Now, Eli Roth has donned his producer hat to bring usThe Last Exorcism.
(Hint: you dont.)
How did the film come about?
The script came to you first, Eli, is that right?
Eli Roth:Well, actually it was producer Eric Newman who had the idea years ago.
He wanted to do this documentary of an exorcism gone wrong.
He developed the script at Strike Entertainment and Eric and I started a company called Arcade and we thought …
Studio Canal had said if I was involved in the film, they would finance it.
I thought it was so smart and Ive always wanted to be involved in an exorcism movie.
But I thought, How do you make something scarier thanThe Exorcist?
The answer is you dont.
But that doesnt mean you cant make something that is original and interesting.
So, I just thought it was such a great project.
I was so excited to get involved.
And, originally, the writers were actually attached to direct it.
And they loved the film and they wanted exactly that style just for a horror movie.
I think that very much is what got me on the film.
Or I want to help get this made?
You know, I really wanted to branch out as a producer.
But, I was actually excited to do this as a producer.
The script was so compelling and it really, really kept me guessing.
And what I loved about it was, at its core, it was a great psychological thriller.
It was very different fromHostel.
You know, it was not a gory movie.
But, at the time, I was onBasterdsand it just wasnt reasonable.
And I actually said, No, I dont.
This is actually a test of me as a producer.
He is just an amazing talent.
So, I knew it was going to be hard to find that character.
He has that mask, that professional mask.
DS:I dont know about other horror films.
Everyone has their chemistry.
And humour is a great way to draw people over to your side.
If we were watching him trick a family, you wouldnt enjoy it.
You really get caught up in it.
Theres a character who represents them, which is the guy who is holding the camera.
So, they are vulnerable to attacks from outside of the frame.
We are taking our time to jack that up.
But they do let their guard down.
The audience trusts the director.
They start to dread what theyre going to see next, actually by delaying them, by teasing them.
They really do start to dread whats coming around the corner.
DS:Its all steeped in the character.
We are in control.
We have the feeling we are filled in on all the details.
You know, there is nothing scary about the first exorcism.
It is not supposed to be scary
But the second exorcism is the complete opposite.
Cotton has completely lost control, the audience has no idea whats going on.
So, it just comes from a completely different place psychologically.
So, it was never a discussion of which gimmicks do we invent.
Because the second exorcism is completely the opposite.
There are no gimmicks.
There was just Ashley Bell [the actress] and that is all it needed.
We didnt need demonic voices or stuff flying around or anything like that.
But whos to say any of that happens in an exorcism?
Thats just stuff fromThe Exorcist.
There are no voices.
It shouldnt be the windows blowing open and the wind coming in.
Hes never seen it.
Its actually … its the sparseness of that second exorcism that truly makes it feel like shes really possessed.
How does it work with the actors?
Were you trying to make it as real as possible for the actors?
Because their characters have the same first names as they do.
And that was exactly the idea with the names.
So, that was really important.
And we did do a lot of preparations like that.
There was a lot of that going on.
Eli Roth and Daniel Stamm, thank you very much.
The Last Exorcism is released on 3rd September and you canread our review here.
