WHAT IT’S ABOUT: A somewhat campy sci-fi tale involving a group of scientists, a teleportation chamber, and a captured little girl. Of course, we have a surprise twist at the end.
Visceral Matter was Richard’s “grad film” as he calls it. It had a running length of approximately 48 minutes, and was filmed after his graduation from USC back in 1997. It served as his first real foray into directing a full-blown film (although still considered a short), giving him the hands-on groundwork needed to pull off the feature length Donnie Darko several years later. Visceral Matter was essentially self-financed (rumor has it Richard’s supportive parents help foot the bill) so that Rich could have a better “directing reel” to go along with his written work as he tried to get his foot in the Hollywood door. The movie also established a working relationship with producer Sean McKittrick and editor Sam Bauer among others. As with The Goodbye Place, it has not been released to the public either on video or in the theaters.
Trivia:
:: Richard did much of the special effects work on the movie himself, using a now-ancient PC and a copy of Caligari’s Truespace. For many of the shots, he’d leave his computer “rendering” the scene on overnight. Not exactly Industrial Light & Magic, but quite good considering the low-end technology.
:: During one day of shooting near Edwards Air Force base air force base in California, the crew was told to leave immediately because they were trespassing. Some fast-talking and deft handling of the film shot to that point enabled them to keep what they had without the authorities catching on.
:: Most of the film sets and props were hand made by Rich and crew, including production designer Leslie Keel. Another case of squeezing every penny possible out of the budget.
:: While essential in getting Richard’s feet wet as a director, some studio executives were concerned that he would take Donnie Darko in the same direction and were hesitant to finance that script after watching Visceral Matter.
| Images
from Visceral Matter (click the photos for a larger version) |
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