I really, I mean REALLY, loved SLITHER, even more so than I might have touched upon in my initial review. I cannot wait to see it again, and I do think of the film often. I loved the hell out the gooey, slime infested story, the space-slugs, the zombies, the fat chick who ruptures, expelling her innards intermingled with creepy-crawlies, dang – I loved just about everything in this film. I had a chance to interview James Gunn, the writer/director of SLITHER, whom I might add sounds like a real stand-up kind of guy. I hope we see more great genre cinema out this budding director.
D_Davis
DD: In my review for SLITHER, I pondered how a film like this was even made in Hollywood today: it is so unapologetic in its genre trappings - its gory, gooey, goofy, and really has no discernable message, it's so gratuitous. It is obvious that SLITHER was a labor of love on your part. How did you go about obtaining so much creative control of the film and how were you able to get the film produced in the first place?
JG: People often ask me how I got so much creative control. I tell them it's easy, anyone can do it -- all you have to do is write three number one films in a row. But, honestly, the folks at Universal and Gold Circle both really liked the script, and they wanted to make the movie. They knew it was risk, but as far as movie budgets go, ours was small, and they figured the risk was worth it.
DD: What do you think it was that attracted the actors to such a project? It seems like such a brave film for everyone involved - were there any trepidations? Why was everyone totally committed to making a film that was so outrageous?
JG: Again, the actors all really liked the script. Elizabeth Banks thought of it as Fargo meets Alien. Myself, Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth, Gregg Henry, and Michael Rooker all share some personality traits. First, we are all mildly insane. Secondly, we all have similar, dark senses of humor. And, thirdly, we all like taking on fun projects with people we like over a sure bet with people we don't like. We're really just like-minded individuals, and I hit it off with each of those folks within minutes of meeting them. As far as keeping them committed, I'm a very, very prepared director. I know what I want every frame to be before walking on set, along with having a backup plan. Actors, and crew people, like this. They don't like feeling they're out there sailing around rudderless. A director needs to direct.
DD: Was there ever a point, or a situation in the film, where a producer/actor/studio executive stepped in and said "NO! That's way too over the top." Please touch upon the way you broke two golden rules of cinema: 1) dogs can never die unless shot by their owner, and 2) children must NOT be turned into zombies by space-slugs.
JG: Yes. Originally I had one of the two kids getting infected by the worm on-screen -- now we just see them die after they've been infected. Paul Brooks, the producer, really didn't want to show the kid getting killed. He didn't tell me "no", really. He asked. And he asked for so few things on the movie, I tried to give him what he wanted when he did. Plus, he was probably right. In retrospect, in seeing how sexual and weird it is to actually shoot people getting infected by those worms, I wouldn't want to have to put a child through that. I don't have any problem with showing it in a movie; I just wouldn't want to actually have to do it on set. Plus those little girls -- Amber and Matreya -- were two of my favorite people on the whole movie. I really loved them.
DD: The screenplays you wrote for TROMEO AND JULIET and DAWN OF THE DEAD were both good, but you seemed to be pulling some punches, or had them pulled for you. On SLITHER, there was not a single punch pulled, you went all out. Was SLITHER your "dream" film? Had you been working on it being the exact film you have always wanted to make and to see?
JG: Yes, on Dawn, punches were pulled... quite a few of them. But on Tromeo? That's a pretty hardcore unrated movie. I actually think SLITHER is sort of mild in comparison. Of course, the gore is SO unrealistic in Tromeo: that makes it a little less effective. No, SLITHER really isn't my dream film. It was just the first script I wrote after Dawn. I really love it, mind you. But, I think there are much better movies to come from me, and definitely much better scripts. SLITHER was a little rushed on the script end of things. We essentially got my first draft greenlit. I wouldn't change many things about the movie now that it's over, but I might take a few more weeks on the script before we went into production.
DD: Homage was paid to many films in SLITHER, especially to Cronenberg's SHIVERS. I saw you as a "deejay" here, mixing, looping and sampling bits and pieces from other films. Were these moments of "sampling" conscious, or were they just deeply imbedded in your psyche because of your love of genre cinema?
JG: The sampling was conscious, unconscious, and, in some cases, just synchronistic. I consciously used Shivers, The Blob, The Thing, The Fly, Re-Animator, and some others. Unconsciously, there are elements of Nightmare on Elm Street and a couple other things. Synchronistically -- well, I never saw Night of the Creeps until after we shot the movie, and I never saw Society until after I wrote the script, and I definitely have stuff in common with both those films.
DD: Finally, how do you see the state of genre cinema in the west? There seems to be a plethora of tame, watered down PG-13 films that lack the necessary balls to really be the films they should be. What role do you see yourself playing in the future of awesome genre films?
JG: I don't think there's anything wrong with PG-13 horror movies, but they're for a certain audience -- mostly little girls and older people. Even that's pushing it, really. Many of the great horror films would be PG-13 today: Bride of Frankenstein, for instance. So I don't have anything against them. The American remake of The Ring was a PG-13 movie that was just fine being PG-13. I don't know if you needed to add gore to that to make it better. What I don't like are PG-13 movies that should be R rated -- Alien Vs. Predator is one example. I think SLITHER is a testament to the difficulties I've been fighting against my whole carreer -- mixed genre films have a very difficult time finding their audiences. You can have a horror movie with comedic elements, like our Dawn of the Dead, or a comedy with horrific elements, like the Scary Movies, but you can't make a lot of money off of movies like SLITHER, which truly mix genres. For better or worse, my next movie is pretty much a serious horror film without the comedy of SLITHER. Fortunately, that's what I feel like doing right now anyway. For now, that's my future. Beyond that, I'll just keep making movies.
