How Sniper: Assassin's End Director Kaare Andrews Transitioned From Comics To Filmmaking - Exclusive
Since superhero movies are the biggest thing in the world right now, it was only right that for the eighth installment of the action-packed Sniper film franchise, Sniper: Assassin's End, someone with a background in comic books was at the helm. The film, released on video on demand on June 16, sees Chad Michael Collins back as Brandon Beckett — the Force Reconnaissance Scout Sniper who has now been framed for the murder of a foreign dignitary. He must team up with his father, Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett (original Sniper star Tom Berenger) to clear his name and get to the bottom of a vast conspiracy.
Director Kaare Andrews brought this heart-pounding story of action and high-stakes agreements to life, dipping into the waters of filmmaking after having written and drawn comic books for several decades. Some of Andrews' most notable work has been on Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Fist – all comics that feature plenty of adventure and loads of tension.
In an exclusive interview with Looper, Andrews spoke about his background in both comic books and filmmaking and how they influence one another, even if it's inadvertently.
There are a lot of similarities between making a comic book and making a movie. As Andrews put it, "When I direct, I draw a lot of storyboards, and I'm used to breaking things down in terms of shots, as opposed to maybe some directors approach filming in terms of coverage."
Kaare Andrews has always been passionate about different art forms
It turns out that being a multihyphenate is nothing new to Andrews. He's always been interested in working with different mediums, even when he was young. He told Looper, "When I was a kid, they were all the same thing. So as a kid, I was making movies and drawing comic books and making models and learning special effects and learning how to paint. They were really just one thing — my hobbies — and I loved to do them. I used to give book reports on movie magic in grade one. I was also drawing comic books and animating stop motion movies on my Super 8 camera."
Despite having so many interests, Andrews chose first to start a career in comic books — a decision that pretty much came out of where he was living at the time. With so few jobs available in filmmaking, comic book writing and art it was.
"When the world was like, 'These are all different things and you can only do one of them, maybe. Pick one and try to do that,' I just picked comic books because I grew up in a small city in the middle of Canada called Saskatoon, and there was no movie-making going on in Saskatoon," explained Andrews. "Even in comic books, there was one guy in the city who drew a Superman book."
However, after spending the late 1990s and early 2000s in the comic book industry, Andrews switched gears and released his first major feature-length film in 2010: the horror movie Altitude, starring 90210 revival actress Jessica Lowndes. He's since gone on to direct a segment for The ABCs of Death and the 2014 horror flick Cabin Fever: Patient Zero, as well episodes of Aftermath, Van Helsing, Other Kingdom, Mech-X4, Siblings, and V Wars.
But even when Andrews' primary focus was comic books, he never lost his passion for filmmaking. He eventually moved to Vancouver, which changed his perspective in a big way: "The first thing I did when I got out to Vancouver was buy a bunch of film here and start making short films because it was like, 'Well, why can't I? I did the one thing, why can't I do all the rest?' So, I've been trying to prove the world wrong for many years now."
Whether it's making action films or drawing the latest Spider-Man comic, Andrews continues surprising his fans and giving the world new, interesting art.
Sniper: Assassin's End is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital.