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BY PHILLIP NAKOV |
Set high atop the Los Angeles skyline with a view that reminds one
of the size of this city of angels, the Mondrian hotel on Sunset is a
beacon
to both stars
and their admirers. This hotel is outfitted predominantly in white, with
rooms adorned with white carpet, white linens on the beds and white drapes
fluttering in the wind against an azure blue sky. Everything has crispness
to it and the clean, minimalist lines cant help but make you feel just a
little out of place in your dark blue jeans and black shirt. The whiteness
of the hotel and its furnishings are in stark contrast to the posters and
press materials posted about the eleventh floor hospitality suite for the
film "The House of 1,000 Corpses", directed by first-time helmer
Rob Zombie, the man I am here to meet.
Seated in a nice size hotel mini-suite complete with a kitchenette,
bedroom area and separate sitting area, I could not help but think of
which stars had slept in this very room and eaten late night snacks watching
the now dark TV in the corner. As I take notice of my ever white surroundings,
a tall man dressed in black jeans and a black short sleeve Girl Vampire
t-shirt walks in and is introduced as: Rob Zombie. He settles in at the
table he pours himself a tall glass of some imported sparkling mineral
water and smiles. His arms are covered with colorful and intricate tattoo
art, his jet black hair is pulled back behind his ears mashed together
in what seems to be dreadlocks gone awry. Seated in front of me is the
man known for his dark rebellious sound, for his extreme visual style
in the videos he has directed, but most of all Rob Zombie is a man whose
reputation precedes him. Before you know it, Rob starts us off!
Rob: So let's get to the issues...
CountingDown (CD): How hard was it making a movie that would please
the crowd that would like this type of film, but also please the studio
and be able to make some money?
Rob: I don't know yet and we will have that answer soon. When the movie
comes out, the process to try and do it was ridiculous, cause the two
things are completely opposite. The one thing is making a crazy movie
with no rules, and one thing is making a movie that is nothing but rules
and the hardest part of the making this movie was that every day there
was like this [table] except the table was ten feet long, and there were
25 people seated across it and everyone was weighing in with their opinion
and none of the opinions ever matched; but in a way it got done somehow
by basically ignoring what they had to say and doing what ever you want.
Then every once in a while they would show up on set and say, This isn't
in the script, what are you doing? You cant' shoot this. What are you
doing? And ask what are you doing? Everyone wants to have an opinion
but no one wants to have too strong of an opinion, because no one wants
to make a definitive decision, for fear that decision would come back
to them, Well you are the guy that said to change the ending that did
not test well, so they all weigh in but don't weigh in. Its weird. (They
meaning Universal) By the time we got to MGM, and Lions Gate the
movie was done there was nothing else to say. It was done. Just as at
Universal, it was art by committee.
CD: SO when the film comes out on DVD/ Home video, we will see the
un-rated version right?
Rob: Right, yeah!
CD: More explicit and more nudity?
Rob: Not really more nudity, just a lot more violence. There was never
really a lot of nudity to begin with. It's really funny. We had 25 days
to shoot the film and no money and they wanted me to shoot every scene
two ways. So essentially they wanted me to film two movies at the same
time. Id film the bloody one ... then they would say Why don't you
film the non-bloody one. I didn't have time to film the bloody one!
CD: Prepping for this film with your make up crew and the art directors
that you chose, what did you say to them in terms of what you wanted
this film to look like?
Rob: I wanted it to be it's own movie for sure, of course, but I wanted
it to have, this weird look. I wanted it to be like a high quality, drive-in
movie. I never wanted it to be too slick but I never wanted it, to like,
I never wanted the budget to show. We had a decent budget, never maybe
not enough for some of the things we wanted to do but I never wanted
it to show. So I always wanted to keep it rough. I think that the production
team pretty much accomplished that.
CD: What did the budget end up being?
Rob: Well, thats kind of mystery... the accounting procedures are a
little suspicious... I think it's five to six (million)... They say it's
11... but I don't remember having 11 million dollars at any point in
the bank. But they figure everything into the budget. That's why the
test screenings drove me crazy. Every test screening would cost them
like 100 grand. And I'm like can't we use the 100 grand in the movie?
You know?
CD: Are you happy with this cut?
Rob: Yeah. You know... the only person I really had to please after
a point was the MPAA. Because Lions' Gate was like, hey, what ever you
can get away with is fine, we don't care. It's was like fighting with
the MPAA... to me it was like this is an R easy... but it was NC 17 over
and over and even with this cut they were like you are right on the
edge buddy one more thing and it's NC-17. But they don't tell you specifically
what it is they suggest... they play a game... if you don't cut enough
they think you are f'ing with them, but you don't want to cut too much
where you are over editing so it looks like you are trying to please
them, you never know. They play this weird game.
CD: Why is the movie set in 1977?
Rob: I like 1977 because it is more primitive. If it were modern
day, like one Universal guy was like wouldn't they just use their cell
phone? I guess he did not read that it was 1977 in the script. And I
was like yeah that's my point. Everyone would have a cell phone if it
were today... those days if you drove cross country and you broke down
on the side of the road, and the sign says 200 miles to the next gas
station, you knew you were so screwed. One of my other things was I knew
that the trend was jamming the movie full with current music- something
that I didn't want to do... I knew if I set it in 1977 they can't force me
to like you know, have a Brittany song playing, which would just not
makes sense. I mean hopefully they would go for that idea. That was one
of the reasons. I wanted the music to be sort of more hick music.
CD: When you talk about getting the R rating. Was it important to
you or to Universal or MGM or Lions Gate?
Rob: It was everybody. I had signed the contract originally to deliver
an R rated picture. Because they do not release NC-17 movies, they [Universal]
just don't do it. And I don't think MGM does either. And, with Lions
Gate they said they couldnt do anything with an NC-17 movie. NC-17 means
that you get it in like 3 theaters. They won't run the spots on MTV,
wont run the advertising. It's the kiss of death so there was really
no other choice.
CD: Why do you think people enjoy being scared so much? What is the
attraction?
Rob: I guess it's like anything else. I guess it's a stock answer its
like a roller coaster. I mean for real horror fans, they love it and
are obsessed with it. They just like the thrill of it... I don't know-
I think it is good escapist entertainment even though it's bad. And for
some reason, horror movies they seem like good date movies. When you
go to them it's all high school kids, all over each other, running up
and down the isles, no one is even looking at the screen anyways, they
figure they don't have to pay attention to the story anyways. We scream
and yell... it's like mayhem. I remember, especially like when I was
in high school, going to see like Dawn of the Dead and it was like
mayhem in the theater and you could barely even watch the movie. It was
so fun.
CD: So is there anything in the movie that you brought in from your
child hood that you were scared of as a child or that you are scared
of still now?
Rob: No, not really. I don't really have any fears or phobias that are
in this movie. Most of it comes really from my childhood, cause one of
the business that my family was in was like carnivals and my grand parents
too. They were all carnies and I sort of grew up in that world so it's
like more where that all came from. Which is a really, like, you know
funny world cause it's totally is like all half like fake and filthy
happy on the outside cause you look at all the people who are like working.
But behind the scenes its all nasty. (Laughs)
CD: Was it awkward making the transition to feature film director?
ROB: It wasn't awkward... I mean I had shot a lot of videos... which
in some sense is helpful, but it's a whole 'nother bag. Obviously. That's
why I tried to do a lot of preparation with the actors in advance because
that was going to be the really different thing that I had not experienced
before. So I rehearsed with them a lot and hung out with them a lot,
so it wasn't like the first day I am like 'hi, sir...' The hardest part
was convincing people that I was serious. The people were like 'you want
to do this again'? Like it was some one-time-funny thing I wanted to
try this...
CD: Are you planning another movie?
Rob: Yeah, I wrote a script, which is not a horror movie. But all the
opportunities that have been arising have been to make other horror movies so well
see what happens next.
CD: How did you convince people that you were the guy to be able
to make this movie?
Rob: I am not really sure Its really weird how this movie got made.
It got made pretty easily and I not really I dont know I dont know
if it was the script or the videos or me they were all gung-ho to do
it I dont know if they thought- the people at Universal- who knows
what was going on in movies three years ago- I dont know if they thought
they were getting some Freddie franchise they could deal off or like
some sort of Scream or team thing they could deal off of but they were
all gung-ho.
CD: Youve built quite an image for yourself over the years, through
all of your works, is there anything that you think that you could
share with our readers, that would possibly surprise our readers, something
that they dont know about you?
Rob: Nothing thats like that extreme that I never really try to concoct
an image that is anything other than me that would be too much work probably
the biggest thing that surprises people is that I am obsessed with hockey.
I grew up in the Boston area so I am obsessed with hockey since I was
a little kid.
CD: So you go to the local LA games?
Rob: Oh yes, every single game! I am like the Jack Nicholson of the
Kings- every single game. If there was a game tonight I wouldnt be here.
I used to play hockey. That was my original thing My first thing, I
wanted to play professional hockey.
CD: Who or what inspires Rob Zombie today?
Rob: I always get inspired by the same stuff theyll be rerecords or
movies that I have not seen in a while and theyll get me excited as
a kid like for music nothing new, like I dont care Ill be watching
MTV or something I feel totally disconnected from it like it doesnt
even matter to me- but then Ill go back and find some weird boot leg
tape from some live Alice Cooper show and from 1975 and Ill be like
this is why I wanted to do this and its like that with movies, Ill
go back and watch like Taxi Driver or something and youll get that same
thrill that you had as kid like thats why you were so attracted to it.
Thanks Rob for your time and all the best of luck with finally getting House
of 1,000 Corpses into theaters everywhere! Opens Friday, April 11, at
a house (or theater) near you. I bet about now you are just dying to
see it! |
