Andrew Kasch co-directed the recent documentary “Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy” with Daniel Farrands. The documentary is available now on DVD. Movie Mikes had the chance to ask Andrew a few questions about the documentaries and his plans for feature films.
Click here to purchase “Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy”
Mike Gencarelli: You recently co-directed the documentary “Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy”, what made you want to make this film?
Andrew Kasch: It was kind of the next logical step for us, having dabbled with every other major franchise. Dan Farrands and I had just come off Paramount’s Friday the 13th re-issues, so we had all the resources in place to make it happen and – most importantly – do it on our own so we could finally make the kind of documentary we’ve always wanted to make.
Mike Gencarelli: How did you gather up all the talent for interviews? How many did you end up getting?
Andrew Kasch: A few people were mutual friends, but for the most part producers Thommy Hutson and Annette Slomka were on the phones day and night tracking down people. And Dan played private investigator for a month to hunt down Mark Patton. There were some people I would’ve NEVER imagined we would get, so there’s a lot to be said for persistence. I don’t think anyone thought we would cap out at 105 people though.
Mike Gencarelli: What was the hardest challenge during making the film?
Andrew Kasch: Editing was without a doubt the most grueling process. With the amount of material we had, it should have taken us a minimum of several years to cut, but we streamlined it into a few months. No sleep, no social interaction, working every minute of every day to finish. Everything after that is a piece of cake now.
MG: How do you feel about this year’s remake of “Nightmare on Elm Street”?
AK: I thought the remake was a soulless cash-in made by people who couldn’t care less about Elm Street beyond its marquee value. There was no thought, intelligence or creativity put into it whatsoever. Five minutes of the worst Freddy sequel still showed more passion than the entire running time of the remake – and Platinum Dunes had more money than the first six films combined! I’m still sad that it came to that.
MG: Besides “Never Sleep Again”, can you also tell us about your involvement with the documentary “His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th”?
AK: I put together Disc 2 of His Name Was Jason. It was my job to take all the cool things that didn’t make it into the feature (which would be EVERYTHING after it was massacred in editing) and shape them into the Extended Interviews and other bonus features. Thankfully, Dan and I formed a fast friendship on that production which led to a lot of cool project afterwards.
MG: We recently interviewed Sean Clark for our website, tell us about your involvement with “Horror’s Hallowed Grounds”?
AK: Sean and I put together the very first HHG on the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror DVD. So when we started NSA, it was sort of a no-brainer to bring him in for another locations segment. Sadly, I was so busy directing and cutting the documentary that I had no time to help out on the episode, but Sean and Buz Wallick did a good job with it.
MG: There is another “Nightmare on Elm Street” documentary in the works titled “I Am Nancy”, any connection to yours?
AK: Not really. That project is entirely Heather’s thing. I really dug the preview she gave us. Very excited to see the final product.
MG: Do you have plans for any other documentaries in the future? Interested in making feature films?
AK: Unless a REALLY good documentary project comes up, I don’t think we have any interest in going back to that world. Never say never though. In the meantime, we’re setting our sites on feature films.
Click here to purchase “Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy”
