Hello ladies and gentlemen, your pal Muldoon here with a fun and fast Q&A style chat with director Neil Marshall. I was first introduced to his energetic storytelling through DOG SOLDIERS on DVD in a dorm room around 2005. That film knocked me square on my ass and almost prepared me for THE DESCENT, another stellar horror film that felt fresh. I'll admit I've yet to see DOOMSDAY, so I won't pretend to call Mr. Marshall "one of my favorite directors out there." (That'd be dancing with hyperbole). What I can say is the man is a damn talented individual with a solid track record, so when I saw his name attached to TALES OF HALLOWEEN, my curiosity took over and I hunted him down for a quick one on one chat about the film, his process, and Halloween in general. Fortunately the seas parted and I was granted roughly ten minutes of his time, so what follows is a densely packed back and forth with the director that I hope you folks find interesting. Before we jump on in, I'd like to thank Mr. Marshall for his time and Wan PR for dealing with my incessant email requests. So let's jump on in!
First things first, what brought you into this project? How did you decide to join up with this team of creatives?
Aside from being married to its creator? [Laughs] I just love Halloween. The thing is, it’s made by like a bunch of friends. We all know each other. We all work together all of the time. It was Axelle [Carolyn] who kind of brought us together in terms of the film with a “Hey, let’s all make an anthology movie together.” I don’t know if it was taken for granted that I would do it, but I was certainly like “Yeah, I want to be a part of that.” I wanted to help out and be there, plus the whole Halloween theme is my favorite season, too. I think at the end of the day they couldn’t have made it without me, as I had to be involved.
That makes sense. So how did you land Joe Dante in your short? He’s a legend.
I’ve known Joe for a few years now and I can’t remember how we first met. It must have been a film festival or… I think it was the MASTERS OF HORROR dinner or something like that. It might have been through our mutual friend Mick Garris who introduced us, and we’ve since become good friends. So when I came up with this idea of a mad scientist, which in some ways is a big homage to GREMLINS anyway, I was like “It has to be Joe. He has to be the mad scientist.” He said yes. He agreed to it, which was awesome.
Given how ripe the film is with the spirit of Halloween, can you share with us what your most outrageous past Halloween costume was? Be it silly, stupid, or gruesome?
Last year I went to a Halloween party disguised as Frank Darabont.
That’s an interesting choice.
[Laughs] It didn’t take much of a disguise as we kind of have the same beard and it was something that Axelle pointed out to me the first time we ever met. Frank was like “Hey, it’s like twins.” So I thought “I’ll just go for it.” So I put on a Hawaiian shirt, glasses, and looked like Frank Darabont. I wouldn’t do him the disservice of saying it was a particularly good rendition though.
You’re all over the place. I mean you’ve established yourself as a true talent and it seems like you’re involved in so many projects at a given time, so what’s a typical day look like for you when you’re not in production on a project? How often to do you write?
Yeah, I don’t write nearly as often as I should. I really want to do more writing, but I always get distracted by something, so a typical day is like… The bulk of my day consists of trying to get the next thing made. I’m trying to create the next thing with meetings or talking with my business partner trying to figure out “what is the next thing going to be?” I should be taking more time to write. That’s what I should be doing.
Speaking of “the next thing,” are there any passion projects of yours in particular that you’re trying to get made?
Yes, I have a horror script that I’m trying to get made at the moment. I’ve been trying to get it made for a couple of years now. It’s the first original horror script I’ve written since THE DESCENT and it’s taken that long to come up with an idea that really bugged me and so I’m very, very proud of it, but it’s not easy to get made. Fingers crossed we can get it made next January or February, but we will see.
Curious, again with the random questions here, but what directors out there now do you keep an eye on, just as a fan. I know at your core you're a film fan yourself, but with specifics - who do you tend to get excited about?
Well there are certain directors that I like where I absolutely have to go and check their films out. Certainly Ridley Scott, absolutely. I love to go and see his stuff. I don’t always like it, but I’ll always go see it. Certainly Chris Nolan. I mean whatever he’s doing as he brings a really cinematic experience to everything. There’s also Brad Bird; I think he does great work. Chris McQuarrie, I’ve loved his movies these past couple of years. These are the people who’s work I’ll always check out. Tarantino obviously. These people make things that you’re unlikely to walk out of disappointed.
Right. So to tie this all back to the film at hand, other than yours obviously, which of the stories were you most surprised by?
Well the thing is we all worked very, very closely on the development of the stories, so there weren’t that many surprises. We all new knew what eachother was doing all along. I’m incredibly pleased with the way that Axelle’s film GRIMM GRINNING GHOST came out and getting that awesome shock at the end is fantastic. Dave Parker’s [SWEET TOOTH] as well… I thought it was a lovely idea. Mike’s [Mendez] film was so much fun. We were all either helping each other with scripts or while we were shooting we were all on each other’s sets trying to help out that way. It was such a great communal thing.
Well Mr. Marshall, I appreciate you taking the time, sir. I don’t want to eat up any more of it. I loved the film and especially love the ending. [Laughs]
[Laughs] Thank you.
You have a great rest of your day, sir.
All right, you too.
There we have it folks, a little dip into the mind of Mr. Frank Darabont. I mean Mr. Neil Marshall... I can't shake the idea of Marshall at a party dressed as and possibly acting like Frank Darabont. As you can see, Mr. Marshall was more than kind with his answers to my non-conversation style approach of chatting. I appreciate his time and can't stress enough how I think TALES OF HALLOWEEN is a perfect horror pill to jumpstart your Halloween metabolism this season. I'll be posting my review of the anthology soon, but know this: it's fast, fun, and will absolutely help bring the spirit of Halloween into your home. TALES OF HALLOWEEN hits VOD on October 16th, that's this Friday!
- Mike McCutchen
"Muldoon"
Mike@aintitcool.com
