INTERVIEW: Peter Simeti

Peter Simeti chats exclusively to Folklore & The Slaughtered Bird about his comic and the up-coming movie ‘The Chair’.

‘In Warden We Trust’.
Since The Slaughtered Bird began 16 months ago, myself & The Blue Took have somehow managed to make contact with some of the biggest names in indie-film, directors, actors, comic book writers & artists. How we’ve done this I’ll never know, so I’ll put it down to our amazing wit, charm, tremendous skills and…err….oh did I mention our amazing wit!
Seriously it’s been a wonderful whirlwind of a ride and the next interview just continues our bizarre ability to communicate with some serious big hitters.

For those who aren’t familiar with name Peter Simeti, just calm your little cockles as I didn’t either. I’m painfully ashamed as I’m supposed to be the guy who’s finger is on the pulse with all things comic books, but the name Simeti and his book ‘The Chair’ had somehow just passed me by, SHAME ON ME I say!

Thankfully because The Blue Took is amazing and certainly more clued up than me, he has been connected to the film since its inception. He made contact with Peter, got hold of the book and asked me to take a look at it. Once again SHAME ON ME for missing this little beauty. It’s everything I dig. The style of the writing to the glorious dark artwork, it’s basically right up my street. You can read my review here: Folklore reviews ‘The Chair’ comic.

That’s not the end of it though, the book has now been adapted into a movie with Simeti himself co-writing the screenplay and starring acting talent from the indie hall of fame “BooYah”!
I just knew I had to chat with this guy about the comic and the up-coming film. Behold, we made contact and not only is he one talented mutha, but he turns out to be so down to earth, humble and cool all rolled into one. Oh and he founded & runs Alterna Comic Publishing…..WOWZA!, he’s my hero!

Ladies & gents, may I present…….Mr. Peter Simeti.

Firstly I do apologise as when the book was given to me (Me being the comic fanatic) I didn’t know too much about it if I’m being honest, which ended up being a good thing in the end, it was a pleasant surprise as I absolutely loved it.

Ha-ha, that’s no problem, I’m glad to hear you loved it!

Secondly on my list of grovelling apologies, I’d heard of ‘Alterna Comics’, but once again didn’t know you were the founder and head, I just thought you were one of its writers, so obviously this isn’t a great way to start an interview, but on the flip side I really enjoyed the book which is the main thing I guess?!

Absolutely

I know the book came out a few years back Peter, so you’ve probably spoken about it many times beforehand and answered similar questions, so I appreciate you chatting to me about it as I truly enjoyed it and its possibly one of the best I’ve read in the last few years.

Well thanks! That’s very kind of you to say.

Let’s start from the beginning, where did the whole idea of The Chair come from?

It’s a mix of a lot of different ideas and events that were happening at the time, but I always wanted to create a story that didn’t have a clear-cut hero. “The Chair” has two main characters, Richard Sullivan and the Warden, that are the classic “two sides of the same coin”. I think readers (and viewers of the film) will take a liking (and a hating) to them both.

When the book was handed to me kindly by The Blue Took, I didn’t have much information, other than it was horror-ish and it was soon to be a movie. Reading it and looking at the artwork, it already plays out like a movie and has a real cinematic feel to it. Was this your initial intention?

Well, yes and no. A lot of comic books are going to have a cinematic feel to it just due to the sequential nature of the whole thing. It’s a frame by frame visual way of telling a story. Kevin did a great job on composing the images to seem more expansive in such a close-quarters area like death row. I think that adds to the cinematic feel of it all.

I wanted Sullivan and the Warden to have a classic comic book relationship, like Magneto and Professor Xavier, Batman and the Joker

There were elements that reminded me of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘The Green Mile’, just darker and a little more horrific. Did these movies inspire you in any way?

I think a lot of things had an influence here and there. I’ve seen ‘Shawshank’ and ‘The Green Mile’, so I’m sure that there’s some elements here and there that feel influenced by those films. There’s elements of ‘Batman’, ‘Twilight Zone’, ‘Session 9′, and ‘Silence of the Lambs’ as well and I think the influence shows too.

I really love comic books such as this. I love monochromatic artwork. Have you always been interested in dark storytelling or was it just solely with this piece?

Yeah, I’ve always loved dark story-telling – even as a kid. I always gravitated towards horror comics and movies, scarier characters, and edgier material. With that said, I followed up ‘The Chair’ with a children’s book called ‘Wilson Puck’ about a boy that plays hockey. Truly horrific stuff…

The characters of the piece are quite iconic and extremely strong. What influence did you draw upon, especially for Sullivan and The Warden?

Both characters have many, many influences that I’m sure are both conscious and subconscious efforts. Consciously, I wanted Sullivan and the Warden to have a classic comic book relationship, like Magneto and Professor Xavier, Batman and the Joker, Thor and Loki, etc. Two characters that seem to exist because of the other, yet it’s never quite sure who made who. Those kind of character relationships always intrigued me.

How did you get into the comics industry and did you always want to write? Who were your comic influences growing up and now?

I went straight from college into making comics and starting ‘Alterna’. We sort of hit the ground running in 2006 and have been happily growing our readership ever since. It’s hard to believe that we’ll be celebrating a 10 year anniversary next year!

As far as my influences, in terms of writing, I’ve always loved Chris Claremont, Jeph Loeb, and Paul Dini. Artistically, I practically learned to draw as a kid from Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Andy Kubert, Art Adams, Ron Lim, and Bruce Timm.

How competitive is the comics industry, especially heading an independent publisher?

I find that you’re mostly just competing with yourself. Sure there’s a ton of other publishers and stories out there, but it’s not so much a competition against another creator/publisher/what have you, as it is a competition to create something that will pique someone’s interest and get them excited about reading your story. There’s always room on someone’s shelf for your book, it just depends on whether or not the book interests them.

The Chair: The Movie has just wrapped and will be released in 2015. How did it come about that your comic was going to be realised as a film?

It’s a long process that began shortly after the book started as single print-on-demand issues in 2006 and later on when the graphic novel was released in 2008. The book started gaining some interest from various production companies until it sat in limbo for a couple of years. We received renewed interest in 2011 and that’s when Erin Kohut (who edited the graphic novel) wrote an adaptation for film.

You have co-written the screenplay for the movie. Was this always the initial plan and how much input and control have you had on the movie?

While I did co-write the screenplay, probably about 20% of it, I’d say that by far, it’s a work of Erin’s. I did have a lot of input and control on it, but Erin really gets the story and the characters so there were hardly any moments when I really had to put my foot down about something.
Erin did a great job fleshing out the characters, especially the Warden and the guards, and she created the character of Richard Sullivan’s mother (played by Naomi Grossman in the film). I can honestly say that the film will absolutely be better than the book and it’s because of Erin’s screenplay.

Obviously the screenplay has probably let you run wild and expand characters. What were the benefits of writing the screenplay and has it any major differences from the book?

The screenplay is about 75% accurate to the book. I know that sounds like we went off the rails from the book, but its because we expanded that much more on what takes place in the book. So I guess in actuality it’s 125% better than the book.

What does director Chad Ferrin bring to the table?

Chad and cinematographer Christian Janss have a great eye for setting up shots for the film. Not to sound insane, although it probably does, but there’s some touches of Kubrick and Scorsese to this thing. It’s really impressive footage that’s matched by some great production design by Anthony Pearce as well as a ton of amazing performances.

The cast is just off the scale, it’s a real geek boy’s wet dream with the likes of Zach Galligan, Noah Hathaway and the one and only Roddy Piper. How cool was it finding out these guys were to represent the characters you dreamt up?

Oh it was an amazing experience getting in touch with everyone for this film. Everybody was just so great to talk to and it will probably be one of the most memorable experiences of my life, having conversations on the phone with the cast members. I’ve always had the mind-set that the worst thing that can happen is that someone says “no”, so with that, I approached everyone that I thought would be great in these roles.

Is it true Mickey Rourke was initially eyed for Sullivan?

Yes, Mickey Rourke included, ha-ha.

We have to talk about Bill Oberst Jr, playing the Warden. What a great choice as he’s just so super-cool! He’s the perfect choice isn’t he?

Back in 2009, we had wanted Willem Dafoe or Crispin Glover to play the Warden and looking at Bill, both in his appearance and his skill as an actor – he is a complete mix of those two. He truly is the perfect choice and I can’t think of anyone else who’d make a better Warden.

It must be exciting now that the film has wrapped and you’re gearing up for the release. What can people expect from the film?

Expect the unexpected! Unless you read the graphic novel… then expect that and more.

If the movie is anything like the book, I’ve a strong feeling of a cult hit is on the cards and we can’t wait to see it. When can we expect to see ‘The Chair’?

We’re hoping to have a release in either late 2015 (if we’re super lucky) or in summer 2016. Though, ideally, I’d love to see this thing arrive in time for Halloween 2015.

Peter, It’s been an absolute pleasure speaking with you man. Since reading your book, I’m a huge fan of your writing and eagerly await the movie’s release to once again revisit your amazing characters. I wish you all the very best sir.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read the book and talk to me about it, the pleasure is all mine, my friend!

Interview by- FOLKLORE
Twitter @folkloreart
@SlaughteredBird

‘The Chair: Movie’ is to be released in 2015

Peter Simeti
President/Publisher of Alterna Comics

www.alternacomics.com / Facebook / Twitter
www.thechairhorror.com / Facebook / Twitter / IMDB