Exclusive: Interview with Hatchet II director Adam Green
Brad Sturdivant
February 2nd, 2011
Posted by: J.A. Hamilton
To celebrate the release of his latest film HATCHET II, Adam Green was kind enough to sit down and talk to Flix66.com about the film and other projects.
Flix66.com: Well first I’d like to thank you for taking the time to chat and as a fan I was pumped as hell to hear HATCHET II was in the pipeline. So what made you go back to Victor’s Swamp?
Adam Green: Well the first movie was a very selfish movie where we were just making the type of movie that we wanted to see not knowing if anyone else was going to want to see that type of movie. Now this time we have a legion of fans worldwide waiting in anticipation which made it a little bit like working for someone else when you make a sequel.
Flix66.com: Personally I love the New Orleans backdrop, voodoo, Mardi Gras, ghost stories and choosing a swamp was a particularly nice touch. Kane must have felt right at home in those woods, how did you end up getting him involved?
Adam Green: Well for the first one John Beckler mentioned Kane, I’d never even thought of that because I just didn’t think it was going to be possible. And when John showed Kane the script he really responded to it. And then to have him, Robert Englund, Tom Holland, Tony Todd all together in the genre that these guys film, to have them all participate was just really cool and the geek in me went crazy because I’m also a fan.
Flix66.com: I liked Victor’s back story, are you adding any more layers or taking it further this time around?
Adam Green: Yeah, the second one is really a thicker story with extended flashbacks, one of which that takes place early in the movie that explains about Victor like why he’s deformed, who his mother was, what exactly he is and that’s actually my favourite part of the movie, I know for most people it’s always about the kills but it was only me, my director of photography and one other person on the effects team who really knew the story because I think when you’re going to do something that you’re hoping there’s going to be more of, you need to think of the other ones while you’re making it.
Flix66.com: As a Horror fan, I find your vision and style to be very refreshing in a day and age where the genre’s being polluted by so much PG-13 fluff. What are your thoughts on the state of Horror these days?
Adam Green: It’s always difficult because I think every one year you get to see the people that grew up on that stuff twenty years ago make their own movies and usually they’re heavily influenced by what they grew up on, so for me the seventies and eighties were the stuff that I revered when I was growing up and so the nineties stuff really wasn’t for me. I understand PG-13 but when you’re going to do a slasher movie…
Flix66.com: You don’t want boundaries.
Adam Green: Exactly, and if you’re not willing to do that then what’s the point.
Flix66.com: I reviewed the HATCHET Blu-ray for another site and in my review I compared the film to MASTERS OF HORROR, which in my humble opinion was the best Horror show to ever grace television. Were there any inspirations there?
Adam Green: Well when we made HATCHET I actually hadn’t seen that show because well, we couldn’t afford Showtime (laughs) so the series itself wasn’t an influence but all those directors certainly were. I think it was right after SPIRAL that I got the nod and started to become part of that group which was very surreal when you’re sitting around that table like every few months when all these masters get together for these private dinners. And the first time I was invited I was like, to sit there? (laughs) and now a few years later they’re all my friends and it’s still like you always have to pinch yourself and think what the f@#k am I doing here?
Flix66.com: So what was it like having Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kruger and the Candyman together for an entirely separate Horror film? I bet it made for some great stories around the campfire.
Adam Green: It was awesome and I think it’s sorta become one of those things about this franchise that it’s sort of a portal for all those guys to come back and show themselves again. So whether or not they do come back after this, I mean, I don’t know what’s going to happen but I’d like to see that tradition continue so that we can see some of these people get into the spotlight again.
Flix66.com: I love the fact that Kane was trying not to let anyone see him and going around scaring the hell out of the cast, I mean I know the cat’s out of the bag now but we he still doing that this time around?
Adam Green: Yeah, he stays pretty separate from the cast, they obviously knew what he looked like because they’d seen the first one but just the idea of keeping them separate until you actually role really helps the actors be scared. I mean, he’s also…he’s a scary dude (laughs). Knowing that he’s behind you and hearing him breathing and waiting for me to call action is a pretty terrifying thing for anybody so that definitely worked. There’s lots of screaming and crying (laughs).
Flix66.com: And I’m sure that pumped him up even more (laughs).
Oh, and if it’s any conciliation, I never thought there could be anything more terrifying at the ski hill than watching my girlfriend snowplowing down the bunny hill for two hours…
Adam Green: (laughs)
Flix66.com: But FROZEN definitely changed that, I just don’t feel the urge to ski anymore (laughs)
Adam Green: (laughs)
Adam Green: Yeah, I just had a meeting at a company and as I was leaving this guy came up to me and was like, I saw your movie FROZEN and over Christmas he’s been home back east and his mother was trying to get him to go skiing and he was too scared to go and that was the day that the chairlift fell at Sugarloaf so he would have been on that had he gone so indirectly I saved him (laughs)
Flix66.com: (laughs) So how did you get the idea for FROZEN?
Adam Green: Well I grew up skiing at these low rent mountains in New England where a lot of them were only open on the weekends because they just didn’t have any business and they were small mountains and every time I went up the hill I was just so nervous because you’ve got this horrible looking guy running the chair…
Adam Green: So I’d always thought of this scenario and then one day decided to look it up and saw that it actually happened. So when you can do a horror movie that’s based in reality, you can watch it while thinking it could really happen.
Flix66.com: Yeah, I mean when he jumped out of that chair, I was like, oh dude please don’t, please don’t. It was rough (laughs)
Adam Green: (laughs)
Well the best thing that happened with FROZEN was when it first came out, after the first week it was in theatres the exact same thing actually happened in Russia. There was one guy who was left there and they didn’t find him until the next day and all of a sudden you see these critics removing what they’d said (laughs)
Flix66.com: (laughs) Exactly.
So will there be any more trips back to Victor’s Swamp and what’s the next project on your horizon?
Adam Green: Well as far as the HATCHET series goes without sort of spoiling anything, I ended HATCHET II in a way that if they never make another one I feel like we’ve come full circle enough but likely there are going to be more and for now I’m saying that HATCHET II is my last one as the director but I also said that after the first one (laughs) so…
Flix66.com: (laughs) Well I find a lot of directors do that, I don’t know if it’s out of modesty, I don’t know if maybe they just don’t want to create hype or if they just don’t want to make it seem like they want more money for another one but a lot of them do it and I think it’s the right way to do it, you know, to be humble about it.
Adam Green: Well yeah, and for me I think it’s just about variety, I could have started production on HATCHET II a week after the first one…
Flix66.com: Right, but you don’t want to be just the HATCHET guy.
Adam Green: Exactly, it’s about variety for me and having choices.
Flix66.com: So what’s your favourite movie of all time?
Adam Green: E.T. I think I’ve seen E.T. in theatres twenty four times now. To me that’s the most perfect movie ever made, it’s absolutely flawless and perfect. Any movie that makes you cry through the entire thing uncontrollably like a four year old is a really good movie (laughs).
Flix66.com: Before I go, I just want to thank you again for your time but I also wanted to tell you that I was sincerely moved by the HATCHET special feature, A TWISTED TALE. I know what’s it’s like to be a kid with a dream and the only thing better than seeing it happen for yourself is seeing someone else’s dream come true.
Adam Green: Yeah, thank you, it was a weird call when we decided whether or not to put that in because it doesn’t really have anything to do with the movie but in some ways it has everything to do with it and that’s something I’ve always tried to do with the special features and commentary because eighty percent of the people watching them are aspiring filmmakers or people with a dream and in life your always against the odds, you always have people telling you no, even your own friends and family are always trying to tell you how hard it is and disenchant you from it because they didn’t do and if I can just reach a couple people who say f@#k it, you know what I can do this too, then I’ll be really happy with what I leave behind. It’s been pretty amazing how much that story actually has touched people and how many people were about to give up on something and realized, don’t give up and keep going. So thank you for that.
Flix66.com: Well thanks again Adam, I love your work, I’m looking forward to HATCHET II and I wish you nothing but the best with all your future projects.
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