Actor turned filmmaker John Woodruff fills us in on his beastly horror throwback Animal Among Us, which gets a digital and DVD release through Uncork’d Entertainment this November. We spoke with him about the film and his career. Here’s what he had to say:
John, as an actor turned filmmaker, I’m really interested in your journey – when did you decide to switch gears?
John Woodruff: Like everything, it was a process and ironically that process began when I moved to LA about 8 years ago. The acting experience is very different in LA than in NYC or random places a project might take you, so I immediately felt different about it upon getting here. Plus, I had the opportunity to meet and work for some pretty successful actors as well as a former studio head, which gave me a lot of perspective on the “lifestyle” of a successful actor vs someone outside of the industry vs someone behind the scenes who still works in the industry. To me, the studio head had it made. He could go anywhere, get into anything and had access to everything but was able to maintain a high degree of ambiguity and that was very appealing to me. As for when I fully accepted the fact that I needed to let the acting go and finally walked away from it, that was only about 2-3 years ago.
We were deep into ANIMAL and it was consuming all of my energy, attention and passion and every time I would get called in for an audition, I was so frustrated that I had to step away from the film that it completely affected the audition process. I felt TERRIBLE about it because I realized how hard it was to get those auditions and how many people out there would die for them and how hard my agents and manager were working to get them for me which made me feel obligated to go but I really didn’t want to. That was when I knew that it was time to let it go. That was a hard thing to accept because I recognized the value of the opportunity and I appreciated it and had worked very hard for it, but my heart just wasn’t in to it and I just can’t do anything that my heart isn’t into. That’s a bit of a blessing and a curse I suppose…
Was that always the goal? To work behind the lens?
JW: No, not at all, actually. I had never even considered filmmaking earlier in life because it seemed like such a far off magical thing. I could imagine being an actor, but it never occurred to me that maybe I could actually make a film until I started to be exposed to the process through acting. The first time was in college, when I took a class called Acting For the Camera which was very production oriented. You have to realize that we didn’t even have cell phones or laptops back then, haha! Maybe a few kids that were ahead of the curve, but most of us were still going to the computer lab to get on the internet and mad when we had to do that! So even while I was in college, the technology really wasn’t readily available to make a film unless you had been exposed to film or beta or MAYBE had a camcorder, but to make a REAL film was a very hard thing to do because of how hard it was to get your hands on the tools that were necessary to make a REAL movie…
So when I got out of college, a lot of the stuff I was acting in was being shot on mini-DV and it was OK, but there were still a lot of steps in the process as far as digitizing footage and stuff and honestly, the quality still was nowhere close to that of film… it was around this time that I fell into modelling, which took me to NYC and then on to Japan. It was there that I became exposed to the SLR camera… these photographers were shooting behind the scenes videos and fashion videos on the same cameras that they were shooting stills on and the video looked SPECTACULAR. It was then that I finally knew that I could try to make a film… the accessible technology had finally reached a point that made sense to me, and so I started developing my first short film, but even then, a big part of my reasoning for that was to advance my career as an actor… 
What was it about filmmaking that appealed to you – more than acting?
JW: So don’t get me wrong, I love the art and the process of acting. It’s a truly powerful and beautiful art form, but let’s be honest, the actor’s medium is theatre, not film. In theatre, the performance is pure, unaffected and is shared through a very powerful, very direct connection between the actor on that stage and the audience in that house. It is uninterrupted, unaffected and pure. It is spontaneous, intimate and fleeting. It is the truest, purest form of the art. And film just takes all of that and kind of cuts it into a million pieces, twists and distorts it in every way and completely affects the experience and process for both the actor and the audience…. All of the sudden you put this huge process in between the actor and the audience and it changes EVERYTHING. But, with that, comes limitless possibilities of the worlds that you can transport people to, the stories you can tell, the magic that you can create and THAT is the filmmaker’s medium, that is the filmmaker’s art. And I love that. I love that process. I love all of the moving pieces, the convergence of the business and the art, the complexity of the process, the risk, the collaboration, the team building, the opportunity to GIVE people jobs doing that thing that they’ve always dreamt of doing and then trying to give them the tools and resources and opportunity to do it better than they’ve ever done it before…
I love feeling obligated to push myself harder and further than I ever have before to try to do their work justice and to honor their process. And when it all comes together you have something that no one person could have ever created alone, something truly unique and beautiful that encapsulates where each of those people were at in that exact point in their life, career, artistic journey. And obviously a huge part of that is trying to do the actor justice. Capturing their performance uninhibited, pure, and then wrapping it up and presenting it with music, color, sound and a big old bow on top… and hopefully, if you did your job, it is something that they are proud of and does their process, talent, experience and art justice… no pressure, right? Haha!
And just how different have you found directing to performing?
JW: There are actually probably more commonalities than one would expect. Each is a very personal, very intimate process that requires a huge degree of strength and vulnerability while maintaining huge levels of commitment in spite of doubts and fears, obstacles and sometimes conflict both internal and external. The foundation of both is built upon a tremendous amount of preparation and then effective communication to be able to exploit that preparation, so there are a tremendous amount of similarities on a fundamental level, but with filmmaking it is less about you as an individual and more about the team on a whole.
It takes elements of that process listed above and expands it beyond you to everyone around you… everyone’s individual process becomes one big melting pot of creativity with limitless potential… it is like controlled chaos, haha and anything can happen when you put that many personalities together in such close proximity, doing something that they are really passionate about while working against the pressure of a budget and a schedule and I just love that… I love the collaboration, the energy, the climate where the unexpected could occur at any given moment and completely take you to another level and present something that you never expected or would have thought of- or present that new, seemingly insurmountable obstacle… but remember, you have this team around you… this group of creatives that are the smartest, most talented people that you could find and they are going to work together to overcome that problem with you, they are going to give you options and solutions and all you have to do is make the right decision… again and again and again, haha. It’s a trip, that’s for sure… the social dynamics of it alone are just amazing and I think that’s what I love about it the most… that it takes this process that is very personal, much like the actor’s process, and expands it into this massive collaboration with this team of people who have so many different skills and experiences and you get to live and share in that process together…
The fact that you had done so many films as an actor, and getting to know filmmakers and other industry types, did that help you later on as a producer and director?
JW: Undoubtedly. It was all of the random, weird things that happened in my life before I started making films that equipped me with the tools to make films…I just didn’t know that it was happening while it was happening, haha! I learned to block in theatre, learned to act in theatre, to break down a character, a scene, a script… I learned to adapt and evolve in improv, to let go of the structure and embrace the unknown, to trust it… improv also taught me a tremendous amount about communication and leadership, team building and group dynamic… I learned a lot about wardrobe and make-up when I was modeling, haha, photography too… I was huge into illustration and design when I was younger, which in addition to hanging out with those fashion photographers, taught me about composition, movement in a shot, framing and perspective… reading all those comic books when all I wanted to do was illustrate comic books didn’t hurt from a visual storytelling perspective either and growing up on a farm where we were constantly building things and fixing things, in addition to working construction, and then art department, in both theatre and film was definitely advantageous… I was also lucky because through the acting and modeling, I became exposed to some people who were really able to teach me a lot about the filmmaking process and really acted as guides and mentors (and still do) and they kind of give you this idea that you can do it, and tell you to do it and so you take the plunge and then you just start piecing things together from shoots you’ve been on and those seemingly random experiences throughout your life and eventually it all starts making some kind of sense, I suppose, haha…. If there is one thing it has taught me, it is how much there is to know and how little I know and how incredible the process is and the people who are able to do it over and over and over again…
When did you get the idea for “Animal Among Us”?
JW: So Animal Among Us is written by Jonathan Murphy. I met Jonathan through Cara Kidwell, a mutual friend at the time, who was looking to partner up with him to produce a film and asked me for some feedback on the script… we started going back and forth on the script and I guess they liked what I had to say, so they asked me to come on with them and help get it made… Jonathan had put together this amazing concept with these super strong characters in a way that seemed very “makeable” and would appeal to both actors and audiences alike, so the three of us started working to get it developed and up and on its feet and now here we are! But wow, what a ride, what a process, I don’t think any of us fully understood how big of an undertaking it would end up being… we definitely got in over our heads, haha! But that’s how you learn and grow and we made it through, so we’re just thrilled that the thing is done and getting out there and that it’s finding its audience… but it allllll started somewhere in the depths of Jonathan Murphy’s brilliant imagination… he definitely caught Cara’s attention with it and mine and the cast and I think he will catch a lot of other people with it too, haha!
Any inspirations?
JW: Tons. You’ll see and hear a lot of shout outs and nods to past films and authors and books in AAU and we feel like that really makes it a fun watch and adds a nice sentiment and sense of nostalgia to it. Makes it feel a little familiar in a way too, which is cool. In art you are always pulling references, references from the real world and your own personal experiences, but also from other art that you admire and aspire to. From a film perspective, we pulled a lot from late 70’s and 80’s horror, early Friday the 13th films and obviously referenced Wes Craven and John Carpenter’s work a lot. AAU is very much an ensemble cast and it’s fast and fun, so I tried to take notes on the rhythm and pacing, character and energy of Scream and how Wes Craven balanced the horror and comedy in that film… I also spent a lot of time exploring how John Carpenter handled blocking and movement in The Thing and also how his directing never gets in the way of the story but still remains so atmospheric and captivating… two of the greatest horror directors ever and two of the greatest horror films ever in my opinion and both wildly successful ensemble films, so what better to pull inspiration from than that? Outside of that I just really tried to play to what I know and have experienced in my life, so we shot in Ohio close to where I grew up and I just really tried to capture that atmosphere and aesthetic of the woods and the night and the fun, slightly creepy, adventurous feel of being a kid out there…
Practical or CGI? Preference?
JW: We wanted the film to have a certain sense of nostalgia and sentiment, so going CGI would have completely worked against that aspect of the film and I think that in spite of how effective CGI can be, audiences are often aware of what is real and what isn’t and the CGI can break the reality quickly and easily if not handled correctly… especially in lower budget films where you don’t have literally an army of digital artists building and finishing out your effects. In addition to that, I’m a firm believer that less is more and in leaving something to the imagination, and that is a huge part of this film… The characters and the audience trying to figure out what exactly is in that woods. There is nothing more powerful, more personal, than imagination… not even CGI… That being said, there is definitely a place for it, and it is an extremely powerful tool, it’s just a matter of wielding that power properly, haha!
Who saw the first cut of the film? Do you remember any suggestions they had?
JW: Our Production Designer, Jezlan Moyet, our good friend, JJ Dalton who is an amazing producer and does a lot of AD work on huge shows and a very experienced, very accomplished producer and his wife that JJ brought in with him to check it out. So it was the 5 of us. I’ll never forget that. JJ’s producer friend kept making me stop the film as he was just scrawling pages and pages of notes so that he could keep up while watching and they just shredded it, haha! In a very constructive and supportive way, mind you, it was the first cut of my first feature and they realized that, but they were honest and they were constructive and that’s what both the film and I needed… and honestly, that in and of itself is a compliment. It means that they thought it had potential, that it was worth saving. That it can be saved and that we could do it.
I knew that it wasn’t where it needed to be, but I didn’t know what I needed to do to get it to where it needed to be. Those two saw all of the issues, all of the weaknesses and suggested that I was just too close to the project to get it to where it needed to be and that I needed to bring someone with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective in on it. This was hard to hear because I was so close to it, but I couldn’t deny what they were saying… I had been deeply involved with it on a script development level and went through development, pre-pro and production as the director and one of the lead producers, then I personally cut the initial string out/assembly, so there was no denying what they were saying. I was just too close to it to see it clearly.
So Jezlan asked me if I wanted her to talk to her friend Will Gong who is an absolute killer editor… I mean this guy is working on BIG stuff and I was like no, there is no way that we can even SHOW this to Will! Haha! Well, she went behind my back (in the best of ways) and asked him if he would take a look at it and he said yeah. So she tells me this and I instantly feel so relieved that it was like I could breathe again, so Will and I met up and talked shop and had a lot of the same ideas, tastes and thoughts on film, so he said he would take a look at it. I practically threw the drives at him, haha! A couple days later he calls me up and he’s like “Hey man, would you mind if I make a few changes to this thing?” and I’m like, “Dude. It’s digital, I’ve got backup files, you can do whatever you want.” So he took it apart and rebuilt it and we started working on it together and it was incredible. The way that Will thought about it, the questions he asked, his talent as a storyteller and editor took the film to a whole new level… It was a painful process, he is SUPER straightforward and pulls no punches, so sometimes after sessions, I would be reeling, haha but he is amazing and he just crushed the edit. We passed the film back and forth several times throughout the process so that I could tweak little things here and there and we got feedback and notes from tests and applied that, but in the end, I still consider Will Gong the saviour of the film, haha!
The film looks like it’ll appeal to many many segments. But who do you believe you’ve made this movie for?
JW: We tried to make a film that would appease the hard core horror enthusiast, but not turn off the newcomer to horror, or the person that is hesitant to watch horror because of all of the negative stigmas attached to it. So my hope is that this film not only appeals to the existing horror fan, but reaches an audience beyond that through the fanbase of our accomplished and versatile cast and through telling a story that while hitting many of the tropes traditionally found in horror, won’t turn people off by succumbing to the negative stigmas often found in horror. I would love nothing more than for this film to be the gateway film for those who have yet to realize that they are horror fans and lure them down that long dark trail that leads to horrorfandom…so spread the word horrorheads, because the more horror fans there are, the more horror films there will be… and as we know, the world needs as much good horror as it can get…