LOL) Oh man. That didn’t spoil you any doing that film right out the gate like that?

NV: I guess it did spoil me a little bit, but I always knew the realities of this business. My father ultimately went on and started doing a lot of movies and stuff. I don’t know if you know who my dad is – Tony Lip. He was on “The Sopranos” for three and half seasons. He played Carmine the crime boss.

CCF: Oh, no I didn’t know that.

NV: Yeah, that’s my dad. He was in tons of movies. He was in “Goodfellas,” “Raging Bull,” he was always in mob movies. So I was around it a lot and it was something I always liked and wanted to do. It’s still hard. I still haven’t made it. You know what people see as “making it.” But you know, I’ve had some stuff done. Some good. Some not so good. I’ve had a lot of budget problems. I haven’t ever been able to do a hundred percent what I wanted. But it’s been a lot of fun. Even a movie like “Choker.” I did it for nothing and it was maybe the most fun I’ve had making a movie. I met some great people. It was some real guerilla style filmmaking. We didn’t have to listen to anybody. We just went out made a fun little movie. This business is hard. It’s difficult. You have to make your own experiences. I think the experience of making the movies and the people you meet, that’s what makes them fun.

CCF: Alright. I appreciate you talking to me and keep doing what you’re doing. I enjoyed “Disturbance,” “Choker” or whatever it’s called. (LOL)

NV: Yeah. Well, thank you man.

CCF: You have a good day.

NV: You too.

- CCF, October 2006