January 23rd, 2009 artmaster
The Art of the Kill…
For the filmmakers, making all of the deaths in the film memorable was essential to revitalizing the franchise. “We knew when we took this on that the deaths were one of the most important aspects of the film,” says Andrew Form. “The one thing we didn’t realize was just how many deaths there are in a ‘Friday the 13th’ film. Each death has to feel different and unique. You can’t just kill everybody with a machete because that gets really old and boring. Luckily, Damian Shannon and Mark Swift came up with some really clever deaths that audiences will go home talking about.”
“The ride we’re hoping to present is a total rollercoaster and, if we do it well, there will be a lot of phenomenal scares that will have audiences on the edge of their seat,” says Brad Fuller. “Sean Cunningham created a great villain. When it comes down to it, people love to watch Jason kill. That’s why people go to these movies.”
“Just so all the fans know, they can be completely assured that they will see all of the iconic elements from the franchise that they have grown to love,” says Form. “In this film, we’re bringing back the fun along with the intense violence, unique kills and great scares. It’s all there.”
Marcus Nispel teases, “The sleeping bag—it sums up everything you want to achieve with a ‘Friday the 13th’ kill. It’s scary. It gets under your skin. It allows you to laugh somehow… but I think it’s more of a panicky laugh.”
Posted in Andrew Form, Damian Shannon, Friday the 13th, Marcus Nispel, Mark Swift, Sean Cunningham | No Comments »
January 23rd, 2009 artmaster
A dynamic force on the set of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” director Marcus Nispel has a unique creative process that “really worked the first time,” recalls Fuller. “Marcus has a great sense of style and by re-teaming with cinematographer Daniel Pearl, we all felt that the movie was going to have a unique, beautiful, rich look.”
Fuller continues, “Marcus completely understands the timing of the scare, probably better than anyone else today. It may not seem like a complex thing, but it’s like a comedy director who knows exactly where to put the joke. He also infuses the film with frenetic energy.”
“I said to them, ‘Whatever you do, bring the fun back and find a way to incorporate an underground system for Jason to operate from,’” explains Nispel. “I liked that idea because I don’t think summer camps in general are particularly scary in this day and age—you needed something more.”
“Friday the 13th” is the producing team’s seventh title to date and, with all the horror genre success under their banner, Fuller and Form felt it was critical to find writers who were really connected to the franchise.
“We were very lucky that writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, who had written ‘Freddy vs. Jason,’ were excited to take the ride,” says Fuller. “We knew they cared as much about Jason and his legacy as we did and were confident that they would deliver a script that took all of the best elements of the first few films and combined them with some fresh, inventive stuff. They really nailed it.”
“When the script came in, I loved it,” comments Nispel. “It’s still the same terrifying Jason, only they reveal aspects that hadn’t been shown so far.”
For screenwriters Shannon and Swift, revamping one of the most recognizable horror villains ever meant going back to the franchise’s roots. “We felt it was important to go back to the basics and put Jason back in the woods again,” reveals Swift.
“Our idea was to make the story much grittier than in recent years, with a fast and loose Jason like never seen before,” adds Shannon. “We wanted to make him someone who was actually in the woods surviving off the land like a real human being would.”
“We wanted the character to be territorial, like a hunter,” injects Shannon. “It’s not like he’s just going around killing people randomly. If you invade his territory, he’s going to protect his turf and you’re going to pay an awful price.”
Nispel appreciated the writers’ respectful take. “They would never refer to Jason as the monster or the villain. He is the anti-hero. And that is what draws me to these kinds of characters. I’m not generally that interested in supernatural characters. What’s scary for me is that somebody like Leatherface or Jason could be my neighbor.”
For Shannon and Swift, as well as the filmmakers, one of the biggest challenges in writing and developing the screenplay was deciding where to start the film and what to include from the 11 previous films.
“It’s a lot of pressure to re-launch a franchise like this because you really have two different audiences to please.” says Fuller. “There are the fans who already know the stories and are going to come to see it because of the curiosity factor. Then you have to try to also capture those who weren’t necessarily fans of the title, but who love a good horror film. We felt that a way to serve both those audiences was to give them something they haven’t seen before, but also tie it in with iconic moments from the original films.”
Posted in Damian Shannon, Friday the 13th, Marcus Nispel, Mark Swift, Swift, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, classic horror film | No Comments »
