Cell Count - Interview with Todd E. Freeman

            It has been more than two months since the last Fantaspoa, but the festival is still talked about. That's because in the end of the festival, Cell Count, a movie by north-american director Todd E. Freeman, was shown, in it's world premiere.
            Cinema Arregaçado saw the movie in the festival's closing session, when the director himself answered some questions, in a fun and relaxed conversation. Todd sent a "shout out" to the readers of our beloved blog.

CA - Where did the idea for Cell Count came from?

Todd - About four years ago my mom fell to the ground unconscious in a supermarket and was rushed to the hospital. She was told that a tumor had exploded in her stomach and that the cancer had essentially spread throughout her abdomen. In the upcoming months she went through chemo, we had to shave her head, and I dealt with it by daydreaming about what I would be willing to do to save her and take the cancer away. That is the genesis of the story. What would you do and who would you sacrifice to save the one you love? Well! Then it turned into putting a living creature inside to eat the sickness and regenerate healthy cells. That part didn't happen in real life. But my mother did beat the cancer and that's the best thing that has ever happened to me.

CA - How was the creative process from the conception of the script to the choice of actors and when did you start shooting?

Todd - It's always different. In the past I've always been more comfortable writing for actors that I know and love. Cell Count was very similar. I wrote most of the parts for the great actors in Oregon that I knew. We had a small casting process for a few roles, but for the most part I wrote for who I knew. We shot in December of 2010.

CA - How was the prison used as location found?

Todd - We actually got very lucky. The state of Oregon voted for a prison to be built with our tax dollars. Once it was built, Oregon voted that it wasn't worth our tax dollars to run it. It is a brand new prison that's never had one single prisoner. Once we saw the location, we knew we had to shoot there. Our Line Producer, Ethan Black, worked tirelessly to make sure that we ended up shooting there. Really, it made the movie better than it could have ever been. We are thankful.

CA - Being the movie inspired by your mother's fight against cancer, why did you choose to do it as a sci-fi thriller instead of a straight drama, as a "normal" person would do?

Todd - Ha. Funny. Someone asked me this question at the Fantaspoa Film Festival and it gave everyone in the crowd the giggles. The answer is simple. I'm weird, I guess. I've always dealt with tragedy in odd ways. I guess I always deal with everything in my life in unique ways. I filter it through my strange brain and spit something like Cell Count out creatively. So yeah, I'm not a normal person.

CA - What were the biggest difficulties you faced, including the making of the special effects?
Todd - Years ago I had meetings with Christina Kortum who ended up doing the practical and blood effects. These ideas had been swimming in my head for years and she made them translate magnificently to the screen. Without her and digital artist Mike Prosser the film would not have worked as well as it does. I'm such a huge fan of collaborating with awesome artists who are striving to be the best at what they do. I've been blessed to work with some of the most talented actors and crew on this film. Without them, quite honestly, I'm nothing.

CA - In the credits, the production is shown as "Freeman Brothers". How is your relationship with your brother in your productions, and what are the functions taken by you both?
Todd - Well for years our production company has produced both features written and directed by myself and my brother Jason. Cell Count was written and directed by me and he co-produced and co-shot the film. For his most recent feature "The Weather Outside, coming to festivals later this year, he wrote and directed and I co-produced and co-shot. We have very similar creative minds. Very little communication, in words, has to take place. We come from the same film galaxy, just not necessarily tell stories from the same planet.
CA - Cell Count has an open ending for a sequel. You want to produce this sequel? You already have an idea about how it will be? Will it be your next project or is there something else in sight?

Todd - We are hoping to make a sequel to Cell Count. It was left open ended just to make an allowance for more fun to be had with these characters and themes. I've been writing down some basic notes about the next story and have pages of script written, but nothing concrete. I can tell you that it's called "Cell Count II: 100 Miles of Bad Road". We are currently developing two features for production later this year. One is based on one of our dad's books, "The Rest of Us", and the other is Jason (Freeman) and I's first original screenplay written together which is called "Devil Rides Shotgun". We will Co-Direct both films.

            Cell Count tells the story of Russel Cameron, a man that will do everything to save his wife from a terminal disease. Both of them accept to be subject to a experiment by a doctor that claims do have survived the very same disease himself. They are confined in a prison/hospital, with another patients looking for the same cure. But there's something evil behind everything, and they must stay together to survive.
            Watch the trailer bellow, followed by the last part of the interview with one of the Fantaspoa's creators, João Pedro Fleck, and some words from Todd to the readers of Cinema Arregaçado.