BJ McDonnell has a film, and in this film he has a band, The Foo Fighters. But this isn’t your average BTS documentary featuring the strange details of causing a commotion at some hotel or how a concert nearly backfired. It’s a fictional story about what happens when the band comes to a recording space that hardly got used for very specific reasons. The Foo Fighters want their next album to be better than anything else they or anyone has ever done, so when their manager mentions a big old house in the middle of an obscure neighbourhood in California, the band takes it. But they don’t realize that the place has been cursed for years. Slowly, each and every member dies, one by one. It’s all a matter of time before someone finds out what’s causing the crazy new sounds, or who is under a mysterious influence or curse. It sounds like a fan fiction, but believe me, it’s not. It was based off a concept that lead singer Dave Grohl came up with. Since BJ was out in California, I couldn’t quite meet him in person, but we did have an informative phone call as he told me some fantastic details about the movie. Are you ready to Alt-rock?!
HNMAG: So, first thing’s first. How did you get involved with the Foo Fighters?
BJ McDonnell: Basically, my buddies James Rota and John Ramsay who are the producers of the film, they worked with Dave (lead singer) on a lot of his video and audio projects. He came to them saying, “I have a pitch idea for a movie that I want to do!” and they responded, “Oh, you don’t want to actually direct it, do you?” and Dave asked, “Well, who should I get?” so they actually threw my name in the mix to take a look at the pitch. They sent me his pitch, and I looked it over, then added my own notes of what I’d like to add to the movie for the tone and the vibe. I went a little more in depth with the past history of the house. I had a meeting with Dave, gave him ideas of what the look should be, and we talked about horror directors and movies we liked, talked about what we wanted to do with this movie, and we were vibin’ really well. That was it.
HNMAG: Sounds like you two really got along. But were there any plot points are part of the discussion that you disagreed on?
BJ McDonnell: Not so much that he wrote. When we gave the script to the writers, there were some points that we didn’t want to touch, or something that needed rewriting. Nothing really crazy, or major. For the most part it was a really great collaboration between everyone. Dave got what he wanted, I got what I wanted out of it. The writers were very easy to work with.
HNMAG: What was the band like during production? Was it unfamiliar for them or did they get into it?
BJ McDonnell: They came in because I think they were so used to doing music videos. It’s not a new thing for them, they’ve been doing it a long time. The new thing for them was having to do dialogue and having to perform AND act. So when we got together, we talked about it. Nobody seemed really nervous about it, I told them “Guys, just act naturally, we have a script, but say what you would actually say in the situation that you were given. But stay on point with the script.” After that the band started really having fun with it because of improving. And then we would just watch the guys kind of riff on each other and see them talk normally how they would talk to each other. It was a lot of fun, we got great stuff out of that.
HNMAG: Were the crew members enjoying the experience too?
BJ McDonnell: The crew had a blast. It’s one of those projects that you’re working on where people walk up to you say, “Man, I don’t say this much but everyday is so much fun.” and everything we were shooting is pretty funny. As a director who’s been a crew-member in the past, you don’t want to hear anything about people hating you. That’s always the worst.
HNMAG: What about the plot? What was it like bringing another person’s story to life?
BJ McDonnell: I kind of love that. It’s nice when you actually get a script because when you write something it’s so close to you. When you’re doing another script that someone else wrote, you can be really creative with it, it’s not something you’re tied to and it doesn’t have to be a certain way that you envisioned. When you get someone else’s script, they see it one way and you see it another way. It’s kind of fun because I’m not close to it.
HNMAG: And did the writers feel that you were accurately making the story?
BJ McDonnell: They weren’t there the whole time, but when they were there, they said they were very happy with what we did with it. I think we did a great job. The highest expectations were set in a place where we were so high with it. The people thought we were going to go as big as we did with this movie.
HNMAG: It was also interesting during that one part when you got Lionel Richie. How did you manage that?
BJ McDonnell: He was originally written in the script and we didn’t know if we were going to get Lionel Richie or not. We sent him his part of the script and he was super-pumped about doing it. It was just neat seeing him out of his element and acting in his role. Watching Dave play the piano and then those two interacting together was just hilarious.
HNMAG: Now back to Studio 666, the film was pretty gruesome. Was it your first ever horror/murder film?
BJ McDonnell: For me, I started off directing a horror film feature, then I wrote a bunch of Slayer music videos which were really graphic, so I kind of work in the horror genre. I also grew up as an 80’s horror kid, watching Friday the 13th, Halloween, and all the freaky movies from back then. When you’re doing a movie like this, you want to make it kind of fun with creative kills and stuff that people can laugh at, and make it super gnarly. That was the end goal, and me and Dave talked about this, we wanted to make it over-gnarly when things would happen. So we set out to make this as nasty as we could.
HNMAG: So you have some previous experience.
BJ McDonnell: Yeah, have had some for the past few decades, I’ve seen a lot of blood and gore. Fake blood and gore though, thank God.
HNMAG: Regarding the erm, other band in the film. Were they based off any kind of band in particular?
BJ McDonnell: No, we just wanted for them to be kind of like a 90’s band that kind of had a mysterious lore about them. We didn’t really base it on anybody or said what kind of band we wanted. They were just this band who was following their leader, they got wrapped up in this occult stuff and went along with it, then we see things turn for the worst. But it’s not based on a true story (laughs)
HNMAG: I’ve noticed you’re more prominent in working the camera and electrical department. How does directing differ from that work?
BJ McDonnell: It’s a whole different beast. As a cameraman, I’m still talking to actors and telling them what to do because sometimes the directors are off doing something else. I give them the technical details, not so much the emotional or the situational notes. I’m comfortable around actors and as a camera operator, it taught me how to work around other people. Directing’s a different thing because you from pre-production, to production, then to post, and you’re there for the whole time, which is a really long time. As a camera operator you’re just there for the job. I’ve been working on Studio 666 for almost two years now.
HNMAG: How will it get distributed throughout Canada?
BJ McDonnell: I think it’s coming to theatres. I don’t know if it’s going to be there for a week or longer, but we’ll see how it goes, and how things play out. I think it will probably come out sometime in a home theatre. Either way, it’s always fun to see in a theatre with a crowd, but these are odd times so we just hope for the best and hope people have fun watching it.
HNMAG: How do you think us Canadians will react to it?
BJ McDonnell: I think you guys are gonna have fun! I’ve shot a few movies up in Canada, so I’ve gotten to be all around you awesome Canadians and I think you guys laugh more than the Americans do. (laughs) I’m looking forward to you guys watching this movie.
HNMAG: Will you be making more films starring bands? Do you see this as a trend in upcoming movies even?
BJ McDonnell: My whole thing is I’ve been taking meetings, reading scripts, and trying to see what the next project is. I’m not just into horror, I love horror but I’m also into action films, thrillers, and sci-fi. It really depends on the right script and what comes along.
HNMAG: Will there be a possibility of your future projects being shot in Canada? Possibly once the pandemic is over?
BJ McDonnell: I hope so because I really love Vancouver. I’ve done 2 movies there in the past, and there’s one script I’m reading right now that takes place somewhere with a lot of snow in it. It’s a mountain town. That might be the right choice.
Well, BJ could be back in Vancouver really soon, we don’t know quite yet. In the meantime, be sure to check out Studio 666 in theatres, as it releases tomorrow all around Canada. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see more movies about bands in similar situations or taking on different foes. I wonder what’s next, a movie about Trooper saving a city from giant greasy slugs? Somebody please make it happen.