When we were trying to figure out what films to check out at the SFAFF last year, we just knew we HAD to see the zombie musical. Well.. it wasn’t a zombie musical. Nope, it was a musical about the city of Colma (you know, the one with a BART stop named after it). The lyrical genius of incorporating “Serramonte” into a song (and rhyming with it no less) completely impressed us. As did the power-poppy tunes. We’ve been proud owners of the soundtrack for over a year now (normally we dislike soundtracks and musicals), and are glad to announce that you can finally check out "Colma: The Musical" for yourselves. It’s well worth the price of admission. The creative forces behind Colma have undergone SFist interviews in a tag team fashion. H.P. Mendoza and Rich Wong are both natives, with interesting perspectives on the area, rhyming, and the movie.

Colma opens at the Embarcadero Cinema June 22

Introduce yourself in one sentence:
H.P: Hi, I'm HP and I'm a Pisces with a Virgo rising which means I don't put any stock in astrology whatsoever.

Ages and Occupations:
H.P:30, Screenwriter, Musician
RW: 30, filmmaker

Home Towns:
H.P:San Francisco, born at St. Luke's in the Mission.
RW: San Francisco

How long have you lived in the Bay Area and Where and Why?
H.P:I spent my childhood in the Mission, my tween years in the Excelsior, my high school years in Colma, and my post college years in the Tenderloin. After living in the east coast for a few years, I came back and lived in the Sunset from 2005 to 2007 and I now live with my boyfriend in the Mission.

RW: Lived in San Francisco all but 5 years when I lived in LA. I've always lived in the Richmond district. I love how it is quiet here, but just a short walk (not drive) away from everything you need.

Favorite song in the film?
H.P: One Day pt.2, mostly because I loved having a Burt Bacharach moment.

RW: That's impossible to answer, it changes month to month. This month: One Day Part 2

Why a musical?
H.P:I think musically. Maybe even lyrically. Anything can be a musical without being silly.

How hard was incorporating "Serramonte" into a song?
H.P:I HAD to work that into the song. I giggled at the idea of incorporating the word and chose that lyric in lieu of "You need to know Junipero" because of the number of people who pronounce it "joo-nih-pair-oh" as opposed to "hoo-nee-peh-row".

RW: I've always loved musicals - so, why not? I think of it as just as viable a means of telling a story as a non-musical, so this was something that never crossed my mind considering how the project was conceived.

What's your favorite scene in the movie?
H.P: Either "Crash the Party" or "Goodbye, Stupid". Good times.

RW: Again, impossible, but hmmm...I guess "Crash The Party" because A: I love oners B: I think it's just a really fun scene and C: I remember how much time and effort it took from everyone involved to pull it off.

When we first heard of the film we thought it was a zombie flick.. deliberate PR to that effect or inadvertent fixation on the cemetery in Colma?
H.P: Not deliberate at all. I guess when you hear the description of Colma as "a town where the dead outnumber the living 1000 to 1", you think of 28 Days Later. Then again, we were all waiting for "Poltergeist 2" meets "The Exorcist 3" when we all saw the commercials for "Bringing Out the Dead".

RW: I think that's part of a Bay Area stigma. I don't think people in other parts of the country who are not aware of Colma think it's a zombie flick. Most people think it's a film about a bunch of brain dead singers.

What's next?
H.P:A new full length album, A musical with Rich, a musical about Asian fag-hags, and a musical science fiction. After that, I think I'll direct a horror film. Non-musical.

RW: I just worked on a project with Wayne Wang which we are finishing up, and hopefully HP and I will be doing another musical, which I am currently trying to raise the money for.

Favorite places to spend time online
H.P: When I'm not on YouTube? Hmmm...
www.rottentomatoes.comwww.ersatzdesign.comwww.homestarrunner.com
www.gamespot.com
www.sfgate.com

RW: Youtube and all the japanese prank videos.

Favorite local business
H.P:EXIT Theater on Eddy

RW: Videofax

What you're currently Reading
H.P: Everything is Eventual

RW: Haven't read a book so far this year....sad, right? Been really busy, seriously. Last book from last year: The Interpreter by Suki Kim

Best Deal in San Francisco
H.P: Dance Dance Revolution at Pier 39. Doubles for the price of one.

RW: Kam's lunch special (the flounder)

Favorite mode of transportation
H.P: Feet.

RW: Walking

Best Band or Musician to come out of the Bay Area
H.P: Tom Waits.

Favorite Bay Area Stereotype, and whether or not you buy into it
H.P: That we're pedantic haters of the banal obsessed with quirk. I haven't decided if it's true or not, yet...

RW: Northern CA Snobbiness

Favorite local hangout
H.P: Dolores Park
RW: Home

SF has the BEST
H.P: Weather
RW: Food
You've never lived in SF until
H.P: You've complained about your neighborhood being gentrified only to realize that it started with you.

Favorite Bay area politician of past or present
H.P: Harvey Milk

Now that Mayor Gavin is single, who are you going to set him up with?
H.P: Alex Tourk.

You can tell someone is a local here IF
H.P: They dress in layers.
RW: he/she's carying a jacket all the time

SF would be soooo much better if only
H.P: We'd stop demolishing our movie palaces and replacing them with Gorilla Sports gyms.
RW: Geary had a subway system

Best Burrito
H.P: El Farolito

Best Restaurant
H.P: Okazu Ya in the Sunset.
RW: Park Chow

Best movie scene filmed in or about SF
H.P: In Tales of the City, Mary Ann tiptoes around Brian's Russian Hill apartment and asks, "Are you from here?" and Brian responds with, "Nobody's from here."

Favorite artist to come out of the Bay Area
H.P: Jim Jones.

Favorite author to come out of the bay area
H.P: Armistead Maupin

Place you always tell visitors to check out
H.P: The Golden Gate Bridge

Favorite Bridge in the area
H.P: The Golden Gate Bridge. I almost wanted to say "San Mateo Bridge", because I'm sure everyone says the Golden Gate, but there's a reason why.
RW: Bay Bridge I guess, cause whenever I go to LA I come back using it and the sight of the city coming back in always makes me happy.

You have two hours and $15 bucks to kill in SF, what are you going to do?
H.P: Call a friend and share a quiche from Tartine and a six pack of beer in Dolores Park.
RW: Save the money and go to the park.
I have found/sold/bought the following on craigslist
H.P: Adaptoid N64 to PC adaptors
The complete Robotech on VCD

I want all the SFists out there to know
H.P: That cynicism does not equal wit.

Tell us a San Francisco Story
H.P: I was living in Philadelphia when I decided to temporarily fly back home to San Francisco to do Colma in 2005. After the premiere of Colma at the SF Asian Film Festival, these teenagers are surrounding me asking me to sign their CDs, and I see this guy nervously walking up and down the stairs. When the high schoolers disperse, he walks up to me and introduces himself as Mark Del Lima, and that he thought "the movie was tremendous" and was also returning, temporarily, to San Francisco. We've been a couple for a little over a year ever since, and live together in the Mission.

Question you'd ask if you were doing this interview
H.P: If you were to shamelessly plug yourself, what would be the one phrase you would spit out?
www.hpmendoza.com