Following Up with Ho Che Anderson / Nehal El-Hadi
This interview is a follow up to Nehal El-Hadi’s interview with Ho Che Anderson, “I’m a Magpie,” in The Puritan Issue 46. Ho Che Anderson’s film, Le Corbeau, just wrapped up filming. His debut feature was funded by Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program.
Nehal El-Hadi: Can you give me a brief synopsis of Le Corbeau?
Ho Che Anderson: Our film is about a safecracker who arrives in Toronto to do a job along with two other thieves. The job is successful but afterwards Corbeau discovers something about his partners that puts his life in danger. It’s a heist/chase movie with a supernatural element. I wanted to make the kind of movie I love where when the lights go down you know you’re about to go on some kind of adventure.
NE: How did this story come about?
HA: I wrote it during film school. I had just read Robert Rodriguez’s book Rebel Without a Crew, and I was inspired to create something low budget, commercial, and achievable. The form such a project should have taken was a three- or four-character piece that took place in one or two locations. Instead, I wrote a script with multiple characters, locations, and set pieces. I was dumb. Anyway, I gave it to one of my professors with the aim that he would produce and I would direct. We tried to get it set up but we didn’t get any traction. Then Telefilm created something called the Talent to Watch program to nurture up-and-coming filmmakers, and he wound up slipping them the script. They dug it, and I guess with the cred I’d earned from some of my shorts, they felt comfortable giving us the funding—which honestly was shocking given the genre and the ambition of the story. Telefilm aren’t known for giving money to this kind of project, but we’re all immensely grateful they did. I wanted to tell a story about a lone man of action, like a low-budget James Bond minus the spycraft. Actually, the first inspiration was Walker from John Boorman’s Point Blank (1967), which is one of my favourite movies. I’ve always been attracted to cinematic badasses in suits out on a mission.
NE: What was filming it like? Any memorable anecdotes from being on set?
HA: Oh my god, plenty! But I won’t be able to tell the best ones in an interview for a few years yet. Filming was the culmination of a lifelong dream. I can say that. I became fascinated by pictures and storytelling after seeing Star Wars in ’77. I’ve been wanting to do this since I saw Taxi Driver (1976) when I was 17, and that was a long time ago. I dreamt of working with cameras and actors and editing and music for years, so to finally be using these tools is surreal and a great honour, because unlike comics, which I do alone, movies require people to invest their time and passion towards a fantasy you devised, and that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Shooting this was a combination of great joy and great pain. The doing of it, being on set, working with the actors and the crew, designing and executing shots, solving problems, the artistry of it all, the teamwork, that part was absolutely amazing, I always feel like I’m in my element when I’m doing this kind of work. That said, shooting a film is a lot of work, probably even with every resource at your disposal, and we absolutely did not have every resource at our disposal. We were trying to make a multi-million-dollar film on a lot less than that, so every day was a challenge and a compromise. And learning how to navigate all those personalities and communicate properly with certain members of the crew beat me down more than once. But I survived, and I learned a ton about what is actually achievable in a day of shooting—so tough as the experience was, I don’t think I’d change anything now even if I could.
NE: What stage is it at now, and when will we be able to see it?
HA: Not sure when it’ll be available for viewing at the moment. We’re in post-production now but the truth is, we still need a few days of shooting to properly finish, because several scenes are missing crucial shots and there are still a couple of scenes we haven’t shot a single frame on. We just ran out of time and money—that’s indie filmmaking for you. I recently finished editing an assembly, which was three hours long! Now it’s in the hands of another editor. Then it’s on to sound and FX. We have to deliver a finished movie by December. I’m very anxious to see what we’re gonna have on our hands at the end of the line.
NE: What’s your next big project? Films, books?
HA: Film-wise, I’m beginning the process of getting my next flick set up. I’m also writing a series of novellas, developing some television, and scripting two graphic novels, which I’m happy to say I won’t be drawing. Big smiley-face emoji! And I have to finish up the second and final volume of the graphic novel I’m writing and drawing, Godhead. I’ve still got a punishing hundred-plus pages to go. I have a lot on my plate but I’m having a lot of fun. Getting to wake up every day and be creative is an extraordinary privilege and I want to do my best to be worthy of it.
