MARK
     MAHON

Throughout his life, Mark Mahon has dealt with struggles and challenges that have led him to rethink his goals. After the aspiring actor was confined to a wheelchair for three years after an accident, he turned to writing and directing, and has made one of the most well received films on the film festival circuit this year.

STRENGTH & HONOUR is the tale of Sean Kelleher, played by Michael Madsen, an ex-boxer traumatized by accidentally killing a friend in the ring and vowing to his wife never to fight again after she dies of a heart ailment. When his seven year old son has the same ailment, Sean enters a well known bare knuckle tournament to gain the money to save his son’s life while battling with going against his ex-wife’s wishes.

To discuss STRENGTH & HONOUR, Mahon sat with the Colonel over lunch at the famed Ivy Restaurant in Los Angeles for an in depth discussion on his film, the movies he loves, and much more in this Crypt exclusive.

COLONEL’S CRYPT: How did you go on the path to making STRENGTH & HONOUR and led you to become a filmmaker?

MARK MAHON: I had always wanted to be an actor. I have a love and passion for it and that was my goal. However I had an accident where I spent three years in a wheelchair after an explosion and was told that I’d never walk again. Of course, I was trained as an actor and that was gone out of the window. The next thing I thought of doing was obviously writing because the movies was what I loved. After that, I had to do what I had to do to get a living which is I bought some estates and started developing them which was a good thing that I did because after you’ve lived in them for twelve months, you could sell them off in Ireland tax free so I started doing that and started paying the bills. The last project I did was a development of four units so it was gradually moving up. From that I had made enough money to get the movie off the ground. I did a little development which at that stage got me a million bucks in equity which got things in motion.

CC: What were some of the inspirations for STRENGTH & HONOUR? For some reason, THE QUIET MAN and REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT come to mind.

MM: No, it’s funny actually. Obviously, I love old Hollywood because it defined where we are going today and in many respects I do think today that Hollywood has kind of gone off course. It’s funny because when I think of great direction, I always think of old Hollywood because it defined the business and where we are today. As for my favorites, they are more recent like Jim Sheridan, Mel Gibson, despite what your beliefs are, he’s an extraordinary filmmaker. One of my favorite movies has to be BRAVEHEART. No wonder he won an Oscar for it, it’s brilliant. It’s what great direction is all about. I had the honor of meeting him because he got the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Irish Film Academy where I was nominated. I told him that he was a big inspiration to me and it was a cool thing, a nice moment. The other director who I am fond of as well is Edward Zwick. LEGENDS OF THE FALL, THE LAST SAMURAI, GLORY, they’re just splendid films.

CC: How is it been on the festival circuit in having the film shown to a packed house?

MM: Splendid. We were just in New York a couple of weeks ago at the New York Independent Film Festival. We won four awards. Best Picture, I won Best Director, Michael won for Best Actor, and we took Best Score. You’re in front of a New York audience and they loved it.

CC: Knowing from experience, they’re not the easiest to please.

MM: The thing is for me to be honest about it, when you do win an award, it makes me feel like I’ve done my job.

CC: Quite a long way from the accident, and I’m sorry to have heard that had happened.

MM: As ridiculous as it sounds, there’s nothing to be sorry about. What happened to me has defined what I do and defined me as a person. Was it an easy time? Of course it wasn’t but I had a more difficult time breaking up with my ex-wife. It was a difficult time but I got through it. What’s funny about it is that what happened to me made me believe that I could do this. It only made me stronger.

CC: That’s good to hear. Was writing just what you had in mind after the accident or was producing and directing also in your plans?

MM: Honestly, even back then I always wanted to direct. I know if I didn’t fund the money myself for it to be made, then nobody’s going to let me direct a movie. In Hollywood, as you know, only 2% of all screenplays written get made, 2% are considered, and the other 96% are passed or never get made. For me, to be very honest about it, I had always wanted to direct because of my training as an actor. I knew that it would probably never happen if one of my scripts was going to be turned into a project by a studio. I like to joke of my situation like Maximus in GLADIATOR if you remember the story. He was a general who became a prisoner, a prisoner who became a slave, a slave who became a gladiator. I’m an actor who became a writer who became a director who became a producer because nobody wanted to produce his work. That’s the reality of it. Then, when I was in a situation where I became a producer, I did look for a director for the project but I found no director who shared my vision. There was one director I interviewed who shall remain nameless but by page two of the script he was basically rewriting the screenplay. I come from the old school adage of “If it isn’t broken, why fix it?” He was rewriting everything and I realized after him that nobody had the vision that I had and I just decided to do it myself which is exactly what I did.

CC: How did Michael become involved with the project?

MM: Originally, Michael was supposed to play Smasher obviously because he’s Michael Madsen and he’s always the bad guy, whatever. I basically met him and when you meet Michael Madsen for the first time he does project the image of Mr. Blonde you know? Of course, after I spoke to him I realized that he’s really a good guy. He’s the father of six boys and he’s just a really cool dude. What I realized more than anything else is that he’s a great actor. He really does project a lot of depth into his roles. The character of Sean is a physically tough dude. I realized that Sean was where he was going to end up, he needed to be a physically tough dude. I had to fight to get him to play Sean but I realized that because he was a good guy and he’s not near the badasses that he plays, I thought that he was effectively Sean. As a director, I knew he was right for the part. Six acting awards later, I think I’ve proven that to be true (laughs). It was a fight to be honest with it because you know how the money goes.

CC: At that point, how did Vinnie Jones get involved because they are perfect foils for each other?

MM: It started with Mickey Rourke. The problem that presented itself was that who would we get to play Smasher? Mickey Rourke’s name came into the conversation and for me I felt it wasn’t going to work. It’s funny because if you look at the film, there were certain ways both Sean and Smasher were to be filmed. I kept Sean on the right of the screen and I kept Smasher left of the screen. The only time Sean is to the left of the screen is when he goes against his wife’s wish in the locker room because he feels he’s done a bad thing. One shot that was important to me was when Smasher was on the right for the very first time, and Sean is upset because he wants to take the guy out, but can’t because of the vow to his wife. There’s a pause, and they’re face to face. Back to Mickey, the big problem I had with Mickey Rourke, and he’s a great actor, but Mickey Rourke is five foot ten. Standing next to Michael Madsen who’s six foot two, he just wouldn’t look that intimidating. I needed somebody who was big. Personally, I think Vinnie is a terrific actor. I think he’s a very underrated actor and part of that might have to do with the fact that he was a professional footballer. I know for me anyway that he was perfect for the part. I met him, he read the script and loved the part.

CC: What was most interesting about the film is that Sean is a boxer yet these fights are these bare knuckle brawls. I thought it added a unique element to the film. Was that a tradition in Ireland?

MM: A lot of fighting goes on over there and it’s very much a big thing. Obviously, the odds had to be against Sean from the point of view if Sean was a professional wind surfing champion, there wouldn’t have been a sense of danger, and I knew I had to take him to another element. To be fair about, Michael is not a young guy and there had to be something where he was past the silver. I knew Sean’s character was going to be a fighter but the whole thing was there had to be a pure sense of danger about it. As a writer and director, am I someone who replicates product or am I someone who comes up with something fresh and original? I like to think the latter. For me I just thought of this element as something fresh that added to the danger.

CC: What do you think are the keys to successful independent filmmaking?

MM: Work, work, work, and more work. (Laughs) It’s as simple as that. It’s not easy, I promise you that. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. It’s a battle. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it. I say that to everybody. There’s enough negativity in the world from people who get their kicks telling people that they can’t do and that’s a shame. What we do defines us. There has to come a point as well where you have to be constructive from a point of view. Would you push something as hard as you can if it was worth pushing it? If you have something that isn’t worthy enough, then you don’t push it. You have to know when you’re defeated as well. More importantly, to be honest about it, when you know you have something that is worthy, then you can’t admit defeat. You have to have the good grace to know when you’re wrong and you have to have the good grace to know you’ve been defeated. You also have to have the good grace to know that what you have isn’t as good as what you thought it could be. Failure is OK. I fail every day of my life. The difference is I learn from my failures and that’s OK. What makes me a different filmmaker from anybody else? The one thing I think that I have is I listen to my environment, I adapt, and I overcome. That’s it. I get to know my environment and I often say to people you can swim with the current or swim against it. It’s how you swim that’s up to you.

CC: Let’s say you are a film professor and you have five films to show to your class on teaching film and you have five films to show. Which five films would they be and why?

MM: IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER. THE LAST SAMURAI. MAN ON FIRE, the Tony Scott version. BRAVEHEART. The last one has to be a Steven Spielberg film obviously. In many cases, it would have to be E.T. Now that I think about it a Stanley Kramer film has to be in there as well. I’m going with my favorites and they’re probably more contemporary than what most professors would show. And speaking before about GLADIATOR, I just realized what an extraordinary picture that was. OK, it’s seven. I think I’ve reached my limit (Laughs). The one cool thing about GLADIATOR is that the action is great and everything but for me it was the story. It’s about a man, a good man who’s caught in a struggle and is basically betrayed by the system and finds people who are good guys who were also betrayed by the system. Most guys go home after six o’clock, five o’clock in the evening. These guys never went home and effectively they are the wrong guys to be betrayed. It’s funny because with Maximus and probably with William Wallace and many of these other characters, obviously they have flaws and weaknesses. I mean, what man doesn’t? In general, they are good guys but when the shit hits the fan they rise to the occasion. To take a line from GLADIATOR which is a great line, “What we do today echoes for eternity.” There’s rather a truth to that. We’re having a very deep conversation here (laughs) but it’s a good conversation.

CC: I appreciate that. It’s just cool to be here. Anyway, STRENGTH & HONOUR was shot on film?

MM: 35mm film, the only way to shoot movies. If you want to make a movie, you make a movie! (Laughs)

CC: With that said, what is your opinion on this new digital boom?

MM: It’s funny because you can never say never but to be very frank about it I’m saying this through my eyes, I think there’s a level of depth in film that for me doesn’t translate on HD you know? I think the biggest reason for that is digital is exactly what it is, a digital medium. This may be to my ignorance more than anything else but I think there is too much focus on everything but in our retinas, I’m looking at a particular point. I look at you Scott, I’m looking at that point. If I’m looking at a glass, that’s my point. However, in digital, although I’m only focused on that one glass, everything around it is fully focused in digital and I can’t deal with that. Again, I would never say never but in post production, the effects that you can use digitally are fantastic and are a great way to do things. You know the saying if it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage? In other words, you can correct things even though we shot on 35mm but by inserting digitally it can look good. If you’re using a handheld and it’s wobbly, it can be fixed digitally, that’s nice, but in five years time, would I be shooting on digital? Absolutely not. Maybe in twenty years time or if they come up with some mechanism that can correct the digital medium, and I keep hearing about this new camera called the Red that will supposedly do that. I’ve seen movies shot on the Red and I can see it’s digital. There’s a level of depth that’s in 35mm film that’s just not there digitally. It’s an experience. It starts with the script and actors bring a certain amount of life to it. In essence what I’ve saying is that digital to me is flat. It’s almost kind of monotone.

CC: In some cases, some projects are shot on digital because that’s all the filmmakers can afford.

MM: I understand that and I’m not anti-digital. That’s just my interpretation of it. For any wannabe moviemakers, it’s a means to an end. However, I’m talking from a commercial director’s point of view. Although I’m independent, we make the movie because ultimately we want it to go out to an audience. For everybody out there who is actually planning to get a movie off the ground, then go for it. Do whatever it takes. When you do something commercially, you have to make other evaluations and that’s primarily what I’m speaking about.

CC: What’s next for you?

MM: My next project is called FREEDOM WITHIN THE HEART. It’s the first script that I won an award for in 2005. A young revolutionary leads his people to freedom against the marauding Vikings. It’s the story of Brian Boru. The Vikings next to the Roman Empire were the second biggest empire in the history of the world. The Vikings won’t get as much credit because they basically raped and pillaged and didn’t do anything constructive so they never got credit for anything. If you went back to history a thousand years ago, they conquered all of Europe and the Irish were the only country that defeated them, which probably gave birth to the meaning “Fighting Irish.” It’s a great race of people and the Vikings…

CC: (interrupting) … picked the wrong race to fuck with. (Laughter)

MM: You said that, not me!

CC: I wanted to mention about an honor you have, which is the Mark Mahon Excellence in Screenwriting Award. How does that feel to have that honor?

MM: It’s a great honor of course. Being a struggling, independent filmmaker, it is very flattering to be honored to be honest about but at the same time does it make me any better of a writer? Certainly not, but it’s nice to be honored by your peers. As ridiculous as it sounds, I’m very privileged to be doing what I’m doing. There are so many fantastic people that are doing so many more fantastic things, such as curing diseases, and that’s more important than an award to be honest with you. One criticism that has been bestowed on film is the fact that critics say that the problem is with STRENGTH & HONOUR is that it’s predictable and I disagree with that. The reason being is that in many recent movies, the protagonist fails at the end. For me, that’s boring. Why should he fail? I grew up in an age of cinema where the good guys rode off into the sunset. No matter what problems we had, I went to watch a movie and even if it was for two hours, the good guy always won in the end and to me that’s not a bad thing. If you look at the world today, there’s banks collapsing, there’s wars all over the place. I often think to myself have we actually created the world because what we do in media and in movies, what we do is influence people, and have we created the world that we are living in with these films? Is it because the good guys haven’t won? I personally think it’s time for the good guys to win again. I never claimed to be a messenger if there was one message I would like to give from my movies, that is hope. If one person watches my movie and thinks that things aren’t as bad as they thought they were, then I have done a wonderful job because that’s what it’s all about.

CC: Thank you so much for your time Mark and I leave the last word to you.

MM: Thank you very much indeed and best of luck with everything.

CC: Take care Mark.

MM: My pleasure.
 

For more information on STRENGTH & HONOUR, please visit the official website at www.maronpictures.net.
 

(Special thanks to Brad Balfour)