Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Dana Abraham, exclusive, interview, kim coates, Momentum Pictures, Neon Lights, Rouzbeh Heydari

Neon Lights: Dana Abraham on Pandemic & Heath Ledger Inspiration

For actor and writer Dana Abraham, Neon Lights is a project near and dear to his heart. Primarily inspired by the COVID pandemic, the film offers a cerebral look into the mind of tech tycoon Clay Amani (Abraham), who retreats to an off-the-grid location in search of meaning and peace following a meltdown in an interview. With disconnected siblings and their offspring, he's caught in a bone-chilling killing spree within his new estate. Abraham spoke to Bleeding Cool about working with director and writing partner (Rouzbeh Heydari), how important casting Kim Coates was to making the project work, and how Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight also shaped Clay.

Bleeding Cool: What's the inspiration behind 'Neon Lights?
Dana Abraham: Rouzbeh and I were developing the script where we really wanted to encapsulate all the different themes really prevalent during the height of the pandemic: mental health, childhood trauma, and financial failure. At the same time, we wanted to create something that was entertaining, thrilling, and jarring.

BC: There are so many psychological aspects to it just to convey it on screen. That must been quite something for you, right?
Abraham: When you factor it's the pandemic, and you don't know when you're going get shut down any given day, it was really challenging. To give you a quick idea of the timelines, Rouzbeh and I started working on this since June 2020, and we hunted for financing through Red Hill Entertainment, our banner in July. By the time we really met the first phase of investors, they were really interested in the project. We had started sending out the initial offer to Kim Coates' team, and when he had jumped on board, that's when really things took shape. We had the name we needed, and we had distribution opportunities that we also needed to get the movie out there at the last leg of the film. We had to shoot in 15 days due to insurance constraints. They didn't know if we would get shut down by mid-November or December with the new policies. It was really grueling and difficult, because we needed to complete it as quickly as possible. The post-production was where we got to enjoy ourselves. We got to see the movie and make things build themselves out. Conceiving is probably one of the most challenging things I've ever done. Next time, if we ever have a pandemic again, knock on wood; I'll just sit tight. I'm not going to produce any projects [laughs].

BC: There are a lot of tense moments in the film. Was there any particular one that stood out from the others?
Abraham: I think they were all just really tough. I'll tell you something. I don't think I've said this publicly before, so you'll get to have this one. Still, the axing that everybody sees in the trailer and everything else in the teaser, when you watch that entire scene from start to finish in the movie, we had already shot that a few days before in our Steadicam. There were some technical issues, and it didn't come out as steady as we hoped. Nobody told me because they knew I'd be really upset. We had a really long day ahead of us, shooting that scene again at 2 a.m. It's the one shot that took us basically a 50-minute turnaround and a three-minute to shoot from start to finish. We spent about five takes because something always came up. All of a sudden, we spent two and a half hours of filming it over and over again. I had to make sure that I did that performance in that moment justice. I wanted to ensure that I was authentic and true. Every time, I just tried to give it the hardest that I could, and it really paid off. I'm really glad that we did, and I'm really glad Rouzbeh forced me into doing it, let's put it that way [laughs].

BC: So when it came to casting, did you work with Rouzbeh, or did you have people already in mind? Was Kim already penciled in when you conceived of this?
Abraham: Kim is somebody I have wanted to work with for a really long time. The two shows that he's done that are really big in my neighborhood are 'Bad Blood' and 'Sons of Anarchy.' I started riding a motorcycle because of 'SOA,' so he was somebody we wanted, and we weren't going to stop. I think his agent Gayle [Abrams] was going to get a restraining order with how many emails I was sending [laughs]. Still, once I finally spoke to her, she'd kind of give me a tidbit of information that he wanted to work with his daughter, and if there's any way we can kind of get her involved, that would be great. So we got Brenna Coates' character into the script. So the first cast members were actually Brianna, Kim and myself. So then to fill the remainder of the cast, Rouzbeh and I did it ourselves. We sent out casting calls because it didn't make sense for any casting directors since there were only four or five other roles, and we had three of the cast, and we wanted to see that experience.

BC: You said that the pandemic inspired a lot of this. Was there anything like externally growing up that also helped bring this story to life?
Abraham: Heath Ledger's Joker [from 2008's 'The Dark Knight'] is definitely right there. What was the movie that I watched where I thought,' Whoa, that is the coolest thing that I've ever seen.' I never was that drawn into an antagonist, like most, the way I was to his Joker. When it came down to creating Clay, not to say that I pulled from that character itself, but I pulled from the performance and the capacity of that character and gave him life. That was my inspiration in many ways; then you have 'American Psycho,' and you factor in all the other aspects of that creative world and experiences. That's what really made Clay who he is and somebody that I got to portray throughout the film.

Momentum Pictures' Neon Lights, which also stars Brit MacRae, Stephen Tracey, Rene Escobar, Erika Swayze, and Lauren Howe, will be available on-demand and digital on July 12th.

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