Staci Layne Wilson/Horror.com: To name just a few cinéma vérité styled fright flicks out this year (Brutal Massacre, American Zombie, Baghead), how does Bryan Loves You set itself apart?

Seth Landau: I think the two main reasons are it’s based on the true story of a malevolent Arizona cult from back in the early 1990s, and because the foundation is covered with many personal experiences of yours truly growing up an outsider freak, what felt like a very unwelcome New Yorker in rural Arizona. This was back when I was just entering junior high or so, so about 12 years old and up. During my college years (early 90s) I started writing for daily newspapers and I was quite fascinated by some of the cults being covered at that point by the media. I even assisted on some of the bigger stories involving such. Scary and exciting it was.

SLW: What was it about the whole cult mentality that made you want to explore it in a movie? (And, do you like Kool Aid? If so, dry or mixed with water?)

SL: I think homogenous thinking extrapolated across a community can potentially be very scary. And I felt very outside-of-the-loop after being displaced from the east coast to the desert way back during my younger years. I think that people can sometimes be dangerous and violent when someone thinks differently, especially about passionate subject matter such as religion and spirituality. I’m not like that and believe that as long as an individual isn’t causing harm to others, then they should be free to believe whatever they want unconditionally. What’s the old saying, that we’re intrigued by what is opposite of ourselves?

Regarding Kool Aid, I snort the dry stuff and in liquid form mix it not only with water, but with Red Bull, Vodka and Wild Turkey.

SLW: You have an amazing genre dream-cast… Tiffany Shepis, Tony Todd, Lloyd Kaufman, and of course yourself! How'd you assemble all these icons? (Especially you. We want to know how you talked yourself into this.)

SL: The short story is that it’s who ya know. So through some degree of connection and/or word-of-mouth, I was able to reach the stars of the movie. Step Two was them liking the script and probably believing that I could pull this off. Voila! I was very lucky things fell into place like they did. I of course am by far the least known name in the movie, both in front of and behind the camera.

Why did I play the lead? Partially because I can, and because the role is personal. Partially because I didn’t charge myself any money to do it. Partially because it’s what I am used to, having played the lead in my last feature “Take Out”, which I also directed and produced. So to me, this has become the norm.

SLW: Why no Robert Englund? Isn't he in every indie horror movie, ever?

SL: I’m a big fan, so if Robert Englund would like to be in any future shows, I’ll reserve a spot for him.

SLW: Use just a few words to describe each of the following cast-members of Bryan Loves You (in order, if possible, to create a really silly sentence) — Tiffany Shepis, Jeff Dylan-Graham, George Wendt, and Brinke Stevens.

SL: Tiffany Shepis brings the pain, JD Graham brings the sexy, George Wendt is the man, Brinke Stevens is the icon.

SLW: I saw Bryan Loves You, but I've got to take myself out of the equation as a reviewer because so many of my friends are in the movie (if it was just one or two, I'd go for it — but almost my entire Christmas Card List is in front of your cameras [all nine of them]). However, I noticed James Oster, who's got an effusive quote on the front of the DVD box, does the commentary, and has a bit part in the movie shows no such restraint. What are we gonna do with that guy?

SL: James is in the commentary but sadly, not in the movie.

SLW: Oh, too bad! All right then, maybe he's just a quote-whore.

SL: James and I first met when John Fallon at Arrow assigned him to cover a preview of BLY at our sound stage in Hollywood. Shortly after that James was assigned to review the finished movie, and after his review posted I  wrote to thank him and we then started talking more. Since my movies are so personal, it’s almost like when someone accepts my movie, or likes it or loves it or whatever, they’re accepting me. Maybe if I made stuff that was less personal, I wouldn’t so much feel that; but that’s moot because nearly everything I’ve made and will make will be close to my experiences and ideals. Anyway, I used to work in the media before abdicating that vocation for entertainment in 2000.

And I’ll always feel a kinship with reporters since that’s what I aspired to all through college and worked in the field as for five years. When someone is writing about me or the movie I made, I relate to that because that used to be me. And like any friend you meet through work, James and I just really hit it off, and he has a great kid and wife and is just a good person, a true family man, and really good at what he does. And we have similar senses of humor, which is usually how I bond with someone. Later on, when it was time to record the commentary for Anchor Bay, we invited James to be a part to provide the horror savvy and perspective of the media, not to mention he’s become one of us: the team, that is, not the Bryans. I doubt they’ll assign him to review my future movies though given these developments. But really, anytime someone approves of your art, it’s always going to get the relationship off on the right foot. Those that don’t approve, ya ignore.

SLW: The commentary was quite boisterous — you had so many people (again, gotta shout-out to my friends… Daniel Schweiger, Elissa Dowling…), how'd you keep them all on track? (Or did you? Suddenly, it ends midway through the DVD! Or so I hear… my disc actually gave out altogether at the 50-minute mark when Tiffany Shepis came onscreen. She's literally a show stopper!)

SL: The commentary recording did unfortunately end prematurely, but I believe it happened a little more than an hour after we started. And because of an incident that happened involving one of our actors, I am not permitted to address anything about the audio track. Even though the movie’s release is on the horizon, I’m still not sure whether the distributor will allow the commentary to appear on the disc released to the general public. I think the aforementioned actor’s family is threatening action if it’s part of the DVD and/or further presentation on TV or otherwise. Up until the incident it was actually a great time and I’m sorry and upset it had to end the way it did.

SLW: You mention in the commentary that the leading lady Nicole was named after an ex-girlfriend of yours. I can't help but think of Trey Parker naming the horse, Liane, in Cannibal! The Musical after an ex because of the "horse's ass" comedic cheap shots. So, why is Nicole (played by Candy Stanton) really named Nicole?

SL: I have plenty of girlfriend-causing-pain-and-suffering material in my repertoire, but this is one of the few cases in which it’s actually just the opposite. As an homage to my then-girlfriend, I named the title female lead ‘Nicole’. Come to think of it, three girlfriends are thanked at the end credits although not by their real names. I guess I’m pretty nostalgic, what can I say. And when I name characters I oftentimes use the names or some variation of such of people who are or were in my life. ‘Jonathan’, my name in BLY, is my middle name. And ‘Zack’, my character’s name in my first movie “Take Out”, is what my father wanted to name me.

SLW: I think Bryan is just telling me he loves me because he wants to get me into bed. What do you think?

SL: He’s a guy, so I’d think your instincts are correct.

[End]

Bryan Loves You comes to DVD on Tuesday, September 23rd. Landau and many of the cast will be on hand at Dark Delicacies Bookstore in Burbank, CA. for a signing that evening.