Eye on Filmmaker Brendan Gabriel Murphy

Filmmaker Brendan Gabriel Murphy

By Terry Keefe

Very occasionally, we here at The Interview run across an up-and-coming talent that deserves inclusion amongst the more established names we generally tackle. Filmmaker Brendan Gabriel Murphy has got youth on his side, along with an eye which has produced some very striking, and unique, imagery in the two short films that we had a chance to see (Swerve and Perceptio). It's the rare short that makes you want to see what the director could do with a feature, but Murphy fits that bill.

He's also got an interesting on-screen collaborator in actor Shiloh Fernandez, who made his film debut in Murphy's 2005 short, Wasted. Fernandez is one of this year's true rising acting stars, having just landed a lead in the reboot of the Evil Dead franchise. Murphy is currently developing a feature entitled Obscura, which will star Fernandez as well.

"It's so exciting to see Shiloh's career take off like this, since we've known each other from when we were both starting," says Murphy of his frequent creative partner. "He's the real deal. He takes his work very, very seriously, and puts a tremendous amount of preparation into his roles."

Shiloh Fernandez in SWERVE, above.

Both Swerve and Perceptio work with fractured narratives, while Perceptio is the more surreal of the two. (Without giving too much away, both revolve around car crashes.) Swerve stars Fernandez and another talent on the ascent, Juno Temple (The Dark Knight Rises, Atonement), and is a highly stylish mixture of a morality tale and a heist-gone-wrong story, with some shades of True Romance thrown in. (Here is a trailer for Swerve.) The film was shot by Murphy's brother, Kieran.

Fernandez in SWERVE, above.

Fernandez and Juno Temple, above, in SWERVE.

Perceptio comes equipped with the clever, and chilling, tagline "There once lived a girl who died." The film, which is a hallucinogenic trip into a netherworld of sorts, proves worthy of that evocative line. The nameless young lady in the lead (played by the gorgeous Hannah Landberg) finds herself stretched in a dozen directions by creepy hands of a variety of sorts, including the talons of Death himself. The production quality is quite high, and of particular note is the image of a stark white tree (seen in the still below). Click here for a short clip from Perceptio that is hosted on IMDB.

PERCEPTIO, above.

Murphy studied film at Long Island's Hofstra University, which he credits with instilling him with his hands-on, DIY filmmaking philosophy.

The upcoming feature Obscura will be produced by Jeff Beard and Michael Lynch. Beard also produced director Paul Todisco's 2007 noteworthy feature One Day Like Rain, which was extremely daring both visually and narratively. As of this writing, Murphy is currently gearing up to direct a segment in the anthology feature Girl Without a Planet.

More information on Murphy can be found on his website. Definitely one to watch.