Lullaby is now playing in theaters and video-on-demand.
A new mother reads the fiction, reading a movie synopsis, looking at a lullaby in an ancient book and taking the song to a fullest advantage. But its world makes an old demon into a nightmare when the lullaby brings down the ancient demon Lilith.
Tyler Treese: What am I interested in discovering Jewish folklore? Lilim and Lilith have a long history and mythology.
John R. Leonetti: It’s precisely right. I knew nothing about that before. You’ve got it right. When I read the script, she was incredibly impressed by her character and the depth of the history. So I start Googling her, right? And because she’s a complex personality that’s beautiful. She was haunted. Adam and God screwed her to the wolves and thrown in so a way that she was the same way as Adam, born out of his rib, you know? And came back, because his instinct was to have kids like every mother. That’s every time. It’s a powerful thing, lets just put it that way. So what interesting is the script? Vivian, Rachel’s sister loses her son, and her brother even goes out for the thrill of enticing her sister to open the portal again, so she can go get her kid.
And after ending the movie, Rachel is going to do whatever she can to get her son back. This, for me, is extremely powerful. I don’t mind that it’s complex because it’s about love for the children. On the other hand, it is about retribution.
It really is difficult to tell the truth about parenthood. Were always wondering What could go wrong? And a lullaby, such as the story of a misjudgment, leads to that ridiculous story. How fun was playing around with the dynamics of parents there?
I am a boy and I remember all that. If you don’t think that I can do nothing more powerful than to say it all the more important things in life are the ones that you’ve to work harder for. I found parenting the hardest, but what you get from having children the rewards are usually not always big. I mean, it’s very complex. Parents make it with, Oh my god, from the moment of their birth. If you feel the love we have, how do you carry it, I mean the repercussions of it? There are two siblings in the house: their children and their daughters all the time.
We were all so smart, so manipulative, to the point where it could even break and that is not going to break up their marriage, I don’t mean that but they are constantly stressing right now. That is good to everybody. Preschool is the hardest thing, but it’s the hardest. He had a family and all that. My father is from an Italian family and my father had 26 grandkids before he passed. Our family is very close. It’s just a very deep moment where they think they got it licked and then they never realized it. Shit hits the fan, you know.
You’ve been in the horror scene for the past decade, and your cinematography is more than that. When you work on these books, what kind of way do you keep keeping that fresh?
This is an anomaly that is always to be reckoned with. I hate them and I love them, but just put it out of the way right now. It was interesting to see that lullaby came from the beginning. The lore, mythology of ancient Hebrew very interesting. So the pallet is different, but in this one, what was great right away was the fact they used mirrors to be a portal. I worked in a cinematic and photographer’s lab for years. Ghost Glass is a type of art, as was called Ghost Glass. Many, many, many years. I quickly realized we could do that by recording it with a beam-switching machine, with lighting and balance.
And it was one of the first time that I have discovered that technique. I like it and I didn’t do it much before. I don’t know if that answers the question, but it’s definitely something that is cool. To create a lullaby, to create a book, to create Lilims, these weird creatures were really difficult to do especially in our too expensive budget and time. The crew was given an old and unique thing, I suppose. Because of the particular technique of the film that repeat from that point of view, Annabelle. I don’t know if that answer was the answer, but I think it created the ground for me to get on with different facets of the heart. In essence of mythology, it’s possible to be a bit different.
The ending has a lot of interesting parts to play with, particularly with the mythology and all that you built around in. Is there something you may be open to in the future or what was your goal with the end?
It’s an obvious ending, given as well as having a sequel. This is of course. How much fun is that? I’d like that. I think it’s super interesting, and yes, I would. Are we planning on doing that? The film’s coming out. The way it got started now lets just see what happened and how people react. That’s pretty interesting. People have responded fairly well to this so far. If I didn’t give it enough demand, then I wouldn’t. I’d like to work with the producers as well as Alcon and David [Tish] and Lee (Nelson). They are wonderful people and are a great team. This would be a lot if that ever happened.
Your directorial career began with Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Your time is a bit longer, is it really interesting? It must be a very challenging learning experience.
Gotta! You know how this started? It was almost like laughing and laughing. The office Larry Kasanoffs called me and his assistant, with whom Id worked in the first film. They said, Would you like to shoot the second one? I had recently worked with the director, who was a wonderful person, but very lackable honest. My life has been told to me when I was a camera owner, when I was a assistant cameraman, I told myself that you have to use them. And I didn’t even think about that. I think that subconscious is the cause. When they called for me, you wished you were able to shoot the second one. I said you said you want to go, but I think you’d rather direct it. I just wanted to film the documentary and two weeks later, it was a 35-million dollar movie that was on four continents, and a thousand people worked on it, and the film was set up for 400 visual effects shots. It was a painful challenge, but with a lot of support, I told you, YES! We should do that! Overall it was an amazing experience. Really it was a mind-boggling experience.