Adam Horner is an actor and producer who is the founder of Ignite Pictures. He worked with some major names in the industry, from Danny Trejo and Brian Krause to Louis and Costas Mandylor. He is the co-producer of the films Opus of an Angel, which made the top 20 of WorldFilmGeek’s Films of 2018 and the horror-action film The Demonologist. With his love of horror and action, Adam has three new films set for release later this year as well as some new series in the works.
It is time to meet Adam Horner as WorldFilmGeek got the chance to talk to Horner about what we can see from him next as both actor and producer.
Adam, it’s a pleasure to be talking with you about your latest projects.
Absolutely! Thanks for having me.
What inspired you to get into filmmaking?
I grew up with two sisters and they were doing a lot of little dance classes and all that while I was doing sports and all that kind of stuff. And they did these shows every year. A variety performance where there is acting, dancing, and drama, all that kind of stuff. Amateur, local stuff. I was in the crowds with my parents and thinking, that looks really fun. I wanted to be on stage, doing that kind of thing.
I was about seven or eight when I asked my mom if I can sign up with the drama classes. And she signed me up for the local drama school. From there, I got into stage experience and then got into amateur theater experience. Then we emigrated to Australia and I started doing workshops with screen casting directors and screen acting teachers. From there, I got referrals then got my first agent and began to work on credentials and small features. It all rolled into itself (Laughs).
That’s awesome. So, you have three upcoming horror films set for release later this year. Let’s talk about each one of them. Let’s start with Coven. What can we expect from that film?
Coven is a fun one. It’s about five witches who are in a coven and they attempt to raise an evil goddess, Ashura, and when they do raise her, they can’t control her. So, she starts wreaking havoc. I play the love interest of the leading lady, who is trying to basically keep the lady under wraps.
And not doing a good job of it (Laughs). Next, we have Escape: Puzzle of Fear. This sounds like it takes the Escape Room game and makes it very deadly.
Yeah, that’s what it basically is. It’s a group of friends who innocently go to an escape room for a fun evening. And then, these sinister events happen that turn the escape room well, abnormal (Laughs).
One I’m looking forward to is The Last Exorcist because one, you get to play the Devil himself and two, Danny Trejo, one of my favorite actors, is in it. What was it like working with him?
Danny’s awesome. We had a good time shooting that film. This was actually one of my favorite films to work on as we shot the film in both Italy and Los Angeles. We started with shooting the scenes on the streets in Italy and then going back to Los Angeles and shooting the scenes with Danny, Rachele [Brooke Smith], and Terri [Ivens]. Danny’s awesome. He’s definitely professional. He’s so solid. You put the camera on him, say action and he speaks, you feel like you’re in a million dollar movie. He was great to work with. We even get a fight scene in the film.
Okay, now you just made me want to see this even more now (Laughs).
(Laughs) Yeah, we did this fight scene that will be at the end of the movie and when we were shooting it, he accidentally punched me in the face. He caught me pretty hard. He knew he caught me pretty hard and he felt really bad. He was like I’m so sorry, are you okay? I said, dude, that was awesome! (Laughs) I’m good to go!
You can see that punch in the face as a reward. You can say, I got punched by Danny Trejo (Laughs).
Exactly! (Laughs)
I have to say this. I am a huge fan of the Mandylor Brothers. I’ve watched Louis in Martial Law and of course, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. He’s one of the best and funniest guys I’ve seen and I’ve been a fan of Costas since seeing him in Fist of the North Star. You guys did a movie called Smokers. What was it like working with them and what’s the film about?
You’re seeing a resurgence of the Mandylor Brothers. Louis and I are good friends. We did a film back in 2010 where I played his stepson. We shot that film for about two weeks and we became really good friends. We were the only two from Australia at a hotel in Wilmington, North Carolina. We felt like fish out of water (Laughs). So we became good friends as a result.
Then, one day he called me, and he said listen I love working with you. I have this movie that I wrote, and I want to make. It’s an underground fight movie. He’s had it in his back pocket for years and he’s always wanted to make it. He said he wanted me to play his son. And I said let’s do it. We shot in Bucharest, Romania; Zurich, Switzerland; and of course, Los Angeles. So, we shot it all over the place. And this is the first time Louis is working with his brother on a movie. Costas plays one of the major roles in the movie. It’s a fun film. High action, lots of fighting and all that stuff. But there’s a lot of heart as well. In this case, Louis is looking out for his son.
That’s great to hear! When many see fight films these days, it’s all just fighting and are more seen like showreels rather than have a story and emotional depth behind it. I’m also glad to see Louis doing a fight film again. I loved him in Champions, which coincidentally, had Danny Trejo in it. So small world. (Laughs) Champions had an actual story with some twists and it’s underrated in my opinion. Smokers sounds like the kind of fight film that everyone will need to see.
It’s very different from the usual punch-kick kind of films. We’re looking forward to that one. Louis and I are also working on another film together. A couple of years ago, I wanted to work on a Christmas feature film. It would be about an American family going to Australia for Christmas. I wanted to bring someone in who understood American television and feature films in the way they are and yet know that Australian element and understand that flair. So, he was perfect for that! And working on Smokers, Louis can prove he’s a good director, so he’s directed the Christmas movie and I’m producing. We’re in the final stages of post-production and we’re hoping to go to sales soon.
That’s great! You also have a TV series in the works. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Yeah, we have a couple of shows actually! I have been wanting to get into television production for a few years now so it kind of manifested and then this series came up to us. We did a whole season of a show called Cypher. It was a FBI show and revolves around a cryptologist who receives a code basically from the villain characters and he has to crack the code and track down the villains. There’s this big international terrorist plot. It’s very high action all the way through. We did some real cool stuff on that show. I had FBI branded helicopters flying down low throughout L.A. and we blew up things like RVs and we had freeways shut down to do cop car chases all through the freeways of the city. We produced the first season and eight episodes are done. We are shopping it right now and we hope to have it within the 2020/2021 period.
There’s also a TV series that I created myself. It’s an idea that I’ve had in the back of my head for years. In the past couple of years, I just started to get it down on paper. We’re looking to get into production of it by the end of 2020.
So when we can expect to see the trio of new horror films?
We’re expecting them to be released in July, August, and September and I have another one called Opus of an Angel that’s scheduled to come out in July as well. Smokers is in the final stages of post-production. We completed shooting in Zurich in January and they are working on the music now. I’m anticipating probably a December/January release possibly. We’ll see what happens.
This is really awesome Adam! I am looking forward to these movies and it was a pleasure to talk to you. I hope you stay safe!
Thanks for having me as well! Stay safe!
A Special Thank You goes out to Adam Horner for making this interview possible.
WorldFilmGeek 