Talking with Peter Kwong, Creator of HYBRID

Peter Kwong, creator of Studio 407’s HYBRID, was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to talk to Richard Caldwell of ComicNews.Info.

Peter, your Hybrid comic is soon to be collected into trade form. Is this story something that has been with you for awhile?

Hi Richard. Yeah. HYBRID started off as a feature film pitch that didn’t sell. Then it was a screenplay that didn’t sell. Now it’s a graphic novel! And a feature film! So everything in its time, I guess. It’s been an interesting ride. Not at all how I thought it would turn out, but it’s always exciting for a writer to see something he’s done visualized on paper and, hopefully soon, on film.

The story is full of cinematic qualities, so I presume that is your first love? How exactly did the comic angle come about, then?

Actually, if you want to go back to the beginning, comics were my first love. Not only reading them, but writing and drawing my own. It was my training ground to think graphically when I write, which I carried over with me as I became more and more embedded into film-making. Ironically, HYBRID is a screenplay I wrote that will be seen first as a comic book! That’s largely because the head of Studio 407, Alex Leung, read the script and said that he thought it would make a good, scary creature comic. The goal of any writer is to see his work published or produced, so I jumped at the chance. The film deal just grew out of that.

What are some of your influences from the adventure, science-fiction, and horror genres? One of your main characters in the Hybrid book is very knowledgeable of marine biology. Would Jacques Cousteau make your list of personal heroes?

It’s funny that you mention Jacques Cousteau, because one of the first books my parents ever bought me was a Cousteau picture book about sharks. I hadn’t thought about that until now! I’ve always been drawn to stories about the sea. “Captains Courageous” was one of my favorite books as a kid. And that’s carried on to various books and movies about the sea. I actually am a big fan of Peter Benchley novels. Of course, I loved JAWS, DEAD CALM, KNIFE IN THE WATER, MASTER AND COMMANDER. All those great ocean epics.

For me, the water is a natural for the horror/suspense genre, because, even in our interconnected world, the open water remains a vast enigma. Add to that my own personal anxieties about the ocean because I can’t swim, there was more than enough for me to draw on as I was writing HYBRID. Of course, there are some usual suspects that were an influence, also: ALIEN, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. I was also thinking a lot about the architecture of Antonin Gaudi when I was thinking about the look of the trawler’s innards. Gaudi’s designs are so organic and free flowing. They have an alive quality to them. And I thought that was what was needed for the Hybrid’s nest.

Arguably, we all came from the water, at least to the science-minded evolutionists. There are some mythologies that play into that as well, and there is something mystical about that connection. Like how the moon’s gravitational pull is what triggers waves in the oceans.
Interests aside, is there some of you in the stories you write? I don’t mean literally writing from experience, though that would be awesome. Outside of ambition, is there catharsis in what you do?

I think any writer who takes their craft seriously – as I hope I do – puts a bit of themselves into their work. I don’t think it matters, the story or genre. Anything can be personal. That was a tenet of the whole French New Wave auteur theory, right? Gangster movies, westerns, all could be vehicles for personal expression. I think with HYBRID, the connection is a bit more vague. There are probably elements of me in each of the characters, whether it’s Brooke’s anxiety about water, Ethan’s bemused intelligence. Even the Captain’s misanthropy. But the really personal aspect, and I didn’t even think about this until a producer on the feature film mentioned it to me, which is an indication of how subterranean it is, is the connection between Brooke and the child, and how they end up, which I won’t give away. Reflecting on it, that kind of arc happens a lot in the stuff I write. I’m writing a drama right now that is as far removed from HYBRID as possible, and that issue is entirely in the forefront. Why? I try not to analyze it too much. I guess for the writer, the process of figuring it out is more important than actually doing it.

Anything else in the works you would care to mention, or closing comments?

Well, working on HYBRID has certainly been an experience. If nothing else, it shows the value of persistence. This was a project that was going nowhere for about 3 years, then now it’s a graphic novel and hopefully, a feature film in 2009. I guess there’s an object lesson in there for other writers. But at the end of the day, it’s something I’m proud of. It does what a good genre film should: takes a formula and elevates it, makes it relevant to things that are going on today. Hopefully, people will enjoy it.

Thanks, Richard.
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Richard Caldwell

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