One of the hits, persoanlly speking, for me is from Woody Bess, Portal to Hell. This superb study of the human condition stars Hollywood legends Keith David and Richard Kind so I just had to chat to him about this movie.
NYX: Where did the idea for Portal to Hell come from?
WB: A lot of it comes from some of my favorite movies - like Shaun of the Dead or Little Shop of Horrors. We wanted to make a film that wasn’t about a specific threat and more so about the evils we allow to exist everyday. Every day we encounter evil - sometimes we just walk by it. Be it homelessness, wealth inequality, the American Healthcare system, war, disease, you name it. We had a mass shooting every day in the States. That’s insane. We all just got used to it and kept going. There’s no real difference between these realities and a literal portal to hell appearing.
NYX: How hard is it balancing humour and horror whilst retaining the moral of the story?
WB: It’s hard. Tone is probably the hardest thing to balance and adjust because to some extent its up for interpretation. For us, it was a real trial and error. Trey and I shot most of the office scenes first. It was just the two of us in my apartment. We were mostly just trying to make each other laugh. Then we shot Keith and the tone was very different. He added so much, everything was more grounded and real. We actually went back and reshot almost all of the office scenes to reflect that. Then we did test screenings. We also took those very seriously. I was taught as a filmmaker you’re never smarter than the audience. So we really listened and took the notes we received to heart, recut and reshot again to make sure the tone was consistent. Comedy is about truth and pain. If you can make someone laugh, you’ve touched on something honest. Horror is about empathy. At least to me. I think that’s why horror comedies exist. Because horror and comedy both explore what it means to be human in their own weird ways.
NYX: This is your debut feature, were you nervous the first day on set?
WB: I was nervous every day on set. I’ve tried to get better about it but usually I can’t sleep before a shoot.
NYX: What lessons in directing did you learn from making this movie?
WB: A ton but mostly that actors make the film and their not fragile things. I work as a DP and am way more comfortable with cameras. Working with actors is where I’m the least sure and where I spend the most time trying to get better. I’ve read all the books. I’m always afraid of giving result based direction or not using the right language and all that. Most actors just want you to be honest. It doesn’t matter really matter if you don’t use the perfect action verb, you really just need to be the audience before the audience. Trey Holland and Romina D’Ugo who play the leads Dunn and Ed have a wonderful natural chemistry, did they have much time to rehearse? We didn’t have a ton of rehearsal time but we all where able to talk about the characters a lot. Our production was a little unique where we shot over the course of two years when actors were available. For example, when Keith was available we almost treated it like a short film and shot all his scenes out. Same with Michael, Richard and Romina. Romina’s shoot was probably my favorite because we had the smallest crew and a little more time to play around. Romina and Trey know each other, I actually met Romina through Trey so they have great chemistry to begin with. They’re both really amazing actors.
NYX: How did it feel directing such legends as Keith David and Richard Kind?
WB: It was awesome and very surreal. Keith and Richard are two of the nicest, most generous people I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet let alone work with. They’re also masters of their crafts and so good at what they do. Which is intimidating. Being able to work with them and learn from them is a real dream come true. Also seeing how they both worked with Trey and some of their advice or just how they go about a scene was really inspiring. The Thing is my favourite movie. I played Halo growing up and Keith voices the Arbiter in that. I’m the biggest fan of his. Before Keith joined our film, it was just Trey and I in my tiny apartment. I believe he was doing press for Nope at the time. For him to grace our film with his talent and skill is a debt I’ll never be able to repay. Our executive producer Dionne who’s also married to Keith really went to bat for us. They’re two really incredible people that really just want to help young filmmakers.
NYX: Was it easy finding a laundromat to shoot in?
WB: No, I think I’ve been to every laundromat in Los Angeles. I would spend weekends just scouting fifteen to twenty laundromats. Trey would come with me too. We finally found Sunshine Laundry and we walked in and it was just the place. It had these really cool neon lights wrapped around the ceiling. Tony the owner was really amazing and helped us out to make it work.
NYX: How long did it take to create the Demon creature?
WB: Altogether about 4 months. The body suit came from a company called Immortal Masks. They’re very talented artists and also really kind in trying to help us make a cool demon. We were hoping they could sculpt the mask itself but we just couldn’t afford it on our budget. I had just got laid off from my job and had some free time so I threw on a season of Face Off and gave it a college try. I hadn’t worked with clay before so it took me a couple months to sculpt. Once I had finished, Immortal connected me to an artist named Nelson Cooper. Nelson was actually on the season of Face Off I had been watching. He did the molding with the clay sculpture and then painted the latex mask. The hooves I got from Etsy from an artist called Creature Cosplay. They’re modified size 14 high heels. The pants were just spray painted LuLu Lemon tights. Richard Kind is the voice of the demon but Trevor Newlin was in the suit. He’s an incredible actor. He played the Xenomorph in Alien Romulus, the monster in Smile 2 and Mr. Handsome in the new Superman.
NYX: Will you be nervous when the movie has its UK premiere at FrightFest 2025?
WB: I’m nervous every day on set and for every premiere. Mostly I just hope anyone that shows up has a good time.
NYX: Do you believe there’s actually some sort of Hell?
WB: I really hope there is but I have no idea. I’m talking out of my ass but when I think of hell I think of it as the very, very, very last chance at rehabilitation. Everyone f*cks up, not everyone owns that and tries to becomes better.
NYX: So, what are you working on at the moment?
WB: I’m a huge horror fan. I watch almost only horror these days. My biggest regret with Portal to Hell is that on the horror-comedy spectrum we lean more heavily toward comedy. I wish we threw a few more jump scares or pure horror elements in. If I get to make a second film I’d really love it to be horror first. I’m still finishing up some writing but that is what I’m working on now.
NYX: Woody Bess, thank you very much.
