#hunteradams

Behind every great film is a dedicated director, and Hunter Adams is no different with his feature film Dig Two Graves. We caught up with Adams to dig into his filmmaking process and unearth details of how this film came to life.

Tell us how the Dig Two Grave’s script came to be and where the Confucius quote fits in?

The initial conceit of the film was of a young person, someone innocent and pure, who is forced to wrestle with an impossible choice. Choice is one of the foundations of drama, the more difficult a choice, the greater the dramatic potential. Exchanging one life for another had a fairytale, almost biblical quality and I was interested in seeing that internal conflict play out from the perspective of a child. At the time, I had just lost my Mom to cancer and so I was deeply affected by regret and despair and working through some of the same emotions that Jake experiences. The idea of being able to bring someone back from the dead was very appealing.  

As the script progressed, the theme of vengeance began to emerge and so the Confucian aphorism warning against it became relevant. I also felt that the words ‘dig two graves’ had an evocative quality and would look cool on a poster.  

How did you find Samantha Isler?

We found Samantha Isler in Tulsa, OK. She sent in an audition tape, and I immediately knew she was a special talent with a keen intelligence. I sensed an old soul, even though she was only 13. You felt her really thinking about the words and not just saying them because they were written on the page. The words had intention. This was her first movie, but from day one she felt like a veteran actress.  Her first day on set she had to gut a dead deer, fire a hunting rifle and hold her own against an intimidating Ted Levine.

When you were casting for Sheriff Woodhouse was Ted Levine your first pick?

Ted Levine was always on our short list for the role of Sheriff Waterhouse. The actor had to be within a certain age range; he plays both older and younger in the film. He also had to be able to play a gruff, surly lawman but also demonstrate warmth and affection toward his granddaughter. Ted embodied those opposing qualities better than anyone else we looked at. 

He’s known as one of the great character actors, most famously for his performance as Buffalo Bill in Silence of The Lambs. But I was excited to utilize him in a leading role portraying a character of moral complexity.

Tell us about Troy Ruptash as your antagonist.

Troy Ruptash sent in an audition tape and I was immediately taken by his striking look. I’m a big Mad Men fan and he was the original Don Draper. There was something alluring about Troy but also dangerous. I wanted Wyeth to be magnetic, not just scary because he has to convince this young girl to do this very bad thing. Troy understood this dynamic. A lot of the other actors who auditioned played Wyeth as a boogeyman. They played up the creepiness, but Troy had a more seductive take on the material and in the end, made the character even more unsettling. 

Why did you pick Southern Illinois aka “Little Egypt” as your location? 

I fell in love with Southern Illinois the moment I arrived. It’s at the very bottom of the state, nicknamed “Little Egypt” and in stark contrast to the flatness of the rest of Illinois. Southern Illinois has a wild, timeless, mythic feel, the geography is stunning, and the region oozes with colorful history. The production was done on a very low budget, but the locations we found gave the film a much grander feel. I think the story would have felt much less epic had we shot it somewhere else. 

We also had incredible support from the locals, who bent over backward to help us. We never would have achieved the period authenticity without their generous help.

How did local experts, historian Jon Musgrave and biologist Tony Gerard, enrich the film?

We certainly would not have found all the incredible locations without the help of locals like Jon Musgrave and Tony Gerard. I spent weeks driving around with those guys trying to find the perfect locations for each scene. They were also very good at finding unusual props and costumes. For example, we needed a lot of dead animals to hang inside the moonshiner’s cabin. So Tony would drive around collecting road kill, which he stored in his freezer until the scene was ready to be shot. I can’t imagine his wife was too happy about that. Several scenes were filmed in State parks and Musgrave was able to get us permits.

How long did you spend filming Dig Two Graves?

The storyline takes place during winter and summer, so we initially shot for four weeks in January, then we went back over the summer and shot for another week. The underwater sequences were shot in Los Angeles. We finished on time, although we did cut some scenes from the script because we couldn’t afford to go over schedule. 

We hear you guys braved the area’s coldest winter.

The bitter cold and blizzards made shooting, at times, a grueling experience, especially considering many scenes were shot outdoors, at night, and in the middle of nowhere. All of the houses that we shot in were abandoned and so did not have heat. We had propane heaters blasting outside and everyone would huddle around them between shots.

The crew was staying at a summer camp on Lake of Egypt which was only open during the summer months. This meant the cabins weren’t supposed to be inhabited during the winter. Consequently, the heat would go out at least a couple times a week. So you’d go to bed and it would be warm and cozy, then you’d wake up in the morning and see your breath and have no feeling in your toes.

What was the hardest scene to shoot?

Almost all of the scenes were difficult to shoot. Several veteran producers advised me to avoid shooting period, not to cast children, not to shoot with animals, avoid fire and underwater scenes as well as extensive stunt work. We broke all of those rules. The most difficult scenes were probably ones that required the most technical expertise like burning down a house or filming underwater. Both fire and water scenes are a very slow and tedious process. As the director, you have to give control over to the technicians and that can be a little frustrating. 

What are your favorite scenes in the film?

My favorite moments in the film are the ones involving Jake (the young girl) and her grandfather, Sheriff Waterhouse. Samantha and Ted had such a lovely chemistry and I think their scenes together are very moving. Some of the stories that Waterhouse tells Jake were actual stories my grandfather had told me when I was a kid so I feel nostalgic hearing them in the movie.

Any advice for up and coming directors?

My advice to first-time filmmakers is to understand that indie filmmaking is a process. I spent five years getting Dig Two Graves made. It’s not going to happen overnight and it’s not going to be easy, so tenacity and perseverance are important qualities to hone if you intend to survive an independent film shoot.