Episode 139: Talk w/ Director Asif Akbar and Writer/Co-Star Vince McDaniel of Lionsgate’s The Boneyard

0:02 Approximately six weeks ago, one of our concerned citizens came across human remains while walking a dog. We discovered the remains of 11 women and one unborn child. We never faced anything like this. They're sending in an expert. Chief Carter, I presume. Hope you had a good flight, Agent Patrick. I read your file. You were looking for the boogeyman. Instead focused on the regular guy just hiding in plain sight. We put serial killers into four categories first you got your visionary they hear voices you know, next we got hedonistic these are lust killers after that the power control oriented but i don't think our guy has any of those he's a mission oriented killer, he thinks he's making the world a better place.

0:51 Music. Hey hon, you looking for a good time? What do you say? You want to do this thing? Oh you know I do. You telling me the serial killer can be an undercover cop? So it could be anyone. When I looked into his eyes, his eyes were dead. He's playing God. Music. No one can get through life without pain. My pain is deep, but it gives me purpose.

1:34 We have a predator amongst us. Music. And welcome everybody we are here with a very special episode presented to you by lionsgate about the upcoming film boneyard i am with my favorite dude in the whole world give it up for mike hampton mike what's up the bony mike hampton in the house hey bony mike hampton indeed mike you are you're not in this episode sorta but we i we have to it's not an uncle dad if you're not here so we gotta have you here to talk about it so boneyard mike i got you saw it it was great right it was absolutely incredible yes it was based on it's based on a true story it's it's something that i think needs to be told and the fact that the murders have never been solved still to this day are something that will leave shivers down your spine would you agree with that i'm I'm shivering. I'm shivering right now.

2:44 And it's already almost 90 degrees here in Sacramento. Yes. Bone chilling. Bone chilling in the boneyard. That's right. A bony man. But yes, Lionsgate, probably one of our most consistent partners, reached out to us to have us cover this film. I wanted to go ahead and talk about it really fast, because we didn't talk about it in the interview. but this movie stars Mel Gibson icon right you would agree, he he's an icon of sorts yeah i don't know if he's canceled but or is he canceled i don't know do you think mike i thought he was it seems like he found his way back in doing movies like bruce willis did oh you know i'm saying like the the those uh those great movies from lionsgate you know what i mean yeah yeah we love we love him yes we love him he's absolutely and also stars brian van holt spice william crosby and of course he cannot mention this movie without this guy he's He's the lead in the movie 50 cents or Curtis Jackson. He plays chief Carter.

3:45 And this movie is directed and written by a C-Fact bar, Hank bird and Vincent E. McDaniel. And in this episode, Mike, we actually sit down with the director, a C-Fact bar and the writer and star Vincent E. McDaniel. So this episode is full of some hunky men. Let me tell you. Yeah. Yes. Lots of hunky men, not the bony men, the hunky men. I think exactly. No, no, no, no bony man in this boneyard. Yes. So this movie will be released very, very soon. This movie comes out in July and. And to add to the excitement of this film, we had a very special guest host and that was Rick of Sigma duo.

4:32 Cassie filled in for you because you were out there handling your business. And Mike, I'm sure you agree with this. We thank him for stepping in and just being a part of it. Always always thanks thanks to rick for coming off the bench and and subbing in for me when i'm you know in the locker room doing something i don't know that was a weird analogy but thank you yes of course rick i bombed mike was actually busy in the boneyard yeah that's exactly right but yeah please go check this movie out if you haven't heard in the very beginning of this we actually have the the audio of the trailer playing it is really based on a true story I really can't tell you enough it actually is quite a unique film and 50 Cent Mike just so you know is just and I know you know this because you've seen it he's absolutely impeccable with this movie, Yeah, it's always good to see 50, like, expand his acting chops, you know, and he seems like he's getting better and better at it.

5:26 And, you know, I've been a fan of 50 for a long time. So it's cool to see him in there in the mix with some, you know, with some of the some of the big hitters. That's right. Mel Gibson, man, you can't, you can't beat that guy, right? I mean, that's Braveheart, right? That is, that was Braveheart. He was Braveheart. Is that Braveheart, right? I was like, was that Bruce Willis? Imagine if bruce willis wasn't braveheart though i imagine every movie but with bruce willis in it just so you know including boneyard. Bruce willis presents boneyard okay everybody without further ado here is our interview with asif akbar and vincent e mcdaniel the writer and director and star of Boneyard from Lionsgate. We'll see you all next time.

6:16 Hey, this is David Brown from Rising Appalachia and Castanea. Just wanted to say you are listening to Uncle Dad Talks. All right. Gentlemen, how are you guys doing on this lovely, lovely day? First and foremost. Great. Very well. Thanks for having us. Thanks for being here. Because in all honesty, being in your guys' presence, I can already feel the magic. I can feel the energy flowing, and I love it. I'm so excited. So first and foremost, my name is Uncle Dan, and with me this time is not my normal co-host. Normally, I have a co-host named Mike, but today we'll have the lovely Rick as well. Rick, go ahead and kick off the show with your studious questions. Hi, Rick. Awesome. How's it going? Well, pleasure to be seeing you guys and talking to you guys. Just seeing the film, fantastic.

7:01 Absolutely loved it. I wanted to kick off because I found this story to be very interesting. And being that it's based or actually inspired by true events being the west mess of murders and tailoring it to be your own story i was really curious on what was the process of putting a story like this together and then on a second half of was there any pressure to keep certain things close to the actual events. It was definitely a journey, you know, and originally the script was developed. The first draft was written by Vince and our co-writer, Hank Bird, a while back. And I was brought onto it about eight years ago when I met Vince through some mutual friends in New Mexico.

7:41 And, you know, we collaborated on a lot of films over the years. And this was one of the top on the list of films we wanted to make together. And when he first told me the story, that's when I came to learn about the West Mesa murders case. And I was horrified and blown away about how crazy it was and that it's real. And then we actually developed the script more to be inspired from other crime stories as well, along with the West Mesa murders case was the central case in the story. But we've taken pieces from different cases to mold us together. And obviously, we had to take some creative liberties to make our own story.

8:24 But the goal was to bring awareness and shed light to these cases. So, you know, hopefully someone could be saved or a case could be, you know, closed because there's so many open cases, like cold cases like this, as you see from the stats that are just unbelievable that, you know, they're not investigated more. You know, I'm curious for Vince, you know, since you wrote on this as well, and you star in the film, one of the things I've learned talking to so many actors is sometimes it's hard to convey the scene if it doesn't feel truthful. When you write, do you feel yourself writing to be truthful or do you want it to be how easy it is for you to convey that scene in the actual production?

9:04 I'm a truth teller I try to stick to telling the truth and then rely on the acting ability to translate it in real time so. Our whole goal was to tell the truth the whole time I love that I find that when movies write, truthfully you can get the better product out of it without trying to make it so like a fantasy or whatever not that fantasy is wrong Even in a fantasy, there's rules that you need to have in writing, right? So I'm curious, when both of you guys were working on this script, did you guys find yourself ever getting the most peculiar case of writer's block when writing the story? Somewhat. I mean, you know, we had to stick with the realism with this story at the style we took.

9:52 And, you know, with so many different characters and things happening in this and side stories and whatnot and subplots, we didn't have too much time. To obviously, you know, tell it all in 96 minutes. But, you know, we had to restructure it. It was a little bit non-traditional, you know, the way we... Normally tell serial killer thrillers you know it's more pure entertainment this one you know we obviously had to keep it entertaining you know from a cinematic perspective but with the cinematic style we also kind of implemented a little bit of a documentary style where you know there's narration with mel gibson that's teaching you about these cases and the serial killer stats and that are just so mind blowing to hear that we wanted to focus on the education, you know, that the audience would receive from this more.

10:47 I love that. Rick, I know you brought us to think about Mel Gibson. And I'm curious, you want to bring that up? Oh, yeah. So it was a pleasure seeing Mel Gibson. He's one of my favorite all time actors. Lethal Weapon. He's fantastic. fantastic and being seeing that he's also a director what was like how did the i'm gonna say is how was it working with him like the was there collaboration in terms of like also direction every now and then like to putting his input and he was i mean he was very respectful and obviously you know i'd be stupid not to collaborate with them with his ideas as well but i mean he was also very respectful i mean you know and to see him work like that was very inspiring to know, you know, where he comes from and what he's done.

11:31 And he's definitely in my eyes, one of the best directors and actors of our time, and probably in the history of film. But, you know, when he was working with us, it was just like him, you know, working on any other film, he took it very seriously, he contributed his ideas where he felt like, you know, he needed to share them. And we collaborated on debates, like it wasn't ever like, you know, oh, I want on it this way, so this is what we're going to do, or this is what I think we need to do. It's more like, what do you think about this? Or would this work? Or would that work? Or how about we try this? And it was a very nice collaborative teamwork between all of us. And there were times when, yeah, Mel would sit down with a piece of paper and pen and write out additional lines or change it up to his own.

12:17 And the way I work with actors is I like to give them the freedom to collaborate And be artists and not just robots, you know, and a lot of directors will tell actors to say something a certain way, or they have to stick to the script, they have to do this. For me, it's what works, you know, for the film. And in this case, I mean, Mel was very supportive, and he barely ever even went to his trailer. He was right there on set with us by my side and doing his part as an actor. And then also, you know, being a great partner and collaborator and just making the best film we could possibly with what we had to work with. Well, Vince, I'm curious, you know, you being an actor as well, was there ever like an intimidation factor being next to Mel Gibson at all?

13:04 No, I was ready. I was ready to, to, uh, mortalize myself with him on the scene, but the scene we had to cut the scene, but you know, the time I spent with Mel, I talked to him, you know, he's very professional and everything, but I'm, yeah, I was ready. I was ready. I was ready for that. I love that. And I think, you know, this movie has so much talent in it as well, you know, and, you know, a lot of people to me don't give 50 Cent or Curtis Jackson enough credit. He is truly one of the best actors, I think, out there in film. He's all in every time I see him. So I'm curious, did he have any collaboration on this as well? And did you guys like, was it a challenge to direct him at all?

13:48 Or did he kind of go his own way? way no well the thing is 50 was very respectful and and he wanted that guidance and you know you know you know there was collaboration there obviously but it was different for all of us and him to play this kind of a character you know it's a whole new 50 cent that you're going to experience and you know it took him a couple days i think to even you know realize you know that he's playing the chief of police and like he was also blown like even i remember when we were in the makeup trailer and you know he's getting his makeup done then he goes in wardrobe puts on the the uniform and you know in the film he's mainly in the uniform almost the whole time and and it gives him that you know authority and and it's a whole different vision with 50 cent where i think he was also kind of taken back by how he was able to handle that character to the point i can give you one little short story is he got so much into the character in our day four or five into it when we were shooting the press conference scene you know normally you'd see the real life police chiefs you know reading off notes or they're at a podium and they can look down and read but 50 memorized that entire speech at the press conference delivered it every take and he was very committed to making it organic and he did and so he was very committed to making it right because Because he knew that it was also a huge thing.

15:15 The audience seeing him as this authority figure. The chief of police. And he wanted to play that right. Vince, I had a curious question for you. So being that you co-wrote and they're also in the movie, is there any time where when you're writing a movie and you know you're going to be in it that you kind of want to put some cool scenes for yourself? Because I'm telling you, sometimes you were intense in some of those scenes when you're coming through them doors and raiding someone. I was like, okay. So is there any like, you know, yeah, I'm going to, you know, make myself look pretty, pretty awesome in this, in this scene. You know on this one no i didn't but you just gave me some ideas for my future stuff you know you know i just tried to make it happen but it was fun that's all i could say but yeah i this time i wrote certain things for me but as we were going through the script everybody else had their pin on it too so you know i just tried to translate the best i could i love that we do you got to wrap up soon here.

16:14 So I want to ask both of you, what is the one thing you want the audience to take from the film after they watch it? Same thing. Oh, okay. I mean, you have to be aware of this global issue with, you know, serial killers, murders, kidnappers, traffickers, you know, and both of us being girl dads, we want to be able to protect our, not only our children, but you know, we want others to be able to protect their children and also victims that need closure could maybe seek, you know, more answers. You know, if someone's being abused or in a situation they need help, they can cry out for help. There's definitely organizations out there that will, and we're working with a few.

16:57 And Vince, you want to mention? Yeah, we're working with YDI, Youth Development Corporation in Albuquerque. It's a place for youth to go for education, for housing, and also they help families. Amistad is a place for runaways. They take you in immediately. It's no waiting for the program, stuff like that. So these are very important programs that we need to raise awareness for because a lot of people aren't aware of these programs. Programs a lot of people think that you're just just stuck on the street until they have divine intervention no we have programs that help you off of these things yeah there's no shame in asking for help no no i that i that sentiment means a lot to me because i feel like.

17:45 We all struggle, whether in some sort of way, and especially even as men, right? Men have a hard time reaching out specifically. And I think knowing that there's these programs out there for young men out there and young women as well, that just to get out there and get the help that we need to fix our lives. Maybe not fix our lives, but just do what we can to progress in life, right? So thank you guys for doing that. I'll also tag those organizations in this as well. So if they have tips on any crimes or even related to this case, they can always report it to the FBI or the Albuquerque Police Department or their local police departments and, you know, help with the case, solving the case. You know, fight to get by.

18:26 Absolutely. Rick, do you have any last questions before we go? I just want to say I appreciated the film. I appreciated the story you guys told and everything that it's intended for. Like i said i honestly back in 2009 didn't even know this was going on until i was made aware of this film and then i started researching and everything and i'm like wow like this was pretty intense like what's happening here so i definitely appreciate the awareness that you guys are bringing with this film thank you thank you thank you gentlemen thank you guys have a great day and i will see you guys next time take care all right you guys have a great day too thank you. Music.