(Interview) 'The Man in Room 6' screens at the Historic Howell Theater March 26

Mark your calendar for March 26. This is when Carrie and Trevor Juenger, a filmmaking couple from Central Illinois stops by the Historic Howell Theater in Howell, Michigan, to screen a film that they have poured everything into for the past five years. Entitled “The Man in Room 6,” this feature-length film promises to be a real treat for everyone who enjoys a good scare.

That’s March 26
Historic Howell Theater
315 E Grand River Ave
HOWELL, MI 48843
Man In Room 6
Saturday March 26
@ 7pm
Single Admission $8.00

Synopsis: Carrie (Jackie Kelly ) is a socially-troubled young woman trying to mend a strained relationship with her mother. After her grandfather dies in a nursing home, Jackie finds herself attracted to William (Bill Oberst Jr.), an elderly man in a neighboring room. William’s doctor offers Carrie a part-time position with the nursing home to keep tabs on the old man. William shares a series of tall tales from his life as a younger man. He claims to be immortal, cursed to never die but to grow old and sick. Before he can finish his final tale, William mysteriously disappears, and Carrie is implicated in his murder.

Carrie and Trevor consented to be interviewed on March 6, 2022, to announce their movie, “The Man in Room 6.” Let’s make them welcome.

Who wrote the story? Is this different from who wrote the script?

Trevor, I wrote the screenplay but borrowed some real-life stories from Carrie. She was working as a medical courier and had some interesting things happen to her

So, this young woman was based on your experiences?

Carrie, A few pieces here and there were definitely inspired by true events that happened to me but the character herself isnt based on me. I saw a man once at 3 am being wheeled out on a gurney, his skin was terribly burned and his eyelids were gone. They were wheeling him out for a cigarette.

I wish that one would have made it into the film

Trevor, There are some fantastic elements that I originally wanted to put into a novel, but I didn’t really know how to write a novel. I wrote it in screenplay format, and then got attached to it as a visual story

So, this story of yours is a horror?

What is the movie titled?

Trevor, The Man in Room 6.

That is a fitting title. Who was the director of this movie?

Carrie, I would say our relationship as creative partners is definitely unique.

Please explain.

Trevor, I think we’re used to giving the credit to a director for the total creative vision of the film. I blocked the actors and worked with them on their performance except for the opening sequence that Carrie directed. We collaborated on the character designs, the sets and settings, and pretty much anything and everything involved with the production. We don’t have a ton of resources at our disposal, so we ended up working a lot of positions that you wouldn’t expect a director or producer to work.

Carrie, We both lived and breathed and poured every moment and cent we had into this project for years. Its joint ownership. We both made the film. We shared and swapped and wore a lot of hats together.

For years? How long did it take to complete this production?

Carrie, I attempted to appease the group with Chinese take-out on several occasions and we booked a location that had horses so that tended to keep everyone in good spirits

How long did the principal shooting take? You did this in tales. Was your cast the same throughout?

Was most of your cast from the same area? I know one of your cast members was from Michigan. Where did this shoot?

Would you like to expand on your experience during Covid?

Now as you spoke of traveling around the country, did your cast and crew accompany you? How did you find this traveling?

Trevor, When we went to the coast, we all jammed in our Prius with production equipment. We picked up a military raft in Georgia and strapped it to the roof. Drove 18 hours straight there. Very comfortable for everyone I think. When we traveled in the midwest, accommodations might have been a little nicer.

Carrie, One of our locations was this big beautiful restored old mansion. When we rented that, we told the owner it would only be about 15 of us which turned out to be about 25 so all of us were sleeping on the floors of this old mansion that was about 6 hours away from home for most of us. They all traveled that far. Our crew is amazing and I think that the places that we rented and traveled to made that part kind of fun.

It sounds as though it was. This senior citizen’s home, was it notable? Did it have a history?

Trevor, That was a set. We built a few of those for the film. Room 6 was a room in a 100+-year-old campus building in St Louis, and we built out flats to modify it into what we needed.

Okay, which one of you has the experience as a set designer? Or did you have to hire for this?

Trevor, We have a friend who we’ve worked with for years who designed the largest of our sets. Most of our experience has been dressing up locations. The script demanded some specific things that wouldn’t be possible in real locations though.

Carrie, Yeah, a lot of set design is replication, it’s replicating surroundings, interiors that you see every day. So you know, you need a lamp here and a painting here and whatnot. The real magic comes in when you finesse…color selection, imagery, etc.

This in total looks as though it must have been more than a small production financially. Do you mind if I ask about your budget? What was your largest budgeted expenditure?

Carrie, Our biggest expenditure was definitely our actors. We flew some of them in from out of state, Victoria Mullen, as you stated earlier, is from Michigan. We flew Bill Oberst Jr. in from the east coast, Frankie Ray came in from California.

A close second was our sets. The one we built from scratch in a sound studio was a huge chunk of the budget for sure.

Trevor, I like to think it looks more expensive than it actually was

When is your movie due to release? Have you got a projected date yet?

Trevor, Well, we’re doing the Howell screening this month. We’re kind of touring with it to theaters that will have us. We’re focused on that at the moment.

When does this screen in Howell, at the historic Howell Theater?

March 26. Carrie and I will be there to chat with people after the screening.

https://www.historichowelltheater.com/showtimes/2022/3/26/the-man-in-room-6

Purchase tickets in advance online at
https://historic-howell-theater.square.site/product/man-in-room-6-saturday-march-26-7pm-single-admission/4977?cs=true&cst=custom

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