Live coverage of Doomsday, Strangers
We’re minutes away from Rogue/Focus Features’ Comic-Con panel where the production house will be previewing Neil Marshall’s Doomsday and Bryan Bertino’s The Strangers. On tap: Our first look at a teaser for the former and clips from the latter along with stars Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman.
And awwwwwaaaay we go!
– Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick have taken to the stage to announce they’ll be previewing the “scary little children’s story” Coraline at the Horton Plaze theaters tonight!
– Gaiman: “It has dead children, weird creepy stuff, music by They Might Be Giants.”
– Selick: “We didn’t think it’d take quite this long to get the project on its feet, but we’re finally in production aiming for a 2008 release.”
– Gaiman: “Tonight’s stuff will really be the first footage the public has ever seen.”
The Strangers with Bryan Bertino, Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler (hot, HOT!)
– Bertino: “The film is about a couple who come home in the middle of the night and are attacked by three people for no rhyme or reason.”
– Tyler: “We were shooting in this giant warehouse, every time we screamed it would echo for days and days.”
– Clip: Tyler is paralyzed with fear, gripping a butcher knife. Outside the living room window are metallic noises, when she investigates and pulls back the curtain, a hooded stranger attacks and tries to get in. She scrambles backwards, tripping over chairs…then the front door opens. When she peers outside, a cartoonish mask appears in the crack in the door. Tyler freaks…
– Clip: Speedman and Tyler are fighting back against unseen intruders. Someone’s wailing away at the front door with an axe, they push a cabinet in front of the door, but it does no good. Speedman picks up a shotgun and fires… High intensity stuff!
– Speedman: “I got up and locked my door when I was reading the script for this. It felt really real.”
– Tyler loved the fact that the film explores the unknown and plays on those things that go bump in the night.
– Tyler: “I was afraid of the dark growing up, closets, under the bed. My son has no idea what fear is yet, he’s not afraid of the dark but I wouldn’t allow him see the film, obviously. I was obsessed with horror movies when I was young, but I really enjoyed them a lot.”
– Tyler: “This was by far the most challening role physically. We’d laugh ’cause every day I’d have a new bruise or sore. I was getting beaten up. I just had to break through and keep crying and screaming. It was great for the character ’cause that was the state she was in.”
– Speedman: “This was harder, more emotional. Underworld was little boy stuff, running around.”
– Tyler: “I read Bryan’s script on a flight back from Japan. I read the title, hmm, ‘The Strangers’ I wonder if it’s a comedy. [laughs] I finished it and knew I have to do this, I have to play this part. I fought for this role.”
– Bertino: “I’m writing scary movies, right now I’m in the process of working on something new.”
– Bertino: “I’ve never directed a movie before, but these actors trained me and helped guide me. It’s because of their skills, they helped me. This isn’t because of what I did, it’s what we did. You’re gonna love this movie because they’re fantastic.”
– Teaser trailer: Begins with photographs of perfect homes. This slideshow of an idyllic suburbia continues until we see some of the photos getting scratched up and “X’d” out. We’re introduced to Tyler and Speedman’s happy couple. An intimate moment is interupted when there’s a knock at the door. Tyler questions, “Hello?” On the other side of the door comes, “You’re gonna die.” From there it’s the usual montage of frightening images, from the masked “Strangers” standing altogether to Tyler and Speedman fighting for their lives. It ends with “Inspired by true events,” then, a gored-up Liv crawling across the floor. Horror fans should be excited…
Doomsday: Stay tuned for our exclusive one-on-one interview with Marshall for more on the film.
– Panel begins with teaser trailer which establishes the UK in a state of emergency. Thousands are evacuating, a wall is erected and there are plenty left behind. Trapped inside the barriers. Malcolm McDowell’s voice over comes on, “‘Why are you alive when you should be dead?’ It was only a matter of time before they sent someone to answer that.” We get images of an armed squad roaming a wasteland, tattooed warriors, car chases that’d make George Miller proud, Rhona Mitra facing someone on a white horse and other chaotic, Road Warrior-style imagery.
– Marshall: Is in no way connected to Dog Soldiers 2 and has no idea what’s happening with the film.
– Doomsday will carry a hard R-rating when it hits theaters next March or April. “The more carnage the better.”
– Marshall: Prefers the UK cut of The Descent.
– Filming took place in Cape Town, South Africa. Production then moved to Scotland to get some sequences where they needed to shoot in a castle (prominently displayed in the teaser – the setting plays a big part in the film, one can presume).
– Marshall has a project called The Ninth Legion he’d love to make. The script is complete, it’s based on a true story and is something he’s calling The Warriors set in ancient Rome.
Source: Ryan Rotten
