Shadow

Q&A: Producer Christopher Giroux and Co-Star Annette Wozniak on Bite

Bite

The Canadian body horror film Bite is released today on DVD and Blu-Ray by United Front Entertainment and Black Fawn Distribution. Last fall, I talked to producer Christopher Giroux and co-star Annette Wozniak before Bite’s final public screening at the 2015 Blood in the Snow Film Festival. Of the subjects covered, there was quite about of discussion about Bite‘s infamous World Premiere at the 2015 Fantasia Film Festival. Enjoy.

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How did the idea for
Bite come about?
Christopher Giroux: I think Chad [Archibald] wanted to create something
that was like a fun body horror film, but also is a little bit inspired by true
events. He had a family member that traveled and stayed in the jungle for a bit
and got a lot of bug bites. And she got bit by so many bugs; she didnt know
what they were. And it was kind of spawned from that idea of what if one of
these bugs turns someone into a big creature.

Theres some obvious
comparisons between this and David Cronenbergs The Fly. Was that intentional
or were you trying to make your own thing?
Christopher:  Obviously
a lot of influence with The Fly and other body horror films; we wanted to come
off and do something a little different and something a little fun.

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[To Annette:] Whats
your role in the film?
Annette Wozniak:  Im
the bad, bad best friend.

Oh Yeah.
Annette:  Oh yeah, its
one of those catty kind of relationships that I have with our main girl Elma [Begovic],
which is phenomenal. Shes phenomenal in this movie and shes a phenomenal
person too. It was just an interesting little dynamic between me, Elma, and
Denise [Yuen], the good best friend.

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I noticed that
despite becoming a monster, Casey is the more sympathetic character and its
the other characters that are more the real monster.
Christopher: Sure. I think its interesting, because Elmas
kind of our villain, in a sense, but the characters around her are actually
more villainous in a sense. Not to spoil anything, but even her boyfriend has a
couple weak moments that are not very nice and the mother-in-law is a real
terror herself as well, so it is interesting that our main character is both
our hero and our villain.

There was a very good
performance in the role of Casey, especially the insect tics.
Christopher: Yeah, it was actually one of the things that,
during the audition process, they had to kind of act bug like and have those
movements and stuff like that and I think [Annette] and Elma auditioned
together?
Annette: Yeah.
Christopher: So, it was interesting to see the movement and
the head tics and things like that, so its fun.

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One thing I would
like to talk about is the premiere at Fantasia 2015.
Christopher: Sure
I covered Fantasia,
but I left Montreal before Bite screened and I was reading on the internet how
the ambulance was called and people were vomiting and stuff.
Christopher: Yeah, so two people got sick during the
screening, one person threw up and the other person passed out, and it
skyrocketed this weird backlash with the festival and things like that. It was
great, because it really drove our move to the top for that month and we got a
lot of press and festivals calling, so it was interesting.

I was reading that
people were fainting in the first ten minutes and like the first ten minutes
are not that bad.
Christopher. It was a little further in.

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I would expect
fainting when all those eggs start dropping.
Christopher: It was a big game of telephone, so what
happened is that the first time we read it, it was one person threw up and the
other person fainted. And then the next day another article came out and it was
like three people fainted. And then in Germany it was like someone had cardiac
arrest. They just built and built and built. But, it was one person fainted and
one person vomited, almost 25-30 minutes in, and then they stepped outside and ambulances
were called.
Annette: We couldnt actually believe that happened. We were
like thats a joke, someones pulling our leg. But no, it was real, it wasnt
a publicity stunt.

Its a story that can
go along with the Blair Witch Project
Christopher: Yeah, it was interesting, because they had a
call-in radio show, not with us included, and fans were calling in saying Oh,
thats crazy and other people were calling in saying they staged it and it was
fake, but we 100% had no idea it happened until after we found out after the
film ended.

Werent there bags
handed out at the screening or something?
Christopher: There were barf bags handed out as a joke, but
I guess the people really needed them.
Annette: We should have made them a little bigger.
Christopher: Yeah
Bite is now available on Blu-Ray, DVD, and VOD
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