Jose Prendes is a writer-director who has built up a resume of horror movies since beginning his filmmaking career about a decade ago. In the last two years the Miami, Florida-raised screenwriter most notably wrote the screen play for The Haunting of Whaley House and Hansel & Gretel. The year 2014 is proving to be an even bigger year for Prendes, as his first published book was released just last week, preceding the upcoming release of the movie he wrote for the Syfy Channel, Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark.
His book, Sharkcano, centers around a trio of super volcanoes erupting around the globe, spewing giant sharks made of molten magma, thus marking the end of mankind as it's known and opening the gates of hell. It's in a more epic vein than Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark, though in the fashion of the other Mega Shark films, that will likely be a huge tale as well.
Prendes talked to TheCelebrityCafe.com about his new works, their inspiration and purpose, and other aspects of his career.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: What inspired you to pursue a career in the entertainment industry?
Jose Prendes: I was an only child and I was bored a lot so I discovered movies and books early on. They became like family, they became my brother and sister. And I think I was 5 or 6 and I watched Superman or Superman 2 in theatres and I knew, "man I think I want to do that," because I saw the audience reacting and clapping and laughing and having a good time and I knew, "yeah, I feel like that's something that I want to do. I want to be a part of that." And then later on I saw some behind the scenes footage of some movies and it just seemed like such a blast. So at first I wanted to be an actor, so I thought well okay, obviously you want to be the hero, you want to be Superman, you want to be John McClane. But then I discovered that the real power is in the writing and directing and I was hooked. From probably around the 7th grade on, I taught myself how to write scripts and I never looked back.
TCC: How did you get your start?
JP: Right out of film school I did a two year associates program in Miami. Right out of that I funded a small movie, my first movie. It's called The Monster Man, and it was kind of The Last Man on Earth meets Naked Gun. It's supposed to be kind of a fun spoof. We were going to have fun with it because obviously we couldn't afford to make a big movie so we did a tongue and cheek movie where people could laugh with us instead of at us, and that was my first brush with filmmaking. With my second film, there was a higher budget, we got to shoot on a 35 mm. That one got distributed by [the film studio] The Asylum who I later partnered up with with everything else. But that's how I started, I basically funded my own movie.
TCC: What was that second movie?
JP: The second one is called Corpses are Forever and it's James Bond meets zombies.
TCC: You were born in Venezuela; were you raised there?
JP: No, my parents were Cuban. My dad was actually a political prisoner in Cuba and he met my mother as soon as he was released and they fled the country as soon as she was pregnant, and the way station was Venezuela so I was born there but I think I only spent 6-8 months there. Most of my life has been in Miami, Florida. I don't really consider myself Venezuelan, and then I don't really consider myself Cuban, but my heritage is Cuban so if anything, that's who I am.
TCC: Was there anything from the Venezuelan or Cuban culture that has influenced your work or ideas in any way?
JP: It's interesting because my real parents, they passed away when I was five years old so I don't really know a lot of my past or my parents that much. But their deaths really did influence me. I'm fascinated by death and the limits of life and things like that, and so I think that's definitely affected my work and my creative thrust. I think death is a very powerful thing and it's something that should be respected and should be feared. But I think if anything, that really influenced me more than just my heritage because I don't really consider myself Latino, just because I was raised in Miami and I was raised very American. My godparents raised me, and I mean they're Cuban too, but like I said I was alone so movies really raised me. So if anything I was influenced by their passing, and my father was a writer too, so I take that to heart that he sort of left me a little something to continue with.
TCC: What is one of your favorite projects you've done so far?
JP: So far, movie-wise my favorite project that I got to work on was the third film I got to write and direct. It was called the Haunting of Whaley House and that came out two years ago in July. It's available on Netflix and Redbox and all that stuff. It's a haunted house movie based on the famous Whaley House in San Diego. The best part was I got to hire all my friends and family and we basically got paid to all make a movie together so that was a great experience.
TCC: Now about Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark...where did the idea come from?
JP: That was brought to me from The Asylum. They wanted to make a giant robot shark movie, the part three in the Mega Shark series. It's one of their most popular series. Right before Sharknado hit, they had their Mega Shark series, they were looking to make a part three. And they came to me and they said look, we're shooting it pretty soon. They know I'm a fast writer so they said we kind of want to make this happen and I said yeah, ok, I'll take on the adventure and try to figure out how to make it logical and how to make it fit together in some believable way. And it was a challenge but I had a good time with it.
TCC: Did you feel any pressure coming in and writing another Mega Shark film after two others, each with different screenwriters?
JP: Yeah, there was a lot, not because of the other two films so much, but just because after The Asylum made Sharknado there was so many eyes on the company and on the next shark movie, which this was going to be the next shark thing that they do. So I didn't really feel a lot of pressure from the producers in terms of, oh we gotta go bigger and better, but for myself, I wanted to tell something fun and make it organic and make it interesting, and not the same kind of lame low budget shark movie you might get from some other people. So I really tried to build an honest adventure story but still within the limits of our budget and time restrictions and stuff, so that was the fear and such.
TCC: What makes this unique from the other two films since the underlying concept is the same throughout the franchise?
JP: For me, it's very simple. It's way more fun. It doesn't take itself as seriously as the other two. It's a nonstop rocket ride of a movie. And also the effects are way better. Our director Emile Smith really did a good job. He's got a huge movie effects background and he really cared. He wanted to make a—not that the other filmmakers didn't—but he really wanted to make a huge looking movie, a really nice epic-feeling movie and still deliver a really fun popcorn ride, and it worked. So for me the biggest difference with this one is, this one is really fun and it's funny on purpose. I think people won't laugh at it as much just because it doesn't look right. I think people will just enjoy it because it's supposed to be enjoyed.
TCC: Would you be interested in writing another Mega Shark for the franchise if The Asylum asked you to?
JP: I would be. It inspired me to write my book Sharkcano, so if they came to me and said we're making a part four, I'd be down for it. It was a difficult two months to get the script ready but it's become a series that's important to me and I've created two characters that I am hoping will carry on until the next one, but you never know what happens.
TCC: Any ideas?
JP: I don't know. With Mecha Shark, that's been on the drawing board of Asylum for a long time. I think for about two or three years that was the plan. I don't know if they have any idea for part four. But my idea would be Mega Shark versus everybody—Megaladon, Giant Octopus, Crocosaurus, I think kind of an all monsters attack kind of a deal. But we'll see.
TCC: And about the genre that Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark falls under...these films are often labeled 'campy.' Do the people behind them embrace it as what makes them successful or do they dislike the label?
JP: The truth is no, they don't like the title campy at all. And they stress to the writers, we're not doing campy, we're doing serious, we're trying to make a Jerry Bruckheimer movie here. But the reality is, you can't afford to make a Jerry Bruckheimer movie, you don't have the time to get that level of detail and scope or whatever. So unfortunately yeah, I mean they do end up being campy so one of my goals with Mecha was to, not so much play with the campiness, but at least wink at the audience in a subtle way and say, "hey we know it's about two giant sharks, but let's just have some fun with it." We had a big premiere last night and I think the audience really got it, that it wasn't a dead serious, oh my god the most engaging, it's like alright two giant fish, let's see what happens. And that's something I also explored in my book. I wanted to tell that big Jerry Bruckheimer story that they wanted to tell, but this time's there's no restrictions, there's no budget, there's no tech issues or effects problems. It's just pure imagination.
TCC: Do you think a shark film like the Mega Shark franchise will ever make it to the big screen?
JP: I hope so. My book Sharkcano right now is, the right tale for that so it's being read by a huge producer right now, so fingers crossed it could be something that hits the big screen sometime soon because it's got—the goal was to do Jaws meets The Stand, so I think it's definitely got tent-pole in it.
TCC: What will it take for that kind of story to get there?
JP: I don't know. That's an interesting question. Sharknado came out in theatres for a little bit but it didn't do as well as expected. But it did play on TV a whole bunch of times before it was in theatres so maybe that kind of killed any momentum. I don't know if part two is going to play in theatres first or anything like that. I know myself, I'm attracted to anything that looks like it's just going to be a good time, but I think nowadays we're all so very aware—our movie bullshit detector is very high so stuff like I, Frankenstein, I mean that's probably going to make like zero money. Everybody looks at that and goes, no that's not a Frankenstein movie and we're just going to stay away. It's almost like studios don't know what they're doing releasing stuff like that. But if you get something like Pacific Rim, it had its problems but it still was a loving genre movie, then the fans will check it out at least turn up and enjoy what they can of the ride. But yeah maybe it's budget, maybe if the right name's attached. But I'm sure there's a possibility and hopefully Sharkcano will prove that. We'll see.
TCC: Speaking of Sharkcano, where did you get the idea for the book?
JP: I was writing Mecha, and Sharknado hit at least popularity wise around the same time and I was getting a lot of notes from Mecha that were either changing the idea too much or restricting me too much in terms of the big epic scope I wanted to play with, so I said, man I'd really just like to write a book and not worry about notes, not worry about budget and not worry about locations, and just tell this epic, worldwide super tale and I contacted a publisher called Curiosity Quills Press. I pitched them the idea and I said, look it's kind of like Sharknado, so we're sort of mock-busting the company that mock-busts other movies, but I'm doing it in novel form, and they loved it. I wrote it in two months and now I've got this big epic, massive shark story out there. It's great, it was so much fun to write. There was no restrictions, I could do anything I wanted. It's just a fun popcorn ride in novel form.
TCC: When people hear about the book do they think it's linked to Sharknado?
JP: No, the one thing I do get is people asking me if it's a movie. It's hard to tell them no, no it's a novel, and they're like, oh people are still writing novels? And I'm like yeah that happens, people still read, or I hope. So that's the only thing I'm getting, and then obviously there are some people who say, ugh, it's gonna be another crap title, or whatever, but the goal is to try and convince people it's the best kind of possible option of that kind of story, the best version of, for lack of a better term, a Syfy channel movie. But it's huge and you get a chance to develop characters, you get a chance to develop situations, you get to make certain big pieces you can't afford normally and I think that hopefully will change a lot of people's minds as to what a shark sci-fi horror movie can be, or story anyway in this case.
TCC: Do you think the fact that it's a book will help attract an audience beyond the typical viewers of Syfy Channel shark movies?
JP: I hope that's the case. I want everybody to read it. I hope the people who love Sharknado and Mega Shark and all that stuff will read it and I hope the people that don't really pick up those things that are a little heavier than usual will pick it up and give it a chance and be really surprised by it. Most of the reviews we've gotten, we've sent it out and people have written back, "oh my god, this is a book, I thought it was going to be some kind of joke." But they're surprised like, "yeah this is a good book, there actually is a story," and I like people being surprised, I like bringing people on that journey and hopefully everybody comes along.
TCC: Do you see it becoming a movie?
JP: Yeah, it's definitely written very cinematically. As a screen writer, that's the best way to see it. I think a lot of writers see that obviously visually in their heads. It would be a complicated adaptation. There's a lot happening, there's a lot of locations but oh yeah it could be a big tent-pole. And the book is part one of a trilogy called the Sharkpocalypse Trilogy. Basically by the third book the entire world has been changed. I don't want to give away too much. But the second book is titled Sharks of the Living Dead and that will be zombie sharks and zombie humans and then—it's all connected. The events in Sharkcano pay off in the second one and so on into the third. It's all just one big giant story.
TCC: Do you think you'll write more books in the future?
JP: Oh yeah, I've actually written like nine books but Sharkcano is only the second one I got published. I've got a young adult Sherlock Holmes book coming out in March. The same company, Curiosity Quills, it's called Elementary, My Dear Watson. It re-imagines Holmes and Watson as 12 year olds in boarding school. It's kind of their early adventures, it's kind of Harry Potter but instead of wizards, they're detectives. I love writing, so anything is good for me. A script is obviously faster than a book, but a book you can really dig in and explore things. So yeah I'm going to be writing for the rest of my life.
TCC: What else is coming up?
JP: I'm in preproduction on my fourth movie, it's called The Divine Tragedies. It's based loosely off Leopold and Loeb's murder trial in the 1924 case where two guys murdered a little boy. So I'm taking sort of that, the meat of that really dark story and spinning my own kind of twist on it. It's kind of American Psycho meets Videodrome meets a John Carpenter movie. So it will be a very dark, bizarre kind of serial killer movie but very unlike the typical kind of serial killer movie.
TCC: What will be your role in that?
JP: I'm writing and directing and we start shooting next month. It will be a feature so as soon as we're done it will hopefully, it will start playing at festivals and hopefully get distribution sometime soon after.
Image courtesy of: Deraney PR