Rhinoceros Eyes director Aaron Woodley

Rhinoceros Eyes director Aaron Woodley

By Daniel Robert Epstein
May 6, 2004

I tried not to let Aaron Woodley know that I am obsessed with his uncle, filmmaker David Cronenberg. I think I did a damn good job of it. But that doesn’t make a difference because Woodley’s debut feature film is absolutely nothing like his uncle’s movies.

Rhinoceros Eyes is the story of Chep, a young man who lives in a prop warehouse. He spends his day sifting through all the weird movie memorabilia. His boss is fairly insane and is always trying to get Chep to go outside because he hasn’t left the warehouse in three years. Chep meets a beautiful young set decorator who needs a myriad of weird props. When Chep can’t find these strange props he puts on a Tor Johnson mask and goes around town stealing them.

This is a very difficult film to explain but it has a brilliant performance by Michael Pitt as Chep and Aaron Woodley is a filmmaker that we will be hearing from for many years.

Check out the website for Rhinoceros Eyes.

Daniel Robert Epstein: I like Rhinoceros Eyes very much. It’s weird so it's right up my alley.
Aaron Woodley: Thanks, its right up my alley too.
DRE:
I read that since you are around your uncle's movies so much and your mom is a costume designer that is the reason why there are movie props everywhere in the movie. Because you grew up around things like that.
AW:
No, my mom isn’t much of packrat. It’s not so much that. I’ve been making films for 15 years and I’ve been around my own fair share of art directors. I even dated one and I used to go to prop houses. Since I was a kid I always had an obsession with inanimate objects in general. When my family got rid of the car I was devastated because it was like a dog to me.
DRE:
What kind of a car was it?
AW:
I think it was a Fiat. It was a long time ago.
DRE:
Did you have a lot of those props made? Like the giant cherry?
AW:
We had to make the cherry.
DRE:
I love the line where the prop guy goes “Now that’s a big fucken cherry.”
AW:
Yes a little James and the Giant Peach moment there.
DRE:
Michael Pitt hasn’t ever played a role like this. What made you choose him?
AW:
I didn’t know who could play this role. It was very specific in my mind and I hadn’t seen anyone I gravitated to and the casting people weren’t grabbing me with anyone. Luckily I rented Finding Forrester of all things. Michael always groans about that movie.
DRE:
Does he?
AW:
Yeah not so much about the film itself but he’s very hard on his own work. When I saw him, he was the character. It was one of those difficult to explain moments. He looked exactly like what I was thinking and he was emoting the things I hoped that character could. There was an innocence and a darkness to him. He just seemed to be from outer space.
DRE:
The movie is obviously very personal. If you didn’t want this movie to be a cult film then forget about it, because it will be.
AW:
Sure! Thank you.
DRE:
How is this movie personal to you?
AW:
It was very personal for me. It’s a lot about feelings and ideas. It’s mainly about an experience that I wanted to delve into which is being very young and having this sense of a womb like blanket wrapped around you. Living half in a world of make believe and filling in the holes of society you don’t understand or don’t want to understand because its too frightening and intimidating. I guess it’s a latent step into society. It took me a while to drop that veil. I wasn’t Chep age’s but close too it.
DRE:
Do you view the world broken up into props?
AW:
Yeah somewhat. That’s one way to look at it.
DRE:
Did you realize you were making a movie that’s not for everybody?
AW:
Yeah I did. You have to have the market you’re going for. It’s a product that you are pushing. There are formulas of things you are supposed and not supposed to do. It’s hard to get a film like this made. To find people who are crazy enough to give you money to make something like this so I was happy to find them.

I haven’t decided what my next film is going to be but it may be more focused on who and what and why. This one was more free flow and just go wherever you feel like going. The kind of freedom you feel in film school or making your own independent films. I’m not trying to compete with Hellboy.
DRE:
Have you seen Hellboy yet?
AW:
No I haven’t but I want to.
DRE:
Its pretty good. You are a comic fan right?
AW:
I was definitely.
DRE:
Hellboy is such a great character.

Did the people who put their money into this believe they are going to make their money back?
AW:
[laughs] I don’t know if I can speak for them because I’m not quite sure I understand their motivations either. Mine was to tell this story. Along the way there are many voices and it did change drastically due to the development process and editing. But essentially it was what I was going for. Madstone Films has this Directors Program where they are trying to encourage artistic expression and a little something different. You should phone them and ask them [laughs].
DRE:
Are you a fan of cult films?
AW:
I don’t know if I’m a huge film buff but I love films. I don’t have an encyclopedic memory. I probably haven’t seen as many as B-movies as I should. I haven’t even seen Plan 9 from Outer Space, which is what the Tor Johnson mask is from. I’ve seen clips and I saw the Tim Burton movie.
DRE:
Its terrible. I’ve never been able to watch the whole thing. I’ve fallen asleep during it twice because it’s quite boring.
AW:
That is probably what would happen to me. Its just fascinating how Ed Wood just didn’t give a damn.
DRE:
Where did you first see Tor Johnson’s face then?
AW:
In the back of comic books where it was a little drawing with the x-ray specs. That face always fascinated and terrified me. It just burned in the back of my head. Beyond that visually it looks like a giant fat baby man so its kind of an adult and a newborn infant which is kind of Chep. It also looks completely shocked and horrified at everything it sees but at the same time also looks fascinated which is also Chep.
DRE:
Was your casting process for the other actors very long?
AW:
Yes for Chep and Fran’s roles we looked at a 1000 people in person.
DRE:
Did you shoot this in Canada?
AW:
Yes we did.
DRE:
You didn’t have that roster of actors that I saw in Cube and David Cronenberg’s movies.
AW:
I know it seems like there are only five actors in Canada. This is my first film and my first time working with a professional casting director. She called in many actors. I’m proud of my country and there is a great wealth of talent here. But I had no idea just how many incredible actors there were who weren’t getting work. Its exactly as you say you see the same five Canadians in every film.
DRE:
What goes through your mind when you are writing a movie like this?
AW:
A film like this is different from writing any other kind of movie. Because one usually says they are writing a sci-fi film or horror or romantic comedy. There are certain story points you hit at certain places so its more calculated. For me writing this film I just didn’t want to do that and for better or for worse I let myself go. I tried to not think too much about what I was trying to do. I wrote 40 drafts of this and the last 30 were trying to connect the dots. But initially I tried to open my mind and forget that there is world that would be judging me on every word I might write which is ultimately what happens.
DRE:
Your brother did the music for this and your mom did the costumes. What was it like working with them?
AW:
It was wonderful and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Also my girlfriend was the costume supervisor and my best friends were the editor and the director of photography. Everyone on the crew was a friend of mine so it was a lovely shoot with no egos.
DRE:
How was doing the animation?
AW:
It was all stop motion and very difficult. What we were doing there was old-fashioned puppets moving frame by frame. We averaged about four seconds a day of footage. It took longer than the live action shoot to do the animation. We were speeding it along because we were shooting it two frames per movement as opposed to the traditional one frame per movement. That results in a much less smooth movement but we had to rush it along because of the budget. It looks wonderful because our animator Neil Burns and Veronica Verkely, our puppet designer, were both brilliant.
DRE:
What made you decide to cast yourself as the porn film director?
AW:
It was thematic in that Rhinoceros Eyes is very self-referential. There is a film within the film and the dollhouse within the dollhouse. Its realities colliding and I thought it would be an extra wink to that effect. That was also the actual crew.
DRE:
How was winning the Discovery Award at Toronto International Film Festival?
AW:
It was like a dream. It was 750 members of the international press and I just didn’t think that would happen with a film like this. I was overjoyed and bizarre.
DRE:
Did you ever feel any pressure seeing as you are a member of the Cronenberg family?
AW:
Yeah he’s pretty big. I got over that years ago. I had some issues with that in film school but the more you make your own films the less you worry about standing in his shadow. Of course I’m not as good as the guy because he’s been making films for 30 years. He’s a master. It takes time to get to that level.
DRE:
What happened in film school?
AW:
I took a bit of flack. Like a lot of comments “You are only here because you want to be your uncle.” As though it wasn’t coming from an honest place and I didn’t enjoy filmmaking. Others would just shake their heads and say “Oh you poor guy. What have you done to yourself? You’re just going to be standing in his shadow for the rest of your life.” There have been reviews about this film that are obsessed with the fact that I’m his nephew and not even talking about the film. There is that happening but it honestly doesn’t bother me.
DRE:
When did you first start making short films?
AW:
I started making animated short films at the age 7 because I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario and took some courses there for many years. Then I went to film and made films there.
DRE:
Will they be released?
AW:
I would love to. I was hoping that Rhinoceros Eyes might peak the interest of some distributors. I have them all on DVD and people can purchase them through my website. If they contact me I will personally mail them one.
DRE:
Were you into movies as a young man?
AW:
Movies terrified me. My mother couldn’t take me to films for quite a while because I would freak out and run out of the theatre. I think the first film I was able to sit through in the theater was Raiders of the Lost Ark.
DRE:
I read that you were in The Brood.
AW:
I really wanted to be in it. They tried to glue the mask on me and I started bawling. I had white blond hair at the time so I’m one of the brood that is dead on the floor.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

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