Interview: Director Fred Andrews talks about his monster flick Creature
Let’s face it horror fans: we want and rarely get classic rubber monster movies now days. CG has changed the game, but for the better? Occasionally, we get some glimmer of hope in films like Dylan Dog: Dead of Night and Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, and maybe in the upcoming prequel The Thing, but our wishes will soon be granted by director Fred Andrews in his debut, Creature.
In the back country of Louisiana, a group of friends unearth a terrible secret that unleashes a monster from the depths of the swamp.
Starring Sig Haig (The Devil’s Rejects), Daniel Bernhardt (Bloodsport 2), Serinda Swan, Mehcad Brooks, and Rebekah Kennedy (Season of the Witch), Creature is arriving in theaters soon, and Killer Film catches up with director Fred Andrews for a chat about the film, the monster, and making an icon.
Jon: In 2009, you started working on a graphic novel called Blood is Blood, but that morphed into the screenplay now called Creature. How did this switch in mediums happen?
Fred Andrews: There’s a little bit of a correction there. On Lockjaw, a screenplay written by Tracey Morse, I received it while I was working on Blood is Blood as a graphic novel. When I met a friend of mine to talk about the graphic novel, he thought it would be better as a film, than a comic. So I ended up writing the script for what would be Creature based on that script and the novel, met some producers, and was very fortunate to have this happen.
Jon: While I’m sure those titles weren’t set in stone, how did it go from Blood is Blood to Lockjaw, to what you settled on, Creature?
Fred Andrews: That was actually [producer] Sid Sheinberg’s idea. When I started working on the script, it was Lockjaw still, and he really wanted to hammer home what the film was, and while Lockjaw was a great title, he wanted to lock it in with one word. But with Lockjaw, most people think of tendinitis (laughs). He said, ‘Look. You got this iconic monster here and let’s make people know we are not messing around, let’s tell them directly what it’s about.’ Lockjaw is an essential character to the story, and I thought it was a great decision too. It stuck pretty well.
Jon: From the official stills I’ve seen, Lockjaw looks like a kissing cousin to The Creature from the Black Lagoon and Batman’s villain, the Killer Croc. Talk about the inspirations and how did you settle on the final design?
Fred Andrews: Absolutely. There’s a little homage to the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but early on, I had these sketches and models that were a little more human at that time. Sid and I spent probably months going back and forth on how we wanted to express this character, starting off my original designs. It started out with him being much, much more human, then a four-legged alligator thing that I, of course, didn’t like too much. We finally got it to this hybrid thing, alligator/man, but not like the 1959 monster movie with Lon Chaney in Alligator People, where it’s a gator head on a man.
The FX artist Jerry Constantine, who we’ve been friends for a long time and was around at its genesis in 2002, he really brought my drawings out in 3D when he started sculpting Lockjaw. He brought a lot to the table. It was a long process, but we finally got that design that had this bestial quality to it, but also maintains the humanity of the character, which was important.
Jon: I’m sure most horror fans, myself included, are thankful Lockjaw isn’t CGI, but a full-body suit character. But was there any discussions to CG?
Fred Andrews: To be really honest with you, there was a very brief discussions. We talked about it for five minutes, where Lockjaw had a tail and was going to use it in a fight. We talked about how to do it practically or in CG, but came to an agreement rather quickly that it’s better served not to be CG. Obviously, there was budget constraints, but for me, I’m a die-hard monster fan and as you will see – I can’t wait for you to see this by the way – it goes back to those Universal monster movies, Frankenstein and Creature from the Black Lagoon of course, and these characters had the actor dealing with the other actors. They play off of each other, and that’s really important to maintain the human quality. That’s what really lasts. A total CG character, and while I’m not against it, because CG is improving greatly, it just doesn’t quite get that humanity as like when you have someone there on-set.
Plus, I was concerned with dating the film. I didn’t want people to go back and think, ‘Oh, God that’s a 1970s movie or Oh, God that’s a 2000s movie.’ I specifically left out cell phones and cameras, I mixed up the decades in the cars and clothes, so it has this timeless type of story. I want this to stand the test of time, like Ridley Scott’s Alien, because he created this world that will never date.
Jon: Some keen action fans will recognize Daniel Bernhardt’s name from the Bloodsport sequels, so how did you cast him as Lockjaw?
Fred Andrews: Oh man, I lucked out with Daniel. I basically got him through my producer calling his manager or agent, and after I spoke to him about the film, we met. I sold him on the character, the back story, stemming from the unfinished graphic novel. The film touches on the back story, but since I had been working on it for years, I knew more than we would ever film. We hit it off immediately. I asked Daniel, if he wanted to be a legend, and that was what sparked his interest in Lockjaw.
He saw what we were doing with the film, the character, and really took to it. Daniel is a handsome guy, a former model, a martial arts action-star, and for him to be in make-up for nearly 14 hours a day was amazing. He gave it everything. Even when he wasn’t on the call-sheet, he was there just in case. He was pretty fantastic we found him.
Jon: The character of Chopper immediately has menace and weight, since he’s played by Sid Haig. How did you get Sid involved?
Fred Andrews: That was a dream come true. When I wrote the shooting script, I had no one else in mind, it was always Sid Haig. He read the script, liked it a lot, since it wasn’t a typical type of horror movie. He gave it everything, a fantastic actor. I was very lucky getting him in my first film.
Jon: Finally, I’m not going to begin to understand movie distribution these days, but it’s pretty cool that an old school creature feature is coming to theaters. Can you talk about this journey from filming in the bayous of Louisiana to the big screen?
Fred Andrews: You know, I look at this movie as the Little Engine That Could. We worked hard, and it’s a small film, but there’s nothing small about it. It comes down to story, which this isn’t your typical monster movie that goes straight-to-DVD, and with the style and look, people responded well to it. Again, I know how fortunate I am, my producers were so behind this project, and casting Sid Haig, a Hollywood icon, got people excited to see this, more so than it normally would. It was a great stroke of luck, but with a lot of work behind it, pushing and pushing to get this out there. I’m really excited. We going to be all over the place, nation-wide.
There’s a lot of good movies being made that just get buried in the heap of the DTV world, and hopefully this can help other film-makers out there, give them a chance like we had. The guys who did Insidious took a small film and did a bang up job getting it out there and seen. Paranormal Activity, as well. It’s a little bit of luck and a whole lot of work. I’m excited for people to go out there and see it. There’s no CG in this film; a southern Gothic parable. The story has this quality that makes you want to see this more than once, which might be part of its charm.
Find out more about the film on its official website and on Facebook. Creature is in theaters nationwide September 9th.
No Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks