SAN FRANCISCO - At first glance, John Bruno's recently wrapped Falcon Entertainment film Asylum and mainstream mainstays like Howard Hughes, ER, End of Days and music videos by Garbage and Duran Duran might seem to have little in common.
Au contraire.
All were lensed at the ultra-creepy and reportedly haunted Linda Vista Hospital in Los Angeles.
Ever since laying eyes on the infamous hospital four years ago, Bruno has campaigned for Falcon to let him make Asylum there. Armed with a long-overdue OK from the studio and some creative input from Falcon exclusive Erik Rhodes, Bruno put finishing touches on the film. Three weeks later, he said he's still riding a post-production high.
"This is a film that I was motivated to make solely by how incredible the location is," he said. "I toured, toured and re-toured the hospital periodically over the past four years and could not get it out of my head. I had to shoot there.
"This isn't going to be your typical Falcon production. It's going to be really dark and nasty. It'll show a side of Falcon we haven't seen in a while."
All four scenes in Asylum were shot on location inside the hospital.
"I didn't even want to leave out the morgue, so I found a way to get Erik Rhodes ‘on the slab,'" Bruno said. "His scene with Leo Giamani is one of the best I've directed him in. Once inside the hospital the entire cast of this movie became possessed by the surroundings. Their performances are incredible."
Rhodes said he took one look at photos of the hospital and knew he wanted to participate in the film, but not just as a performer.
"That hospital was fuckin' creepy as hell - my ideal set," he said. "John allowed me to make some creative suggestions on the scenes I didn't appear in and gave me some great feedback. I got bit by the directing bug on this movie, so I took a lot of notes and am getting my ass in gear to hopefully direct someday soon."
Rhodes appears in two three-way scenes, one co-starring Rod Daily and Ty Colt, who makes his film debut in Asylum.
TJ Hawke, Diesel Washington, Dominic Pacifico and Ryan Raz also appear in the movie.
Asylum is set for a mid-February release. A special Web-only edit of the Rhodes-Daily-Colt scene will be released January 22 on the studio's website.
