thePULSEAndrea’s Indie Interviews
Chris Gorak ~ Director, Screenwriter, Worcester Native
By Andrea Ajemian
Chris Gorak was born in Worcester and grew up in Westborough. He’s been the Art Director on a number of Hollywood films including Fight Club, Tombstone, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. His writing and directorial debut, Right at Your Door, was accepted to the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. After being purchased by Lions Gate Films, it is scheduled for U.S. release in late 2006.
Chris, you were born right here in Worcester and then moved to Westborough. Can you tell me one of your fondest memories of Central MA?
My parents would take me downtown to Worcester’s Showcase Cinemas on Main Street for opening weekend for movies like EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. It was films like these that inspired my imagination at a young age.
What inspired your decision, after receiving a Masters’ Degree from the Tulane University School of Architecture, to move to Los Angeles and start working in production design for film?
II have always had an interest in checking out Los Angeles. It was the summer between my last two years of college when I decided to drive out there and try to get a summer job at an architecture firm. Needless to say, I did not get hired. In an act of desperation I snuck into UCLA’s career placement center and tore an internship opportunity off the wall. It was an internship to work in the Art Department on THE LAWNMOWER MAN, my first job in film.
How did you get your first Art Director position? I believe it was on the film “Tombstone?”
II blindly sent out over 100 resumes by mail to films in production, going into production, and production studios. I got one response, from Catherine Hardwicke, the Production Designer on TOMBSTONE. She hired me to be an Art Dept. Assistant on the film. By the end of the adventure, I was promoted to Art Director.
Please share with us a fond memory from Art Directing the film “Fight Club.”
FIGHT CLUB was a huge learning experience. From the shadows, watching the Director, David Fincher work was a great education. I learned an immense amount about lighting and photography.
When the producers of “Right at Your Door” told you that they’d fully fund your first feature through their company Thousand Words, what were you thinking?
I knew it was a great opportunity and I was going to do everything I could not to blow it. If it did fall through, I knew I had a stable career as a Production Designer to fall back on.
After the film was completed, what was the process like submitting to the Sundance Film Festival? How did you feel when you found out that “Right at Your Door” had been accepted?
My producers had been to Sundance with a couple of their films before. They had a great understanding of how the festival works and were able to guide us through the process. It was an exciting to be accepted into Sundance’s Dramatic Film Competition.
Now that “Right at Your Door” has been purchased by Lions Gate Films, what is the plan? Will there be a national theatrical release? If so, when do you anticipate it happening?
RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR will screen next at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 28th and 30th {right at this issue of The Pulse is going to press}. And Lionsgate will release it first in the UK around September and here in the States a few months after that.
What will be the next step in your career now that your first film as a writer/director has had so much success?
I am writing another script and reading several others that my agents bring me. Hopefully I can get another film into production in the near future. I feel writing and directing a feature film is the ultimate creative challenge.
What do you miss the most about Central MA?
Celts, Sox, Bruins, Pats! There is nothing in Los Angeles even slightly equivalent to Fenway Park.
Chris Gorak’s Filmography
Right at Your Door – ( Director / Awaiting Release / Lionsgate )
Right at Your Door – ( Screenplay / Awaiting Release / Lionsgate )
Lords of Dogtown – ( Production Designer / 2005 / Released / Sony Pictures Releasing )
Blade: Trinity – ( Production Designer / 2004 / Released / Entertainment Film Distributors, Ltd. )
The Clearing – ( Production Designer / 2004 / Released / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment )
Minority Report – ( Art Director / 2002 / Released / 20th Century Fox )
The Man Who Wasn’t There – ( Art Director / 2001 / Released / USA Home Entertainment )
Fight Club – ( Art Director / 1999 / Released / 20th Century Fox )
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – ( Art Director / 1998 / Released / Universal Pictures )
Rosewood – ( Art Director / 1997 / Released / Warner Home Video )
The Grass Harp – ( Art Director / 1996 / Released / New Line Home Entertainment )
The Grass Harp – ( Set Designer / 1996 / Released / New Line Home Entertainment )
The Hudsucker Proxy – ( Other((Stetson Visual Services)) / 1994 / Released / Warner Home Video )
Tombstone – ( Art Director / 1993 / Released / Hollywood Pictures Home Video )
Music From Another Room – ( Art Director / Released / MGM Distribution Company )
Tank Girl – ( Visual Effects / Released / MGM/UA Home Video )
The Lawnmower Man – ( Assistant to the construction coordinator)) / Released / New Line Home Entertainment )
PULSE… The Movie!
OK, so how could we resist talking about a movie that shares our name?!
Shot in Romania and the good ol’ US of A, and due out on 7/14/06, Pulse (the movie, that is) is based on the Japanese horror film Kairo. The story follows a group of friends who discover that one of their own has unknowingly stumbled upon a wireless signal that allows an evil presence to enter our world. A website that first seems to be just a scary hoax with an irresistible marketing ploy turns out to be run by a sinister and deadly force. As more and more people click on the site’s shocking images of the dead, the supernatural force pulling the strings begins to dominate the lives of the people who have logged on.
Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Steve Talley, Ian Somerhalder (the first main character to be killed off in Lost) and Christina Milian (the oh-so-sexy songstress) star.
