Exclusive Interview With Jason Trost

Not to long ago, we had the opportunity to interview the writer, producer, and director of “Vacation 8″ & “VS”, Jason Trost. We talked about career, directing, his projects, and many more!

Questions

Hi Jason! How are you?
- I’m good, just super busy with a bunch of projects.

So your an actor, producer, writer, and a director. Out of those three, which of them are your favorite?
- That’s a very hard decision, because I love them all. But if I had to choose I’d say Acting, because I love being able to be someone else… But I also love writing/creating… It’s such a hard call because they all go so hand and hand with me in my creative process.

Who’s your role model?
- For directing I’d have to say James Cameron. For acting I’d say Kurt Russel.

Favorite TV show?
- LOST for sure. Who cares if they didn’t answer anything, I’ve never been so teary eyed over TV in my life.

What’s your favorite film you’ve worked on?
- I’ve had great and interesting experiences on so many movies but I’d have to say my favorite was on the movie I just directed “Vs.”. Everything about it just worked so smoothly and went so well.

What was your most favorite part of Vacation 8?
- Definitely going to Thailand. It’s a beautiful country. So different and amazing. It’s really easy to pretend like you’re in another world there.

There was a bunch of stunts to be done in V8. Did you get any injuries?
- No, thank God. This was actually one of the few movies I’ve worked on where I didn’t get hurt. People were dropping left and right from dehydration while we were shooting due to the heat and humidity. There’s a scene in particular where my character is is lying on pavement while it was 100 degrees outside that was very “fun”…

How long did it take you to film the movie?
- We shot for seven days in Thailand, and one in France. It was very fast.

What was one of the most hardest scenes you guys shot?
- The hardest scene was a fight scene that took place in the ocean. We had very little time and due to the heat, we’d get exhausted very quickly. Turns out saltwater, heat and physical activity don’t mix.

You were the writer of V8. What made you think of the storyline?
- I’ve always loved Thailand and thought it to be a beautiful country. I thought it would be a great back drop for someone to question reality and of course the ultimate question of, “why go home when paradise exists”? That question always interested me on my travels.

When will V8 be released?
- It’s hard to say. I just make the movies, I don’t sell them. We have turned the movie into a webisode series and it works quite well. It’s actually very exciting and we’ve been getting a lot of good feedback. So hopefully in the near future we can finally share Vacation 8 with all of you.

What was your most favorite place to film at?
- Hands down, the coast of Krabi in Thailand. It’s so beautiful and you can shoot anything and it looks great.

How did you and Lucas meet?
- We’ve known of each other since he was 12. But we finally met on a film called “Laid to Rest” that we both worked on. We hit it off immediately and have worked together ever since.

Any new films coming out?
- The FP should be coming out sometime in 2011… it’s a movie about an underground war raged with Dance Dance Revolution that I wrote/directed and starred in. Also just finished a super hero movie with Lucas called “Vs.” that we are very excited about… as well as some exciting secret projects I can’t talk about. Stay tuned.

Everyone’s been asking. What is the story behind the eye patch?
-Ha. People have been asking? Who? In that case I’ll choose to remain mysterious.

If you could’ve directed any movie, what would it be and why?
- Movie’s that already exist… I would’ve loved to make a sequel to the Terminators… They’ve really blown ‘em since T2. Something of my own creation would be a garden state/fantasy hybrid that I’ve dreamed of for years… But in the practical sense, I’d love to adapt the game “Fallout 3″ into a movie. It’d be the best.

If someone made a movie of your life story, who would you want to play you?
- Well seeing as how my life has barely began it’s hard to say who would be me when I don’t even know me… but… I guess Lucas would be up to the job. Haven’t worked with a better actor than him.

If you could travel back in time, where would you go?
- So many choices. Although the idea of correcting certain mistakes in my life is very tempting… I realize that I need every hard moment in my life’s time line to make me me. Without them I wouldn’t be who I am now. I wouldn’t mind traveling to the future though to see if everything goes to plan…

You were on MacGruber. How was that like?
- That was very fun. My brother was the director of photography and they asked me if I’d like to be a henchmen who got his throat ripped out. Of course I said yes! I love Will Forte and had an amazing time. Somehow he’s even funnier off camera than on.