Kiss Army Argentina Exclusive Interview with Seb Hunter: I'd love them (Kiss) to get involved somehow

Kiss Army Argentina: Seb, first of all thanks a lot for your time Seb Hunter: That's OK. Though I am pretty busy with all this. It's a full time job. Plus I look after two children full time. And play in four bands. And I'm a keen onanist. Apart from that I do nothing. Except drink. Kiss Army Argentina: Since some time ago we know about your idea of beginning to work in the film The Elder. Please tell us how and when you got this idea. Seb Hunter: The idea just popped into my head one day, while I was emailing a friend, Julian Cope's wife, Dorian. The idea was clearly a gift from God. OR SATAN. This happened about two years ago. I have been working out how to do it ever since then. Kiss Army Argentina: You have no experience as a film maker or as a screenwriter, and yet you seem determined to make this great project real. How will you be involved? Who will join you? Seb Hunter: After I had the idea I realised that in order to do this properly I'd have to be helped out by people who knew what they were doing. So that's what I've tried to do. If you look at the Cast and Crew section of the Elder movie website, everybody listed has genuine film experience. They all know what they're doing, and have offered their services completely for free because they love the idea of an Elder movie and like me are determined to get it made. The only person in complete cinematic ignorance is me. But I have the vision. I just need to get this vision across to everybody else. I think we'll be fine. We are all determined to make a fucking great film, it's as simple as that. There's no point in doing this if we're not going to do it properly. And we will do it properly. You can trust us. Kiss Army Argentina: You surely know that by the time Music from The Elder was released, in 1981, Bill Aucoins idea was to complement the album with a movie. Were you able to do further research on this original project that was never carried out? Seb Hunter: I don't want to bog myself down with all that stuff. We are making THIS film NOW, and that's all that really counts. Don't get me wrong, I'm interested in all that historical stuff, but we're not making

-2THAT movie, we're making OUR one. We don't want to get tangled up in history. That way lies madness. Kiss Army Argentina: Please tell us about your approach to the story. According to what we have heard, it will not be exactly related to the album as we know it, but that instead you have adapted it to transform it into a sort of post-apocalyptic road movie Seb Hunter: We've reset the Elder as a kind of post-apocalyptic road movie. It's set in 2022, 10 years after a man-made virus wiped out 99.9% of mankind. The virus was created by Blackwell Corp, who are now the only company left standing, in fact they're not a company anymore, but a religion, which controls the world, or at least what we see in the film of what's left of the world. Blackwell has priests (Fathers) which roam the countryside, controlling, shepherding the remaining population, one of whom, Father Morpheus, is a rogue agent. The Boy (named Grigorss) has known Morpheus since he was a child, so he can trust him, right? Right?? Kiss Army Argentina: How are you handling the legal issue with KISS regarding the copyrights of the story? Will they be involved in some way? Seb Hunter: Good question. I'd love them to get involved somehow, in fact ideally Simmons would play Blackwell. We've written to their management and their label but not heard anything back yet. I imagine we'll hear something soon! If they really come down hard on us, we'll be forced to change the name of the movie. We could maybe call it Dark Light instead. But we'll see. Hopefully KISS will see the potential in this for everybody... Kiss Army Argentina: Having KISS support would be very beneficial taking into account the publicity that it would entail, but at the same time we know that neither Gene nor Paul are not exactly fond of the album, unlike many of us, the fans. Is it the idea to do the film anyway, with or without their support? Seb Hunter: Yes we're going to make our film whatever KISS's response. it would be a shame to be completely unauthorised, but we're prepared to go down that route if we have to. Kiss Army Argentina: Having seen the promotional poster and having read about this project we see that you have Gene Simmons in mind for the role of Mr. Blackwell. Did you contact him to talk about it? What other actors, apart from Gene, do you have in mind for other roles? Seb Hunter: I mentioned it in my letters to his management and label, yes. I hope this might tempt him into participation, as he's a fine actor. We would fly to LA to shoot his (all indoor) parts separately. It will be quite a small cast. Maybe ten or so principle characters, maximum, plus some extras. My best friend Owen Oakeshott is going to play Morpheus. He's a very accomplished theatre and TV actor. He'll be brilliant. He's also co-producing the movie. Kiss Army Argentina: Why are you doing this? Why now? Seb Hunter: Because it will be fucking awesome. The positivity this project has already generated, after just two months online, has been incredible. I've been blown away by the massive support we have received from all over the world. And as for why now, well, I simply never thought of it before. And we could never have done this without the Internet. Kiss Army Argentina: Lets talk a bit now about your fan side. How and when did you become a KISS fan? Seb Hunter: I've been a KISS fan since 1984. Yes, Mark St John was my first KISS guitar hero. Actually I

-3discovered Alive! first. Then I think Lick it Up. Only a few LPs later did I realise that Animalize was, in fact, the latest one. Kiss Army Argentina: As a KISS fan you are, we know that Music from the Elder is one of your favorite albums of this band. How would you describe it? Seb Hunter: I think Paul Stanley hit the nail on the head when he said it was a great album, just not a great KISS album. Nothing else they've done sounds anything like it. But what's wrong with that? Surely part of being an artist involves taking risks. If the Elder had been more commercially successful, then we wouldn't still be having this conversation 30 years later. It would be heralded as a huge artistic success rather than a terrible failure. Hopefully our film will help with its eventual rehabilitation. Kiss Army Argentina: Going back to the movie, what will we find in it regarding the soundtrack? What new things will be added in terms of the music? Seb Hunter: If we get to use the music, we'll use themes and melodies throughout, if not whole songs. We will use whole songs over the opening and final credits. The rest of the incidental music will be provided by my own experimental music group Crater. The weird folky drone at the end of the YouTube clip on the Elder movie website is by us. Kiss Army Argentina: Where are you shooting the movie? (i.e., locations/cities/countries) Seb Hunter: in the South of England, near Winchester, where the movie is set. Except for Gene's bits, which we'll film in LA, if he agrees to take part. Kiss Army Argentina: When will you actually start shooting? Do you know more or less when will you finish it? Seb Hunter: This all depends on the script. I'd the script is in amazing shape by this summer then we'll start shooting in the summer. If it needs work then we'll hold back for a while and maybe film a short, like a dry run, while we polish up the script. Whatever feels right, we'll do. We won't rush into anything. I imagine the shoot itself will take a few months. We hope to have the film finished and ready to go by the start of 2013. Kiss Army Argentina: How can interested people help with this project? We know that in fact, through the official site of the movie, you receive donations to carry it out. Please provide all the details that you deem important in this sense. And also, can fans actively participate somehow in it? Seb Hunter: The best way people can help with this project is to contribute financially. We have no minimum contribution. You can donate a single dollar if you like. And ALL of our financial contributors will get their names in the end credits of the film. EVERYBODY, to contribute, please go here: http://www.elderthemovie.com/index.php/2011-11-14-10-39-17/funding Kiss Army Argentina: Will it be a movie aimed exclusively at KISS fans, or will public in general be able to understand it? Seb Hunter: We are trying to make a hit film. This is a film for everybody. Obviously KISS fans will get more of the references and the music, but we're trying to make a commercially viable piece of independent cinema. That's the challenge! Kiss Army Argentina: What would you say to the KISS fans that do not like Music from the Elder

-4(the album) to convince them to watch your movie? SH: Well, Gene might be in it! And the whole of the Elder album will not be featured, so you won't be forced to listen to the whole thing! There's also, hopefully, going to be a "Making of the Movie" documentary made at the same time by a UK independent production company called Mentorn Media. That will be fun. If it all goes ahead that will show us going to California to pitch this whole project to KISS themselves. Maybe this doc will be part of a 2 disc DVD set eventually? That would be cool. Kiss Army Argentina: Seb, thanks a lot for the time you devoted to this interview. Seb Hunter: My pleasure, dudes. Keep on rockin'.

Interview: MARCELO GARCIA and DIEGO FERREYRA (Kiss Army Argentina) Translation: Mariana MIA Abello (Kiss Army Argentina) February 2012