From Hungary to Hollywood with horror
Vacancy is a good old-fashioned horror movie, and considering the cookie cutter horror films being released on a monthly basis, that may as well be the highest compliment.
Some people may think that Vacancy director Nimród Antal came from out of nowhere, but he actually came from Budapest, Hungary. His first movie Kontroll, made in that city’s vast subway system, was an extremely promising debut, mixing wacky comedy with horror and fantasy. His American debut Vacancy is more of a straightforward horror film that puts Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale into a creepy out-of-the-way motel where they’re stalked and terrorized by men in masks led by Frank (Swimming with Sharks) Whaley.
ShockTillYouDrop.com talked to Antal back in ’05 when Kontroll was given a limited release, and we found him to be a very knowledgeable director in terms of his genre film history–you can read that interview here–and we jumped at the chance to catch-up and see how things were working for him out in Hollywood.
ShockTillYouDrop.com: Why did you decide to come to Hollywood to make your second movie?
Nimród Antal: It was just an opportunity, and I felt at the time, I really had to get my foot in the door and try the waters here. It was just something that I couldn’t really let go. I really liked the very stripped-down palette, there was just a great opportunity to do something that was reminiscent of the more elegant scary films, and I just wanted to take advantage of that.
Shock: How did you find this project and what was it about this particular script that made you want to make it as your first American movie?
Antal: I was trying to develop some of my own ideas, which I’m still trying to do, and the Hal Lieberman Company, the producer, had sent me the script, and my initial reactions were that I didn’t want to do it at first, because I was under the impression that they wanted to do something similar to the kind of horror films being made today, concentrate more on the gore and the blood. After speaking with them, I saw the intent was not that, it was to concentrate more on the build and the suspense and tension, and that was what was the most attractive to me.
Shock: I was kind of surprised when I saw it, knowing its premise, because it wasn’t another gore-filled slasher film.
Antal: No, and nobody involved, neither the studios nor the producers, they didn’t want that kind of⦠I won’t name any filmsâ¦but you have those slasher flicks nowadays. So that was a really great opportunity and then also just to work with Kate Beckinsale and Luke was really appealing.
Shock: Were either of them attached when you got involved?
Antal: Luke was attached, and at the time, Sarah Jessica Parker was attached, but she stepped out for some personal reasons, and then Kate came on, which was a true blessing. I would have been honored to work with either, but Kate’s performance as well as Luke’s are really really solid, and Frank Whaley⦠I’ve been a fan of Frank Whaley for a long, long time. I really liked him in “Hoffa”, the Danny DeVito film, and then of course, “Swimming with Sharks.” When I found out that he took the role I was just ecstatic.
Shock: He hasn’t done a lot of stuff recently, mainly smaller indie stuff, but not a role like this. Who’s idea was it to get him?
Antal: From the get-go, we were crazy about the idea of Frank Whaley. There was actually two actors who came up and fortunately, Frank jumped at the opportunity, so we were able to work with him. What a cool guy he is, by the way.
Shock: Can you talk about some of the horror influences for this movie? I know you were influenced by certain horror films for “Kontroll” but for this, there’s the obvious Hitchcock influence, but also slasher movies of the ’70s and ’80s.
Antal: Obviously, I would never try to compare this film to anything that Hitchcock did, but what we did try to do was follow his lead. I’m a big fan, and I just finished reading the Truffaut Hitchcock book not too long ago, so that was really a wonderful inspiration going into the film. I just remember there were films that really scared the sh*t out of me, and just really terrified me, and Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” was one of them. The reserved, kind of held back, not only composition, but you always felt that bubble was always about to burst, and it never did. Andrzej Sekula, my director of photography, he and I had very early on agreed on a very sparse-looking film. We just wanted to strip it down and really just concentrate on the tension. I grew up watching films like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” the original, which I loved. I even loved the schlocky films like “Mother’s Day.” I had a friend in junior high called John Paul Ballitt, and he and I every weekend would consume films like “Mother’s Day” and “Truth or Dare.” Oh man, that was a really bad one. I grew up really loving those kinds of movies, but for this one, there was something that felt old school about it, I don’t know how to put it any other way. I guess what it was is that Mark L. Smith’s script was very simple in its approach– and I mean that in the best way of course–that was the starting point for everything, because we really followed that cue.
Shock: As far as Luke Wilson, it’s kind of surprising to see him in this because he’s done so many movies, but this really is his first horror movie. Do you know if he was a fan of the genre?
Antal: I think that as with anybody–I myself know that I’d like to try out different things as I go forward–so I think that for him it was just the challenge, and for that very reason, that he hadn’t done anything like this, but he definitely rose to the occasion. It was a challenging thing for him, as it was for Kate, just being terrified all the time and just maintaining that level of fear on a very practical level, for an actor just technically to come in and get up there every time. That in itself was a difficult challenge, but I’m really, really proud of Luke. I think he really, really rocked it, and obviously Kate, she’s awesome too.
Shock: These are very physical roles and Kate has experience doing that, but for Luke, it must have been hard doing that stuff.
Antal: His demeanor seems very calm and restrained but he’s very athletic, and the scene when he’s running from the car back to the motel room from the telephone, that was all him, that wasn’t stunts or anything. He’s very impressive. At the same time, it was just an exhausting shoot. It was very taxing on their nerves because of the environment and what they were doing, not only just the emotional demands, but the physical demands as well.
Shock: Did you try to keep things from them to try to throw them off-guard? I know some horror directors will do that, like they’ll make a loud noise off-camera or something, to get a reaction from their actors.
Antal: Not so much. I did incorporate that with a few actors, like for a few victims in the snuff films, we wouldn’t tell them what was going to happen. We’d just give them a few basic sets of rules, then we’d almost let it play as an improvisation. With Luke and Kate, they both had their own way. Kate would physically exert herself right before a scene, and that seemed to get her heart rate up and get her blood flowing. Luke was different. He’d incorporate different techniques, everything from me slapping him on the chest (laughs) to him just preparing himself alone.
Shock: They’re both such solid actors, so did you want them to turn down those skills in order to capture the tone of old horror movies? With the exception of Hitchcock, most horror movies don’t generally have nearly as strong actors being stalked or chased.
Antal: Early on in the film, there’s a few moments where you get a smile or a smirk, because they’re bickering among themselves, so there was a little room to play in the film, but as the story progresses and things start getting mad, it obviously became a one-way road as far as performance because of the story. In any kind of film, you need to find the levels and the balance of what feels right, but they were spot-on.
Shock: Was this all shot on a location somewhere or was it done on a soundstage?
Antal: No, that’s really incredible actually. We built the entire thing on Stage 15 at Sony. That’s where they shot “The Wizard of Oz” and “The Dirty Dozen” among others, so the actual soundstage itself had quite a history going in, rumors of ghosts and things like that–one of the munchkins still being there–so there was a fun vibe going into Stage 15. They built the entire motel with a gas station and the oak tree in-between first on the soundstage, and then they built the whole thing again for the day shot exteriors at the end of the film and Kate running from the car. That whole thing is location but everything in the room and at night is predominantly on the soundstage.
Shock: Was this an easier set-up than shooting your last movie in the Budapest subway system?
Antal: Yeah, well this was a very different monster for me. I hadn’t written the script. It was my first studio environment, and my first opportunity to work with big American actors, so for me, the whole thing was a very different experience than “Kontroll.” I had a great time, and it was definitely something that I’m happy I did.
Shock: Going back to what you said about not wanting to make a gory slasher flick, was the original intention always to do an R-rated movie or was it originally going to be a PG-13 film?
Antal: Yes, it was always going to be R-rated, so that wasn’t a restraint. It’s funny, because there were moments where we were still contemplating how far to take the violence and the gore, but the environment lately is saturated with that. It’s gone too far, it’s too much now, where I don’t get off now watching someone getting tortured for half an hour.
Shock: Are you back in Hungary now or are you going to stay here and try to do more movies?
Antal: Actually, I’d like to right now just stay here a little bit. I have the opportunity to go back to Budapest, and I’d like to kind of establish the same thing here. Right now, I still feel that I have to hit the iron while it’s hot, still have to establish myself and get a little more stability here as far as people trusting in me and believing in me, and then afterwards, I’ll go back and maybe do something in Budapest as well. I want to take advantage of both, and I hope to do Hungarian language films and of course, American films.
Shock: As far as working in the horror genre, there were elements in “Kontroll” while this was straight out horror, so is that a genre you’d like to continue working in?
Antal: I love the genre, and I would have no qualms going again with another horror film if the script is good, but that said, I am a little bit reluctant and I would like to do different things, so that I’m not perceived just as one or the other.
Shock: Do you have any scripts done that you want to start shooting or are you just looking for the next project?
Antal: I’m writing something on my own right now. I have an existing script that I’m very fond of, which is a little closer to a horror film, but I’m also writing something right now that’s kind of reminiscent of John Cassavetes’ “Killing of a Chinese Bookmaker” or has tones similar to that, which I’d like to try to do soon.
Shock: Is that something you’d do independently and then shop it around for distribution?
Antal: Yeah, right now I just want to get it down on paper and just get it really clean, so that hopefully, I can have people fight over it. (laughs)
Vacancy opens everywhere on Friday, April 20, but you can check out our video interviews with the movie’s stars, Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale, here.
Source: Edward Douglas
