Directing Jon Bon Jovi in his debut film, making horror films, mentoring express film-making… ahead of the Indian television premiere of his film Fantasy Island on Zee Café and &Prive HD on August 30, writer, producer and director Jeff Wadlow chats with The Telegraph from his “old house in the Hollywood hills” over a video call.

Your first film Cry Wolf was made with the prize money you won in a contest, right?

Yes. I finished film school and entered a contest called the Chrysler Million Dollar Film festival in 2002 based on my short film The Tower of Babel that I co-wrote, directed and acted in — which was a mistake (laughs). With the film, I had to do a couple of other things in the contest. Ultimately I won it with my writing and producer partner Beau Bauman and we got a million dollars to make my first feature film.

That’s a lot of prize money!

It sounds like a lot but it’s not. Trust me. The Avengers must have spent five times that just on snacks. We were acting out of desperation to launch our careers, as 20-somethings with dreams of wanting to make films in Hollywood. This was our opportunity and we were not going to let it pass us by.

Jon Bon Jovi Sourced by The Telegraph

How did a debutant director get Jon Bon Jovi to act in the film?

So we had this part and was looking for someone to cast in it. I was looking for someone with a rockstar quality, who kids looked up to, that guys liked and the girls had a crush on. CAA (the agency) pitched us an actual rockstar — Jon Bon Jovi! I said he’s not going to do it. They said: “He might. The script is great and he is available.” To Jon’s credit, he read the script and showed up in Virginia, ready to have some fun with us. I would never have considered him in a million years!

How was it directing him?

Fantastic. He is such a creative guy, a real artiste, selfless, easy going. He joked that his security was getting paid more than he was for doing our little independent film. He has such a sense of humour! Am a massive fan. We actually have the same birthday — March 2. And even though it’s been 17 years, we still wish each other by email on the day.

You did act in a big-ticket film like Pearl Harbor yourself…

Let me be clear. Every young man in his 20s who was willing to be an actor in Hollywood was in Pearl Harbor. That’s how big the movie is and that’s how many speaking parts it had. It’s actually more unique to find someone my age who wasn’t in Pearl Harbour than was. I had one line in a scene with Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale. It is about 30 minutes into the movie. I say: “Hurry up, Romeo. I want to get this over with.” You can’t miss it. That movie was so massive that even if I had one line, I worked for three days on it. In my movies, if I have an actor with one line I’d ask them to cut the part and save the money. If it was necessary, I’d get them only for one day.

A scene from Fantasy Island, to be telecast on Sunday Sourced by The Telegraph

Tell us about The Adrenaline Film Project that you are involved with. How can a film, however short, be made in 72 hours?

It’s a great thing that I helped start in my hometown in east Virginia. We started 15-16 years ago. I am on the board of the Virginia Film Festival and they have a theme each year. The theme that year was speed. I suggested a film production workshop. We did it for a year and it has gone on. We invite people from all over the East Coast. They get to make a movie in 72 hours with me and two other industry professionals producing it and collaborating with them. At the end of the process, we screen their movies, give out awards and have a party. It is a fulfilling process.

Coming to Fantasy Island, your film that will be screened on August 30 in India, what is it about?

Fantasy Island is about a place where a group of people could go and have their wildest dreams come true. But there’s always a twist and a price. In many ways, the island is like a mirror. It reflects what is inside of the person. Ultimately the people who survive the island emerge forever changed.

Many of your films, be it Fantasy Island or Truth or Dare or Prey or even Cry Wolf, have this recurrent trope of a group of people gathering in a place and things happening to them.

I hadn’t thought about it but yeah, many of my films have that. It’s a great way to tell a feature. A feature needs to be a contained story. While there are features that take place over different time periods, they require larger budgets than I have had access to. So if you have a small budget, putting a group of interesting people in a location and having things happen to them is a great recipe for exploring character and narrative.

The plot of Fantasy Island brought to mind Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.

I read the book and have seen the original film. There have been quite a few adaptations. It was a major influence for Fantasy Island.

Any actor who you learnt a lot from?
I try to learn something from all my major collaborators but I learn the most from my actors. I remember having these long conversations with Andy Garcia, who played the villain in my Netflix movie True Memoirs of an International Assassin. He had great stories and I learnt a lot from him. Maggie Q, Lucy Hale, Kevin James, Jon Bon Jovi… I’m grateful to all my actors who participated in my films.

Catch the Flix First Premiere of Fantasy Island on Sunday, August 30 at 1pm, 7pm and 9pm on &flix, 3pm and 11pm on &PrivéHD and 2pm on Zee Café