Q&A With Director Jason Eisener – ‘Hobo With A Shotgun’

Jason Eisener is the director of Canadian movie Hobo with a Shotgun, about a hobo (Rutger Hauer) who decides that society gets in his way, so purchases a shotgun and goes on a city-wide rampage. It’s playing at the 2011 New Zealand International Film Festival and, of the film, Incredibly Strange curator Ant Timpson says: “It’s as if director Jason Eisener had downed a keg of Street Trash Viper, blended it with some meaty chunks of Texas Gladiators 2020 and Class of 1984, then vomited it all up in Technicolor”. We asked Jason a few questions and his answers were golden…

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FLICKS: Hello from Flicks, how are you and what are you up to today?

EISENER: I’m great, I actually have a little bit of time off, its been over two years since I had a full day to clean my place. I’m going to town on the bathroom, and also building a shelf for my TV and records. I’m getting prepared for my friend ‘The Blackmagic Rollercoaster’ who’s coming to visit for a month from Austin Texas. Here’s what happened when he came over last summer.

FLICKS: What should people expect from Hobo with a Shotgun?

You’re going to see stuff you won’t ever see coming from big studio film. I’m still not sure how we got away with doing a lot of what we did. Our film will hopefully put your own morals to the test. I think the movie feels like one of those nights you have with all your friends, where you stay up late watching and listening to crazy shit you found on the internet. Your mind walks away from those nights filled with insane ideas, imagery and cool music. The only thing left to do when you go home is maybe watch porn.

FLICKS: What’s your favourite line of dialogue from Hobo with a Shotgun?

“Im gonna wash this blood off with your blood” never gets old for me. I just heard the french dub for Rutger’s line “I’m gonna sleep in your bloody carcasses tonight” and it put me to the floor with laughter. We only watch the french dub now, even though I don’t understand it, it’s so funny. I can imagine the poor voice actors reading the script and forcing themselves to say all those horrible things we wrote.

FLICKS: Share your fondest memory from the set.

During the opening of the film, there is a character who has his head ripped off by a noose that is attached to a speeding truck. The blood flies from his neck like a sprinkler and a hot chick in a bikini runs over and dances in the blood. We had a background performer that day who had never had eyesight his whole life. I believe he is around 23, and two weeks before shooting the scene he had corrective surgery to his eyes. And while this girl is dancing in the fountain of blood, HIS EYESIGHT CAME BACK TO HIM. That was his first view of the world, and my AD over heard him say, “Wow red is so beautiful”.

FLICKS: What was the last great film you saw?

Ben Wheatley’s Kill List is amazing! It blew my mind at SXSW. It’s been years since I last threw my hands up in a theatre and started screaming with excitement. [Ed’s note: Kill List is also playing at the NZ Festival]

FLICKS: If you could work with any actor/actress living or dead, who would it be?

I would love to work with Stephen McHattie. He’s by far one of the greatest Canadian actors of all time. I also wish I had the opportunity to work with Keith Knight before he passed away. He was a great Canadian actor who starred in some of my favourite films like Class of 1984, My Bloody Valentine, Siege and Meatballs.

FLICKS: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

When thinking about going to University for film school, I was working as an assistant editor for Dean Soltys. One day he told me “Why dont you just take that money you would spend on film school and buy 500 DVDs and watch their commentaries, and learn how to make films by watching them and hearing how filmmakers made them”. So I did that. I still have my film school, it takes up a whole wall in my living room and is organized by filmmaker and genre.