Jordan Mc Closkey is a canadian writer, actor and movie creator

Talking with Jordan Mc Closkey is like talking with passion. The young actor/writer from Toronto is currently working on a project called Ghostpuncher, a supernatural dark comedy with a retro feel but a lot of modern visual graphics inside. How did Jordan manage to make the people so excited only with a poster and a tagline ? LBA asked the question.

Hello Jordan, can you tell us about the genesis of Ghostpuncher? I was lucky because I worked with the director a few time here in Canada (Trevor Cornish, editor). I did commercials and a short film named Roland with him, but he's garnered international awards for his commercial work and is very talented. Look I had producers for this project and signed an option a couple of years ago I would say now, but it didn't really work out so I kind of walked away from the option, I moved to Australia for three months and re-wrote the script and I thought: « Uuh! I need to get a producer! » Anyway I contacted Trevor and he eventually sent Gabriel Napora (the producer, editor) the script and now we are all working together on the project. I'm really lucky because Trevor and Gabriel are very talented and totally get Ghostpuncher, it's gonna be some cool stuff, especially with the Gabriel's special effects company. We need to get the ghosts really really cool but with not too much CGI though(laughs). What is your work exactly on that project? Acting? Producing? I wrote the first drafts of the scripts. You know, I did a short film of it a few years ago and I wanted to make a film so I wrote the first drafts and the basis to what we kind of have now. Currently, Trevor and I are collaborating on the final drafts. It's obviously changing the elements but the story of the father and his son with the haunted house are still the same. I'm not gonna be in it because I've been acting for sixteen years now (laughs), so I like to draw better and being like a co-producer, a writer. What is your main reference for Ghostpuncher? You go back to the 80's and I wrote this film going back to that. I wrote a short that was a comedy short and I went back to my childhood in the 80's because there were really great films. With the father and the son in the house it was like The Lost Boys (Joel Schumacher, 1987) so I thought of The Lost Boys ! That was the tone of the movie so I kind of implement a part of it in the Ghostpuncher's script. Could you tell us about the story of the Ghostpuncher's posters ? One of the technical parts to get this film a way was the visual. In terms of pokers, teaser posters and all that fun stuff I thought we needed to get the word off that way just because it's an independant movie and it's gonna be a horror film. You know in kind of getting the words out there that we're making a movie, the posters I've worked on a few months I guess, I wanted to show the tones of the film. I did one I have recently putted online the « Screw you Casper » version, but we have the original poster with the house, the logo, the skull, the power glove, those were designed originally by my friend Pietro Gagliano, so he was the primary one that did that. We had different producers for the film, so originally I kind of wrote the script for the first teams but Pietro and I we known each other for a long time so I kind of said : « Here's what I want: The Evil Dead that meets The Frighteners ! » So he developed the logo, the branding and I gave him references too with a band called Girl Talk, they got some really cools covers, one of them is called « Feed the Animals » I guess. It was basically a house at night time with a fire burning. It has been a long shot for Pietro(laughs)! Some visual about Ghostpuncher © Pietro Gagliano Watching your poster makes me nostalgic for the ol' days ! The first Carpenter's posters or the Sam Raimi's. Are you nostalgic also? It's funny because basically this is what you can do with posters and visual graphics : make it look like the old covers. The poster I've done, five or six months ago maybe, with the punch through the stomach stuck a lot of people (laughs) and for whatever reason it's maybe like you say we both have the same of nostalgic feel because it doesn't happen anymore. It's on the same line that the references I gave to Pietro. But that's a really good time for movie lovers and young directors, even though we lost video stores, we go on streaming, we have to look at those posters and the old covers ! You know I remember that movie I saw probably four years ago: The Innkeepers (Ti West, 2011, editor). The movie was okay, it was not original or great but just okay. It was like what you're saying about the 80's, about the font, the textures... it reminded me of a book, like the old kind of novel of mystery, horror novel, the visuals are beautiful. That's what I said to Pietro : « We don't need to have too much Photoshop ! »(laughs) What's your favourite movie poster? Well I'm gonna go to the original Boogie Nights movie poster. I love the Evil Dead 2 posters with the skull and the eyes looking at the cam. Dead Alive was a great one... It's funny because The Lost Boys used that tone but it's so 80's !(laughs). Ghostbusters is a classic too. Have you ever gone to see a movie purely because of its poster? God yeah I probably have ! The Innkeepers, it's an okay movie but the cover is beautiful. I think Dead Snow too... Who are your favourites directors? I talked about Boogie Nights so I would say Paul Thomas Anderson again! I love Punch Drunk Love a lot, the movie is visually stunning. I've always loved the Tarantino's stuff too. Sam Raimi when he was doing The Evil Dead. I also like Blomkamp and Trevor Cornish and not just because he's doing Ghostpuncher !(laughs) he is a really talented director in his own right! Thank you Jordan ! Thank you.

Jordan Mc Closkey: actor & writer