PopHorror Let's Get Scared
If you haven’t checked out Inoperable (read our review – here), I recommend that you do. Jeff Miller is the director/producer of this film as well many other wonderful films. He definitely has a unique vision and knows how to deliver a creative horror story.
Learn about how he got involved in the history, more details about Inoperable, his other projects, and more.
Jeff Miller
PopHorror – Thanks for talking with PopHorror, Jeff! What inspired you to get a job in the film industry?
Jeff Miller – I’ve loved telling stories from a young age. When I was little, I drew comics (mainly Spiderman and Star Wars). That gradually grew into short stories, novellas, and finally screenplays. I got into producing because I wasn’t having any luck getting my other scripts sold, and I was becoming impatient.
PopHorror – That’s awesome. Do you prefer writing or producing?
Jeff Miller – Producing. I do enjoy coming up with story ideas and working on scripts with others, though.
PopHorror – Both seem fun. What was the first project you worked on?
Jeff Miller – My first feature film was Freakshow, a horror anthology shot in South Carolina. I came aboard after a couple of segments were already shot, but I became an associate producer (as I said I could help raise some financing, which I did) and ended up helping in many other facets — casting, location scouting, production design, craft services, marketing, you name it.
PopHorror – One of your recent films is Inoperable. How did you get involved with that?
Jeff Miller – Chris Chapman (interview – here) and I met during prep on Clowntown, which we both produced. On that shoot, in May 2015, Chris mentioned he had access to medical locations in Florida (where he’s from) and was interested in doing a hospital horror thriller. I told him I had been working on ideas for one myself. I even had a title I liked, Inoperable. Chris’s ideas were further along than mine. I think he had been in a hospital once during a hurricane and thought about what it would be like if a killer was on the loose. He basically sent me a story, which I put into screenplay form and added some new ideas and twists here and there.
PopHorror – Sounds like an awesome collaboration. Did you find any part of Inoperable challenging?
Jeff Miller – All movies are challenging. Fortunately, Chris had found the primary location — an abandoned former hospital and sheriff’s office outside Tampa — and a great production designer in Bobby Marinelli to help transform it into what you see in the film. That would probably have been the toughest part otherwise.
PopHorror – What was it like to work with Scream Queen Danielle Harris (read our interview – here)?
Jeff Miller – Danielle was amazing, one of the most professional actors I’ve worked with. She always hit her marks and knew her lines. I don’t remember her blowing a take.
PopHorror – She’s amazing! You’ve worked on a lot of horror movies, is horror a passion of yours?
Jeff Miller – Yes, they would scare me as a kid, so I think that fascinated me, the power they had. I enjoy well-crafted horror. Plus they’re more fun to do than, say, a typical drama, in my opinion.
PopHorror – What’s your favorite film that you’ve worked on thus far?
Jeff Miller – There’s something I like about every film I’ve done — why do them otherwise? — but I think my favorite so far is The Russian Bride, which we’re just delivering now. It’s a mother-daughter survival thriller set in a huge mansion and also has supernatural elements, so kind of a classic ghost story, but not quite. It’s The Shining meets Kill Bill. It has a lot of elements I enjoy, and the director, Michael S. Ojeda, is very talented. We’re hoping for a good festival run for that one. I’m also partial to my films Clowntown and Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan.
PopHorror – I can’t wait to check out The Russian Bride! If you could work with anyone in the industry who would it be?
Jeff Miller – John Carpenter. I’ve just been a big fan for so long.
PopHorror – Great choice! Do you have any other upcoming projects you’d like to talk about?
I already mentioned The Russin Bride. The Toybox, starring Denise Richards and Mischa Barton and directed by my friend Tom Nagel, is another good one that we’re delivering now.
Ouija House, with Mischa Barton, Tara Reid, Dee Wallace, and Carly Schroeder, is in post-production and will be another creepy and awesome film. Ben Demaree, who D.P.’d the first three Sharknado movies, directed that one, and it’s a co-production with my friends at ITN Distribution.
Death Kiss, an action-vigilante thriller starring Robert Kovacs (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Charles Bronson), Daniel Baldwin, and Richard Tyson and directed by Rene Perez, just wrapped shooting and is going to be a blast.
Other movies coming out this year that I’m involved in as a producer or executive producer include Bug (my first drama), eco-thriller Strange Nature, UK thriller Mandy the Doll, and sci-fi actioner Angels Fallen.
