Conrad Faraj‘s (The Shadow People, The Candyman Conspiracy) latest film Fighting the Sky is rapidly approaching its February release date. Ahead of the film’s arrival, I sat down with Conrad to ask a few questions about the alien invasion film and the many movies he has coming out soon.
Horror Fuel: “How did you get into the film industry?”
Conrad Faraj: “I’ve always wanted to be a filmmaker since I was very, very young. I remember writing a lot of fan fiction. As I started writing more and more, I decided to make them into movies. I turned short stories into short movies. Ever since then, I’ve been making bigger and bigger movies. Here I am now.”
Horror Fuel: “How would describe your latest film, Fighting the Sky?”
Conrad Faraj: “Fighting the Sky is a science fiction adventure film with horror elements. It is a film that I’ve been dreaming of doing for a very long time. It’s a film about a young group of ufologist researchers who begin to track down these otherworldly/apocalyptic sounds that are happening all around the world until eventually, they find extraterrestrials. It’s an alien invasion film.
It’s a mix of a lot of different genres. There were a lot of different films that inspired me. I drew a lot of inspiration from Signs and War of the Worlds.
Horror Fuel: “There are many different types of aliens. What made you decide to go the reptilian route?”
Conrad Faraj: “That’s a good question. One of my favorite monsters of all time is the creature from the black lagoon. I’ve loved the creature since I was eight or nine years old. I collect the toys and everything. And I always wanted to make a creature movie. When I knew I was doing Fighting the Sky, I wanted my alien to look very much like the creature from the black lagoon. It’s a cross between a gray and the creature. That’s how the idea began and that’s why it looks very reptilian.”
Horror Fuel: “I noticed that influence instantly when the alien was revealed in the film.
Even though the film is an alien invasion movie, I noticed that it doesn’t rely heavily on special effects and instead focuses mainly on the characters.”
Conrad Faraj: “There are always budget limitations. But the film is about the characters. You follow these characters along their path and to me, that’s a lot more interesting than just special effects. I didn’t want to make a movie just to showcase special effects. I wanted to focus more on relationships and what motivates the characters.
Horror Fuel: “Character-driven films always come out better to me.
At the end of the film, I got the impression that you might intend on doing a sequel.”
Conrad Faraj: “Yes, we left it very open. It’s funny, I have thought about a sequel. But I wanted to leave open as a mystery, a bit like something out of the Twilight Zone. In the Twilight Zone, it feels like you always have these open-ended twists. You never know what happens next. I wanted the audience to imagine what happened next. What does it mean for the character? I did leave the door slightly open in case I do decide to push forward with a sequel.”
Horror Fuel: “You have a lot of movies coming up.
Conrad Faraj: “Yes, it is a long list. I’m in post-production on a movie called The Rave, directed by my friend Matthew Ward who starred in Fighting the Sky. That is a clown-slasher feature film. It’s part of this horror series that we are trying to start up.
I’m also in post-production on a film I directed called The Wolf Family Treasure which is this dark horror comedy about this crazy witch family that invades a small town.
I’m in pre-production on some. The next project that I’ll be directing is a coming of age drama about a high school student in her last year before college.”
Horror Fuel: “Correct me if I wrong, but aren’t you also in pre-production on a film called The Brainwashing of Claire Wray?”
Conrad Faraj: “Yes. We’ve been prepping for Claire Wray for a very long time. I was going to direct it last fall and it didn’t happen. Funding fell through. I was offered a directing job for another film. Here’s a sad story, I started prepping for this other film and then we started filming for this other film, which I don’t even want to name. It fell through and we had to stop production. The time I spent on that I could have been working on getting The Brainwashing of Claire Wray off the ground. I’m hoping that Claire Wray picks up next year. It’s part of a trilogy with strong, powerful women. It will be my first of that trilogy.”
Horror Fuel: “I hope it works out. We need more powerful female characters in horror.
Speaking of horror, what is your favorite movie? Is it The Creature from the Black Lagoon?”
Conrad Faraj: “Actually, it is not. The Creature from the Black Lagoon is my favorite Universal Monster, my favorite creature, but my favorite movie is The Shining.”
Horror Fuel: “What makes it your favorite?”
Conrad Faraj: “I think it’s the directing. I think it’s Stanley Kubrick’s uncompromising vision in that film. He had absolute control over that project. He brings out these incredible, riveting, shocking performances while at the same time controlling the entire situation. It’s a very scary movie. I think it’s very well paced, well written, well acted, edited.”
Horror Fuel: “It’s a great film. Any movie about a father trying to kill his family, his child, is disturbing. There are only two things a parent can do that’s absolutely evil and that’s one of them.”
Conrad Faraj: “Absolutely. That’s horrifying, right?
Horror Fuel: “Right. Here’s a question that is a little less dark. Who would be your dream cast for a film?”
Conrad Faraj: “That’s a curveball. For a movie in general, I’d have to star off with Leonardo DiCaprio. I would have Felicity Jones as the female lead. And have Robert De Niro and probably Meryl Streep. Those would be my four leads.”
Horror Fuel: “Great choices. I’m looking forward to seeing DiCaprio in the H.H. Holmes movie.”
Conrad Faraj: “That was a hard question. Yeah, isn’t Martin Scorsese directing that?”
Horror Fuel: “He is.”
Conrad Faraj: “That’s going to be awesome.”
Horror Fuel: “I love to see DiCaprio in dark roles.”
Conrad Faraj: “Yeah. Shutter Island is one of my favorite movies.”
Horror Fuel: “It is a great film. I love the twist.”
Speaking of twists, be sure to see Conrad’s sci-fi film with a horror twist, Fighting the Sky out on digital and DVD on February 5, 2019.
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