Walkden Entertainment (aka Peter Walkden) was excited to chat with Jason Trost, the writer, director and lead actor from The Waves of Madness (2025), which will be available in 2025 in Australia and New Zealand thanks to Umbrella Entertainment.
Let’s break the ice. What is your all-time favourite horror film and video game?
Such a hard question. Favourites for me fluctuate wildly. I’ll do a favourite three of both. My favourite horror movies are The Thing, Event Horizon, and Jacobs Ladder. My favourite horror video games are Resident Evil OG, Silent Hill 2, and Alan Wake 2.
When was the pivotal moment when you got the idea of this film?
I’ve had an idea to make a side-scrolling movie for years and years, but where I got the idea for this specifically when I was reading Call of Cthulhu during the pandemic and playing the game Oxenfree. I was like, what if you slapped these two things together…
Let’s talk about your costume in the film. I was getting Chris Redfield vibes from Resident Evil. Would I be correct in saying that, or have you been inspired by another famous gaming character?
Absolutely, unabashedly inspired by Chris Redfield and Playstation One Resident Evil 1 in general.
Was The Waves of Madness inspired by any video game? If so, which ones?
It was inspired by several. Resident Evil, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, and a mix of Oxenfree and Limbo for the side-scrolling mechanics.
How long did it take to film everything in front of a green screen set up? And how long did the editing take by comparison?
Green screen shooting took about 13 days. The post/preproduction took over a year. I made all of the background for six months before we shot anything, and then I spent another six months stitching everything together after we shot.
What was your biggest challenge while making this film?
The whole thing was a challenge from top to bottom. The movie doesn’t have a single closeup. Finding tension and building moments when you never go closer than a medium shot was challenging. But perhaps shooting the film from the opposite angle and having to flop everything in post so my eye would face the camera when walking the stereotypical right to left for the movie.
In the film, there are several mentions of “Guardian Angels” Is this something that has come from a personal level or just a cool concept you’ve decided to tap into?
Both. My mom always claimed I had a guardian angel looking out for me when I was younger, and I thought that was a fun concept to explore that I haven’t seen touched upon in many movies.
I can tell, having viewed the film, what your background is when it comes to visual effects. Are you self-taught?
I’m self-taught with everything. I’ve never really gone to film school, acting class, or anything like that. But I have worked in almost every position on set across multiple films and TV shows for years. So, I have learned by doing most things.
Actress Tallay Wickham is fantastic in this film, as Francis, and I also noticed you’ve worked with her before in past films (FP 2 Beats, etc.). What is it about Tallay made you want to work with her again for The Waves of Madness?
Easy answer. We’ve been married for over ten years, and she’s my favourite person to work with. She’s incredibly talented and makes my job as a director much easier.
What’s next for Jason Trost? Can you give us any hints as to what’s coming next?
I’ve got a sequel to The Waves of Madness I’ve got ready to go that I’m very excited about, I’d love to make a franchise of black and white pulp adventures where we go after different classic monsters. But all that depends on what happens when the film is released. In the meantime, I’m working on a very cool little cosmic horror movie set in the untamed wilderness of Tasmania when “something” comes out of the Aurora Australis (southern lights) where I finally get to take a break from the green screen which will be nice. Then, if People respond well to Waves when it releases, I’ll happily hop back in Legrasse’s boots.
Why should the people of Australia see this film?
Because they’ve never seen this movie before, I think in a time where movies have become so derivative, focus grouped, and auto generated; it’s important to support cinema that tries to break the mould and bring us something new. Without experiments, cinema cannot evolve.
THE FP COLLECTION IS NOW AVAILABLE, THANKS TO UMBRELLA ENTERTAINMENT!
Published: 4th December 2024
Written by: Peter Walkden
CONNECT WITH PETER WALKDEN:
FOLLOW US ON LETTERBOXD:
@Peter_Walkden
THANK YOU FOR VISITING!
0 Comments