Dinner with Tomorrow I Will Be Dirt
Interview with Robert Morgan, director of Tomorrow I Will Be Dirt
How did you get the inspiration for Tomorrow I Will Be Dirt?
The film was a commission from Arrow Films, who had restored and were releasing Jorg Buttgereit’s 1993 film Schramm. They commissioned me to make an accompanying short film that would be included on the Blu-ray. So that was my inspiration! I re-watched Schramm, and then decided it would be cool to make a film set in the main character’s hellish afterlife. It’s a sequel to Buttgereit’s film.
How much do you like horror movies and gore?
Well I sort of are up watching horror films, as well as lots of other kinds of films, so I like horror movies – well – some horror movies anyway – along with lots of other types of films.
Which techniques did you use to create the animation?
It was done in stop-motion animation.
How did you work on matter to make it so palpable, especially on flesh?
The puppets were made from silicone rubber, which gives them a fleshy sort of feel.
Were you more interested in depicting Lothar Schramm’s insanity or its outcome?
I was just interested in depicting a nightmare world that the main character finds himself in – Lothar Schramm is a very disturbed man, and I was interested in seeing what it would be like to get into the mind of a character like that.
Would you consider directing a long feature with a script as Schramm‘s in your artistic style?
Yes!
Would you say that the short film format has given you any particular freedom?
Yes, I’ve made many short films and as time has gone on, I’ve been making them on smaller and smaller budgets, in my own home studio. With budgets that small there’s no one telling you anything – even in commissioned films (in my experience) because the budgets are so pathetic they’d not have the right to start making demands! So I just make what I want.
What are your reference works?
Well for this film is was Jorg Buttgereit’s film Schramm – simple as that.
Tomorrow I Will Be Dirt is part of Lab Competition L1.
