14h 28min, feb 13, 1999 y - HOME Interview with Kevin Umbridge

Description:

???: "Tell us your time working at Red Oak Productions. When were you hired? Who hired you?"

Kevin: "It was around 1989 or so. Maybe 1990, I'm not sure. A man named Lucas Michaels had just moved in to Red Oak and was frequenting the local church. He would ask people questions about their professions and hobbies. I was a hoppyist artist and he asked me if I wanted to work on a project for pay. I said yes."

???: "What was production on this project like?"

Kevin: "Well, it was actually a bit of a dream job. I was paid a decent amount of cash to work on it, and I was basically just designing miniatures all day."

???: "What was the director like?"

Kevin: "Eccentric? I mean, it was safe to say he had a vision for this project, called Midwest Angelica. He wanted everything to be done in such a way a specific manner. There were some things he was worried about, and he asked we film it in several different ways. We even went so far as designing different props and miniatures for shot variations. It was a lot of work. We ended up with five different cuts of the film. Also, I should mention, he would take a lot of the crew members to the church every day during production to pray. I never personally joined them. Looking back, the atmosphere Michaels had induced on set was almost frantic. Everybody else saw the project as this, um, what would you call it, just a passion project, but Michaels was absolutely serious about it. Even weirder, the film never made much money in the end, and Michaels paid out of pocket for all expenses."

???: "Do you know details about the church?"

Kevin: "Not really, I mean it was just an average Presbyterian church. I assumed everything was fine with Michaels going there, but some colleagues from Red Oak Productions later told me they were worshipping the same entity featured in the movie. Azazel, I think it was. So I assumed it was just a joke or something of the sorts."

???: "What about the sequel? Was anything officially planned?"

Kevin: "So, around 1995, Michaels called us in for a meeting. At the time, Red Oak was kind of out of business, we weren't producing anything but on paper it was still afloat. None of us were on payroll; rather, we were all contractors. We're in this meeting, and Micahels assigns a few of us to go out to Nebraska and Kansas by January of 1999. He tells us to bring equipment. It was mostly production assistants, the cinematographer, and camera operators who were assigned. They were promised up front pay. Michaels said that he would not be there to take part in whatever it is they were going to film. However, he paid me and a few others to come up with some visual effects for a trailer. The title was Midwest Angelica: Landfall. This trailer was to be aired in late 1998. All the expenses were paid for once again out of pocket by Michaels. But other than that, there weren't any plans for production on a sequel."

???: "Did Michaels mention anything in particular about the plot of the film, or the sequel?"

Kevin: "Not really. It just seemed like a typical science fiction horror flick. A bit campy. The sequel, again, there were no plans for anything. Which was weird because he hired me to make a trailer for it. I'm not sure what his plans were."

???: "Thank you, Umbridge, for your time."

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