Movies & TV / Columns

Gregory Lamberson Talks About His Upcoming Action Flick Guns of Eden

February 3, 2021 | Posted by Bryan Kristopowitz
Guns of Eden

The 411 Interview: Gregory Lamberson

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Gregory Lamberson is a director, writer, and producer who has been making movies since the late 1980’s, starting with the classic horror flick Slime City. Since then, Lamberson has directed such movies as Naked Fear, Slime City Massacre, Dry Bones (he co-directed this with Michael O’Hear), the absolutely fantastic horror comedy Killer Rack, Johnny Gruesome (the best movie of 2018), and the unsettling horror flick Widow’s Point starring modern horror icon Craig Sheffer. Lamberson is also an author, responsible for the books Black Creek, Carnage Road, Johnny Gruesome, The Frenzy Wolves, and The Jake Helman Files series (Lamberson also co-directs with Chris Scioli the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival). Lamberson’s next movie is the non-stop action flick Guns of Eden, which has recently launched an Indiegogo campaign (check out the campaign here). In this interview, Lamberson talks with this writer about why he wants Guns of Eden to be his next movie, the Indiegogo campaign, and more.

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Bryan Kristopowitz: How did you know you wanted Guns of Eden to be your next movie as a director?

Gregory Lamberson: I wrote the first draft of the screenplay 25 years ago, when I lived in New York City. Once in a while I would pull it out of the drawer, but I never gave much serious thought to making it. It’s a big movie. I remember watching Rambo (the fourth one) in a theater opening day and thinking, “Holy crap, that’s my ending!” About six years ago I pulled out my typewritten script and manually entered it into my screenwriting program, and my friend Philip R. Rogers painted a concept poster for me. I started a Facebook page for the film, and it seemed like there was a lot of interest in what I wanted to make – something that embraced movies like Deliverance, First Blood and Southern Comfort. I noodled around with the script, but still kept it on the backburner. I made Johnny Gruesome and Widow’s Point, and planned for my next project to be this werewolf film I’m hot to make, while developing a bigger budget film based on my zombie novella Carnage Road.

I was so sure I was going to make that werewolf film, but Covid-19 fragged that plan. It just wouldn’t have been practical logistically, or from a budgetary point of view. I typically make a movie every two years, and I wish I could do one every year. And now it’s been two and a half years since Widow’s Point, and I’m pulling out my hair. I didn’t have to think long to come up with Guns of Eden as an alternative, because it’s set mostly outdoors, and I can make it with a skeleton crew.

BK: When and where do you plan on making Guns of Eden?

GL: As long as we raise the money, we’re shooting it this summer. I live in Buffalo and make all my movies close to home. My co-producer, Tamar Lamberson, shares my address. My other co-producer, Chris Cosgrave, who is shooting the movie, lives five blocks away. The story is set in the great outdoors, and we started scouting locations before the weather turned cold. We’ll mostly be at parks and on private property. I want to make it picturesque – waterfalls, caverns, things like that – so it doesn’t look like the same trees over and over.

BK: How did you cast your lead actress?

GL: The premise of the script is that Megan Forest, a female cop suffering from PTSD, takes on this army of gunmen who are hunting her after she and her friends witness an execution while camping. My script is intense and suspenseful. Cosgrave is going to shoot it in an exciting manner. I wanted a lead actress who looks as I envisioned the character 25 years ago, and who could carry the weight of the film on her shoulders and be convincing in action scenes. That’s a tall order, a demanding role. I did not do a massive casting call, but I did put out the word, and auditioned a handful of talented actresses who each had something to offer, women I’ve worked with in one capacity or another in the past. John Woodruff, who directed Animal Among Us, recommended Alexandra Faye Sadeghian. I think Alexandra sent her headshot and links to my wife Tamar. We liked her work and how she marketed herself, arranged for her to self-tape an interview, and did a zoom call with her – not a formal interview, but a “getting to know you” meeting. We all clicked, and Tamar and I offered her the role, as much as we could without having funding in place. Alexandra’s done a lot of production work as well as acting, so she understands what an undertaking this is going to be in a Covid world. I’m excited about the whole cast we have so far, and look forward to collaborating with them. We’ll be announcing different key players during the course of our crowdfunding campaign.

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BK: How long did it take to make your “proof of concept” trailer?

GL: There are three parts to that pitch video. The first thing we shot was the sizzle reel that shows the characters running around the woods shooting at each other. I didn’t have to script that, because Cosgrave and I knew exactly what it needed to be, and he had some shots he wanted to do, so I pretty much left him to his own devices. He shot each of the four main actors in it – Jessica Zwolak, Dominic Luongo, Trazz Johnson, and Bill Kennedy – separately, one at a time, so everyone would be safe. A day here and a day there, spread out over a couple of weeks. I stopped by for the craft services, and to look at the helicopter.

And then when winter was upon us, I scripted and directed the introductory action piece with me, which we did in one day – in two hours, to be exact! The third part was me making my pitch to the camera, which we shot at the Screening Room in Amherst, where we held Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival last year. We only had the room for two hours, so Cosgrave cobbled together a teleprompter for me that worked as well as one of those $200 prosumer models – that’s the way we’re going to do everything on this show. So he spent maybe four half days shooting the portion he was in charge of – plus another half day for the helicopter – and we shot the two portions I was in charge of in four hours! Showbiz, babe.

BK: Where did you get the helicopter?

GL: That’s a toy. Maybe Cosgrave found it under his Christmas tree one year. He’s going to do some very cool things with miniatures to make this look like a much bigger film than it is. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

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BK: What do you hope to get out of your upcoming Indiegogo campaign?

GL: I’m looking to raise a minimum of 70K, and I hope we do better than that. I think it’s one of the best campaigns I’ve seen for an indie film. We busted our butts putting the campaign page together. The pitch video was way less time consuming. What I really want is to make a great movie. We’ve got the plan, we’ve got the elements, we just need some money, which we know how to stretch far and wide.

BK: Just how many guns are there in Guns of Eden?

GL: Let’s see, 40 characters total, probably 35 of them packing heat, many of them have more than one piece. I’m going to say 70 guns, one for each thousand we need to raise.

BK: You’re seen running for your life in the proof of concept trailer, just ducking out of the way of hails of automatic gunfire. How did it feel being an action hero for a few brief moments?

GL: I was honestly more concerned about getting the shots we needed and getting all the other cast members out of that location as quickly as possible since it was a guerrilla shoot, but I admit I worried that my ass looked like the Death Star while I was running. I ran cross country in high school, but that was 38 years and 100 lbs. ago. Next time I want a stunt double!

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A very special thanks to Gregory Lamberson for agreeing to participate in this interview.

Check out the Guns of Eden Indiegogo campaign here!

Check out the official Guns of Eden Facebook page here!

Check out Gregory Lamberson’s Facebook page here!

All images courtesy of Gregory Lamberson.