Recently, STYD visited the set of EVIL DEAD and gathered all sorts of goodies and info about the upcoming remake of Sam Raimi’s classic horror film. We cobbled together some of the exciting tidbits, but for the full report, go here and here.
What’s clear is that the film is not a straight remake of the original; there is no Ash character. I think everything that we’ve found out thus far lends belief that this remake is being made the right way, with the full support of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell.
Fede Alvarez: “We aren’t trying to recreate anything, per se. We are trying not to watch the movie and match it…The trap in making a movie like this is the short cuts. It’s easy to say that it worked in the original so it will work again.”
Star Lou Taylor Pucci on the film: “I think, as far as fans of the original film, half of them are going to love it and half of them are going to hate it, so they are going to talk about it. It takes some of the best things from the old film and brings some totally new ideas. You don’t care anything about those original characters at all. Some people love that you don’t and some people would rather follow an actual story. That’s what this is. It’s got something for the original audience and something for a new audience.”
Fede Alvarez was selected by Raimi for the job. Producer Rob Tapert explains why: “We were working with Fede on another project called Panic Attack, but it became very apparent that there were other movies that had similar storylines that were going to get to the theaters beforehand. We liked working with Fede and we really enjoyed the experience and Sam thought that we should hear what he had to say about Evil Dead. He brought us a pitch that was very different, but was scary. The beauty of that pitch and what got Bruce Campbell on board was that there was no Ash character. Fede actually dealt with that lynch pin of getting the project made by deciding not to deal with the Ash character.”
The film is shot sequentially. Why? Ask Alvarez: “It’s because of the blood bath. And for the actors, because it’s better if they know what the f**k is going on. That way, they are not jumping back and forth. It’s a crazy story. So, that and the blood continuity.“ Blood continuity is important.
I think what fans will love the most is that all effects are being done practically. There is no CGI. The director once again: “The effects are 95% practical. We are not doing any CGI. The other 5% are real post effects. For example, you are going to see some fire today. But, on the scene, there will be no fire. Then, we will reshoot the scene and add the fire, because, we don’t want to kill the actors. We don’t do CG blood. Everything that we do is real, it’s practical. Sometimes a post effect will just mean that you put two real things together.”
More on practical effects came from Fede Alvarez via io9:
“We didn’t do any CGI in the movie. There’s no CGI in the movie. Everything you will see is real, which was really demanding. This was a very long shoot, 70 days of shooting at night. There’s a reason people use CGI it’s cheaper and faster, I hate that. We researched a lot of magic tricks and illusion tricks. [Like] how you would make someone’s arm disappear.
There’s a moment where a girl goes through her arm with a kitchen knife — spoiler alert. And we knew since day one the camera would start wide, she goes for the knife, you see her arm, she starts going for it. And you think they’re going to cut away at any moment, but we don’t. She just goes for it and screams and the arm breaks and falls. So we really pushed the boundaries there, trying to create those illusions… It has a particularly bloody ending. The last scene is just…I want it to be the bloodiest scene, ever. And I think it is.”
Unfortunately, the book of the dead will not be called the Necronomicon due to copyright issues…but will simply be called the Book of the Dead.
Jane Levy, the upcoming young actress and probably most well known of the cast, had an in depth interview with STYD, and here is the goods on her character, Mia:
Jane Levy (On the coolest things she’s done): The coolest thing I’ve ever done in my career so far is this one thing where Aaron [Morton, cinematographer] was on a zip line in the forest and I’m hands down in the mud and the camera is flying towards me and I have to outrun the camera. It was so fucking cool. And then I watched a little bit of the playback and it looks awesome.
Levy (On the on set conditions): In a way it’s like, I wouldn’t call it a good thing, but sometimes I don’t really have to act. I’m actually freezing cold, and I’m so tired that I’m crying, because I’m so cold and I want to go home. Really, just like my character, so you know, it makes the job easier sometimes, a little bit more real.
Levy (On the demanding nature of the role): But this is also like, an extremely physical job, and just like what Fede was saying, we’re doing everything that you see. I don’t know how much I’m allowed to give away, but at one point I vomit all over somebody. A lot of vomit. Like, a shit-ton of fluid. I had a tube practically down my throat, and I’m on top of this girl and vomiting all over her. When you actually do something like that – I don’t think I can actually describe the sensation – but I actually went to the corner and cried. I’m really sensitive. But I felt like I was really drowning my friend Jessica, it felt so bad. I was shaking.
Levy (On doing research in to addiction for her role): I did…I did, yeah. But I think that part of the story is actually kind of small. Like that gets you there, that gets you into this environment, and I think from the very beginning Mia has made the decision that she’s gonna be healthy. So she’s not using drugs at all in this movie. It’s like, withdrawl starts the minute the movie starts, and then she has to live.
Levy (On the most physically taxing thing she had to endure): I could name ten of the most horrible things that could ever happen to you in your whole life, and all of those ten things happen to this character. It’s horror of all horror films. It is extreme, and that’s a lot of the reason I took this project on. I thought like why not do the most extreme movie possible? And the farthest from what I’ve been doing for the past year.
Levy (On the most challenging scene for her as an actor): There’s physical and emotional. That’s what makes this part also so crazy is like….I don’t want to give too much away. But not only am I emotionally going through withdrawls, heroin withdrawl, which is really intense, I’m also being attacked by evil spirits. And I think the hardest was actually just the dramatic stuff. Which was emotional. And then physically, you know, I’m in prosthetics for six hours, and I have blood dripped all over my head, in my underwear. I’m literally wearing my underwear in the freezing cold rain and barfing on people and…you know, lots of stuff. I don’t wanna give anything away.
Levy (Differences in performance when she’s normal and possessed): Well, it’s something I spent a lot of time thinking about. It’s something I still think about and stress over. Because we’ve seen possessed people a lot of times in movies, and as an actor you’re always interested in trying something new. And I didn’t want to mimic anything, and I really wanted to be f**king scary. And thinking about being scary is as daunting about thinking about being funny. Those are things that you shouldn’t be thinking about. You can’t be aware of it or it’s not gonna work. So for me, we had a couple session with a like a movement coach, who talked about like body stuff and doing certain things with your body and [laughs] it was great, and just gave us ideas to work with. But I actually chose to humanize my Deadite a little bit, and I hope that turns out to be scary. I tried not to do much of like spider crawling up wall, like psycho body contortion…just because I wanted, I guess I wanted to try something new, and I also thought, and Fede thinks, that the idea of there being a human quality is almost scarier because it’s scarier to think of your father being possessed than just like…do you know what I mean? Like, finding something that you can relate to about this person who’s also doing horrible things, I thought would be terrifying. I have yet to see it, so I hope it works.
After the awesomely crazy trailers and all this new information, I couldn’t be more excited for the remake, which may still rub hardcore Deadite fans the wrong way, but I’m intrigued to see the result.
The film is written by Fede Alvarez, Diablo Cody and Rodo Sayagues Mendez and stars Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas and Elizabeth Blackmore. Fede Alvarez directs the film, set for an April 12th, 2013, release.
