September 1, 2016: PORTLAND, OREGON--Fathom Events had a nationwide premiere screening of Rob Zombie's 31 (opening nationwide on 10/21), the heavy metal musician turned writer-director's seventh feature film, a nasty piece of business in which a travelling group of carnies led by Meg Foster and including Shari Moon Zombie, the filmmaker's wife and perpetual collaborator, are drugged and kidnapped by a group of psychotic clowns (including two chainsaw-wielding brothers and a Spanish-spewing Nazi dwarf!) at the behest of a trio of rich sociopaths on Halloween night, 1976, in order to play a game called "31," in which the best of the best of the clowns will be forced to attempt to kill the various "players" for 12 hours in an abandoned industrial factory of some kind (presumably, in the middle of nowhere).
The film was followed by a video Q&A with writer-director Zombie and some behind the scenes footage showing the time and thought that he puts into his creative process on-set, as well as the commitment of the actors, and both reveal the filmmaker to be both honing his craft in the decade-plus since his much-maligned debut House of 1000 Corpses (2003) and surprisingly thoughtful and articulate about how and why he does what he does in the fashion in which he does it. He has grown as a filmmaker, as this latest bit of nastiness shows, and it makes one wonder what lies in store for the future... In the meantime, here is a cobbled-together transcript with some videos embedded:
The film was followed by a video Q&A with writer-director Zombie and some behind the scenes footage showing the time and thought that he puts into his creative process on-set, as well as the commitment of the actors, and both reveal the filmmaker to be both honing his craft in the decade-plus since his much-maligned debut House of 1000 Corpses (2003) and surprisingly thoughtful and articulate about how and why he does what he does in the fashion in which he does it. He has grown as a filmmaker, as this latest bit of nastiness shows, and it makes one wonder what lies in store for the future... In the meantime, here is a cobbled-together transcript with some videos embedded:
Q: What were some inspirations for 31?
RZ: Ultimately, the most inspiration thing would be The Most Dangerous Game - because I've always loved that book, I've always loved that movie - and that was about it. Like everyone would go, like, "Oh sounds like The Running Man" but I was like "God, I don't even remember the Running Man." I remember I saw it, I think, a million years ago. But if - those movies didn't have, I think, y'know, it's, anything to do with it. But it's such a simple premise - that - y'know - related to logic in movies. But it didn't really - it didn't even really come out that way. The way the movie, the idea for the movie came about was 100% through the frustration of another movie I was working on - I'd been working on this movie called The Broad Street Bullies for about two years and it just was like sludging along like y'know, and just y'hit that wall where you have to just make the call "This is never gonna happen - or it's gonna take five more years to make it happen." And I was on the phone and I go, "I guarantee you I can think of a movie - or I can make up a movie on the phone right now that we can sell and get made" and I was like "Um...Five people get kidnapped on Halloween night and they're locked away somewhere and they have to fight crazy clowns for their life" - Like, just off the top of my head - and that was how it started - and then y'know, you start honing it... It was really like just almost like flippantly thinking "I can say the dumbest thing right now and I know I can get it made faster than it's gonna take to get Broad Street Bullies made" and um, it's usually true - cuz it's, y'know, it's a simple premise, people get it, it's no big deal..."
Q: 31 is Intense, Brutal, and Unrelenting. How do you create that atmosphere on set?
RZ: You kinda don't, in a way, because there is not that atmosphere on set ever, because it's about as scary as being in this room, y'know, there's the cameras, there's the lights, there's the craft service table, there's the people just standing around -- so it never feels like what it is, and in fact it's the exact opposite most of the time. The actors will see a final thing, go like "Wow, that didn't seem like what we were doing at the time"...there's only been a very few times I've actually been able to keep the mood of what I was trying to do within the set and that's when you have a four wall set, so people really get claustrophobic. So it's really - I mean - that's really just for me to keep the pace moving, and to keep the actors in the right mind set, and make sure that they can get it - it's all pr - y'know - it's sorta pre-production. Once we walk on set it's too late. If they're not even gonna get it, they're not gonna get it then, it's just gonna be chaos. So it's really just talking with them early, rehearsing if possible - which is almost never possible anymore - and just finding the right people, cuz it's really in the casting - if you cast the wrong person you're spending all day trying to like babystep them into this process - big disaster - but yeah, I mean, it's really just knowing who you're casting and figuring that they'll just nail it because picking the right person to begin with is just, the way to do it.
Q: Did you have specific actors in mind when you wrote the script?
RZ: I always have specific actors in mind when I write every script - not for every single role - although I wish I did because it makes it so much easier because you can immediately start writing it in that person's voice - um, but I always like to - I like to just keep growing the people that I work with - the amount of actors - y'know, I bring some people back - people that I've worked with before - some of em I haven't worked with in a decade - and then others - but I always like adding new people to each group just to keep mixing it up - I don't always want it to be the same, the same, faces, um... Someone like Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, he was new, y'know when I had that role in mind he - y'know - he wasn't the person in mind, nobody was in mind, or Kevin Jackson who plays Devon (?), um - he wasn't - I never knew who Kevin was - he came in and read for the part and he was great. And um...y'know, Poncho, who plays Sickhead, he's new and there's been a lot of new people - David Fury (?) who's partners with Lou Temple (?) who's, y'know, Schizohead, he was new - I had seen him on TV and I checked and, like, the name will come up and a casting agent will mention a certain person, I start investigating what they've done and what they're like, and you know, you can kinda vibe out a certain type person, I think - like, cuz even - like say David does stand-up comedy so I'd watch his stand-up and go "Oh this guy seems like, y'know, he'd be a good person to add to the group" - cuz I like people that can - I don't demand it of anyone by any means but - I like people that seem loose enough that they can improvise to a certain extent whether or not -- although I've had people that I absolutely loved to death who did an amazing job that they couldn't vary one word off a script, y'know, if you put a gun to their head - they just, y'know, they didn't learn it - they didn't learn that - that's so - actually they panic if you change a word or something - a lot of it comes from the fact that with the time - the time frame that I have, 20 days, you need people that you know who they are that are gonna come in and give you what you're hoping for because, y'know, sometimes you have an actor you watch em in movies, you love em, and I've had to do this before - they come in, they don't know their lines, they're horrible to be around, and you go, "I will never finish this movie with this person," and I, you have to, fire an actor that you've loved your whole life --
RZ: Ultimately, the most inspiration thing would be The Most Dangerous Game - because I've always loved that book, I've always loved that movie - and that was about it. Like everyone would go, like, "Oh sounds like The Running Man" but I was like "God, I don't even remember the Running Man." I remember I saw it, I think, a million years ago. But if - those movies didn't have, I think, y'know, it's, anything to do with it. But it's such a simple premise - that - y'know - related to logic in movies. But it didn't really - it didn't even really come out that way. The way the movie, the idea for the movie came about was 100% through the frustration of another movie I was working on - I'd been working on this movie called The Broad Street Bullies for about two years and it just was like sludging along like y'know, and just y'hit that wall where you have to just make the call "This is never gonna happen - or it's gonna take five more years to make it happen." And I was on the phone and I go, "I guarantee you I can think of a movie - or I can make up a movie on the phone right now that we can sell and get made" and I was like "Um...Five people get kidnapped on Halloween night and they're locked away somewhere and they have to fight crazy clowns for their life" - Like, just off the top of my head - and that was how it started - and then y'know, you start honing it... It was really like just almost like flippantly thinking "I can say the dumbest thing right now and I know I can get it made faster than it's gonna take to get Broad Street Bullies made" and um, it's usually true - cuz it's, y'know, it's a simple premise, people get it, it's no big deal..."
Q: 31 is Intense, Brutal, and Unrelenting. How do you create that atmosphere on set?
RZ: You kinda don't, in a way, because there is not that atmosphere on set ever, because it's about as scary as being in this room, y'know, there's the cameras, there's the lights, there's the craft service table, there's the people just standing around -- so it never feels like what it is, and in fact it's the exact opposite most of the time. The actors will see a final thing, go like "Wow, that didn't seem like what we were doing at the time"...there's only been a very few times I've actually been able to keep the mood of what I was trying to do within the set and that's when you have a four wall set, so people really get claustrophobic. So it's really - I mean - that's really just for me to keep the pace moving, and to keep the actors in the right mind set, and make sure that they can get it - it's all pr - y'know - it's sorta pre-production. Once we walk on set it's too late. If they're not even gonna get it, they're not gonna get it then, it's just gonna be chaos. So it's really just talking with them early, rehearsing if possible - which is almost never possible anymore - and just finding the right people, cuz it's really in the casting - if you cast the wrong person you're spending all day trying to like babystep them into this process - big disaster - but yeah, I mean, it's really just knowing who you're casting and figuring that they'll just nail it because picking the right person to begin with is just, the way to do it.
Q: Did you have specific actors in mind when you wrote the script?
RZ: I always have specific actors in mind when I write every script - not for every single role - although I wish I did because it makes it so much easier because you can immediately start writing it in that person's voice - um, but I always like to - I like to just keep growing the people that I work with - the amount of actors - y'know, I bring some people back - people that I've worked with before - some of em I haven't worked with in a decade - and then others - but I always like adding new people to each group just to keep mixing it up - I don't always want it to be the same, the same, faces, um... Someone like Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, he was new, y'know when I had that role in mind he - y'know - he wasn't the person in mind, nobody was in mind, or Kevin Jackson who plays Devon (?), um - he wasn't - I never knew who Kevin was - he came in and read for the part and he was great. And um...y'know, Poncho, who plays Sickhead, he's new and there's been a lot of new people - David Fury (?) who's partners with Lou Temple (?) who's, y'know, Schizohead, he was new - I had seen him on TV and I checked and, like, the name will come up and a casting agent will mention a certain person, I start investigating what they've done and what they're like, and you know, you can kinda vibe out a certain type person, I think - like, cuz even - like say David does stand-up comedy so I'd watch his stand-up and go "Oh this guy seems like, y'know, he'd be a good person to add to the group" - cuz I like people that can - I don't demand it of anyone by any means but - I like people that seem loose enough that they can improvise to a certain extent whether or not -- although I've had people that I absolutely loved to death who did an amazing job that they couldn't vary one word off a script, y'know, if you put a gun to their head - they just, y'know, they didn't learn it - they didn't learn that - that's so - actually they panic if you change a word or something - a lot of it comes from the fact that with the time - the time frame that I have, 20 days, you need people that you know who they are that are gonna come in and give you what you're hoping for because, y'know, sometimes you have an actor you watch em in movies, you love em, and I've had to do this before - they come in, they don't know their lines, they're horrible to be around, and you go, "I will never finish this movie with this person," and I, you have to, fire an actor that you've loved your whole life --
[... MID-ANSWER]
RZ: ...I've actually had that conversation before like someone like Danny Trejo is just, "You know, Rob, when I work with you, I give you my A level, OTHER movies, I give em a B, C, sometimes - I give my C-level performance" and I think actors really do think that, they, they do, so you try to weed out the hidden talent and, y'know, hope for the best."
Q: How is 31 different than anything you've done before?
RZ: How is this film different? I don't know that it IS different...In some ways I think it's the most "ME" film of all the films ... because with every film, I -- (CUTS OFF)
RZ: ...I've actually had that conversation before like someone like Danny Trejo is just, "You know, Rob, when I work with you, I give you my A level, OTHER movies, I give em a B, C, sometimes - I give my C-level performance" and I think actors really do think that, they, they do, so you try to weed out the hidden talent and, y'know, hope for the best."
Q: How is 31 different than anything you've done before?
RZ: How is this film different? I don't know that it IS different...In some ways I think it's the most "ME" film of all the films ... because with every film, I -- (CUTS OFF)
Note: While the above efforts to film the Q&A from my phone were uploaded by me to YouTube, the following longer video was uploaded by someone else...