Eli Roth Interview For The Last Exorcism
Eli Roth Interview For The Last Exorcism
Eli Roth Interview For The Last Exorcism
I recently caught up with director, actor, writer and producer Eli Roth for the gut-twistingly creepy 'The Last Exorcism'. Roth is probably best know to people for directing his hugely successful low-budget horror films Cabin Fever, Hostel and Hostel: Part 2, and acting in the role of Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Check out what he had to say for himself below.
I was watching another interview you done the other day and you said the reason you produced as well as directed your first couple films was because you wanted total creative control. What is your creative input as a producer?
Eli Roth: Well first and foremost I'd definitely say it's Daniel Stamm's film and it's has his identity. Part of the fun with producing is that you embrace that, and you back it 100%. In Hostel I had three directors as my co-producers - Scott Spiegel , Boaz Yakin and Quentin Tarantino, all of them gave great great creative input, as did my other producer partners. Your producers should be your sounding board, not just saying you've got five minutes, get the shot. When you have a director that's a producer, the director understands you've been there before. I certainly had some creative input in the script and the story. I'm brought on board because people want to hear my ideas, I'm brought in because people want to make it as scary as possible, my opinion is wanted when I come on as a producer. But I also wanted Daniel to know, this is his film, I'm here to support him and during the Cannes Film Festival I was pre-selling the film, while I was doing my Inglorious Basterds stuff, so I didn't want to interrupt the intimacy and vibe on set because he was doing such a great job filming. So I really stayed out of his way. But then there were certain points in the editing room where certain scene's he shot weren't a 100% there, so I would go in and help and try to be affective in editing, the same way Quentin was with me, helping build tension, maximise the humour and scares.
What are your biggest influences Horror wise?
Eli Roth: As a director there's so many, as a kid Sam Raimi and The Exorcist were a huge influence, it traumatized me as a kid, I thought how can you make a movie scarier than The Exorcist and I always wanted to get involved in a possession film, and then I read this script and thought this is brilliant! You don't try and make something scarier than The Exorcist, you do something great in it's own right. I started thinking about Vampires, what started with Dracula has turned into Twilight, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries and just how rich the subject matter is. Possession is such a modern subject, it really really fascinates me. I thought the whole approach in doing it in the Documentary style was so smart for the subject. I was a big fan of Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity, but really going back before Blair Witch and even more so with Cannibal Holocaust , the best one out of them all for me was Punishment Park, which was just gripping, it was a drama, it's not even a horror film but it's terrifying. I thought the script was so good and Daniel is so great and the subject matter is so rich, it was due for a little update.
Were you ever fearful of a backlash from the Religious community? I thought the film was fair with both sides.
Eli Roth: We showed the film to deeply religious groups in Texas and they loved it. They were very surprised by how fairly there point of view was represented. The film does not take a position, it shows both sides fairly. The Exorcist was embraced by the Catholic Church, the Pope came out very publicly supporting The Exorcist. people had never seen anything like it so they were traumatized when they watching it, but that was great for the church because people came out of that film believing in the devil and therefore being more religious. What I found smart about the script was that it comes at a point where Cotton is confessing, he feels terrible after seeing what happened to the other boy during an exorcism. He feels terrible for what he's doing and he's gonna atone for his sins by making this confessional. Very much a part of Christianity is confession for your sins, the film itself is a confessional session. I think because he's so human and funny he wins you over at the start. I think ultimately the film has a very deep underlying message of faith - don't mess with forces bigger than you. That whole ending - without giving away too much is all to do with Cotton. Cotton was taking clich's and using them to take people's money. Without saying too much (laughs) the same way those people used clich's to draw him in. At no point does Cotton believe she's possessed because he can't, he doesn't believe in God so therefore he doesn't believe in the devil. The whole film is his faith being continually tested and him failing.
What do you think scares people so much about Exorcism's?
Eli Roth: I think people are terrified thinking about whether the Devil real? Is God real? Everyone has their own personal relationship with religion - even if it's atheism, nearly everyone has grown up with religion, so you do think about this stuff, the fact is that it's done in every religion and it's very real. We had an Exorcist on set, he was a brother of one of the drivers, he was technically an adviser. It was such a normal thing to him, it was so everyday. He would talk of it like he was going to the bank. Exorcism is a very real thing. Seventy five years ago evil had a very clear face, you could say these three things are evil. But today there's no obvious face that is evil, it's terrorism, it's wall street, so many different things, there's a feeling of evil and that's why the devil becomes a vocal point.
My father's a psychiatrist, a psycho analyst professor at Harvard, the medical school. So as a kid I always looked at things from a psychiatric point of view, but then I watched The Exorcist and it traumatised me. I was six years old and I asked my Dad could this really happen? And my Dad said no don't worry about it we're Jewish (laughs), we can't get possessed, I said I believe it's real and I'll probably end up being the first test case! I was convinced I would have been the first Jewish kid to be possessed by the Devil, and there are many that would say I was the first to be possessed by the Devil (laughs). It always fascinates me. It wasn't taught to me as a kid so I thought this is real, they don't want me to know about this.
What was it like working on a film that is a PG-13 but still will scare the crap out of people?
Eli Roth: It's very satisfying, it's cool to have done it before by pushing the envelope with violence and then having a film that scares people of all ages, it was fun to take that challenge. We didn't intentionally make it to be PG-13, we set out with no rating. Lionsgate were real supportive, they said we'll go R rating with this if we have to, but thankfully we didn't have to, we didn't have to cut anything out. There was no swearing because it was basically set around a religious family, there's no sex and there's no real need for gore in the film, it's really truly a physiological thriller, it's sold as a Horror film, but it's more a drama about this girl who might be crazy or might be possessed.
What was it like filming around New Orleans? Where some of the people may feel like they were abandoned by God with Hurricane Katrina?
Eli Roth: Yeah it's eerie, you feel like you've stopped in time in some parts down there. The plantation house we filmed the movie in you can still see the water line from Katrina. It's really weird just even driving through there, you feel a different air down there. The voodoo is a big part of the culture down there, you sometimes feel there's something strange and spiritual going on, it's a feeling that's really specific to that place. I loved going into that world, I thought it was such a great smart world for this story to be set in. I've been in these rural towns when I was filming Cabin Fever, some of them would look at me and say oh there's the Jew (laughs), but they're very nice people and they're good God fearing Church going folk, but they would not let their kids read Harry Potter because that is not the Bible, and then they'd also have guns, which was a real weird thing. They have guns and they have the Bible, it's really weird some of the rules they set for themselves to be a good person or to be a good Christian. I love the setting of rural America.
Will we be seeing you undertaking more acting after your role in Piranha 3D?
Eli Roth: I didn't think I could top my SAG award winning role in Inglorious Basterds (big smile), but Aja invited me to come on set and hose down some tits on Piranha 3D, so I said what time do you need me (laughs). Having seen my performance in that film, I think there's certain things you do that are really just sacrifices for art. Unless it's a film that is really such a charitable contribution to the world, where you just feel like your contributing to the betterment of mankind I probably wouldn't do it (Laughs). Unless it's hosing down tits!
How's your upcoming projects coming along, can you talk about Thanksgiving at all?
Eli Roth: My friend Jeff Rendell has been working on the script - at least he f*cking better be (laughs). As soon as I finish the press run for this I'm just gonna sit down and write. I really need to sit down and work on my scripts. I've been so busy with The Last Exorcism - which believe me is a great place to be but I'm just gonna get back on the writing as soon as I finish the press run. Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland are writing the remake of Funhouse was well, they're great, they're funny guys.
I recently caught up with director, actor, writer and producer Eli Roth for the gut-twistingly creepy The Last Exorcism'. Roth is probably best know to people for directing his hugely successful low-budget horror films Cabin Fever, Hostel and Hostel: Part 2, and acting in the role of Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.
Seven Easy Steps to Landing the Interview! Ewan McGregor Interview For The Ghost Sylvester Stallone Interview For The Expendables Dominic West Interview For Centurion Olga Kurylenko Interview For Centurion Sharlto Copley Interview For The A Team How to Handle Unusual Interview Situations Tom Hardy & Joseph Gordon Levitt Interview For Inception Christopher Nolan & Leonardo DiCaprio Interview For Inception How To Succeed At A Case Interview Become An Expert In Case Interview Job Interview Tip: How to Answer the "Team Player" Question Job Interview Prep: Be Ready for the Toughest Interview Questions