Plus, this is also Meat Loafs first movie musical sinceRocky Horror Picture Show…

When did you first realize you wanted to combine a slasher movie with a musical?

Jerome Sable:A long time ago, now.

JS:And we high-fived and said, Lets do a horror musical.

That was our first sort of foray into the combo.

The short was well received, and we enjoyed the way people [liked it].

So we said, Lets give a shot to do a feature.

But not of that short.

Just another thing, a longer thing that combined these elements.

So when you made this short did you know it was a steppingstone to a feature film?

JS:We were hoping that it would be.

Not in the way of these characters and that story, because its totally different.

EB:It was like a proof of concept for others, but then also to ourselves.

But for ourselves, we wanted to test this out in the form of a short film.

Ive seen the short film, and I enjoyed it, but it is very different.

It was more of a Freddy Kruger killer than a Jason Voorhees.

Was there a reason for that change for the feature?

JS:Well, it wasnt like a change; these were two different things from a storytelling perspective.

It was what we sort of thought would give us a more feature-length playground.

Although, maybe we should?

Maybe later this afternoon?

JS:Yeah, thats the fun thing.

He wanted to talk character and he wanted to talk about Roger McCall the character.

That was really his approach to the material.

He doesnt see them as lyrics, he doesnt see them as musical notes.

He sees them as emotions that need to be uttered at this time and in this way.

Thats his starting point, and that is his process.

Thats how he works, even musically.

Did he ever talk about parallel between doing this andRocky Horror.

Did you ever have that discussion with him?

No, it never came up.

He just liked the character of Roger McCall and wanted to do that.

EB:Its interesting, because we love musicals, but we dont necessarily loveallmusicals.

I wouldnt describe us as Broadway fanboys.

Actually, theres probably a lot of stuff on Broadway that we violently detest.

[Laughs] But theres a bunch of stuff.

We were just talking a little earlier about Lionel Bart.

I felt the whole thing had a very obvious nostalgia for the 1980s.

I bring that up to ask do you have a love/hate relationship with some of this genre?

Because you say Led Zeppelin, and I hear Van Halen in Metal Killer.

People who listen to Van Halen probably did not like Andrew Lloyd Webber in the 1980s.

JS:Yeah, it is love/hate.

Its like our love letter and its also like hate mail.

So, its our love/hate mail to musical theatre.

And oozing with this sort ofred rose[imagery].

And I think hed admit thats exactly what he did.

Hes like lets just make it more romantic.Sure Andrew, we can do that.

So, hes done that, and then we said, Okay.

EB:I guess a lot of people have done that story.

JS:Yeah, even Dario Argento did one.

Even Freddy Kruger himself, the actor Robert Englund, was in a weird version ofPhantom of the Opera.

To transition a little to the slasher movies, which slasher movies really influenced this?

For example, I think you used a lot of in-camera effects for the gore.

Its cool to mix high-class theatre and opera with low-class slashing.

Was it hard to get them to sing or lip-synch with all the fake blood splattering around?

JS:They were really singing!

We did all live-singing.

That was another thing that was tricky to do in-camera singing and in-camera effects.

There was stuff that could go wrong, and it was a complicated shoot, to say the least.

Why did you approach it with live-singing as opposed to pre-recorded music?

JS:Same reason as the gore.

The results that you get have a certain grit and texture, whether its live-singing or in-camera gore.

We talk about the splatter.

With CG blood splatter, the gravity just never quite looks or feels the same.

It is the same with singing.

Thats the result part of things.

It just brings more out of the people then and there.

JS:Imagine this whole interview was lip-synched, and we werent saying what were saying.

EB:But were still saying these things, but its pre-recorded.

That would be weird.

Were you on-set during the production or were you helping the actors through the music during shooting?

EB:Yes, its interesting.

Its a different process from aMumblecoremovie, for example.

We spent a lot of time actually schooling the talent in this.

So, it was a funny pre-production where we were both building rigs and building jigs!

[Laughs]

EB:But yeah, to your point, that was happening before.

It wasnt like there was one event going on.

B-unit was also going on in the camp, and there were rehearsals going on as well.

Could you talk about how you cast her and what you were looking for in that role?

And were like, Wow, this is the pick of the litter and very talented!

And I was like, Well, that make sense.

We felt that on this unconscious level.

EB:And the other cast members actually really were Broadway.

JS:Insiders, yeah.

So, it was kind of nice like that.

I have to ask about Minnie Driver.

So, we could appeal to her on that level.

And I was like really?

EB: Are you sure?

[Laughs]

JS:I was like dont mess this up!

And she was awesome.

Also, heres the funny thing about Minnie.

I dont think shes ever necessarily done a horror movie before or even watched one.

It was too violent and too brutal.

Do you view this as more of a horror movie or more as a satire?

JS:Isnt all horror satire, somewhat?

Thats a good answer.

Do you guys have a musical you want to do next?

Like a superhero musical, a sci-fi musical?

Any other genre bending?

JS:The answer is yes!

Its deep within us…But no, thats a great idea.

Were going to steal it, thank you!

[Laughs]

Thank you for doing this.

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