Noah Bunyan
He is the man behind One For The Road Dollar Baby Film.
SKSM: Could you start with telling me a little bit about yourself? Who are you and what do you do?
Noah Bunyan: My name is Noah Bunyan and I am a film major at the New York School of Visual Arts studying to become a movie director. I’m a longtime fan of Stephen King and Dollar Babies was a perfect chance to merge two of my interests.
SKSM: When did you know you wanted to become a filmmaker?
Noah Bunyan: For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to be a filmmaker and create art for people to view and enjoy.
SKSM: When did you make One for the Road? Can you tell me a little about the production? How much did it cost? How long did it take to film it?
Noah Bunyan: I worked on One for the Road from last November to last May. The production was only about five hundred dollars and I filmed it all in two days on a set. A majority of the time I worked went into writing, casting, and editing the film.
SKSM: How come you picked One for the Road to develop into a movie? What is it in the story that you like so much?
Noah Bunyan: I love Salem’s Lot, I love vampires, I thought I could make a dynamic bottle film with the setting and characters, and I’ve always wanted to film something with a snowstorm setting. One for the Road as a story creates this great sense of desperation and isolation and I wanted to as much as I could capture that in my film.
SKSM: How did you find out that King sold the movie rights to some of his stories for just $1? Was it just a wild guess or did you know it before you sent him the check?
Noah Bunyan: I discovered Dollar Babies through a friend, and was very excited to learn that for just $1 I could direct my own film taking from Stephen King’s stories and ideas.
SKSM: Was there any funny or special moment when you made the movie that you would like to tell me about?
Noah Bunyan: There was this hilarious moment when the whole set kind of broke down for about ten minutes. I had attempted to construct a machine that would shoot fake blood through a hose out of one of the actors by their neck for an effects scene and… it didn’t work. So, there’s about ten minutes of behind the scenes footage of me trying to use my own mouth to blow the fake blood out of the hose(also didn’t work). It was a lot thicker than I thought it would be and we ended up having to water it down and rework the scene on the spot. So, that’s just one of the surprises that can happen when you don’t test the effects beforehand.
SKSM: How does it feel that all the King fans out there can’t see your movie? Do you think that will change in the future? Maybe a internet/dvd release would be possible?
Noah Bunyan: I’m saddened that I can’t show the film I worked on to a larger audience, and hope this will change in the future. An internet/ dvd release would honestly be awesome to see, with a variety of short films from lesser known creators who are still starting out.
SKSM: What “good or bad” reviews have you received on your film?
Noah Bunyan: I’ve received mostly positive feedback, but there have been some bad reviews. We had some problems filming, mostly on account of the low budget. It was about 500 dollars to shoot so we had to find creative ways to cut corners with making the script feasible to shoot.
SKSM: Do you plan to screen the movie at a particular festival?
Noah Bunyan: Not currently, but I’ve been looking at options.
SKSM: Are you a Stephen King fan? If so, which are your favorite works and adaptations?
Noah Bunyan: I’m a longtime Stephen King fan, I have been since my first year of high school. My favorite books of his are The Shining, It, Cycle of The Werewolf, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Salem’s Lot. The original tv miniseries version of Salem’s Lot is where I got my inspiration for what spun into some pretty unique designs for the vampires in the film, and I do love the movie Silver Bullet, which is an adaption of Cycle of The Werewolf. It’s a movie where Gary Buddy builds a rocket powered wheelchair and fights a werewolf which is exactly what I want out of my cinema. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon hasn’t yet gotten a film adaptation, but it has a pop up book which is pretty cool.
SKSM: Did you have any personal contact with King during the making of the movie? Has he seen it (and if so, what did he think about it)?
Noah Bunyan: I did not have much contact with King during the production of the film, but I read his original short story multiple times in preparation. I also read Salem’s Lot. I just sent it in to him to watch, and I’m waiting patiently and excitedly to hear what he has to say. Hopefully good things!
SKSM: Do you have any plans for making more movies based on Stephen King’s stories? If you could pick -at least- one story to shoot, which one would it be and why?
Noah Bunyan: I’m thinking about it, maybe one of the Dollar babies again? It was an amazing amount of fun doing my first dollar baby. I’ve got pitches for some of his larger or more well known stories if I ever get big in the movie industry. I have pitches for days. Salem’s Lot remake, a dark, Midsommer inspired Children of The Corn movie, a six to eight episode tv show interpretation of The Shining that could really do the book justice. Maybe I’d cut the hedge animals, but everything else from The Shining book is gold. I’d try to keep some of Kubrick’s set design and cinematography, but the book has a lot of untapped potential. There was a lot that didn’t make it into the movie.
SKSM: What are you working on nowadays?
Noah Bunyan: I’m working on another short film. It’s a dark comedy based around the seedy underbelly of Times Square Street Performers. I’ll probably put it up on YouTube when it’s done so you can look forward to that. I’ve also got a silent short film in the early stages. Bigfoot is in it.
SKSM: What one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
Noah Bunyan: I’m a screenwriter and a director, I’m a big movie and book guy, but I have other interests. I love to draw, for example.
SKSM: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Is there anything you want to say to the fans that read this interview?
Noah Bunyan: Stephen King’s Dollar Babies are great, and it allows anyone to make a Stephen King movie. I 100% recommend anyone with an interest in Stephen King and filmmaking take the opportunity and hopefully someday we can get more of a release of these great films made by creators who haven’t yet made a name for themselves.
SKSM: Would you like to add anything else?
Noah Bunyan: I would like to thank the amazing cast and crew that helped me along the way making my film. I would have crashed and burned without these amazing people helping me every step of the way: Bill Kozy, Jose Sanchez, Adam Files, Chelsea Logan, Sophie Larin, Matt Yturralde, Jacob Gardner, Sharon Bar Lev, Isabella Granada, Brendan Letitzia, Ethan Hoffman, and Christopher Elzy.
