Timothy and Jennifer Friend: Bonnie and Clyde’s Bold and Welcoming Masters. By Brian Kirst.
After watching Tiffany Shepis in The Hazing, creative mastermind Timothy Friend thought to himself, “Wouldn’t it be cool to hire Tiffany Shepis?” Soon, in the ever famous category of thoughts becoming reality, Friend found himself on set with the talented Shepis on his inventive feature Bonnie and Clyde Vs. Dracula. “I’m a comic nerd,” Friend willingly admits, “and I wanted to combine the EC Crime Comics with vampires.” So, Friend and cinematographer Todd Norris sat down to watch Walter Hill westerns and Mario Bava flicks (one of Norris’ favorite memories of the production) and within 16 months, BACVD was in the can.
Shepis, who received an initial email from Jennifer Friend, Annabel in the film and Timothy’s frequent collaborator, read the script and thought “it was fucking great! It wasn’t – oh no, I’m naked and I died!” Shepis, set to play Bonnie, arrived, though, and discovered that she would be the only one staying at the film’s primary set – Whiskey Mansion- during her stay. “Jennifer told me I was the only one staying there with a caretaker named Olen – who lived in the attic! I was trying not to be a diva, but I was freaking out. Fortunately, Olen was the sweetest thing and would make the craziest things – quiches, his own honey – for breakfast. He was so not creepy!”
Jennifer, a middle school principal by day, enthuses, “The film was shot in St. Joseph and Weston, Missouri – Clyde’s actual brother was killed around some of the areas we were shooting.” As for her quirky character, Annabel, Friend not only steals the picture with her soft hearted, giddy portrayal, but also has a lot in common with her fun loving creation. “Just like Annabel, I love mashed potatoes,” Friend proudly boasts.
Speaking of mashed potatoes, art director Nita Norris recalls the day that she found a production assistant carefully measuring out ingredients trying to make the penultimate moist and juicy spud for the film. “It was funny. They were just going to be flung around – and here he is trying to make them perfectly!”
Perfect, though, is something that Big Atom Productions, the Friends’ company, aims for. After their first successful collaboration, Cadaverella, received a lot of notice and praise after its release on Brain Damage last year, Shepis feels they have upped the ante with this fun and frightful horror product. “They did a damn fine job,” she states. And anyone lucky enough to catch BACVD, which also features horror regular Trent Haaga as Clyde, will surely discover how right Shepis is in her straight ahead assessment.
To keep up with the Friends, Bonnie and Clyde Vs. Dracula and their other projects, make sure to check out www.bigatomproductions.com frequently. If you don’t, you just might break sweet Annabel’s heart – and you wouldn’t want to do that – would you?
