Prior to the Los Angeles premiere of The Master Cleanse, on Saturday, October 22, at Screamfest LA, I had a chance to talk to star Johnny Galecki and writer and director Bobby Miller on the “black” carpet. Immediately following the screening of the fantasy film, Galecki and Miller joined Nerdists’ Chris Hardwick for a Q&A. Check out We Are Indie Horror’s black carpet interview below.
Star of The Master Cleanse and hit TV-show “The Big Bang Theory” Johnny Galecki talks about working on an indie set, versus television, and tells us how he came upon The Master Cleanse.
We are Indie Horror: What’s it like coming from a big TV show that you have been on for so long and then doing something like this?
Johnny Galecki: It’s incredibly different. The hours are crazier on a movie like this, the budget is much, much less. The comforts are much, much less. But you do it for the passion of the project and it was worth it on this one. Sometimes you do it and you think I’m getting too old for this guerrilla filmmaking bullshit, but for this one it was worth it. It was a passion play.
WAIH: How did you come upon the project?
JG: I read the script, I think through my agent, and I met with Bobby [Miller] to play the lead and we got along really well, we had a long lunch, and then we took an even longer walk around the block…and he called me, and the producer Jordan Horowitz, about a week later: “well we’ve already committed the lead role to another actor, but we really love your passion for it and your approach to the material, would you come on as a producer? We know you started producing recently,” and I said, “Great, but if this other actor drops out you can’t ask me to come in and do both because I’ve never produced a movie before, I don’t want to wear both hats, I won’t be able to do either properly if that’s the case.” “No, no we promise, don’t worry about it.” Then the fucking guy dropped out at the thirteenth hour and they called me. The movie would have fallen apart if I didn’t and at that point I was producing it, so now I’m in the movie. [laughs].
Writer and director Bobby Miller talks Anjelica Huston and where the idea of The Master Cleanse came from.
WAIH: How did you come up with the idea for “The Master Cleanse?”
Bobby Miller: That’s a good question. Still trying to figure that out with my therapist. It came out of trying to figure out how to do a story about something emotional that’s inside of you. How do you make that interesting with genre, spoiler alert, creatures in the movie? How do you articulate something that’s inside and “physicalize” it? That’s my best answer.
WAIH: What’s it like working with Anjelica Huston?
BM: She’s amazing and so down to earth and just really cool. In fact, when I first met her I just wanted to hang out, “can I do errands for you or something?” But she’s a total pro and completely lovely to work with.
The Master Cleanse is currently making the festival circuit rounds with the next screening scheduled in San Francisco as the opening night film at Another Hole in the Head on October 27th. For a full schedule and more information of the film, visit the film’s official website and Facebook page
You can continue to catch Screamfest LA screenings as the festival runs until October 28 at TCL Chinese Theater. Visit Screamfest’s official site for more information.
Review for The Master Cleanse coming soon.
