Machiavelli Hangman Exclusive Interview (With Julia Strumfeld, associate-producer)

Red Streak Richard interviews Julia Strumfeld, associate-producer
on Machiavelli Hangman,
the latest offering by award-winning filmmaker
Shervin Youssefian.
The word is that it was picked from the same treat as Quentin
Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and marinated with some Amores Perros
and spiced up with a pinch of Sixth Sense. Let's wait and see
if it's the queen bee everyone says it is or a dead fly buzzing
on the window sill.

Red Streak Richard: Machiavelli Hangman is standin'
evo-lu-shun. Hollywood is comin' apart. You will finally sting
the real bang bang bang, Machiavelli hang it on to the real
black stang. Now you tell me how it works out, the way the deal
is flown. How did you find the style the truth of my lines, how
did you clay the ping pong plow?

Julia Strumfeld: If I understand you correctly, you're
asking how this project came along. I didn't get on the team
until a few months after the script was in its final revision
stages. I came in as an associate producer to get it to the right
people.

RSR: I hear lots of things but this is a neat lil' trick.
Something a wild man writes, something a mad man makes. Is it the
Pulp of the Fiction like Quentin once made or is it the pulp of a
citrus fruit that'll squeezed dry soon?

JS: It's definitely something new, something that people
haven't seen before. And that's what interested me in the project
because I always try to work on a project that demands a new
level of my attention. I'm always looking for a challenge and I
was very impressed when I met with Shervin [Youssefian] who wrote
the project.

RSR: Is he the treat man tease the cream o' the crop? Is
he the new John Ford the fur of the bat?

JS: Hmm... [laugh] I guess you could say he's the cream of
the crop. At least, I think so. He brings a certain charm to the
set and he has only words of encouragement for everyone involved.
You will never see him put anybody down. The whole cast and crew
is just superb. While most other films in production today are
about the money, everyone involved in Machiavelli Hangman
(http://www.hangmanmovie.com) has made this a labor of love.

RSR: So what makes it slick, what makes it live. What
makes the bee to the funnel of this fine fine bebe la
boooosssshhhhhh?!

JS: ???

RSR: Why will this hive a night an night tight bring the
bees to the ease and tease the real peas. Why do you think
it'll splash a bash of pure cash?

JS: Oh ok. I think that Machiavelli Hangman will be
successful... that's what you're asking right?

RSR: Oui.

JS: Ok, because it's not your conventional A to Z film
where you know exactly what's going to happen when you see the
intro credits. It takes you through a zig zag and while you think
you know what's going to happen next, you're always surprised at
the twists and turns. That's the charm of the story because what
happens right in front of your eyes, you find out later is not
even what it seems? Audiences will go to the theater and have to
decide between four regular standard movies and one Machiavelli
Hangman... if you ask me, the decision will be really easy, but
then again, we'll have to wait and see.

RSR: So you think it'll bang gainst the rang a tangs of
the world? The Sodeberg, Spielberg and Allen, the Spiderman and
Batman and Titanic?

JS: Why not? I think that in the end, it doesn't matter
how much money was spent on a film, it all comes down to the
story, story and story. Wow, I'm starting to talk like you! I
would rather have a 200 dollar film with an amazing story than
a 200 million dollar film with no story.

RSR: Amen baby, amen!