Ahoy, squirts! Quint here... It is a dark and stormy summer night here in Texas. The rain is coming down loudly outside, lightning is flashing, the thunder cracking immediately afterwards. Remembering my POLTERGEIST I can tell that means the storm is really, really close. That damn tree outside my window looks like it just came a little closer... weird...
Anyway, seeing as the weather is hellacious I thought... what better time to transcribe this short interview I did with a couple people involved with GHOST RIDER, director Mark Steven Johnson and star Eva Mendes. This interview was conducted at the San Diego Comic-Con before their presentation, which we talk about briefly... Matter of fact, that FOG interview I posted had just concluded when these lovely folks came over to chat with me. Here we go!
QUINT: I can't wait to see what you guys are going to show at the panel.
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: Well, it's a tough one because we want to show something, but I just wrapped a few weeks ago...
EVA MENDES: Right.
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: So we don't have Ghost Rider. You know what I mean? It's like, how do you show a GHOST RIDER trailer without showing GHOST RIDER? So, I was really torn about showing something or not 'cause I don't want to disappoint people, but I was convinced it was better to show something than nothing. I think they did a pretty good job.
QUINT: Did you pepper in some concept art or something?
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: No, they made a little teaser. It just won't show a completed Ghost Rider 'cept for a quick flash. It's not really Ghost Rider. In fact it's a grip! (laughs) That we did a test on! It's literally a grip walking around! (laughs) I just wish I could show him today.
EVA MENDES: It actually kinda works in our favor 'cause it makes you want to see it, you know?
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: I hope so. I hope so.
QUINT: I don't know if it's just fate or if it's you seeking them out, but you always seem to be helming movie adaptations for Marvel's darkest characters...
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: I know! Isn't that weird? This is actually the first one I really wanted. When I first met with Avi (Arad) it was for GHOST RIDER and it wasn't available. DAREDEVIL was my other favorite, so I went after that, but this was the first one. It's something that, since I was a kid this is always the one... I mean, you remember especially the ones... Even the ones from the '90s, too, the Danny Ketch ones. Great artwork, you know what I mean? Great villains, too.
QUINT: You know, I hardly ever read straight up GHOST RIDER, but I'd always read, like, Marvel Team-Up, and I'd always read the graphic novels, like the Wolverine/Punisher/Ghost Rider stuff...
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: Yeah, yeah. The Midnight Sons. Yeah.
QUINT: But Ghost Rider to me has always been one of the most visually interesting characters in the entire Marvel universe.
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: He is.
QUINT: It's a shame that you couldn't bring him because people really will want to see him...
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: I know! I know!
EVA MENDES: I don't think you should even show it in the trailers, though, once you start cutting trailers for the movie. Then it'll be, like, a big reveal. It's pretty cool looking, man. It's pretty intense.
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: It is intense. You know, you're so used to seeing it in a comic panel and it's so cool and when you see it when it's really alive, it's intense. That skull with the fire, lookin' at you, comin' with the chains. It's heavy. It's heavy, heavy stuff.
QUINT: You know, I don't even know what tone to expect from the movie. There's just as much horror as there is fantasy as there is action...
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: There is...
QUINT: and drama...
EVA MENDES: And romance!
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: Romance, thank you. There is! There's an element of Beauty and the Beast there for sure. But for me it was about "How do we make something that's going to be different?" You know what I mean? Because there are so many comic book movies coming out. So, that's why I very strongly went for the Western. I thought it'd be cool to do our ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST meets the Hammer film. You know what I mean? Just take two genres and slam 'em together and see what happens! And that's what it looks like! It looks like a Sergio Leone movie just gone fuckin' insane! (laughs)
It's cool 'cause it just doesn't look like anything else. We took it out of New York for that reason, because they're all in New York and this one didn't need it. It's really not like a super hero movie, you know what I mean? To me. It's not a guy who puts a costume on. The tone is like AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. Or like a... you probably won't like this... it also reminds me of EVIL DEAD or ARMY OF DARKNESS. You know what I mean? Just fun. A lot of great humor.
EVA MENDES: I won't like that?
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: No, the studio probably won't like it. (laughs)
EVA MENDES: Oh, I was like "Why wouldn't I?!?"
QUINT: Yeah, ARMY OF DARKNESS didn't make any money!
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: Yeah, exactly! That's all they care about, but I happen to love that movie. But (GHOST RIDER)... what's cool about it is it's not like SPIDER-MAN or BATMAN. Most people don't know who he is. We don't have people screaming at us because Roxanne doesn't have blonde hair like she does in the comic, you know what I mean? It's not like that, like it would be for a Mary Jane (Watson, SPIDER-MAN). So, it kinda frees you up...
EVA MENDES: I mean, I didn't know about it. I didn't know about GHOST RIDER at all.
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: It's actually such a strong icon. It's survived all these years because the look is so intense... like you said, it's the most visual of all of 'em. People don't forget that.
QUINT: They just signaled me that I have to wrap it up already...
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: Oh we don't really. Just keep going!
QUINT: But I have to at least shoot a question over to Eva...
EVA MENDES: That's alright! You don't have to!
QUINT: Can you just tell me a little about your character for the people who either know the books and want to know how you're playing the character or for those who don't and just want to know what you're doing in the flick?
EVA MENDES: Well, playing Johnny Blaze's love interest and long lost love, Roxanne, I have to thank Mark over here for picking outside the box and really not trying to match me up with the original Roxanne. Like he said, in the original comic book she was blonde and blue-eyed and just... just... not me! (laughs) It's just really cool that he thought outside the box and went with me.
The other thing, too, is that when I went back I started reading the comic books and I started realizing that she does a lot of, like,... they're great comic book moments, but she whines a lot! It's like, "Noooo! Joooohhhnnyyy!" You know! We have some cool comic book moments, we have a couple 'cause you gotta do it and it's so fun to do as an actress, but she was a little victim-y. So, we just made her a little stronger and a little darker and a little more exotic.
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: (to Eva) But like you said, anybody who'd fall in love with a biker is a pretty cool chick. She's gotta have some balls...
EVA MENDES: She... yeah.
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: ... So to speak.
EVA MENDES: (to me) She actually doesn't have balls.
QUINT: Either that or you're taking it in a really weird direction!
(laughs)
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: I was going to say! You said you were curious to see what we were going to do!
EVA MENDES: (laughs)
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: So, Roxanne's a hermaphrodite!
QUINT: Hermaphroditic love interest, eh? You don't see that in too many PG-13s!
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: He did used to call her Rocky a lot!
And there you have it, squirts! I'm really hoping this flick pulls together. Johnson was a really cool guy, probably the most normal geek in power I talked to during the con. I can't wait to see the full GHOST RIDER trailer and see that flaming bastard in his full leather and studs glory!
Hope you enjoyed the chat. Sorry it was so short, but you take what you can get at Comic-Con! This effectively ends my Comic-Con 2005 coverage. Phew... tons of good stuff this year, but I can't rest yet. I still have the TENACIOUS D set visit follow-up with the chat with Liam Lynch as well as at least one Kid in the Hall that I chatted with last week... On top of all that I interviewed the director and producer of THE CHUMSCRUBBER, a flick that I adored. That last one is a long one, but a great insight into the filmmakers of that flick. So, you have all that and more to look forward to in the weeks ahead. 'Til then this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
