Emily Hagins was interviewed at San Diego Comic-con by Nathan Turner, roving reporter for the “In Search Of Heroes Program.” Her answers to the heroes questions inspire.
Nathan asked Emily questions about heroes and heroism. Her answers were thoughtful and inspiring.
We were impressed with Emily because she invested 2 years making a movie about zombies while most twelve-year olds are busy with friends, homework, and online chatting. Emily spent her time writing and directing a full length feature movie starring her young friends and classmates.
“Zombie Girl: The Movie” documents the exhilarating and heartbreaking 2 years it took her to shoot, edit and world premier the film to a sold out audience in Austin, Texas.
With the help of her mother as agent, crew and biggest fan, Emily launched an epic adventure in genre film-making, battling everything from budget shortfalls to self-doubt, while coming of age as a teenager.
Nathan Turner: Hello. We’re at the Comic-con. We are speaking with Emily Hagins, the creator of Zombie Girl. Emily tell everybody a little bit about yourself.
Emily Hagins: Actually Zombie Girl is the name of the documentary about me making a feature length zombie film called “Pathogen”. When I was 12 years old, I made this film. It took me two years. But, film making is my passion so I stuck through it.
Nathan Turner: Great, great. Pathogen, so what inspired you to make this film?
Emily Hagins: Really, it’s a love for movies. I’ve always been a movie geek, watching and making my own short films. At a certain point, I saw this movie that really inspired me to make a zombie movie that was just really silly and fun. I thought, “Oh wow I really want to make that.” I really didn’t know what I was getting into at first, but I just knew I wanted to make a feature zombie movie.
Nathan Turner: What was the process like? Was it enjoyable? Did you find that this is something you want to continue doing?
Emily Hagins: Yeah, it was definitely kind of like a trial I guess because I had done these short films and they are short projects. They only take a few days to go from start to finish. And with this feature project it took me two years. There are a lot of problems along the way to get the finished product. So, to get through those problems and keep persevering to the very end that helped me realize that this is something I do want to pursue. It’s not just a fun little side hobby. It’s something I definitely want to make a career out of.
Nathan Turner: Wonderful. Wonderful. We just have a couple of questions for you, Emily. We are doing this with “In Search of Heroes” and speaking about heroism and that’s why we are at the Comic Convention. We have a couple of questions and the first one is this.
Nathan Turner: What is your definition of a hero?
Emily Hagins: I guess my definition of a hero is nothing too complex but, it would be somebody that one could look up to or model themselves after in certain areas, like I guess, you know if you want to be a director you might have a hero that is a director.
Nathan Turner: Very good. Very good. So it’s somebody to look up to probably in the field that you sort of major in?
Emily Hagins: Yes, specifically if there’s somebody like my mom, that’s my hero but that’s in a lot of different areas. So it could range. I was just thinking as professionally that someone could be a hero.
Nathan Turner: Good. Good. Now why do you believe that heroism is important? Is it in society, for posterity, for our children and such?
Emily Hagins: I think it’s important. Especially with our younger people who are trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives or their hobbies or lots of different things; to have other people to look up to.
Emily Hagins: “Wow this kid was able to go out and make a movie.” That’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Maybe I can do some of the things they did, to have those kinds of people out there. Of course, I’m not trying to call myself a hero.
Nathan Turner: You can be a hero too.
Emily Hagins: That was just in my head and just in my mind, something you could model yourself after. But to have people out there that have accomplished things that you yourself are thinking of and maybe looking into, I think that’s definitely inspirational. I think that everybody that has accomplished something should be able to share their experiences with other people that are interested in the same thing.
Nathan Turner: Grand, grand. Now you already touched on this a bit but you mentioned your mother. Is your mother your hero?
Emily Hagins: Well, as far as like my life. She’s very dedicated and caring of other people, putting them before herself. And that’s always something I want to have in me. I don’t want to just be thinking of my own goals and endeavors. I want to also be thinking of the people around me that I care about. She’d definitely someone I like to model myself after in that respect.
Emily Hagins: As far as making movies and director heroes that have accomplished really great things, like Robert Rodriguez who was told, “Oh you can’t do this!” when he started making movies. He could and he did. He wrote a book about it. It is definitely. There are a few, like John Faverau and Peter Jackson who did “Lord of the Rings” who inspired me to make movies in the first place.
Oh gosh, I know I’m forgetting a few. Danny Boyle is a big inspiration to me right now, especially like “Slumdog Millionaire,” which is a phenomenal movie.
Nathan Turner: Marvelous. Marvelous. Well we’ve been speaking with Emily Hagins, the basis for “Zombie Girl” the documentary. Thank you very much for speaking with us Emily.
Emily Hagins: Thank you.