We got the chance to talk with J. Miles Dale who has produced ‘Scott Pilgrim vs The World’, ‘The Shape of Water’, ‘Antlers’, ‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’ and will produce ‘10 After Midnight’ and ‘Nightmare Valley’.
DISCUSSINGFILM: To begin the interview, you’ve worked with Guillermo Del Toro on a various amount of projects, how did you first come to collaborate with him?
J. MILES DALE: When I was working on ‘Scott Pilgrim vs the World’, Edgar Wright was good friends with Guillermo and he introduced me to him, then in the future whilst Guillermo was working on Pacific Rim, I was overseeing Mama in the same studio lot. We then decided to collaborate together on The Strain which ended up going for 4 seasons and that’s when we begun working on ‘The Shape of Water’ together.
DISCUSSINGFILM: You produced ‘The Shape of Water’ which went on to score big at the Academy Awards so congratulations on that, why do you think ‘The Shape Of Water’ impressed so many audience members?
J. MILES DALE: I think because of the untraditional love story that people can relate to, and both of the characters not only are relatable but are very compelling. The visual effects also were superb and a main part is that it was a very personal story for Guillermo to tell from a immigrant’s point of view.
DISCUSSINGFILM: Following that, you’ve produced a movie titled ‘Scary Stories in the Dark’, what can audiences expect from that film?
J. MILES DALE: It’s based on a series of children books, a rather scary set infact. It’s set in 1968 from Halloween night and then the film climaxes on the night of the Presidential election, the choice of the year is superb due to how eventual that year was. Additionally there’s a ghost in the film out for revenge, it’s really a film for all ages.
DISCUSSINGFILM: You are also producing a film titled ‘Antlers’ what can you tell about that film?
J. MILES DALE: Antlers is part human drama/thriller and part horror helmed by Scott Cooper, who is a brilliant director with his films such as Hostiles and Black Mass, he’s an execeptional director who has brought a lot to the film than I expected. The film is scary as hell but it’s going to be really emontional too, I believe the film will release around this time next year and the cast is brilliantly talented with Keri Russell and Jessie Plemons.
DISCUSSINGFILM: Moving onto projects in the pipeline, you are set to executive produce Del Toro’s 10 After Midnight, What can you tell us about the status of that series and what can we expect?
J. MILES DALE: We are aiming to make the show in 2019, the series will be an horror anthology series based on a number of Del Toro’s favourite horror stories, along the line of Twlight Zone except mostly horror based. We are aiming to develop a group of A list writers and directors for the series including David Goyer who will write an episode and Boots Riley will write an episode too. Guillermo will write at least a couple of the episodes and will direct at least one episode.
DISCUSSINGFILM: Del Toro is seemingly having a few projects at Netflix with 10 After Midnight and Pinocchio, How has Netflix been as a collaborative partner?
J. MILES DALE: Yea, Del Toro has worked on Trollhunters with Netflix in the past, they are great and compared to cable television who have some creative restrictions, Netflix isn’t tied to exact show lengths, and you can introduce more R rated glory, 44 Chapters About Four Men, a story with a blend of Sex and the City and that show, which will release on Netflix is definitely one you couldn’t do on network television.
DISCUSSINGFILM: Obviously comic book movies are all the thing at the moment with Guillermo Del Toro previously making a script for Justice League Dark which got cancelled. Would you like to eventually jump into the comic book movie industry and develop one of your own?
J. MILES DALE: Never say never, there’s not a passion for me to create one currently compared to Del Toro, I like developing more human films personally however, if the right thing came along and if it was Guillermo Del Toro and the concept was good, I’d love to be apart of one.
DISCUSSINGFILM: Guillermo Del Toro has been said to almost have made a Jabba the Hutt film, is that something you talked to him about and would you like to see that one day be made?
J. MILES DALE: We didn’t talk about that much, I’m not sure about that or the status of it to be honest.
DISCUSSINGFILM: To conclude the interview are there any upcoming projects of yours that you’d like to mention to promote to make our audience aware of?
J. MILES DALE: I’ve got my new show I’m working on with Netflix and Stacy Rukeyser, the showrunner of Unreal, the show will be titled 44 Chapters About Four Men, also I’m working Nightmare Alley which is a remake of a 20th Century Fox film and hopefully we are trying to work on getting Guillermo Del Toro to direct that as his next feature.
