High Contrast interviews Jeffrey Whitted and Lucas Cantor,
The Executive Producers of Handsome Zombies
With production stills by Vanessa Espinal

Handsome Zombies, written by Julia Holleman and High Contrast Editor Jesse Cameron Alick, is the first film production by the Brooklyn-based Subjective Theatre Company.  Subjective Theatre’s mission is to produce socially and politically relevant material that challenges audiences to become aware and responsible in their community.  And they do it for free.  Up until now, all Subjective’s productions have been for the stage.  The pioneer executive producers in a promising new film branch of the company, Jeffrey Whitted and Lucas Cantor have been gracious enough to answer a few questions for your curious mind.  We hope you enjoy, and don’t forget to watch the webisodes before you too become so…  Handsome.

High Contrast Review: Prior to working on Handsome Zombies, or with Subjective Theater, how would you characterize yourself as a person, artistically or otherwise? What’s your predilection?

Jeffrey Whitted: One of the things that I really enjoy doing as an artist is challenging my audience, not just allowing them to sit by passively and watch. To shine a light on a current issue , and then to say to the audience, “This is what is happening to you right now. So what are you going to do about it?” I think that’s why I feel like I have really found a home with the Subjective Theatre Company and with Handsome Zombies.

Lucas Cantor: We started working on Handsome Zombies in June of 2008.  We had just finished work on a play, “Tell”, written and performed by Subjective’s CoLab wing.  The production started as a joke, but once we secured the URL, www.handsomezombies.com, we were pretty much committed to it.

High Con: It appears Subjective Theater is a socially conscious, perhaps even activist company, which is pretty cool to find in an artistic organization. I notice that a lot of the productions Subjective has run in the past have fairly overt social messages. How do Zombies fit in to that continuum?

JW: The mission statement of the Subjective Theater Company is to produce a wide range of politically and socially relevant theatre and presenting it at no cost to the public. We were very careful that Handsome Zombies embody this mission statement. I think every great Zombie movie uses zombieism as a metaphor for some larger socio-political message, but without standing on an egg crate in the middle of Central Park with a bullhorn and screaming at people walking by. Handsome Zombies is no exception. And since Subjective is dedicated to producing art at no cost to the public, the internet seemed like a perfect way to convey this message.

But most importantly, who doesn’t think Zombies are cool? Vampires? Not so much.

LC: Handsome Zombies, like all good zombie movies, does have a social message.  Jesse Cameron Alick (writer with Julia Holleman) and I both live in a neighborhood that has drastically changed in the past few years.  It has been, as they say, gentrified, which is a fancy word for white-washed.  What happens when you white-wash a fence?  It looks shiny and brand new from far away, but when you get up close, you realize that all the texture is gone, that every picket looks the same, that it’s lost everything that made it worth looking at.  Our statement in the film is that diversity makes things better and that imperfections make things beautiful.

High Con: What do you know about the origins of Zombie art and allegory? To what degree to you think are Zombies real, where does that begin and end?

JW: The idea of Zombies in art has been around forever, and in film since the early 1930s with White Zombie. Our writers (Jesse Alick and Julia Holleman) did about 3 months of intense research exploring zombie origin myths and how these have been captured in film over the years. The introduction of allegory really came with George Romero in the late 1960’s with Night of the Living Dead. He used the medium to comment on the society of the time, whether it be man’s inhumanity against his fellow man or an out of control consumerist culture. And he hid it behind just enough of a mask as not to make it preachy or pedantic.

And I don’t how “real” Zombies are, but I do think it gives us a fun and fertile arena to comment on society today, but without being overt or obnoxious about it. Or at least we hope we are not being overt or obnoxious about it.

LC: Jeff and I have watched about 50 zombie films, consulted with 2 medical doctors, and deconstructed the plots and character trends of hundreds of horror/action films in preparation for Handsome Zombies.  What we’ve learned is that zombies always represent some kind of destructive sameness.

High Con: So with the previous two questions in mind, how do you feel Handsome Zombies contributes to social responsibility of an audience, as well as of people creating it? What’s the goal here?

JW: We really wanted to use the Handsome Zombie metaphor to explore the idea of gentrification in Brooklyn. As artists living in Brooklyn, this has been something that we have all been forced to try and survive. It’s all very cyclical; the artists move in to a neighborhood and displace the poor, the hipsters move in and kick out the artists, and finally the yuppies come in and price out the hipsters. The same thing happened in Manhattan about 20 years ago. And we just wanted to draw attention to the fact that this is happening right now in Brooklyn. Gentrification, not a zombie outbreak.

LC: The goal here was simply to make the best movie that we could.  It may present some of our opinions but it strives to do so in a lighthearted way.  In keeping with Subjective’s mission statement, we wanted to release the film for free.  The Internet seemed the best way to do that.

High Con: Do you find yourself relating to any character from the script? How’s that for ya?

JW: I think most of the audience will relate to the two main characters, Zack and Monique, because they are quirky people that just don’t quite fit in with the world that is changing around them. However, I really found myself relating most to the character of the rogue Zombie hunter, the Reverend, because he gets his jollies by mercilessly hunting down and killing Handsome Zombies. And because he has an eye patch. And wears a dress.

LC: Our actors made some really strong character choices and I think all the characters in the film are easy to relate to.

High Con: In terms of the trail of things you have and will make in your life, how do you envision a future archaeologist would consider your contribution to the productions of Handsome Zombies? What’s your ideal enduring message, in relation to this project, as well as beyond it?

JW: I think at the end of the day, this silly little Zombie film gets back to the heart of the message of the Subjective Theatre Company. That the world that we are living in today is changing, for better or for worse. And we can either sit there and change with it, or we can befriend a rogue zombie hunter and a brilliant but mysterious professor in order to return to the source of the outbreak in Williamsburg to crush that Dark Plague and save the nerdy girl that we met at the vegetarian barbecue and that we sorta had a crush on but were too embarrassed to talk to. Wait, I’m sorry. What was the question?

LC: I’m not sure I can provide a speculative retrospective of my career.  I think that I’ll always be proud of my work on Handsome Zombies and I think everyone in the cast and crew would feel the same way.  For better or worse, it’s our baby.

High Con: What will you do next to further underscore that message?

JW: We’re always exploring new ways to convey our message. We are currently collaborating with two teenagers to put together a short film about some of the issues facing adolescent girls, but told from their point of view. Everyone knows it’s hard being a kid today, and we are hoping that this film will be able to provide a little insight into the thoughts and feelings of the younger generation. I think this represents a pretty big departure for Subjective Films, but it’s just another way to explore some of these ideas that we keep coming back to. And when it comes down to it, aren’t all 13 year old girls really like a bunch of zombies anyways?

LC: Two projects.  One is a coming of age story about two young girls.  The other is a tale of power, religion, and lust set in the very near future.

High Con: Thanks so much you two, we will be keeping our eyes peeled for that.

Check out some Handsome Zombies, read about Subjective Theatre, and next time you are all up in Brooklyn take the time to check out one of their productions, which are always relevant, and always free.