Director Steven C. Miller is constantly breathing life into genre films, by adhering to one simple rule: make films that are fun to watch. From his first film, Automaton Transfusion, which cost 30 thousand dollars and quickly became a cult hit, to higher profile films like his spooky Silent Night starring Malcolm McDowell, Miller’s oeuvre tends to favor thrills over anything else, and that is why his films are so compelling to watch. In Submerged, he takes this to an almost masochistic extreme by putting us inside a limo that’s been thrown underwater...and to say more would be a disservice.

We had the chance to talk to Miller about making films he wants to watch, working with some of his childhood idols and how Christmas is spookier than people give it credit for.

For all its craziness and excitement, there’s also something very minimalistic about Submerged. Is it easy to make an action movie and not get the essence lost in all the explosions and visual effects?

That was sort of the thing that I wanted to do with this movie, to keep it moving, but at the same time I also wanted to have the characters just be there and let the camera sit with them. There were plenty of times when I felt I needed to let the camera just be with them, see them get cold, claustrophobic, worried. I wanted to let the kinetic stuff happen mostly outside the limo, inside I wanted to let it be calm camera-wise.

The film has a very classic structure, as it’s told in flashback, did you have any specific films in mind that use this same structure?

The script came in like that but the transitions between time was something I tried to amp up so there would be a fluid motion to them. I watched a lot of Tarantino films, because Quentin does structure very well in how he’s all over the place but the structure works very well. I tried to watch movies like Memento which have different timelines but still seem to be cohesive, I took cues from them to make sure the audience was following the timeline.

I told Jonathan that your movies reminded me of old school thrillers from the early 90s that I’d watch on TV over and over. Do you feel a nostalgia for that time?

Yeah, I grew up watching 80s and 90s movies, True Romance was one of my favorite movies growing up, so I look at those movies and how the action works, how they flow conceptually. I’m not trying to recreate them, it’s just my style, they’re the movies I like to watch and I make movies I like to watch.

Are your movies a way for you to face any of your fears?

I’m personally very claustrophobic, even to the point where I get into an elevator and I can not be there with more than two people, so the kind of being submerged underwater was terrifying to me, so I tried to use that in my own filmmaking to face my own demons, but at the same time I feel that if during the filmmaking process I’m feeling claustrophobic it means I’m doing my job right (laughs) because the audience will feel the same way.

What were the challenges of working in such a small set?

I’d never done a movie this confined, so trying to figure out creative ways for the camera to move and for the audience to remain engaged was a huge challenge. I look forward to challenges in each movie I do, this one was an easy one for me to say yes to, because there were so many challenges involved that I simply had to do it.

You have remained pretty much an independent filmmaker throughout your career, and this has made your films unique in how you can feel there was no one else messing around with you. What would you say, if at all, do you feel you could get out of working under studios?

Yeah, look it’s about how you approach the producers and the project. This past year I’ve made two Bruce Willis action movies for Lionsgate, it’s very different than making  a movie like Submerged, where no one tells me what to do. But I approached Lionsgate as if I was making an indie movie, I’m a very collaborative director and they took that well. They see you’re doing things well and then they back off. Hopefully as I continue making bigger studio films it’ll continue to be that way, but even if I have someone breathing down my neck I always have a good time on set.

You’ve worked with legends like Malcolm McDowell and now Bruce Willis. What has been the most exciting part about working with people you probably grew up watching on films?

It’s insane! You look at these things and you show up on set and it’s John McClane, you have all these emotions, but you have to step back and think as if you’re directing a friend, just focus on his character. My wife is a huge Mean Girls fan, so getting on set with Jonathan Bennett was a lot of fun for me. I like making the situations light and throw it out there that I’m a geek anyway, I geek out all the time. I love movies, this isn’t about the paycheck, it’s about loving movies.

You’re like the Woody Allen of action movies. How do you keep up making movie after movie at such speed?

(Laughs) Once I’m done shooting and editing, my brain is already thinking what to do next, I start reading material. To be honest from 2008 to 2010, from my first movie that got bought to my second movie I made there was a lot of sitting and waiting, and I got to the point where I don’t wanna do that again. I just wanna make movies! Bruce enjoyed the movie we made together first, he called me to say he wanted to make another one, so that’s been the process right now.

Can we talk about Silent Night for a second? With the holidays around the corner, do you feel that Christmas is actually darker than most movies make us wanna believe?

Yeah, I always found it very strange that people were so open to a jolly man coming down their chimney and entering their home, my parents thought I was strange as a kid because I would clog up the chimney so that nothing could get down. I had a huge phobia of a guy creeping into my room and putting something under my pillow, I had a problem with all of that. Growing up I loved Silent Night, Deadly Night, so when they come tell you “we want you to make a killer  Santa Claus movie” I could only say yes. I also have a hard time with the commercialism of Christmas, and in the movie wanted to point out that if you’re concerned with what gift you’re getting Santa’s gonna come take your arm off. It was a lot of fun.

What’s your relationship with critics like? Do you feel you might often give them pure pleasure they can’t analyze and they secretly all love you for that? Or are most of them curmudgeons anyway?  

I don’t know, that’s one of the things about why I enjoy reading people’s reviews, everyone has a different opinion, I enjoy people who are very intense with their reviews and also enjoy people who are about the interior. I love honesty and I try to read that in reviews of my work, I try to be open minded. Bad reviews are fun to read and also help me improve my work, because I wonder what can I do in my next movie to make this guy or girl love my next movie. I look at it as a challenge!

Submerged is now available on VOD and iTunes.