Nostalgia-based fantasy stories are having a moment thanks to
the popularity of “Stranger Things” giving viewers that “Goonies”-esque blend
of horror and wonder set within the mundane, real world. A short live-action movie
that falls in this genre is being planned by filmmakers and artists in New York
City and Rochester, and is scheduled to be completed in early 2019. Right now,
the creators are making a monster.
“The Molok” follows
a young protagonist named Micah as he encounters an ancient creature lurking in
a burned-down building. Inspired by the ancient god Moloch, which feeds off of
people’s repressed memories, the monster devours and assimilates their personal
possessions. Micah’s confrontation with The Molok takes place as he anticipates
the loss of his terminally-ill mother.
NYC-based
filmmaker Sam T. Wilson and Xander Chauncey, who is also one of the film’s
producers, co-wrote the story with cult classic films like “Labyrinth,” “The Dark
Crystal,” and “The NeverEnding Story” in mind. “The Molok” will feature practical
effects and old school nostalgia, but with modern storytelling techniques, the
creators say.
“The whole thing started here in Brooklyn with
an idea I had to kind of rejuvenate that Henson-era fairy tale stuff,” Wilson
says. “It’s trying to deal with some heavier issues, some darker stuff. We just
felt there was a void in those kinds of stories being told, especially for
children who really need them in this day and age.”
The monster
itself is being planned and built in town by Rochester-based artist Annalisa Barron,
who relocated here from New York City after she took part in an artist
residency at The Yards, which culminated in a performance with The Velvet Noose
at the Memorial Art Gallery. The finished beast will tower 13 feet tall and be made
of objects “sacrificed” by people from around the country and world.
“The original
creature was just going to be a lever with something heavy on one end and
basically a mask on the other, and we were looking for somebody who had some
metalworking experience and could fabricate some pieces for us. But in asking
some of the technicians and artists that we knew for tips, a friend of Xander’s
introduced him to Annalisa, and once we saw her work it was like, ‘Wow, this
could be so much more.’ And then when we met up with her. The enthusiasm she
brought inspired us to grow the project.”
One of the project’s
missions is to bring storytelling back to reality from the digital realm, and
the team decided that the monster should be made from real objects. “That kind
of authenticity could make this more than a movie prop, more of an interactive
community art project, where everybody was donating their own objects,” Wilson
says. “Sort of what the main character in the movie gets, but by giving up
their own things, to free themselves from the negativity that’s infused in
those objects.”
“With the art project it’s a very cathartic
community experience that can be shared by people outside of the film, too,” says
Nancy Pop, a Brooklyn-based producer who is managing the project’s active
social media, posting progress teasers to garner excitement around the film.
Barron is
building the creature prototype in Rochester over the summer, and will complete
the final version in the late fall. Also in the fall, the team will host a few
community “object offering events” in both Rochester and NYC, where people can
meet up and donate items that will be built into the creature. They’re planning
a NYC exhibition of the finished prototype and a talkback with Barron at Visual
Studies Workshop. The movie will be filmed in Rochester starting in December,
with a projected completion date in early 2019.
The team
says that Rochester captured their imagination for this project due to its
nostalgic warmth and working-class aesthetic. “We talked with Annalisa about
the history of Rochester that she’d learned since she’d been there,” Wilson
says. “And we saw the story of Kodak, which is so analogous to the genre we’ve
chosen to participate in — the slow dying of a film company — it’s so perfectly
illustrative of the kind of analog storytelling we’re trying to infuse with
life.
The archetypal
child hero from the stories in the 80’s was always a certain kind of “John
Everykid” in American suburbs, Wilson says. But in an age where we’re addicted
to devices, the sense of exploring and adventure in childhood isn’t as
relevant. The filmmakers want to refocus on the importance and weight of
imagination.
At the heart
of the film is the scene when Micah enters the monster’s lair, Wilson says. If
the team finds the resources to do so, they’d like to open up the lair set as a
location for the donation drive, and let the public walk in and see the
sculpture in its true environment. “But we’d need a huge space for a long time
to do that — when we’re looking at dream scenarios, that’s one of them,” he
says.
The film’s
team also includes Edna Luise Biesold, who worked on “The Color of Time” and is
here the director of photography; and Leah Hofmann, who was a puppeteer on “War
Horse” is the puppetry consultant. Micah will be played by a friend’s son,
and The Molok will be voiced by Broadway and TV star Tom Hewitt. Novelist
Steven Sherrill has donated his collection of 750 antique crutches, which will
be built into the creature and serve as its bones.
Screenings of
“The Molok” will take place in Rochester and NYC, and the eventual goal is to
get it into the festivals circuit, and then possibly make a feature or other
films based around it — they have a plan for a feature if they find investors
for it.
The team is
engaged in a crowdfunding campaign to raise $50,000 on Indiegogo, which launched April 1 and is at about $9,000
currently. They’re also looking for local sponsors for food and housing for the
cast and crew and locations to shoot in Rochester. Follow the project at
themolok.com, and on Instagram: @themolok.
This article appears in May 9-15, 2018.
