Well as for the filmmakers and movies that inspired me the most, I would probably have to say Stanley Kubrick, and my number one is by far his (1968) 2001 A Space Odyssey, and his (1960) Spartacus. What Kubrick revolutionized in 1968, with his Space Odyssey, still stands out today, and has never quite been beaten in filmic revolution, not even by George Lucas' (1977) Star Wars. I believe that no filmmaker in history ever quite achieved something so mind blowing, that Kubrick achieved in 1968, with Space Odyssey. At least not since the revolutionary Silent Hollywood pioneers like Charlie Chaplin, or Buster Keaton.

Of course George Lucas' Star Wars saga is also something revolutionary that can not be ignored, or easily beaten, as it simply was also a filmic revolution of a visionary genius, and left a solid mark on me as a child. Also Francis Ford Coppola has a strong place among these masters, with "Godfather", as well as another that also had just simply something new, original and revolutionary "Apocalypse Now".

Of course, there is also Steven Spielberg, with his Jaws, and Indiana Jones, that left a permanent strong mark on me as a filmmaker. Not to mention the wonderful communication between Spielberg, Lucas, and the powerful music of John Williams. When you take in consideration the masters such as Kubrick, Coppola, Spielberg, Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Federico Fellini, Sergio Leone, then Oliver Stone, Sam Peckinpah, John Carpenter, Alan Parker, and many others, it is hard to say, as each one of those had some kind of an impact on me as child, and a filmmaker.

Now, as for actually comparing my self, or my style to someone, that is difficult, as I am only but a student to many of those masters I learn from. Also, I'm not a big fan of trying to compare your self to someone, or someone's style. However, if I would need to compare it to anybody, it would definitively be my hero Vincent Van Gogh, as his entire style and way was entirely based on pure truth coming directly from his heart. Of course however, he is a painter, and even though I prefer painting, the question is about filmmaking, hence as I did mention earlier, there is something about John Carpenter's "Dark Star", the low budget bizarre quality that I find somehow similar to 476 A.D. and perhaps my "style", if you can call it that. You can feel the lack of certain cinematographic quality, due to the lack of the budget, but the believable passion in the dynamic of the story has something that simply sucks you in it, and there is something in John Carpenter's style that has something of that, that I guess I can relate to on the personal level.

There is something about John Carpenter movies, that I always felt had a certain bizarreness about them, but somehow original, and like nothing else. Hence I could never take my eyes off them, and love almost every single movie he ever made. As the budgets were becoming bigger and bigger, every movie after the low budget (1974) Dark Star, seemed better and better, is it the later Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, Escape from New York, The Thing, and etc.

John Carpenter is also a drawer and a cartoonist like me, and never seemed to care about becoming an "A-list director", always trying to be sort of the master of the B movies. Even though, in my opinion he is far better then many so called "A-list directors", and his movies are classics, far better then many many Oscar Winners out there. And yes, including his micro budget "Dark Star".

Also, John Carpenter very much cared for the unusual sounds and hypnotic music in his films. He was very much into mystique, and manipulating sounds depending on a certain specific moment or emotion in the film, which is also something I tend to do, and very much believe in. As back in the 1970's they didn't have musical softwares on computers, he used his synthesizer, but this is also something I found as a similar film making language with Carpenter. So, yea, I guess, if I was supposed to compare my self, and my "style" to someone, it would probably be closest to John Carpenter. No to compare my self, but I feel that people like George Lucas or Walt Disney are also my types of a personalities. Visionaries, with an imagination going beyond the usual comprehension of simply just a story.

18. How do you cope with all the pressures of filmmaking, and what is the message you would give to the critics of 476 A.D. and people who might not like it, or just not get this film.

How do I cope with all the pressures of filmmaking? Hm, let's see now...Alcohol, drugs, and prostitutes? Hahaha, I kid of course. I guess, like a hunter or a sharp shooter who sees a target, I simply concentrate on the target of getting there, where as the obstacles on the way do not effect me as much. In majority of cases, you can do and achieve the great majority of that which you envision. If you can envision it, you can also do it, the problem is coping with the pressures of the obstacles on the way.

As for what is the message I would give to the critics of 476 A.D. and people who might not like or get my films...Hm, I guess...Sorry! Hahaha! Well it's like this, it's sort of very similar to food. If you like Mexican food, you'll not exactly go to a Middle Eastern restaurant, and expect to get a Burrito, right. I mean, why would you do that? If you are used to eating hamburgers and fries with catchup, and then somebody gives you Goulash, or Chicken Paprikash, it's just not going to be something you are used to. Well the same case here, 476 A.D. is home made Chicken Paprikash, not a McDonald's franchise Big Mac meal with fries and a Coke. Not to say that there is anything wrong with franchise burgers, fries, and Coke with ice, however, if you like fast food, well then go watch Michael Bay's big budget CGI galore. The point is, to everybody their own. Some people might like realism of Michelangelo, Rembrandt, or Rubens, where some might prefer the more "abstract" post-impressionism of Van Gogh, or even more abstract Cubism of one Picasso.

General Flavius Aëtius speaking with a Nubian legionnaire (Luckson Bonhomme).

It is really a matter of taste, and taste is a matter of a subjective opinion, and not an objective approach. Just as one can not be guilty for perhaps disliking south east Asian food, if one's preference is Italian. Just as the quality of one Rubens can not be compared to the quality of one Picasso, or Van Gogh, based on some "formula" of how a painting "should" look like. Hence you wouldn't go to Monet, and tell him to change his style to make it more Rembrandt like, simply because you might prefer the more realism of one Rembrandt. Just as you wouldn't exactly go to Michelangelo, and tell him to add some florescent green and orange strokes around the Creation of Adam, in the Sistine Chapel, as it needs to be a little more "modern", as the old classic is just boring. It's literally as simple as that.

The real problem I think is, that we live in a time of a growing ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), and much of the last decade or two has particularly been based on catering to just that. For instance, dealing lately with the details of the actual producing side behind "Tesla: Beyond Imagination" I have learned that the financial and distributional aspect of production is almost exclusively based on catering to what ever can make the biggest profit. Therefore naturally, if the present film industry is making the biggest profit from the 13-24 age demographic, of course the dynamic and the flow of the film must cater to such a demographic.

Hence with the blast of the internet in the last 15 years, and especially the blast of the iPhones, streaming video, and social media in the last 10 years, we have been increasingly bombarded with far more various materials and information, then for decades before that. Automatically, the young generations who can only remember a time of internet, can not even comprehend the VHS times of the 1980's and 90's, or not to mention the Super 8 film and Vinyl Record 1960's and 70's times of only basic Network Television.

So of course, with so much constant flashing information, our society can not avoid ADD. Our usual attention span, and concentration level has gone way down, compared to just some 20 years ago. Even I personally can't even remember the last novel I read in the classic paperback form. Something I remember loving to do in a silence of a summer house, a beech, or somewhere in nature. It seems to me that the element of simply enjoying the ambience of something has just gone away. Even at the age of 41, I can remember a time not only before DVDs and internet streaming, but even a time before Cable, VHS, or Video stores. A time of the early to mid 1980's, when the only way you could actually watch a movie, was in a classic movie theater, or if it was shown on the network TV, and if you would like to see a movie again, it would have to be in a movie theater. On a reel to reel projector celluloid film, and only if it was playing in your local town cinema.

If you would miss a movie theater run, too bad, for you would have to wait until the movie came out in theaters again, or if it was playing on TV. Then, when, and if you would be at home to watch a movie on network television, everybody else would watch it as well, for there was only one shot at it, and the next day, people would actually talk about it. It is a period of not too far history, that in today's world of Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, seems as ancient as the Roman Empire.

"I simply concentrate on the target of getting there"

I would lie if I was to say that I don't miss a certain charm of that time. That there isn't a certain form of nostalgia towards that ambience and experience of film watching, that I am trying to find a way to bring back. A time when as a kid you would be playing outside, and literally prepare your self psycho-physically to watch a movie on TV in the evening, and when the movie would start on TV, the entire neighborhood would go home to watch. You would literally hear the same movie simultaneously playing on TV from the open windows of other neighbors, no DVRs. While the next day, people would literally tak about the movie they all watched yesterday on TV. There was just something special and magical about watching a movie like that, and you just appreciated every moment of it, as you simply took it and accepted it for what it was.

It is just something magical, that my son for instance, and the young generations can not even comprehend, and will never really experience that special magical experience of watching a movie without a pause, rewind, or record button, but fully experience it. So because of this constant speed we live in, movies have just lost that something of the ambience in them, to the point that there can not even be 10 minutes in a film, without some kind of CGI entertainment, explosion, death, or action, literally catering to the constantly decreasing attention span.

If you compare movies made in the last 15-20 years, to the earlier movies, the entire dynamic structure has completely shifted to the beginning peak chrescendo of the first 20 minutes of the movie, instead of the classic gradual climb to the peak. As to attract the attention of the instantaneous gratification, with a viewer holding a remote control in their hand, ready to change the channel to any other of the 500 available. Hence of course, the slower "old" random build up movies filled with beautiful imagery and ambience, such as the classic Laurence of Arabia, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or even the newer Dances With Wolves for instance, could simply not pass in today's film industry.

One of the first posters for 476 A.D. from 2013.

Because I am Noah, and God spoke to me to build him an Arc, hahaha! Or like that Kevin Costner's character in "Field of Dreams", who ends up building an entire Baseball field, because the ghostly character of James Earl Jones tells him "If you built it they will come". The old Chicago White Sox of course, hahaha! Or Richard Dreyfuss in the "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", saying "This is important. This means something", hahaha! Of course, I'm kidding, but there is always something of that in the back of your head.

It is a hard question, and this is something that I ask, and have been asking my self for years. Why? Why spend so much time, brain energy, and just the Chi life energy for that matter, on such a gigantic project, without any sure return at all? What the hell for? But then why do anything risky in life at all? People have been asking me this for 5 years now, why go through all these ordeals and struggles, if there is no guaranteed return on such an investment. Even my own father has been telling me, "476 A.D. is a project Ivan. It's a movie, it's not your life, you can't live 476 A.D.". What can I say, he is right.

In all honesty, I can't really answer this, because I'm not even sure my self why. However, I do feel that there has been something pushing me to do this. I guess another question is, why hasn't there ever been a movie made about the very end of Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D.? Why was I the first one to attempt to make a story about this? That since the beginning of Hollywood 100 years ago, nobody with all those hundreds of millions of dollars ever did this? Which in my opinion, is a crucial moment between the shift of Antiquity, into the Dark Ages? The honest answer is, I really don't know why. All I know however is, that I have had this pull, an extra strength of energy to do this in some way or the other.

There was just something about these last years of Rome that have always been calling me. Something about the real life person, General Flavius Aetius, the last Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus, and the Germanic Chieftain Odoacer who finally took over on September 4th, 476 A.D. I just needed to record it in some way, as impossible and "cursed" it might have been. I am, and have always been a spiritual person, and I do believe that there are energies, call it spirits even, which some times push you to do something, that otherwise you wouldn't do in other more "normal" circumstances.

For instance, when I take in consideration, just the hundreds of people who were involved in the production of 476 A.D. Just how many people were coming along, wanting to be a part of it, of which many were willing to even work for free and next to nothing. And under whom? Me? Who am I? A "starving artist"? I mean, I'm definitively not a millionaire. I'm just a small fish in the scheme of things of the film industry. However, somehow people still followed, and it still worked. Hence, there was just something else there, there was something spiritual in the air.

Which brings me to the second important quastion, why make a movie about the Fall of Rome in the first place? Well, this whole idea started some 20 years ago, one summer night in 1993, during the time of War in Croatia, at the similar time while I started getting more and more into Precession of the Equinoxes, Astronomy, and Astrology, and at the time even started creating people's personal Horoscopes, and Natal Charts. Note, this was before the Age of the Internet.

One hot August night in 1993, while laying in the ancient Roman Arena in Pula, Croatia. I was looking at the bright starry sky, watching all the possible stars and galaxies visible, I started to realize, that some of them might be hundreds, and even thousands of Iight years away. I realized that I was looking at live images of history happening before my eyes, and I started to find my self in a time vortex. The history was becoming the present, the present was becoming the future, and the future was becoming history. As the whole thought of space time continuum became a relative concept to me, I started to think about time, and its measurement, things such as the Precession of the Equinoxes, different constellation, the future Age of Aquarius, the previous 2,000 years of Age of Pisces, and Aries before that. While thinking about the whole different times and ages we lived in, I realized that there were different states of minds that existed before, and that there would also be different states of minds in the future, and with viewing the galaxies hundreds and thousands of light years away, there was an automatic connection with all the times of history.

Perhaps, being sick of the two years of war that I had experienced previously in my hometown of Karlovac, and all the negative energy that had accumulated from it, I needed some kind of a relief, some kind of an escape from the everyday darkness that surrounded my country, my world, and my entire existence at the age of 19. I really started to feel an energy and a connection with the times of the past. The fact that I just happened to be laying on the very same ground, that some 16 centuries earlier, Gladiators still fought lions on, that the Roman Legions, Senators, Caesars, as well as Barbarians, and Odoacer him self walked on this same exact soil, and that is when this whole idea of a story about the end of Rome and Antiquity dawned on me. The funniest thing is, that some 20 years later, I shot sequences of 476 A.D. in that same Roman Arena in Pula, Croatia.

However, although it seemed as a good idea at the time, it wasn't really until some 15 years later, that I started writing the full script about this idea, and actually preparing for this monumental undertaking, however, little did I know some 4 years ago what magnitude of work I was really getting my self into. Nevertheless, with a lot of passion, a stubborn vision, and lots of help from hundreds of people, this labor of love managed to turn from simply a dream, into an actual creation.

The love, unity, and filmic comradery was evident in this production from the very beginning. As Murphy's Law followed, when one option would become impossible, someone always came with another solution, and so forth. From the very beginning, with the ingenuity and craftiness of our cinematographer David Quakenbush, many impossibilities became possible. In all honesty, I would have never imagined that such a huge number of people would actually unite in bringing this dream into a reality, but to my own amazement, it really did happen.

The unconditional trust of such talented actors as James Russell, Spencer Kane, Heath Heine, Dean Satriano, Kirsten Deane, Mark Roeder, Anthony Cubba, Jason Delancy, Patrick Wolfe, Mary Hatcliff, Luckson Bonhomme, and many other, as well as my own son Niko Pavletic, who plays the yound Aetius, just gave me the assurance that this story can work.

Not to mention the powerful performances by the older Aces such as Piotr Gzowski, and the famous Croatian actor Igor Galo, also gave me the needed assurance that this complex story between the old Age of Antiquity, and the Dark Ages, in fact will work.

It is hard to find words to really thank for this experience, as up to this day, I still believe that there was some deeper energy going on with this production, for so many people were ready to do so much without questioning. Hence that line from the film, Field of Dreams, "If You Call Them, They Will Come", when I think of hundreds of people from Colorado, and other parts of US, Croatia, and Italy, all those extras, stuntman, grips, and other crews, willing to help for next to nothing, and in many cases fully volunteering for free.

Roman beauty (Maria Wolters)

So much love and energy, just makes you feel obligated to return something back to all the people who were there for me. People like Bradley Burrows, who stood there with me for over two years, working with me on all those hundreds of green screen shots, and patiently keying them out. Not to mention talented post-production people like Cristofer Adrian, Matthew Rose, and Shannon Wilkerson. Then Adrianna Veal and her mother Sophia Rose, were as if God had sent them to me when I needed them, literally saving me, by sewing and creating dozens of 5th century Roman tunics and costumes, as well as full Barbarian outfits, and many similar situations like that.

Then of course people like Corey Blair, Erik Olson, Eddie Portoghese, Connor Boyle, Kevin Wilson, Shannon Wilkerson, Natalie Johnson, Zak Klecker, Zach Holloran, Jonathan Fulton, Mary Hatcliff, Stanley Sanchez, Albert Crason, Maria Walters, Summer and Zoran Lesic, and many many more, without whom this gigantic production would have never seen the light of day. My words can not even start to express the gratitude to all those who were there for me, and I can only hope that the finished product I return, can be somewhat worth the time and energy invested.

I my self can only say one thing for sure about this unusual and unorthodox story of 476 A.D. Be it loved or hated, liked or disliked, understood or misunderstood, felt or not felt, one thing is certain, it's not a copy cat, made on some conventional formula, it is one of a kind, and nothing quite like it was made before, or is out there. Of course I could have made a more basic style of conventional edit and look of the film, and could have spent just half of the time which it otherwise took me, but then it would just be another low budget movie, made according to some film school formula.

Not everything in life is easy and quick, and I think that foundations that are worked on for longer, and more thoroughly, end up also remaining longer and more durable. I can only hope that like watching those millions of bright stars in the Roman Arena in Pula, that the energy of it will also remain in time. That in some 50 years from now, loved or hated, 476 A.D. will be remembered as one of those one of a kind strange, experimental, and unusual, yet unforgettable movies that somehow just stick with you.

Ivan Pavletic: "Abstract Painting of Regeneration of Life" oil on canvas.



Drawing of a Neanderthal by Ivan Pavletic