Interview: Adam Mason (They Come Knocking)

“Adam Mason, has a new film coming on Hulu, THEY COME KNOCKING. This will be a part of Hulu’s, INTO THE DARK series following Adam’s first chilling episode (I’M JUST F*CKING WITH YOU) for this franchise set around Father’s Day.

The story follows Nathan (Clayne Crawford) and his two daughters, Clair (Josephine Langford) and Maggie (Lia McHugh) on a road trip after losing his wife to cancer, when he finds his family in the crosshairs of terrifying supernatural entities.”

Adam Mason (THE DEVIL’S CHAIR, BROKEN, HANGMAN, and LUSTER) took time to speak with Horrornews.net for an interview. This talented director, writer, producer and more has accomplished quite a lot and he is talking about his new project for Hulu, the INTO THE DARK series and he directed THEY COME KNOCKING AND I’M JUST F*CKING WITH YOU for Hulu. These are films so be on the lookout at Hulu because the film opens on June 7^th.

Adam-Hi Janel, How are you doing?

Hi Adam! I am good. Thank you. How are you doing?

Adam- I am good.

Tell us about the “Into the Dark” series and the episode you directed called, “They Come Knocking” for Hulu?

Adam- Thank you. “Into the Dark” is a horror anthology show where each episode is a stand-alone movie, genre movie. Most of them are horror. They come out monthly on Hulu and yeah it’s cool. I’ve done two of them now. I just finished the Father’s Day one. Its lots of different directors and so different from each other so you kind of never know what you are going to get with them.

What was it like for you working with the cast? Everybody is doing an amazing job.

Adam- Thank you. Yes the casting was the most important aspect of putting the movie together for me. I knew if I could find the right actors the movie had a chance of being great. I was also very aware that one of the characters was a ten year-old little girl and we only had sixteen days to shoot the movie and the laws of filming with children are quite strict. A lot of the movie was shot at night so trying to find the right little girl was quite challenging. As for Clayne I had a wonderful producer on this movie called, Marshall Persinger who had done a show called “Rectify” with Clayne. It felt like a big swing trying to get him but ultimately because he had a relationship with him, he came onboard. I couldn’t be happier with the cast.

It is different when you are doing a web series as opposed to doing a television series or a film? Do you have a different process to get ready for everything or did you face any kind of challenges?

Adam- It was interesting because they are kind of set up in a TV style of production by they are movies. Each one is a feature film movie so yeah it was challenging. To only have sixteen days to film these things. It makes things difficult and you have to be creative and flexible. It was a fun way of doing stuff and TV schedules are normally shorter. TV shows are set up and you kind of have to reinvent the wheel so the cast is in place and most of the locations are built etc. etc. so it’s like a machine that already exist where as we to build the machine on this each time from the ground up. The pre-production was short and it’s like a mad dash to get everything done in time and during the shoot you know that you can’t literally get one thing wrong. There is no time to reshoot or make a mistake. I found it very enjoyable and exhausting and kind of awesome.

That is crazy though. Sixteen days and you have this amazing film.

Adam- I know. Most movies I’ve done are four or five week shoots. I have done other movies that were shorter but they were custom written to be done in that way where as these script were very ambitious. It was an interesting challenge trying to make it good you know, given the restrictions that we had.

What do you want to say to the fans and the audiences? From just sharing the trailer, people are showing so much excitement. What do you want to say about the film?

Adam- That is cool. This was interesting because it is the first horror movie of the series and seeing as Blumhouse has their name on it, I think people are expecting it to be a bit more horror than it has been. That is one of the most interesting things about the series is how diverse each episode is from one another. They are all pretty interesting and they are also wildly different. This one is a horror movie with a beautiful family drama about grieving a loved one, the death of a loved one. I tried to make an elevated horror movie and make it about something. So I am really excited to see what people will think about it.

What are you working on next?

Adam- I’ve been doing this crazy project with a band called Alice in Chains. I don’t know if you’ve heard of them?

Yes or course.

Adam- I am doing this project called “Alice in Chains: Black Antenna” for them that I’ve been doing for more than a year.

That is really cool. I love the work you do. Everything is always different. You have so much talent.

Adam- Thank you. I have a few projects in the works.

Do you listen to music while working? Is it inspiration to you?

Adam- I do all the time. It depends on where my mind takes me. I’m always listening to music.

Is there any chance at all that you would write an episode for “Into the Dark?”

Adam- Yes we’ve been talking about it. I guess we’ll see how this one goes. It really is fun, it is kind of like a family. I’d love to work with those guys again. It is a very imitate experience. I would love to write one. My writing partner is called Simon Boyes and we’ve worked together for like fifteen years. I’m always very keen to write.

You have done a little, well a lot of everything. What advice would you say to someone hesitant and with fears of not making it in this business?

Adam- I think it is very important to not give up. For me I think the most important thing is not wait for opportunities to come to you because pretty much I’ve even done has been self-generated. I am always doing stuff and that keeps me sharp. I just really love what I do so I am always out there trying to come up with some crazy plan or other.

That makes sense to me to always keep working.

Adam- Yes exactly. I feel very blessed to do what I.

Well, it was such an honor to speak with you Adam. I thank you so much.

Adam- Oh thank you and likewise. That is sweet of you. I’d love to know what you think of it when you see it.

Thank you so much Adam.

Adam – You too. Cheers.

IMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0556573/?ref_=tt_ov_dr

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