LMC: Was the film made more as a demo reel or were you interested in making a Batman short?

SC:  Both actually, I’ve always been a huge Batman fan. I was also looking to do something that would grab people’s attention and be a calling card of sorts. I honestly don’t think anything I’ve done in my entire career was as successful in that respect. I set out to get noticed, and that’s exactly what happened… In spades. What’s been really gratifying to me personally, is not only did the studios notice what I did, the fans did too. The outpouring of love and support the fans have showed has been overwhelming. I still get hundreds of emails a week, and tons of fan mail asking for autographs and pictures… I just did two conventions over the past month, and Clark’The Bat” Bartram, Simon Tams, Henry Alvarez and myself signed autographs and took pictures with the fans for hours. Hell, I got recognized in Tower Records the other day.

LMC: How did your design for Batman and Joker emerge?

SC: The design for batman was based on Alex Ross’ interpretation of that character. The cowl was a little different, the glove fins had a different treatment and the belt and boots were very different. Alex also does not paint the traditional white eyes like I used, but overall, I have to give him a lot of the design credit. I love how his heroes have the weight of age, and how the costumes look totally real. I was striving for absolute realism. The Joker was based loosely on the Brian Bolland Killing Joke version. I added the longer hair, which I thought was different, and Andrew brought so much to the role, as did Clark for Batman. Neither one of those characters would have come off as cool as they did if it were not for the great performances given by both actors.

LMC: What has been the response to that film?

SC: Do a Google search for Batman:Dead End… It’s all there, all 298,967,980 pages of it… I knew we’d made a good film, but even I had no idea the response would be that immense. It’s become a juggernaut hurtling totally out of control, it crashed all the servers it was hosted on several times the first couple of days from the all the traffic. 1.6 million downloads in the first two weeks…one one site alone, and it’s still going strong 3 months later. People just love that film, and watch it over and over and over…

LMC: Talk a little bit about the production of that film.  How long did it take, what obstacles cropped up? Was the task easier or more difficult than you had imagined? What proves to be the hardest part of leading a project of this nature?

SC: I knew going in it was going to be difficult, but that’s why you do it. What’s the point in doing something you know will be easy? I knew a lot of it was going to be challenging… Casting, costumes, make-up, the schedule, building everything… Especially with the budget we had. The hardest part was actually coordinating it all… Getting all the talented people organized that I needed to make the film. Simon and Daren were instrumental in getting all that done. It was really rough in the beginning, but after we shot, post production was less of a problem. When people saw the footage, especially the shot where Batman stands up from the puddle and his cape gathers around him, they came out of the woodwork to work on the project. Everyone was very excited at that point, opposed to me, who was very excited from day one. I’m very proud of that film, and of my exceptional cast and crew.

LMC: What are some of your next projects in the works?  Has this short lead to any bigger opportunities?                 

SC: I’ve been offered several feature films, my agents and I are in the process of deciding which of those projects will be my feature film debut. Nothing has been signed or decided at this point, but we’re very confident a deal for a major motion picture will be signed before the end of the year. There is one project in particular that I’m very drawn to, that we’re trying to make happen. I can’t tell you what it is, but it’s a remake of Universal monster movie that involves a scaly creature, a boat, a river, and beautiful girl. I’m also developing a sci-fi script of my own that has a lot of interest from several studios as well.

LMC: Hmmmm… Can’t imagine what it could be :)  That sounds right up your alley.

SC: My agents are really pushing me for that project over at Universal, and I’m doing a lot of development and pre-production artwork and maquettes. Steve Wang and I are working on the design of the suit, and I’ll tell you this, what Steve has come up with, not only design-wise, but conceptually, as far as the approach and application is some of the best work I’ve ever seen him do, I’m really excited about the possibility of directing this film. I was told the script is due in right after the holiday break, so we’ll see…

LMC: Talk about “Solomon Bernstein’s Bathroom”?  What was the motivation behind this short film?

SC: The motivation behind that film was just to make it, period. That was the first thing I ever directed, I was 29, and I wanted to make a film badly, and felt that it was time. It was a great learning experience, I would approach a lot of things in that film quite differently were I making it now however. That one is very special to me because it was my first, my mom and dad were there on the set every day, cooking for the crew and helping out, Henry Alvarez was there, Steve Wang came by the set to visit, it was a big deal to me because directing was my dream, and I was doing it finally…

LMC: How has it been received?

SC:  Honestly, not as well as I would have liked, but I’ve been told by a lot of my colleagues that my expectations are always too high. It was submitted to a bunch of festivals, but got turned down by all of them. A funny story about that was, I got a call from a festival organizer that had seen the film at the Academy (it was chosen as one of the 5 best student films made that year) asking if she could run the film at a festival in NY. I was all excited until she said it was the “Women in Film” festival. She, like a lot of people who don’t know me, see Sandy in the credits and think it’s a girl. That’s really funny now in retrospect… But people like the film, and everyone was impressed at how well it was done, and how good it looks for my first shot at directing out of the gate… Not bad for a girl, huh?

LMC: Talk about some of your commercials.  The “Underwater Soccer“ match is quite unique.  How did you achieve the FX?

SC: That was my first big spot, the budget was a little over a million dollars. It was a really great shoot, a total blast. I got to work with underwater cinematographer extraordinaire, Pete Romano, who I worked with on THE ABYSS. We shot one day underwater in a pool on a green screen, and one day dry, in the studio, on the green screen as well. The background was entirely computer generated. The guys and gals at Colorado FX in Santa Monica did a great job, I was very pleased with that spot. The clients pretty much let me do what I wanted, and were ecstatic with the outcome. It was the number one spot in Japan during the world cup, and I won an ACC silver award for best director and an American Broadcast Arts award for best foreign 30 second spot.

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