Recently we heard that prolific filmmaker Michael Felsher was taking over directing duties on the long-awaited Hearts of Darkness: The Making of the Final Friday.
To find out more we caught up with Michael to talk this tell-all document on Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday.
When did you first hear about Hearts of Darkness?
I think I became aware of it around the same time as everyone else when the Indiegogo campaign was launched. I was actually one of the backers, though I didn’t grab one of the upper level rewards they were offering, because at the end of the day I tend to be pretty cheap, or shall we say, spendthrift. At first I was surprised that there would be another FRIDAY THE 13th related documentary after something as comprehensive as CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES, but it sure seemed like the core impetus behind the project seemed very personal and I was intrigued to see how this doc would illuminate another side to the film’s backstory.
Jason Goes to Hell is a polarising film but the story of its making and legacy are arguably far more interesting, is this what attracted you to the project?
Oh absolutely yes. Oftentimes the most interesting stories about moviemaking have nothing to do with the finished film itself but all the egos, dreams, and ambitions behind the project. That’s where the drama and the human interest come from, and certainly (as I have learned) that was the case with JASON GOES TO HELL. It’s quite the fascinating story, including everything that led up to it and came after its release. Plus we probably need at least an hour to fully dissect and examine the story behind the “little girl in a pink dress sticking a hot dog through a doughnut” line from Creighton Duke. Maybe two hours. I don’t know, it’s early yet.
Was it a case of discussing with Adam Marcus once the previous director departed?
I was approached by a member of the production team after they had already parted ways with the previous director. I had a Zoom call with Adam and his producing team including Allie Rivera Quiñonez and Peter Bracke and we discussed the project and what approach I wanted to bring to it, etc. It seems they liked what I had to say and I came onboard. I had never met Adam or Allie before, but we got along great from the get-go. Peter Bracke and I have been good friends for years, and oddly enough our friendship really solidified over the past several years as we are part of an online gaming group. We get together several times a week, and the game that initially brought us all together?…the FRIDAY THE 13TH game. We wore that sucker out, and I we exclusively played that for about 3 years straight. We eventually lost interest since they stopped updating the game, which was a shame. We’ve moved on to EVIL DEAD now, but we still hold out hope that the F13 game can be revived and expanded upon. It was a great bonding experience for me and several others whom I call dear friends to this day.
What do you feel are the most important elements to capture in Hearts of Darkness?
As with any good documentary about moviemaking, the nuts & bolts of production should almost always be secondary to the human beings behind it. I’m not talking about scandalous-type tabloid crap, but the creative and financial conflicts that come into play during any creative endeavour. What decisions ultimately shaped the work of everyone involved? Why were those decisions made? It’s not about finding good guys and bad guys but understanding the motivations of the people involved and what the experience of a particular film had on their personal and creative lives. With Adam Marcus, you will see just how important this project was to him, not just because it was part of a beloved horror franchise, but because it was his ascension to the “big chair” and he gave it everything he had. It’s quite the inspiring story so far.
We have seen extensive coverage of the Friday series His Name was Jason and Crystal Lake Memories, what will Hearts of Darkness give fans that they have never had before?
It’s Adam Marcus himself who I think will be the revelatory aspect of this thing. This is really a story about him, and how JASON GOES TO HELL was both the fulfilment of his lifelong ambitions to become a filmmaker and a sometimes tricky lesson in how to tread the inherently troubled waters of moviemaking. The movie was so many things to him, both incredibly positive and sometimes very negative, but you really get the sense that he learned more from that experience than even he realized until recently. This is ultimately not a story about a guy in a hockey mask, it’s about a filmmaker fighting for his vision and the great working and personal relationships he forged along the way. Its also about relationships that change and sometimes not for the better. But more than on that later.
You have worked on a number of fantastic documentaries on various horror and genre films, how does this compare?
The ultimate reason I took this on was because of Adam Marcus and his enthusiasm for this. He’s not going to be standing over my shoulder telling me what to do or not to do. I’ve got all the creative freedom I could ask for. I know it must be challenging for him since this is his story but he’s committed to telling all the sides of it. This is not going to be a hagiography or a “sunshine and rainbows” puff piece. This is also a first for me, in that, I am the director but I have a whole team of people working with me on the post-production, including a great editor in Eric Beetner who is doing all the really hard stuff! When assembling my DVD and Blu-ray materials, I’m pretty much on my own, though I do rely on some talented artists to shoot things for me and produce projects when I can’t handle more on my plate. I’ve been lucky to work with some truly gifted people in my career, let me tell you. Still, I wanted to try something like this that put me at the head of an assembled collection of other artists, so that I can really concentrate on the driving and not worry so much about keeping the car running. I’m not sure if that was a fully thought-out metaphor or not, but it’s the best I have at the moment.
Production was disrupted like a lot of things by the pandemic, is there a timeframe for getting the documentary in the can?
Right now we are in the early stages of editing and figuring out exactly what we have in terms of footage and how it will all fit together. There’s an embarrassment of riches in the content we have, so it’s going to be interesting to see how this all shapes out. In the end, you can have any number of initial plans or pre-formed ideas on what kind of documentary you are gonna make. However, when you get the thing up on its feet in the editing room, you then need to drop your initial conceptions of the project, to some degree and listen to what the footage is revealing about the story you’ve truly got on your hands. No sense in trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. And since I am coming into this thing after the majority of the footage was shot, I was fortunate in that I didn’t have any preconceived notions of what HEARTS OF DARKNESS should be. I’m just reacting to the raw stuff we’ve got and I’m making sure it gets shaped in the best way possible. As for when we might see it, I would be shot if I gave out any specifics, but we are on the downhill slope for sure. Good things are happening, and we’re all eager to bring this sucker home.
Look out for more news on Hearts of Darkness soon.
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