ABOUT THE FILM & BEYOND
"Once again, f*** you for ruining apples for me. Have a nice day! - Chris Clark, Artistic Director - Cinema St. Louis
What Is Innards?
Innards tells the story of a couple of co-workers, who, after having an intimate encounter at work, eat some apples which they do not know are contaminated with something very dangerous. When they share dinner a couple of nights later, they discover that they each have been having bizarre cravings and that these are merely symptoms of something much more horrifying.
The History Of Innards
Innards began as a feature-length script. Originally conceived and written by Lainee Frizzo in early 2008, the idea evolved from various articles and news reports about GMO’s and produce recalls at both local and nationwide levels.
Co-Writer and Executive Producer, John Forrest, also took from his experiences working in a national grocery store chain, to give the script a realistic feeling. The inclusion of key scenes involving health inspectors and the subsequent quarantine of food items, are directly taken from actual events in the store he worked in.
Initially, the feature was a straight-forward horror piece. As re-writes progressed, the story expanded to a relentless thriller with some truly visceral set pieces and a hero that is flawed, vulnerable, and constantly at risk.
In the late-Winter of 2012, writers Lainee Frizzo and John Forrest began to think about making Innards in a shorter form. As John explains:
Since both Lainee and I work full-time it was always going to be difficult to
make a full-length feature. We had lived with the story for so long, though that we wanted to actually see it. It took us a month or so to come up with the exact scene that would make a great short. In essence, the short is the ‘top of the rollercoaster’ before the brakes let go in the feature. We felt that making this version would be a great long- form teaser of what the feature will eventually be.
Director, Bart Elfrink, had also been thinking about doing Innards as a short. John talks about the coincidence that lead to the short becoming a reality:
Bart had read the feature some time before. He was always a fan of it
and I think he, Lainee, and I had always talked about making the feature
if we ever obtained enough money. Bart had just come back from Sundance and was ready to work on something. He stopped by to see Lainee and me one day and one of the first things out of his mouth was, “Have you ever thought about doing Innards as a short?”
The screenplay was re-written as a short called "The Parasite Version" by the writers. A local St. Louis crowd-funding organization called, Passer-By came on board to assist in raising funds for the film. By the end of May, 2013, the budget had been set and funding had been achieved.
Innards was a go.
The Production
Casting for Innards took place in late May and early June of 2013. Performers from all over the St. Louis area as well as Los Angeles, New York, and Oklahoma, sent reels and screen tests. The decision to cast leads, Jeff South (“Darren”), and Pamela Mitchell (“Martina”), was made in early June.
As casting took place, the crew was being put together by Director, Bart Elfrink. Bart’s experience working on various sets and productions throughout the St. Louis area and abroad allowed the production the ability to find the best possible crew for what was to be a hectic and intense 3 day shoot over the July 4th Weekend. Bart reflects on the pre-production:
We were fortunate enough to secure a house that had been empty
for over a year (it was once owned by a member of my wife’s
family). My amazing DoP, Brant Hadfield, and I, worked for about
3 weeks prior to the shoot, designing the shots and the set for the
shoot. Since the house was empty, down to the carpet, we
had to ask favors from almost everyone we knew. We had to fill
the house with eclectic items. According to the script, the house
was our heroine’s grandmother’s home, and “She had interesting
taste.”
On July 5, 2013 Principal Photography began. Shooting was to take place from 5:00PM to 6:00AM the following morning, with the exception of an early afternoon shoot on the 2nd day that was to take place at a local grocery story in Godfrey, Illinois.
Over the next 3 nights, the cast and crew, filling every nook in the small house, managed to complete the filming on schedule.
(John Forrest) I cannot ever say enough about how great everyone involved in the film was during the shoot. At one point we were all so tired I thought we might have to shut it down and skip a night, think of some other way to shoot. It is really a tribute to all of those who gave up their holiday weekend that the film we have today is so amazing. They are the best.
Post-Production started in mid-August and the final edit of the film was completed in January, 2014.
Reflections on Innards
Jeff South (Darren) –
We were shooting at the grocery store location, a small locally-owned
business. Two teenage girls were working inside where I stood waiting for my cue to come outside and walk to my truck. The girls noticed that I
kept leaving and coming back in so one of the girls finally asked, “You’re
shooting a movie, right?” “Yes,” I said. This was my first film shoot so I
was excited to talk about the project. “So what scene are you shooting
right now?” the other girl asked me. “Me walking to my truck.” “You
have to do that more than once?” She looked at me like it was something she could do without rehearsal, which I found offensive. “It’s harder than it sounds. I have to walk out, look back at someone, and try to follow the line that they’ve drawn for me on the pavement. Seriously.”
I then realized that I, a 45 year-old man with two Masters degrees
had just informed a 19 year-old grocery store clerk that I couldn’t walk
a straight line even if someone drew it out for me on a freaking
sidewalk.
Pamela Mitchell (Martina)
This was an amazing project to be included in! From an actor’s perspective I was given such a full, real, and multi-faceted character to inhabit, which is rare- especially in a short film. The entire team was on- point, from props to lighting to sound design. The genuine love of the genre every-one possessed made creating this such a labor of love… And pun intended, the only negative factor I have with the production is a
newly insatiable need for air fresheners. Especially “Pine Scent.”
Bart Elfrink (Director/Producer/Editor)
Luckily our cast arrived in town on the evening of the 4th and we
were having a ‘get to know everyone’ party. It was a clever ruse
to get everyone together to do a blocking rehearsal on location.
Everyone was game and we went to the house location and spent
about 5 hours with camera up, blocking the scenes, and perfecting
our shot list. All the while, our Gaffer (Patrick Bond), was running
a full lighting test. It was the best thing we could have done for
our shoot. We ironed out the kinks that first night and when we
showed up for call on Day 1, we all felt super prepared…. Upon
reflection I almost wished we had shot this in the winter when
nights are longer, and not the 3 of the shortest nights of the year
with the sunset at 9:30 and sunrise at 5:00!
Lainee Frizzo (Writer/Producer)
One morning while Bart and I were doing some set decoration, he took out this box, very carefully, and unwrapped a beautiful handmade wooden “welcome” sign that his father had made for us. The sign had an apple with a little worm poking out of the side—you could tell a lot of work had gone into making it. So, Bart unwraps it, and hangs it on the door (the one Darren leans against before he goes into Martina’s house.) Almost immediately, the sign falls off the door and breaks into a bunch of pieces. Our reaction was: “Ahhhhhhhh! That was hilarious. Also terrible.” Doing set decoration with Bart also gave me an excuse to do some thrift store shopping. Probably the best find, which shows up in the movie, is the Wonky-eye owl painting (which Bart wanted to keep.) The owl manages to pull off a look that’s both sinister and dim-witted, like he has an evil plan but he can’t quite remember it.
