A couple of months back, we brought you a trailer for the psychological thriller, Gut, written and directed by Elias. The film follows Tom, a married man who's stuck in a rut and sexually frustrated until a friend shows him a fetish video he found on the internet. From there, the movie chronicles the impact the movie has on Tom, and how his new fetish has the potential to unravel his life.

I spoke to Elias recently by e-mail about the genesis of Gut, how there's a little of himself in the movie, and what the most disturbing thing was that he ever saw.

Twitch: Could you tell us a little about your filmmaking background?

Elias: Sure. I made my first short film when I was 19 on 8mm video using mostly in-camera edits and two VCRs. My friend Chad used his analogue four track to record the score. We screened it one night after hours for the staff and friends of the movie theater I worked at on a 13 inch TV with a home stereo. The tiny TV sat halfway down the aisle, dwarfed by the dark, unused theater screen behind it. It was ridiculous and absolutely awesome all at once.

I followed this by moving to NYC to pursue acting. As much as I'd enjoyed making that first short, it was still more of a means to an end for me because of course what I really wanted to do was act and write. My experiences at the school left me somewhat discouraged and I ended up back in VA Beach a year later. Chad and I made a few more shorts, including one where the voice of God convinces me to eat my first Twinkie.

I ended up back in NYC again, this time studying film at the School of Visual Arts. In many ways it became a testing ground for me. I learned a lot about the process and made some great friends.

After I graduated there was a dose of harsh reality when I didn't immediately find Hollywood knocking on my door, but I continued pushing my thesis short, The Voice Inside, as much as I could with festivals and online. Reactions were good, [it] even took home a few awards, but I was still a long way from where I wanted to be or where I'd imagined I'd be. I was beginning disillusioned. Shortly thereafter, I fell in love with a woman I met at a bookstore, moved to her home town in Germany, subsequently felt like a foreigner and an outcast, ate a lot of pork, wurst and spezi (orange, lemonade and coke), drove a frog-green Fiat, visited old castle ruins, got married in a 2000 year old town in Bavaria in a city hall complete with medieval torture chamber, and then remembered I still loved filmmaking and started up again.

In 2003 we moved back to NYC and I spent the next three years putting together LovecraCked! The Movie, a cornball anthology feature I'd started with some other filmmakers and friends. It wasn't exactly received with universal praise, but it got everyone involved some attention and it helped move things forward. During the next couple years I made another short (Dead Sucks) and wrote three more feature scripts, one of which was Gut.

Twitch: In the production notes for the film, you mention that Gut came from a personal place for you. Could you elaborate a little on that for our readers?

Elias: The two main characters, Tom & Dan, [Jason Vail, Nicholas Wilder] are in some ways reflections of two very different points in my life. Tom reflected more [of] the present, married with a child (or plans to have one soon), working a job that paid the bills but did nothing to inspire, and the nagging feeling that in some ways life was beginning to pass you by. Dan, on the other hand, was much more akin to myself in my teens and twenties, but as if I'd never grown up and kept all my hubris and naiveté into my thirties. There's common ground shared between Tom and Dan, but it's mostly nostalgia and it's steadily slipping away. Growing apart from childhood friends is always painful and I remember the feeling all too well.

Twitch: So how did you deal with your own periods of emotional/personal stagnation?

Elias: That's pretty easy. Mostly through filmmaking. It has a tendency to consume your life and by doing so dwarf most other concerns. Sometimes it can even be a little too all consuming and borderline obsessive, but I think that also comes with the territory. It's an important outlet for me and I really can't imagine life without it.

Twitch: How did actors Jason Vail and Nicholas Wilder come to the project? What kind of prep did you go through with Nicholas and Jason to get them in Dan and Tom's heads?

Elias: We held an open casting call. Nick had initially submitted for the role of Tom and he did a great read, but when we tried him for Dan something just clicked and everyone who saw him that day felt the same way. Jason had actually auditioned for an earlier project and I remembered him. I was looking at his pictures again after the auditions and I really felt like I could see him as Tom. I pretty much decided to cast him then. He and Nick had never met before, as far as I knew, and I was really happy with the natural chemistry they had together.

As far as prep for Jason and Nick... outside of the work they did on their own, we met several times for rehearsal in the weeks before shooting and we had a lot of good back and forth during those times. On location I did my best to help keep emotional continuity and give them as much support and context as I could before every shot. I probably went a little over board sometimes and usually followed this by telling them to forget everything I had just said.

Twitch: What were some other films that led to the genesis of this one in terms of story, tone, and such?

Elias: In terms of the story and script, nothing especially. I'm a great fan of the films of David Cronenberg and Michael Haneke so I'm sure I took some inspiration there one way or another. Movies like History of Violence and The Piano Teacher have a quiet, building tension I love and they really let the performances carry the story.

Twitch: Kind of expanding on how this film came from a personal place for you, tell us a little about who Tom is to you? And Dan, for that matter.

Elias: Tom is someone who, for all intent and purpose, should be happy and content, but he isn't. His growing dissatisfaction is something I believe a lot of people may be able to relate to. The routine of his life, the lack of diversion, it's all been steadily eating away at him.

Dan, on the other hand, has yet to even fully embrace his adult life. He may have an apartment and a job, but his only friend is one from childhood and all he really wants is to turn back time to when things were simpler and more fun.

Twitch: There was definitely a precision and... exactness, if you will to the video and the fetish it represented. Without spoiling it too much for potential viewers, could you tell us how you arrived at this particular imagery?
Elias: I don't know how literal my thought process was. The videos they watch had to fall well outside social norms, but still possess an undeniable appeal to both Tom and Dan. Extreme violence with a sexual undertone. Took a little inspiration from Argento and Cronenberg. I also really like the opening scene from the film Begotten, and though far more surreal, I wanted to capture a similar feeling of morbid fascination.

Twitch: Were you at all concerned about losing the audience's sympathy for Tom after he watches the video the first time?

Elias: Yeah, that was a bit of a tightrope walk. I was concerned about this for both characters actually. The key with Tom is whether or not the audience feels they can relate to him. If they can that'll go a long way to preserving their sympathy for his character despite his often questionable behavior. Playing the straight man is always a challenge because the emotions are often underplayed. Jason put everything he had into that performance and I think people are going to sense what's at stake for his character.

Twitch: What's the worst thing you've ever seen that you couldn't get out of your head?

Elias: Great question. I think for me this often falls under the category of dreams, particularly those that feel especially real and cling to you long after you've woke up. I've had some terrible dreams, far worse than anything I've ever put on film probably. There's no safety net in the dream world and you're as much villain as protagonist. It's definitely a topic I'd like to explore more in another project. In terms of a real thing I've seen that I couldn't get out of my head... probably the most significant experience I had happened at the post office. I was at the counter when a UPS truck pulled up and the driver ran inside for help. Lying on the floor of the truck, half hanging out, was an unconscious man. I could see the bullet hole in his side, a small, circular puncture, barely any visible blood. It looked like it might have perforated the lung. One of the employees who knew him ran out and tried to help him while they waited for the ambulance and police to show. He'd been gunned down a few blocks away and the UPS driver had hauled him into the truck and drove him to us. Watching his friend crouched over him, talking to him, holding his head up, trying to keep him alive... it was horrible, and I wanted to do something, but there was nothing that could be done. I think he died before he even made it to the hospital. Seeing him dying there and being unable to stop it, I felt worthless. I was angry that I couldn't do something.

Twitch: Where is the movie now in terms of post-production, and what's the plan after it's all sewn up?

Elias: We're doing some last tweaks to the color and then that's it, done deal. We haven't signed with any distributors yet, domestic or otherwise. Right now we're submitting to festivals, and after the film's had a chance to run its course we'll try and negotiate a limited theatrical release, then broadcast, DVD, Blu-ray, streaming, etc.

Twitch: And then what are you working on next?

Elias: I recently finished a script called Dark. It's a psychological thriller spanning the course of a day and one very long night in the life of a woman at odds with herself and her surroundings. Belladonna Productions is on board and Gut collaborator Nick Basile will be directing it. While that's underway, and in between promoting Gut, I'm working on a couple of other scripts, one of which I'd like to direct next. One's a drama about the role sex plays in love and the lengths to which one might go to find happiness. The other is a futuristic thriller about the role appearance plays in identity and morality, and what would happen if this was no longer a factor. I'm torn right now on which one I'd like to pursue first.

You can see an exclusive clip from Gut below. You can find out more about the film at its official site, and on its Facebook page.