In the first of his two Blumhouse films (and likely more to come), Mark Duplass doesnt get to have all that much fun. Here, in The Lazarus Effect, its Olivia Wildes show; her resurrected, black-eyed form hemorrhaging anguish and psychic ability. Instead, Duplass is a straight man, caught (as many classical horror figures are) in an unbelievable situation partly of his own making.
Its something of a traditional role, giving the filmmaker and actor room to play in something very pure to horror, as opposed to 2008s unsettling, unusual Baghead and his upcoming lunatic performance in Creep. And Duplass seems aware and excited about such, with The Lazarus Effect just the latest in an effort to keep his career balanced and, as youll read, off the couch.
Shock Till You Drop spoke with Duplass about the medical horror film, his own works parallel with the genre and more.
Shock Till You Drop: Youve an interesting attraction to horror, with films like Baghead, Creep and Lazarus. Do you see a parallel or an association with the indie dramas youve done and their focus on the anxieties of life, and then how theyre amplified in the horror films you do?
Mark Duplass: Thats interesting. Ive never thought about it specifically like that. The way that Ive been approaching genre lately quite frankly, is that I dont want to just make movies where people talk about their feelings on a couch. Ive made a lot of those and I love doing that, but I want to movie around a little bit into different storytelling vehicles.
While Im, I would say somewhat new to the horror genreweve teased it movies like Baghead we directedtheres a movie called Creep that will be coming out later this year that I did with my friend Patrick Brice and also with Blumhouse that is sort of my version of that. While I dont see myself going into full blown horror genre mode, when theres an opportunity to make a horror movie thats directed by a guy who made a really sensitive and intelligent food documentary, with a cast of actors who are good naturalistic performers, thats the best version of it for me.
Shock: Your performance in Lazarus is very naturalistic and its interesting to contrast that with Creep, which is naturalistic in aesthetic and tone, but your performance there is heightened. Youre a lunatic.
Duplass: It was sort of like, we knew going into Lazarus that to make this movie interesting, and honestly even somewhat credible, what was going to be required is that these people felt extremely normal, extremely natural; you could put yourself in their shoes and feel like you were going through it. That was the key. In a movie like Creep, not to give too much away, the stranger and more awkward and more inaccessible that character is, the more it kind of ignites the plot of the movie. It might be as simple as, in Lazarus Im a bit of a protagonist and in Creep, Im a bit of an antagonist.
Shock: And in Lazarus, you get to play around in a type of classical horror storytelling, with resurrection, playing God and so forth. Did that attract you to the story?
Duplass: No, it really wasnt the story that attracted me. I love [producer] Jason Blum, I wanted to partner with him on something. We were actively looking for something together and the big draw for me was meeting with David Gelb, and having been such a huge of Jiro Dreams of Sushi, talking about his vision for trying to make a somewhat humanistic and naturalistic horror film that you really felt like you understood the people who were going through these problems. These movies, I mean the Blumhouse model of films, are made in such a way that its a short time commitment and you get a lot of creative control, because nobodys really getting paid. If it works, it really, really works and its exciting. If it doesnt, you took a shot at something and thats okay.
And thats kind of how I built my whole career, looking at things as little lottery tickets. This one felt like a good horse to bet on.
Shock: You come from a genre, or aesthetic people call Mumblecore, but its really just independent drama rooted in things like Cassavetes films. Of course, Cassavetes also had a history of showing up in fun horror and genre films. Do you have a similar hope?
Duplass: 100% My original vision of what I ultimately wanted for my career, 10 years ago, was to be Cassavetes. To act in movies, make my money there and then go and use that money to make my independent films. A couple of things shifted. Instead of being a part of like, Rosemarys Baby, I got to be a part of The League, which was a consistent source of income. I praise God for The League every day, because that thing has supported and floated every independent film Ive made since then.
Also, I havent had to struggle as much as Cassavetes did, due just to the nature of there being a healthy independent ecosystem now, which he didnt have. It was either go wide or self-release. I havent had to struggle as much as I think he did. In some ways, my tastes are a little more mainstream, or at least the comedy thats inherently involved in my stuff makes it a little easier to take out. But definitely, I still think about Cassavetes all the time and if you look at a movie like Lazarus Effect like, Oh yeah, Im in a movie that goes out to 3,000 screens and its going to do really well. That certainly helps my ability to make what I want on the more independent side.
Shock: Do you hope audiences who see Lazarus find Baghead?
Duplass: That would be awesome. I have no expectations of that, but one thing I do know is that with the accessibility of content the way it is now, and with all 20 projects Ive been involved with being available somewhere between iTunes and Netflix or showing on HBOeven Safety Not Guaranteed was on the CW the other night, as crazy as that isI do notice particularly with Togetherness, it is increasing eyeballs on all of our previous work. Yes, if Lazarus leads to Baghead, great. Even better if Lazarus leads to Togetherness, because thats truly six degrees of separation. That gets fun.
