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24 Interviews - Ben Rock
Ben Rock, the director of the new Carlos Bernard-starring film Alien Raiders, takes a moment out of his busy schedule to talk here about the new movie, 24, and his interesting, diverse career. Second Wave Exclusive!
Second Wave: When did you first know you wanted to get into this field of work?
Ben Rock: I've been obsessed with filmmaking since I was a young kid, specifically horror filmmaking. OBSESSED. I think there was a quote about it in my high school yearbook. I always wanted to direct films, but initially I broke in as a special effects makeup artist, working on straight-to-video stuff shot in the southeastern U.S. About eleven years ago, I gave up makeup to pursue directing full-time, and I've had a lot of luck along the way and I've been able to make a living as a director since 1999, but this is my first feature.
BR: For me it all started in theater. When I was in high school and college I was very active in the theater, and did all of my first directing for the stage. Like a lot of people, I went to film school . I went to the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. Right out of film school I worked as a special effects makeup artist. After I got out of that, I was offered the position of production designer on "The Blair Witch Project," and even though I don't consider myself a production designer I was so excited about that project that I took the job. The shoot was probably the most fun I've ever had doing anything, and when the movie blew up I happened to already be in LA. Thanks to that hype and a roster of short film and documentary projects, I was able to spin all of that into getting a shot at directing. If "Blair Witch" hadn't come out, I don't know what I'd be doing today. SW: What is Alien Raiders?
BR: "Alien Raiders" is part "Dog Day Afternoon," part "The Thing." It's a very naturalistic, almost real-time movie about a group of armed-to-the-teeth militants who lock down a grocery store in rural Arizona and take everyone hostage. What at first appears to be a robbery turns out to be... Much worse...
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SW: As a first time director, the project must feel like your child. Looking back now, how would you describe the overall experience? BR: Truly insane. Life-changing. I was hired to direct the film about seven weeks before shooting was to commence and I had to oversee a HUGE rewrite. Three weeks later the Writers Guild strike began, and we had to be DONE rewriting. The shoot itself was only three weeks long -- fifteen days from December 3rd through the 21st -- and we couldn't go over that or we would have been shooting on Christmas. |
Carlos Bernard and Courtney Ford in "Alien Raiders". |
BR: Without a doubt, it was the timeframe. We were making a film with a fairly sizable cast, lots of guns and gunfire, a monster, chase scenes, etc. To film a gag like a single gunshot can take a good deal of time, just to make sure it's 100% safe, and we had dozens of gags both bigger and more complex than that almost every day. There were days where we were shooting 9 pages -- basically ten per cent of the movie in one day. I would also say that getting the script into shape wasn't easy, but Julia Fair worked her ass off to make it as solid as possible before the strike. She was really amazing. SW: What is your next project?
BR: I can't really talk about either of them yet, but I just finished producing a series of viral videos to promote a new TV show that premieres in the fall, and my next project is likely to be a web series for a fairly big entertainment company -- a very "Twilight Zone"-ish project that looks to be a bunch of fun. SW: Why did you cast Carlos Bernard in the film?
BR: Firstly, I'm a HUGE fan of his and "24." Before the days of Tivo, my wife and I used to have a party every week to watch the show, and often twenty or more friends would show up and we'd glue ourselves to the tube for that hour like it was the Superbowl. When I was hired to direct "Alien Raiders," as is always the case, I had to submit a list of top five potential actors for the lead and Carlos was on my first list. I wanted someone who could handle the action and the drama, and come across as extremely smart and conflicted. He's playing a rogue scientist from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who had killed his own wife, so it was ABSOLUTELY necessary that he be able to handle all of that complexity. Carlos is one of those guys who does that brilliantly.
Carlos Bernard in the film. |
SW: Would you work with Carlos again? BR: Absolutely. Tomorrow. Later today if possible. He brought so much to the part, raised the bar so much on the whole project. I think he's a major talent. SW: Carlos is known for making suggestions on 24. As well as assisting other actors. Did he do so on AR? BR: Yes, and in a very productive way. As I said, the script had be rewritten in about three weeks, and a lot of the dialogue needed to be tweaked to make it more natural, since Julia wasn't able to work with the actors to make their dialogue sound more natural to them. When I'm working with an actor and they're making suggestions, the litmus test is always this: Is it making the film better? If the answer is "yes," you need to go with it. In the case of Carlos, his suggestions almost always made the film better, and he wasn't precious or pushy about any of them, though he does really know how to sell an idea. |
BR: I think it's hard to beat season 1 for the pure surprise of it all, but I think it was season five where they killed off Tony, Michelle, and President Palmer all in one episode and that took BALLS.
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SW: Your favorite 24 character? BR: There have been a lot of great characters that have come and gone over the years, but I think my two favorites are probably George Mason or Bill Buchanan. Not that it's easy to be the action star, but characters like those, or Michelle or Chloe or Edgar, they really bring a life and naturalistic humor to the show that makes it feel more like it's happening in the "real world." SW: And your favorite 24 “moment”? BR: That would also be a tie: When Teri died at the end of season one, that blew me away, just knocked the wind out of me. Then in season 4 (I think) when Jack was cornered and couldn't trust anyone at CTU so he called in Tony, my wife and I both sat up and said "YEAH!" when we saw him come in guns blazing. SW: Would you ever consider going to work on 24 as a director? Or as a writer? BR: I would do just about anything to even be considered. |
Rock picks out Tony's first appearance during Day 4 as one of his top moments. |
BR: I think it's impossible not to be influenced by "24," as it brought a very documentary aesthetic into mainstream entertainment. We didn't set out to copy its style in "Alien Raiders," but we knew we were going to be majorly handheld for most of the movie and I think that's something we might not have done pre-"24." In answer to your second question, the entire reason I follow the show is because I shadowed a director named Krishna Rao on an episode of "The Chronicle," which he was directing. When he wasn't directing, Krishna was one of the most sought-after cameramen in town, and he'd operated the pilot episode of "24" for Stephen Hopkins. The show premiered about a week after he told me about it, and I checked it out, and that was the beginning of my addiction. Krishna is the director of photography on David Mamet's "The Unit" right now, incidentally. Great guy. SW: What else would you like to do in your career?
BR: Honestly, any day that I get to work as a director is a good one. Right now I'm working to get more features off the ground. I have a few that I'm trying to get interest behind at the moment. I'm excited about directing TV as well, but features are a place where the director gets to really put their stamp on their work, and the challenge of that is a lot of fun. Of course, I hope next time they give me more days to shoot -- is 16 days asking too much? SW: One final question: What would you say to Jack Bauer if you ever met him?
BR: "I don't know anything! No, REALLY, I don't.... No. NO!!! Put down the wires! Please....... AAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Thank you very much for taking your valuable time to provide us some insight into Alien Raiders as well as yourself. Stay tuned with Second Wave for all the latest news on Alien Raiders.
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