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Jonathan: I read your review of "Signs" a couple of days ago...it was very good.
Arrow: Thanks, dude! Have you seen it yet?
Jonathan: No, I�m gonna see it on Saturday, if it's not sold out.
Arrow: Go during the day.
Jonathan: Yeah, I�m planning to.
Arrow: So I saw the trailer for Tooth Fairy and it looked kick ass.
Jonathan: Thank you.
Arrow: You�re going for "old school" and I appreciate that being that I�m a big horror fan myself. What rating are you guys aiming for with the film?
Jonathan: I have no rating in my mind, I�m just trying to keep it as fucking scary as possible. I don�t know what they�re going to make me cut out though.
Arrow: From the script as it is right now...is it an R?
Jonathan: Yeah, it seems that way.
Arrow: Did you write the screenplay?
Jonathan: No, I did not. John Pasano wrote the screenplay (he�s also the producer).
Arrow: What was it about the screenplay that made you want to direct it?
Jonathan: I think for a first time director, when you want to sort of experiment visually, a horror film gives you the most potential to know what works visually. I think that the base of filmmaking is visual and with horror movies you get away with being visual and you also get to make another movie because hopefully, it gets to make some dough. That�s what got me in, it was a film about darkness, light and dark-- which is great to play with visually and it's also about a guy who sees something and isn�t sure if he saw it or not.
Arrow: So it�s ambiguous.
Jonathan: Which I like a lot.
Arrow: Do you play that card a lot throughout the film?
Jonathan: We do, but I don�t know how much of that will remain, it's being tested for audiences right now and if they�re confused, we�ll probably have to make things a little clearer up front which may work better for the movie. I don�t know, being my first film...I go with what I feel but I don�t know how it's going to come across.
Arrow: Do you feel that you worked so hard on it, that you�re too close and don't see it anymore.
Jonathan: Yeah�there�s one day when we needed more money for a few more days of shooting and they wanted to send back this one scene and I was like "please don�t fucking send in that scene, it�s a fucking piece of garbage, don�t send it back" but that's the one they sent in anyway. The studio wound up really liking it and it's one of the more frightening scenes in the movie. I see that now, but I was way too close at the time. I know what I was going for, but I don�t know how much I pulled off.
Arrow: In a perfect world, you�d get the time to step back from it a bit and come back to it fresh.
Jonathan: And I wish I could man, when you want to make films, you want to be able to take that step back while you�re doing it cause you wanna be able to make a better movie. I don�t know what the fuck is cheesy anymore, I don't know what the fuck�
Arrow: <laughs> You're just trying to make a movie�
Jonathan: Right, it�s so stressful. I think that most filmmakers are real movie fans too and we have the same fucking complaints about movies. In my mind, I think this movie can win awards, it's going to be the best thing ever, but then you have studios and other constraints that happen. The best way to make a good movie is to be able to take that step back and see everyone�s input but unfortunately the nature of directing, at least with this film, is that you can't take that step back...you always have to be involved.
Arrow: With that deadline looming over your head...
Jonathan: Exactly. And you have all this input coming in and you�re like...shit, shit, shit.
Arrow: How has the studio been with ya?
Jonathan: Very supportive, but at the same time, the studio is obviously going to be a little nervous about a first-time director. They�ve helped me out when I needed it, sometimes they�d come up with comments and I�d be like "Oh God, what are they doing to the film?" but that�s when you try to take the time to step back and see their point and say "okay, maybe it's not working and maybe the audience is going to be bored" and you try it out. For my first film, I think I�m kind of seeing what works, I know what I want to do and I�m seeing how I can accomplish that.
