Interview Part 2: Director Adam Green Talks Hatchet 2, Spielberg, and Romantic Comedy

Posted on January 17, 2010 by N. Amer Editor

Frozen director Adam Green

Interview conducted by Britt Hayes – January 2010

In part one of my interview with director Adam Green, we discussed his upcoming survival suspense-drama, Frozen (in select theaters February 5th), as well as his influences for the film and his opinion on remakes. Since the interview was so long (and so epic!), we’ve decided to bring it to you in two parts.

We’ve talked about Frozen, and now it’s time to talk about his anticipated upcoming film, Hatchet 2, which recently began production:

Brutal as Hell: I can’t do an interview with you for a horror site, and not ask you about Hatchet 2. So what can you tell us?

Adam: (Laughs) We start shooting in 3 days. If you liked the first one, you will absolutely love this one ’cause it’s just a better movie than the first one. First one was our first thing. The first one was a very selfish movie in the fact that I was just making the type of movie that I wanted to see again because I didn’t like what I was being offered. The first movie was really a big, “Hey, you guys remember when..?” And fortunately, and sort of by surprise, the world really embraced it, and a lot of people felt like I felt, and really liked seeing old school practical effects, and they liked seeing an unstoppable killer, and they like being entertained and laughing, and having fun with a movie instead of being punished by watching a woman be raped for a half hour or people getting tortured.

It really, as much as some people say Hatchet renewed their faith in horror, it really renewed my own because it made me realize that yeah, there are still some nice people out there. And now with this one, it’s now taken a life of its own and this is a movie that everybody here on stage now, every decision you make is – as a fan, what do you think about that? And what would the fans want? And it’s not really me just saying, “I’d like to see this, and I feel like doing that.” Now it’s, I’m making a movie for my audience, and that’s the big difference between the first and the second one. It’s also something great that the higher ups involved are supporting that and they’re not saying things like “Well, the first one was a big hit, but if we broaden it out, and make it appealing to more people, we’ll make more money now, and how do we make it a bigger movie? How do we make it PG-13? How do we do…” this or that. They’re not doing that at all. They’re like, “You know what you’re doing, it’s your thing, make the movie you wanna make.”

Double the body count of the first one, really vicious and inventive kills, we modified the Victor Crowley look…still looks like Victor Crowley, but the make-up job is a little bit more advanced so he’s not quite so guy-in-a-rubber-suit looking. There’s certain things about the limitations of the first one that we are forcing ourselves to still deal with because you don’t want to see Hatchet 2 and have it all the sudden look all glossy and polished, like a different movie. So, it’ll feel like the first one, just a lot better.

And just one more thing: I wanted to make the sequel to Hatchet the minute the first one opened, and the truth of the matter is that when the first one opened I hated Hatchet. I was so sick of it, and it’d been 20 years waiting to make it, and then all the hardships that I went through to get the thing made, and then 2 years of promoting it, waiting for it to actually get a release. By the time it came out, the last thing I wanted to do was make a sequel to Hatchet. So I went and I did Spiral, we did Grace, I did Frozen, and now I’m ready and I’m excited to do it, so as much as there are some people that are annoyed that it took a while, the movie’s gonna be better because of it. And if we hadn’t waited, somebody else would be directing it right now. Which, I’m thankful to my producers that they weren’t in a rush because they want money, and I said “Well, you’re going to have to go with a different director, unless you wanna wait until I’m ready,” and they waited. And I’m very, very grateful for that.

Brutal as Hell: We’re grateful for that, too. I follow you and Joel Moore (Ben in the first Hatchet) on Twitter, and the big question everyone seems to be asking him is whether he’s returning for Hatchet 2, and he seems to be pretty coy about the whole thing. Are you going to give up the goods, or no?

Adam: Well, let’s see….I can tell you he’s coming to set, I can’t say for what…(laughs) You still can’t think that he’s not dead, even though his throat was ripped out and his arm was missing. And the funny thing is, if….the rule of Hatchet was that everything has to be done the old school way. There’s no big visual effects, there’s no CG, there’s nothing like that. Everything is done practical in camera. If that wasn’t the rule, yeah, maybe we could bring him back because we could CG out his arm or something, but because that’s the rule, he can’t come back because how are we going to do that? Have him walk around with his arm behind his back the whole time or something? And Joel is so argumentative with me about this, he’s like “No, no, no! They won’t care about that, it’ll be fine!” But dude, that’s the rule of the Hatchet movies is that it has to be done the old school way. But, he is coming to set to do something, and he very much does wanna be in it, and I kinda….I have to leave that unanswered….’cause it is fun that people are kinda guessing and waiting. In fact, even the cast list that’s published publicly, that’s not everybody.

We’re trying to hold some surprises. I think in today’s generation of these websites, it’s almost like there’s too much information out there, and we’re trying to keep some stuff as a surprise. So yeah, there’ll be lots of surprises, especially story surprises because there were things that we knew when we made the first one that we purposely didn’t say. This is gonna answer a lot of questions for people that are like, “What is Victor Crowley? Is he dead, is he a ghost, why is he deformed? Where did he come from?” All that stuff is addressed in this one. I’m so lucky to get to do this because it was a gamble on the first one, where I purposely left kind of, not plot holes, but just things left unsaid, thinking that this is what the sequel’s gonna be and people would say to me, “Well, what if you don’t get to make a sequel? What if the first one isn’t a success?” And I just had to hope and pray that it would be.

So now we really get to sort of bring the story full circle, and there’s already talk of Hatchet 3 and 4 and all the other stuff. I could care less about that for the moment. I just wanna worry about this one, and if we get to 3 and 4, I’ll deal with it then.

Brutal as Hell: Right. Well, as a director, is there a particular movie or director, or perhaps even a few, that have really influenced you? Everyone has that great influence, and I’m just wondering what it is for you.

Adam: This always lets people down, but it’s E.T. and Steven Spielberg. That was…it just still is, to this day, my favorite movie. I can say every line backwards and forwards. I’m at the point with that movie now where I cry through the entire movie, not just when he dies and then goes home. From the opening titles I’m a disaster in my seat. I’ve seen it probably 17 times in the theater at this point. And everyone within in the industry knows what a fanatic I am. So every now and then there’ll be a screening of an old print, like the Academy did a screening last February, just for a few people, and thankfully I was invited to go, and that is the most magical, most amazing thing that I’ll ever see.

It was the first movie where, even though I was 8 years old, and I understood yeah, he’s not real, and yeah, it’s a rubber puppet, I couldn’t control my own emotions, and that’s what made me start to realize what writing and directing and performance and music, and all of that, is. That’s, my sort of ultimate goal is to make my own sort of E.T. some day, not remake that one – I would kill whoever does – but just a movie that’s that powerful. And it transcends generations, it’s just a timeless, beautiful, amazing story, and people are always taken aback when it’s like…Hatchet, Frozen, really? E.T.? But that’s…in Frozen there’s actually a scene where Shawn Ashmore talks about how E.T. is his favorite movie. But yeah, that’s the one.

And just for the human beings, what Spielberg has done – some of these other kind of “hot” directors now, they’re obnoxious and they’re self-entitled, and they’re assholes and they’re arrogant, and you don’t see him doing that, even though he’s sort of like God in the film world. I like that. Nice guy, I mean the stories I heard when I moved out here about people yelling at an assistant until they would cry, some of the beatings that I took when I was an assistant. People that – I don’t even know who they fuck they were, or what they ever even did to deserve to be able to treat people like that, but a lot of ego and power struggles and yelling, and every page that I’ve taken out of my own book is taken from the Spielberg book.

It’s why I use the same crew for everything, and it’s all my friends. It’s very, very happy. You work on one of my films, and it’s a party. Even Frozen, as miserable as it was, everybody’s very respected, everybody’s very happy to be there, and everybody’s a part of it. And that’s everything I learned from reading about and studying Spielberg. Am I as talented as Steven Spielberg? No, nobody is. I think if you’re going to emulate somebody and aspire to be something, you might as well aspire to be the best.

Brutal as Hell: Oh, yeah, definitely. Schindler’s List is one of my favorite films, and I envision a world where one day I can go to a double feature and watch Schindler’s List followed by Inglourious Basterds right after, you know, to kind of make everybody happy after those horrible things we all just witnessed. Schindler’s List makes me cry pretty much the whole way through.

Adam: But the amazing thing with Schindler’s List is the fact that, when you first heard that, okay, Spielberg is doinghis Holocaust movie, it’s kind of like “Oh God, really? Do we really need another Holocaust movie?” We know, it’s a terrible tragedy and it almost feels like it’s too easy. So if they’re going to make a movie about gay people with AIDS, or the Holocaust, or whatever, it’s like, c’mon, here’s your award, fuck off. But Schindler’s List was a story about what good a non-Jew did in that time. It wasn’t a guilt-fest, it wasn’t a “Don’t ever forget what happened!” film. It was a positive movie, and I think that’s why it’s so good, and that’s why it can be somebody’s favorite movie because as sad and as traumatizing as it is, there’s such hope and such a great message in the movie. It’s not just watching people suffer.

Brutal as Hell: You know what really gets me though? It’s not the just the things with the showers and the gas, it’s the scene at the end where the surviving Jews are going to Schindler’s grave and putting the stones on it, and I just lose it every single time! I mean, they’re just putting stones on his grave, but I just lose it.

Adam: Especially knowing those are real people!

Brutal as Hell: Yeah, I that’s it! That’s what it is!

Adam: That whole tragedy is amazing in the fact that there’s still people there who deny that it happened. Some of these like, radical Muslim groups say it was invented by the Jews for guilt. And it was…like, are you….Sometimes the world baffles me and I don’t understand where it comes from. No one will ever be able to put their finger on war or fighting and religion and all that stuff, but when it gets to that point, at some point you think somebody would’ve been like, “You know what, wait a second, there’s something about this that seems a little weird. We’re putting people in OVENS, right now.” And it feels a little hopeless in the fact that it might never stop, ’cause even now no matter what your perspective is on the wars going on, for the people going through it, it’s very similar.

I don’t know. What do I know? All I do is make movies, but yeah, Schindler’s List is just fucking Godly. It’s absolutely amazing. And the fact that he made it the same year as Jurassic Park.

Brutal as Hell: Oh yeah, I know, that was crazy!

Adam: They’re very different movies, but they’re two amazing movies. Probably two of the best movies that year.

Brutal as Hell: I really love his pattern where he makes his serious film, then he does his fun family or action film. I really enjoy that because there aren’t many directors that do a whole lot of that, unless you’re Takashi Miike and you’re over in Japan making horror films, action films, and then kids’ films all in the same year.

Adam: I think it’s the only way to not burn out as a director, ’cause when you think about it, especially if you’re a writer/director, each movie is like, years of your life. If you don’t switch it up pretty radically inbetween, how do you do it for a long period of time? Even though my career is just getting started, to go from something as over the top and fun as Hatchet to something that was like, a serious psycho-drama like Spiral, and then to Frozen, which was like a thriller, and now back to gore and blood and guts and the fun of Hatchet 2, that’s….it’s a lot better. If I had to do Hatchet 2 right after Hatchet 1, it would’ve…not been selling out, but it almost would’ve been too easy.

But now it’s been a while, and just the first day walking on the set here and seeing Victor Crowley’s house go up and, this was like, my childhood love was Victor Crowley and Hatchet, and I was 8 when I came up with this, and in this movie I get to actually see….in the first one it was a facade of the front of his house that we built, ’cause there were no scenes inside of it, but this time there’s a lot of stuff inside the house. Being able to walk through the house and sit on his bed and be in his bedroom, and go in the closet, it’s all like, practical, like a real house. Every day, I’m like just jerking off when I come to set, ’cause as a fan I’m like, “This is so fuckin’ cool!” It’s great, but had I done it as the follow up to Hatchet, I don’t know if I would be as excited as I am right now. So I think it’s good when directors completely pull a 180 between movies.

Brutal as Hell: Definitely. So when are you going to make your romantic comedy?

Adam: My romantic comedy is called God Only Knows, and it’s been around for a while now. It’s almost happened a bunch of times. I like to joke that it’s cursed in a way because the people that have been attached to this movie and how close it’s come to being made, it’s offensive almost that it hasn’t been made yet. I mean, right now Chris Columbus and his company, 1492 Pictures, have been involved and are producing it. I can’t say the actors that are attached and have been attached, but it’s a big studio romantic comedy. Three times now it’s been greenlit, it’s been started, and then the most random things happen that destroy it. The last time, the studio that was doing it went bankrupt and closed, weeks before we were even supposed to start shooting. One time it was set up independently with like 7 million dollars in financing behind it, and two of the financiers….like, we were building the sets, we were cast, we had everything, we rolled in 7 days…and two of the investors got in an argument with each other about who respects the other one more, and the whole thing fell apart with lawsuits and everything. Crazy.

So the past year God Only Knows has been on the back burner, but now that I’m done with Frozen and I’ll be done with Hatchet 2 very soon, that is what I’d like to do next, but you never, you just never know. Now with everything that’s gone on these past few years, I am being sent a lot of studio movies and being called in for bigger things, but unfortunately none of it has been stuff that I’m interested in doing right now, and it’s just….I can’t believe that I’m even saying that out loud! It’s like, shocking, but I’m in a place now…I have my own company, and I make the movies that I wanna make, and I’m really happy doing that. I work with who I wanna work with, and I’m happy because anytime that I’ve done even just studio writing assignments, or directed a pilot, like I directed a pilot for MTV a few years ago, it’s just…life’s too short! It’s just not worth it. So if I’m gonna do a studio movie, it’s gonna be something that I’m so excited about, and it’s gonna be worth what I’m gonna be put through to do it. And in the meantime, some people ask why I keep doing these smaller movies, like, they’re my movies! I can do whatever I want and I’m happy. So at the end of the day, I feel like I kind of already made it, and I’m doing exactly what I wanted to do. So who knows if I’ll do the studio movie or not.

Brutal as Hell: What is God Only Knows about?

Adam: It’s a sort of John Hughes-style movie, which they don’t really make those anymore, they’re a lot more about being like, offensive and kind of, gross-out type things. But it’s a John Hughes-style movie that examines the dating world of today where people are you know, dating the same sex, people are dating inter-religiously, inter-racially, inter-everything. And I haven’t seen that movie yet, and that’s kinda been one of the things that stood in the way years ago. I first wrote it 10 years ago, it’s been rewritten a bunch of times since, but it was the sample that got me like, all of the TV pilots that I ever sold, and TV writing jobs that I did, and feature writing jobs. That was always the sample ’cause people were like “This is just so funny! Why don’t you make it?” And nobody ever wants to admit it, you know, you’ve got the black guy and the younger white girl, you got these two gay characters, you got…you know, it’s small. Why is it a small movie? You know, it’s just small because of that.

Even when you look…I don’t know if you’ve seen the documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated..?

Brutal as Hell: Yes! I love that film.

Adam: Yeah, about the MPAA. That whole thing they show where if it’s a man and a woman having sex, it’s rated R, no problem. But if it’s two men, same shot, same angles, two women, same shot, NC-17. God Only Knows it’s like, it’s not really about that, but those are the characters in it, and if the movie lends a message at the end of the day it’s, it’s not about the package it comes in, it’s about actually finding love in whatever form it’s in, and it might not be what society said it should’ve been or you thought it was gonna be, but…it’s a very, very cute, very funny, and really uplifting movie, and hopefully that’s the next one that we get to do.

Brutal as Hell: I will keep my fingers crossed for you, ’cause I’d love to see something like that from you.

Adam: Thank you very much, I need it!

Brutal as Hell: Well I think we’re at the end of our interview here, and I think I’ve drilled you long enough.

Adam: Thank you so much!

Brutal as Hell: No, thank you!

Adam: Thank you for covering Frozen, and thank you for your enthusiasm for it, and this is just one of those things where it’s gonna be people like you that spread the word and let people know about it because it’s certainly not gonna be the national television campaign or the billboards, so I really, really appreciate it.

Brutal as Hell: I already said if it’s not playing in Houston, we’re driving to the nearest city and we will see it! It’s so good, and I really enjoyed the hell out of it, and can’t wait to see it again, and see many more of your films in the future. This was actually my first phone interview with anyone, so…

Adam: Oh really? Well you did great!

Brutal as Hell: Thank you!

Adam: Sometimes you can tell when it’s somebody’s first interview. This was awesome, you did a good job!

Brutal as Hell: All right, well thank you so much.

Adam: You’re welcome, I’ll talk to you later.

Brutal as Hell: Bye!