The Y Life goes inside the Horror Film ‘The Chosen’… Out Today!

If you are a horror film aficionado Terror Films and Supergravity Pictures have just the flick for you, they are premiering their new horror film ‘The Chosen’ this weekend and in a bit of admitted anticipation The Y Life sat down for a chat with one of the films Executive Producers Miles Fineburg to get the inside scoop!

‘The Chosen’ opens today, Friday the 24th of July, across the country… In fact, 6 cities have already sold out tickets! So we wanted to know more about the film and its pre-release following?

“Well the film is a supernatural thriller about a demon that attaches itself to a little girl forcing her Uncle and Mother to figure out six members of the family bloodline to sacrifice, in order to free her from the demon. Our lead actor is digital star Kian Lawley from YouTube who has a very active and engaged fan base across social media. His fans have been great from the get go, always wanting to know and see more about the movie as we got closer to release. Thankfully they stayed curious throughout the process and that culminated with them buying tickets to see the film in their local cities.”

The Hollywood Reporter recently featured ‘The Chosen’ star Kian Lawley, 19, from San Clemente, Calif., and explained how Lawley, has amassed stardom through the internet. With his over 4 million social media followers between YouTube, Twitter etc. all created by swapping funny stories with his “vlogging” pals… Lawley, now repped by CAA, is said to be making moves toward Hollywood movie stardom… But how did  his pairing with ‘The Chosen’blossom?

“We at Terror Films knew nothing about the power of the digital star fanbase and who any digital stars were before we began the pre-production process for THE CHOSEN. We partnered with a company called SUPERGRAVITY Pictures who introduced us to that world and the potential of a digital star’s fanbase. They introduced us to Kian and explained the world a bit. From there we decided if he can act then he’ll get the role. We were not just going to cast him as a gimmick. It had to serve the larger goal of the project. We knew his fanbase would be great to tap into but at the end of the day we also just wanted to make a good movie. Fortunately for us Kian could act so it was a no brainer to cast him.”

I just had to know… Does an actor with a social media following help attract projects to their namesake?

“An actor with a social media following today is a big plus. It doesn’t mean they are right for everything but it definitely helps their case as it shows that they have an active and loyal fanbase that would like to see them progress in their career.”

You see, I knew The Y Life and all of our special readers would come in handy! But making films is no easy feet, and there are quite a few untold secrets of Hollywood movie making, which have us all wondering how it’s done…. So we asked Fineburg about the movie making process and how as a Producer, what inspired him to pick projects like ‘The Chosen’, which he has a hunch viewers will love?

“We were very fortunate with The Chosen. One of my fellow producers Joe Dain had known the filmmaker Ben Jehoshua and one of the writers Barry Stitch had been working on this script for a few years. When we ended up creating the Terror Films banner Joe thought it would be good to reach out to them and see if it was a project we could make based on our model. Fortunately for us, the script was exactly the kind of film we were looking for – a character driven story in the horror/supernatural genre. For us, everything begins with the story and script. When we are reading submissions it is all about trying to find that balance between the classic elements of horror/supernatural stories and that extra element that makes the story stand out and become its own unique project.

The process usually takes about a year to turn around. Certain factors such as actor and location availability, amount of VFX and the release strategy really dictate how long the entire process will take.”

‘The Chosen’ is a supernatural thriller starring internet superstar Kian Lawley, Mykayla Sohn, Elizabeth Keener and Angelica Chitwood… and Miles went on to tell us, what made each of these cast members perfect for their roles?

“We had an extensive casting process with our director Ben Jehoshua and had all the actors come in to read multiple times and with each other to see if we had the right fit. Kian had never really acted before the film so when he came in for the casting session we didn’t really know what to expect but once he started auditioning it was pretty apparent he was a natural for Cameron. Mykayla came in and we saw that not only did she have great acting chops for such a young actress but she also had a cuteness that she could easily manipulate into creepiness, which was needed for her role as Angie. Elizabeth Keener’s audition was very much like Kian’s in that it just felt natural. Her chemistry with both Angelica and Kian was hard for the other actresses to replicate. Angelica came into the room and just blew us away with her talent. She had all the right elements of the character and great chemistry with Mykayla and Kian. For all of our choices it was about trying to find that natural fit and chemistry.”

If you are thinking about what elements of ‘The Chosen’ distinguish it from other thrillers, Fineburg says it’s simple…

“The Chosen is a supernatural thriller with some really good scares. It leans more towards the horror genre than real thriller. The mythology of the demon and the base nature of the story really help distinguish it from other thrillers.”

We all know Millennial’s love nothing more than a good scare in the theater, so we had a feeling they would get a real fright from ‘The Chosen’ and with a bit of proud giggle Miles affirmed our suspicions…

“Yes, if we did our jobs correctly there will definitely be some great scare moments.”

To catch ‘The Chosen’ film today, you can download it during a 30 Day Exclusive Window onVimeo On Demand, before it hits iTunes and Netflix!

Click here for the direct link to see… ‘The Chosen’ on Vimeo On Demand