Media savy
Serving as the director of a major Hollywood movie also involves a great deal of catering to media. On the day he spoke with The Beacon from a hotel room in Toronto, Mr. Peyton was scheduled for interviews for eight hours.
“We did the same thing in L.A. for two days, so it’s pretty hectic.”
From his time shooting short films for the Canadian Film Centre through to now, fantasy has played a role in the stories Mr. Peyton has gravitated towards telling. He first drew the attention of Hollywood for his work on the darkly comic short film Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl – nominated for a Genie Award in Canada for Best Live Action Short Drama.
In 2006, Mr. Peyton created the similarly dark CBC Television series What It’s Like Being Alone, which drew comparisons from critics to The Addams Family and the creative output of American director Tim Burton.
“It comes from being into fantasy movies as a kid, and I’ve always been attracted to that kind of material. When I was a kid, I read a lot of sword and sorcery books, science fiction, and my mom had this den with two bookshelves that covered entire walls. All she read was science fiction, fantasy, and horror books.”
His mother’s interests eventually became his own as he grew up in Gander. Eventually, those interests led him to attempts at creating his own fantasy worlds.
“I really like the idea of creating worlds, because it’s fun to go somewhere else and to design something else. It’s fun to go on to a set where it’s not your average day or place. That’s part of the joy of being a filmmaker and getting to create your own stuff.”
In an ideal situation, Mr. Peyton said he would love to eventually work on a darker project more in line with his own personal taste.
“I like dark, romantic material. I’ve always loved the idea of re-doing Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I have my own projects that borrow from that, where they’re either about movie monsters, grim reapers, and that type of thing. It’s just hard to get that made right now.”
However, his focus for now is to find projects he can work on that cater to aspects of the fantasy genre he enjoys, like adventure, as is the case with the Cats and Dogs film and his next project, a sequel to 2008’s Journey to the Center of the Earth – Mr. Peyton hopes to start filming in October.
“Part of it is just showing your ability and that you can handle a big movie. That earns you more and more freedom to do your own thing. When I took on Cats and Dogs, a big part of it was wanting to prove I can handle this. I wanted to get better as a filmmaker.
“I know from the outside it may seem odd – considering if you know my past work – to do this, but when you’re offered an opportunity like this, where you know you’re going to learn a lot and see all these various aspects of filmmaking and work with the people you work with, you take it. It’s such a big opportunity, even if it’s outside your normal tonal range. Part of it is taking the opportunity to make a big, fun movie and test yourself as a filmmaker so you become better.”
California dreaming
Learning on the job has been a major plus for Mr. Peyton’s development as a filmmaker, and he said living in Los Angeles has also played its role in stirring his creativity.
“It’s an industry town, clearly – a big, Hollywood, industry town. But the neat thing about it is what that does is attract a lot of artists from all sorts of professions. You get the most amazing tattoo artists, the most amazing graphic artists – it attracts a community of artists. The most interesting thing about Los Angeles is when you get into finding art galleries, you see amazing art all over the place, and you see inspiration there.”
The opportunity to meet creative Hollywood types and pick their brains has proven easier than expected. In one case, he met David Silverman, director of The Simpsons Movie, and was invited to see his band play a show.
“There’s opportunities there to hangout and just pick people’s brains about their processes, their lives, and their work.”
While he may be on the opposite coastline of the continent, he has not forgotten where he came from. To give something to people back home, he arranged for a free screening of the Cats and Dogs film in St. John’s on July 28 – two days prior to it’s official release. The screening was expected to be attended by members of the local Boys and Girls Club.
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