New Characters, New Cast
The casting for the fifth “Final Destination” includes some interesting choices, because are more than a few familiar names and faces this time around, which certainly couldn’t be said about the first four movies. Sure, Seann William Scott had already done American Pie by the time he did the first movie, but few of the other actors who have appeared in a “Final Destination” movie have gone onto other things other than maybe Mary Elizabeth Winstead. She went on to do Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim and the upcoming prequel to The Thing.
“I said right up that I don’t want to do this movie unless we have a really strong cast that’s really going to perform and deliver the goods,” Quale said about how they went about casting the new movie. “At the same time, the studio really backed me with that and they agreed. We strived to get the best actors for every part, even the smallest parts, because my feeling again for the realism is the better actor you get, the better performance, the better the story is going to be and you’ll believe it, so we worked really hard with Edie, the casting director, with all the executives at New Line, and we really felt that it was at least a priority for me to strive to get the best possible actors to fit with what these characters should be. I’m thrilled to death with what we got.”
It certainly is an interesting cast and most of them were made available to us on the day we visited the set, staring with Nick D’Agosto, star of movies like Rocket Science and Fired Up!. He plays Sam Lawton, the guy who has the original premonition. He has been having an office romance with Molly, played by Emma Bell, who horror fans will already know from her starring role in Adam Green’s ski-lift thriller Frozen. That romance has been on the rocks and she’s broken up with him so he’s trying to win her back at the time the office goes on the retreat.
Nick and Emma were the first actors we spoke to in a series of roundtable interviews that day.
Q: They’ve mostly cast unknowns in the previous movies, so what’s the draw to get you two to be in a “Final Destination” movie?
Emma Bell: I think that in large part it’s the team behind it. At least for me, being able to work with Steve was exciting. I’m a huge “Titanic” fan, love “Avatar,” so just to be able to work with someone who obviously is pretty top of his game as far as 3D and to do a movie in 3D. I’ve never obviously done anything like that, so I thought that would be really fun.
Nick D’Agosto: I would totally second that. I was really excited to work in 3D; I was excited to work in a world that was going to be so action-heavy and FX heavy. I’ve done some elements of that in “Heroes.” I’ve done some green screen stuff, but I’ve never done this scope and this size. Also for the character that I get to play, he gets a lot of things required of him. He has a romantic relationship but he also has a lot of action, terror, fight scenes, things like this involved, so that was all really attractive to me.
Bell: Plus the franchise is a great one to be part of. Obviously, it has a lot of fans but also I think that this movie is particularly interesting because they are trying to reboot it in a way, maybe get away a little bit from some of the aspects of the later films and get back to the core of what makes “Final Destination” a great story. There’s a number of like really interesting character developments and relationships, so to be a part of a franchise but at least doing something different with it.
Q: Are you generally the two people running around while others get killed and you’re trying to figure out what is going on and stop it?
D’Agosto: Yeah, we do that for most of the movie. (laughter)
Bell: Yeah, there’s a lot of the terrified looks.
D’Agosto: What’s really nice about this one honestly for us is that because
I like working with Emma so muchâand I’ll insist she says the same thing about me–is that there’s a pretty fun narrative to this that’s different than other “Final Destination” movies. There’s a twist in this one where the characters interrelate in a way they’ve never really done before, and it kind of adds to the dramatic element of it. I think in that we get to have a lot of fun, and it’s brought out a lot in us. Although there are those typical things where we have to run around and “how many faces for frightened do you have?” but you end up having a lot of scenes that have some more depth and relationship to them which was fun for us.”
Bell: Yeah, it’s a very character movie, and also, as far as the normal formula for the “Final Destination” series, I think hopefully audiences will almost watch this with new eyes because there are differences in that way.
Q: Are there any other major differences you can talk about?
D’Agosto: There is more disparity in the ages than previous “Final Destination” just because you have David Koechner, he plays our boss, and then you have people underneath him like P.J. Byrne, and then down to us and Ellen (Wroe) who is a little younger. Part of the reason for that was that Craig was really conscious that he has a fanbase that grew up with this and though they were younger, they’ll be in their late 20s or 30s now, so I think he wanted to bring in characters that those fanbase members could relate to us as well as a younger generation.
Q: What’s it like shooting your own death scene or someone else’s and then seeing them around set alive?
D’Agosto: Funny enough, her death scene was our favorite scene of the movie.
Bell: Yeah, it’s odd seeing your friends (killed). We’ve all gotten to really bond and know each other and we all hang out on the weekends. We actually really enjoy each other’s company outside of work, so it is sort of odd to watch your friends essentially die, but not just die but die in gruesome ways. I think this one has particularly good gruesome deaths.
D’Agosto: Yeah, absolutely. I know that Craig Perry is really excited about it. He really feels like on a couple of these he’s really upped a notch for himself and something he’s really proud of. It is weird, but the thing is that because we all have such a good time with each other it’s fun. Often times you have these really macabre kind of lines with people like, “Well, at least you didn’t go the regular old schmucky way we’re all going to go which is a heart attack or something.”
Bell: We can’t really talk about what they are, but we all go out with a bang.
Q: How bloody do you guys get in this?
Bell: People get really bloody.
D’Agosto: Well, some of the people get really bloody.
Bell: Yeah, we’re not skimping on that at all.
D’Agosto: There’s just some absolutely awesome horrific stuff that happens. It’s just terrible, fantastic.
Bell: It’s pretty terrifying, yeah.
Q: Because you have actors like David Koechner and P.J. Byrne in this, does that mean this movie is funny?
D’Agosto: (Koechner) is really funny and P.J. Byrne is really funny, and really everybody’s funny like in their own way, but these characters are really comedic characters. Like I think there’s going to be genuinely a lot of real comedic laughter in it and not based around the surprise of the deaths. It’s just basically you give Koechner a situation and he’ll play the situation and then he’ll come up with a few things that he’s going to bring to it, and they’re hilarious. I wish he didn’t get me as easily as he does. He’s just as funny as you want him to be, which is really nice.
Bell: But it’s organically funny. It’s not like ridiculousness funny. For both P.J and David’s characters, who are maybe more of the funnier characters, it’s like a character choice. It’s not necessarily running around like a chimp. It lends itself to the character.
“One of the things we’ve always tried to do is to find the right tone between what is a pretty morbid conceit and making it entertaining,” Perry told us about the decision to cast the likes of Koechner and P.J. Byrne. “One of the reasons we hired some actors who have comedic capabilities is to know that we can tap into that if we want to. As you know, most comedic actors are dying to do some dramatic stuff so we were able to invert what the expectations were to allow for things that were legitimately character-based humor stuff to evolve without sacrificing what was actually dramatic. It was a very conscious choice, very specific choice to make sure we could make this movie as entertaining as possible. There are some sequences that are pretty brutal. They’re pretty intense and if you don’t have at least a little bit of humor, it becomes almost overwhelming and it’s a bit too unrelenting. There’s one sequence in particular that if we didn’t have that as a valve, we’d have to cut it down because it’s too much.”
To be honest, many of the previous “Final Destination” movies have at least tried to be funnyâsome doing better at the humor than othersâbut Dave Koechner is one of the busiest comedic character actors working today with hilarious roles in Anchorman, Mike Judge’s Extract, Paul and others. One imagines that having him on board will mean more of the jokes actually work this time around.
In Final Destination 5, he plays the company’s big boss Dennis, though you probably wouldn’t recognize him on the day we visited the set, since it was the day he was shooting his big death scene on the bridge. When he came by to talk to us, he was in full make-up for his big moment when he gets covered in searing hot tar. Needless to say, it’s quite horrifying to have to talk to someone who is such a bloody mess with their skin peeling off, but talking normally. (Another huge bonus of interviewing Koechner was that we finally discovered how to pronounce his last name–it’s pronounced Kek-ner, not Kotch-ner or Coke-ner, as we’ve sometimes thought.)
Q: What made you want to do this movie?
Koechner: Because I’ve never done something like this before. It’s such an interesting direction for me to go, personally, and obviously, the pedigree of everyone involved, pretty qualified, pretty amazing. I mean, Steve Quale, right? To me, I was like “Wow, that’s pretty cool, you get to work with James Cameron’s right hand man.” Plus I’ve never done a 3D movie, and I knew this would be the cutting edge of what 3D is today. Next week, there’s going to be a different cutting edge, but for right now, this day, this movie is on the cutting edge of what 3D is, and that’s a very exciting thing, just being involved in that. All the stuff I’ve seen — because the monitors are also 3D, so you can see what it’s going to be like in our homes in a couple of years â it’s gonna be amazing. It truly is astounding. It’s blown me away. I haven’t been the biggest fan of 3D, because I feel like it’s been forced on us a bit, especially some of the films that got reconstituted to catch up to 3D, but this one’s truly shot in 3D, and it really makes a huge difference. It’s a different experience for the viewer â even for me, who’s one of the skeptics. So I’m on board.
(Interesting sidenote: While Final Destination 5 may have been Koechner’s first 3D horror movie, he must have enjoyed it, because he signed on for another 3D horror sequel Piranha 3DD shortly after wrapping this.)
Q: Since you play the boss of this company, would you say you’re a likeable boss?
David Koechner: I think so. Dennis certainly has, I’ll say a “commandeering” style of management. My guess is he’s probably on his third marriage. That gives you a hint as to who he might be. He has a certain management style that some people would appreciate, other people might say, “Wow, that guy’s a prick.”
Q: With that in mind, when your character dies, some people might actually applaud?
Koechner: Well, that’s the style of the picture, right? These deaths are so much fun. They’re so enjoyable, because of the Rube Goldberg approach to which everyone dies. That’s such a fascination, right? What chess game is going to bring this person’s death? That’s a thrill, and it’s such an interesting genre, where you cheer when there’s deaths, right? You’re thrilled by them. There are qualities of the characters that are embedded in their deaths, that’s for sure. There’s a really interesting other level to how everyone dies. Sometimes it has to do with their physical makeup, sometimes with their personality. It’s really fascinating.
Q: So How are the deaths in this?
Koechner: They’re fantastic. They are so delightful â they’re delicious, I would say that anytime there’s a death, everyone is impressed and proud.
Q: Most of the “Final Destination” movies have at least tried to be funny, though many times they weren’t funny. Are you trying to tone that down a little bit, to try to keep with the gravitas of all the death and destruction?
Koechner: Well, you don’t want to take away from what the picture is doing anyway. I always feel that in a drama, if you’re trying to play something dramatic– I can’t say this about other actors â but I’d say anyone’s approach to drama would be, we’re all looking for the light in life, right? Even in a drama, nobody wants to watch someone go and be depressed. I believe in life there’s humor, and we’re all trying to find the humor in life. In any situation–I’d say even at a funeral–you’d probably be searching for a way to kind of lighten the mood, or remember the best parts of what a person’s life were like, so I think in any situation, we’re all trying to make the best of it, and humor certainly is a part of that. How’s that for a dodge?
Playing Koechner’s second-in-command Isaac is P.J. Byrne, one of those character actors you’re likely to have seen in previous movies (including a very funny scene in New Line’s new comedy Horrible Bosses.) As he told us, Isaac is “the guy in the office that everybody loves to hate,” and he came by to talk to us along with one of the office’s younger workers, played by Miles Fisher, who has appeared in “Gossip Girl” and “Mad Men,” but is also making a name for himself as a musician.
Q: Though you’ve played a lot of character roles, PJ, you haven’t really done horror.
PJ Byrne: No, I haven’t. I’ve done a lot of comedy and a lot of drama but never sort of this actual horror genre so I was sort of excited to do it. When I do these dramatic roles–like in “Extraordinary Measures” I played the family doctor who had to tell this family that their child is dying–these are sort of close, intense dramatic moments. Doing this is sort of opening it up and living in this horror-thriller world, which is a completely new experience for me. Like I’ve never had to yell loud. I’ve never had to run at a camera or fly at a camera in 3D. That’s a new thing, that’s exciting, and that’s probably why I signed on for it.
Q: Is it a different vibe working on horror vs. those other projects?
Byrne: Honestly, on some level a different vibe on any movie comes from the cast that you’re interacting with and the director and how he’s working with you. That sort of creates the different vibe, but at the end of the day you want to play a moment that’s hones, and truthful and genuine and real. Whether that’s in comedy or in drama that’s how you’re always going to get your biggest pop for your dollar. If you’re in the moment and playing it real no matter what the genre is, that’s always your best bet.
Miles Fisher: I haven’t shot a lot of horror before or thrillers, but with P.J. it’s like he opens his mouth and everyone is cracking up, same as Koechner, and the scenes are so kind of intense, especially the big action thriller sequences. They are so heavy and technical that when you’re shooting them as soon as cut is yelled you’re cracking each other up just to get out of that severe intensity. So, strangely kind of being on that raw nerve, the humor and the horror really go hand in hand.
Byrne: I think we’re very lucky also with this cast. You know most of us do not live in Vancouver and we’re all living in Vancouver for three months, there’s a wonderful relationship that we’ve all developed and this sort of family vibe that. So we’re in the trenches together, and we’re pushing each other, and if there’s long days we’re picking each other up and with these wonderful relationships that we’ve developed hopefully they’re going to add to this movie and you’re going to see that on the screen. You know when people have bad relationships in movies then sometimes you see if on the screen and it doesn’t help the movie.
Fisher: The thing about number 5 that’s different than all the ones that came before it is here we are as 20 and 30 year olds, actually playing 20 and 30 year olds, so not being this sort of like high school convention and we’ve been together for about a quarter of a year now, not unlike how long some of the employees have worked together in the film. The premise of the film begins on this corporate retreat and some of the people aren’t super-close, they’re kind of acquaintances and they get to know each other better and better, which is not dissimilar to the real life situation.
Q: Do your characters interact a lot?
Byrne: We do a little bit.
Fisher: Isaac is very ambitious towards the female sex.
Byrne: I care about three things. I care about women, myself, and getting women for myself. Not always in that order, he’s got better hair though.
Q: And what about Miles’ character?
Byrne: He’s a lovely man. He is Miles on some level. He’s like a lovely stand-up guy that everybody in the office really likes. He’s a hard worker, the boss likes him, his fellow employees like him.
Fisher: It is unlike anything I’ve ever played before, I’ll tell you that, and my character is actually fairly unassuming from the start. I’m the guy who knows exactly what he wants, who’s always had a plan, A plus B equals C and I’m just anxious to get there. Nobody is in competition with me, and then as the movie develops that very much changes, and I take on a bit of a different role. That’s all I’ll say.
Q: PJ, considering you’re the guy people hate in the office, how graphic is your death compared to how dickish you are?
Miller: Yeah, they kind of milk it a little bit, my death. You know about the opening sequence, that’s a pretty exciting death in the beginning on a bridge. I’m actually pumped to see it. I’ve been through the process of doing it day in and day out and I’m still excited to see it, so hopefully that’s an indication that we’ll actually get some people in there to see what goes down. You want to see me die, and they actually milk the hell out of my death, which is an exciting way to go. And that’s all I’m allowed to tell you.
Fisher: One of the great things about this franchise is that it’s usually more than one death that you get to enjoy. So, there have been a myriad of brutal deaths.
Miles Fisher’s character is dating the daughter of the owner of the company who is working there as a college intern, and she’s played by newcomer Ellen Wroe, who we spoke to later, along with Jacqueline MacInnnes Wood and Arlen Escarpeta, who appeared in Friday the 13th, though we thought he was recently great in the recent indie thriller Brotherhood.
Q: Others were saying that the character development is a bit deeper in this film, so have you seen the other movies and can you tell us how it’s different?
Jacqueline Wood: I think throughout the other movies, no one really knew each other. No one really had a relationship. The second one, someone was in one car, someone was in a different carâ¦no one really knew each other at all, and they met up, and they kind of go through these certain situations afterwards. With us, we all know each other. We all have relationships.
Ellen Wroe: There’s other things going on.
Wood: Yeah, you’ll notice in the start who likes each otherâ¦
Arlen Escarpeta: Who doesn’t like each other⦠(laughter)
Wood: You’ll kinda catch everyone’s vibes right away, which is great, so really, throughout the movie, we have that. We know each other, know how to play off of each other, which is great, I thought it was a lot of fun.
Q: One of the things that’s been mentioned is that the less we like your character the worse death they get. You all seem like nice people, so is that not the case with your characters? Can you talk about how much we’re gonna like or not like your characters?
Wood: Okay, well it’s either you love Olivia or you hate Olivia. She’s kind of a rocker chick, she’s in the moment, she’s not sure what tomorrow’s gonna bring, and she’ll have your back, but if you cross a line with her, she absolutely knows how to hold her own. And in certain situations she’s very honest.
Escarpeta: To a fault.
Wood: Yeah, she says what people sometimes wanna say, sometimes what people are thinking, but [don’t] necessarily have the balls to say it. So sometimes it’s very shocking, but she doesn’t do it to intentionally hurt anyone. It’s just like, she just doesn’t really have a filter.
Wroe: I think guys love her, and then girls hate her, cause they really secretly wish they could be like her. That’s how my character feels.
Wood: Awwwâ¦
Escarpeta: I think my character Nathan, he’s a likable guy. Does that mean you won’t want him to get what’s coming? Not necessarily. I mean, I think the build-up there is even probably maybe a little bit more because you almost root for this guy a little bit, you know what I mean, to get a little bit of redemption somewhere or whatever, with all the different stuff that he goes through in the movie. But I think when he gets what’s coming to him, it’s good. I think it’s still satisfying for the audience, for sure.
Q: How bloody do you guys get in this?
Wroe: I don’t get that bloody.
Escarpeta: I do.
Wood: I get pretty bloody! (laughs) I have some prosthetics for awhile, so it’s really raw, but you guys are going to enjoy it.
Escarpeta: I think all the characters, we definitely gave special effects a run for the money. They definitely worked hard on this movie. They had lots and lots of fun, really really cool stuff. Yeah, I think you definitely get your money’s worth in this movie, for sure.
Wood: Oh, yeah. For this movie, most definitely they’ve raised the bar with the effects and the death sequences. I’m a horror fan, I’m a horror nut, and it’s crazy because for me, I like to see people die in different⦠it’s strange and macabre because as much as death scares us, it intrigues us, which is really cool with these movies, you die in so many creative ways. And when they make another one you’re like, ,”How many ways can someone really die?”
Wroe: You never think how big of a production it’s gonna be, I mean all these different departments come together just for this one death. Stunts, obviously acting, but like makeup, special effects, visual effectsâ¦
Q: Since you’ve all gone through your deaths, does it usually take a day or four days, and do you think, “Oh, no, it’s my turn next”?
Escarpeta: I think we’ve all had our weeks. We’ve all had that feeling where, “Okay yeah, it’s Jackie’s week, and she’s going through her entire process,” or “It’s Ellen’s week.” I think depending on how much prosthetics or special effects you have to do, there’s probably a couple days worth of work and then you’re just in the grind getting it done. Especially with 3-D, I’ve never worked with 3-D before. I did another horror film, the âFriday the 13th’ movie, and that was cool because like the special effects were there, but not to the level of this one, and then you throw in the 3-D element, and everything becomes so technically important.” once it gets to the screen. So yeah, it’s definitely been something special.
Wood: Yeah, I think for all of us, by the end of it, you’re just mentally and physically drained.
That last group of actors touched upon the most important aspect of every “Final Destination” movie, the reason that we love to watch them over and over, and that’s the amount of gore. Death’s Design doesn’t paint with a finely-bristled brush, but instead takes the entire can of glorious red paint and throws it at the screen.
You can read about the men behind upping the gore factor in Final Destination 5 in the next section.
Source: Edward Douglas
