Late Night Classics – The Night Flier

I’ll let Jack Crow (James Woods) from John Carpenter’s Vampires lead us into this week’s retrospective: “Well first of all, they’re not romantic. It’s not like they’re a bunch of fuckin’ fags hoppin’ around in rented formal wear and seducing everybody in sight with cheesy Euro-trash accents, all right? Forget whatever you’ve seen in the movies: they don’t turn into bats, crosses don’t work. Garlic? You wanna try garlic? You could stand there with garlic around your neck and one of these buggers will bend you fucking over and take a walk up your strada-chocolata WHILE he’s suckin’ the blood outta your neck, all right? And they don’t sleep in coffins lined in taffeta. You wanna kill one, you drive a wooden stake right through his fuckin’ heart. Sunlight turns ‘em into crispy critters.”

Jason Bene: Stephen King was a big admirer of your short film Drag. How did he communicate with you about his love for the project? And how did this lead to working with producer Richard P. Rubinstein on The Night Flier?

Mark Pavia: It was soon after finishing film school at Columbia College in Chicago when I decided I wanted to make a showcase film to help get my foot into the business, into Hollywood, you know… help launch my career. Of course, I knew nothing about the inner workings of the industry at that time being from the mid-west and all, but I WAS aware that several directors that I admired had gotten their break in this manner, including Steven Spielberg with his short Amblin. So, with that in mind, I sat down and wrote a pretty ambitious zombie script (about 30 pages in length) and started gathering all my friends who I had gone to school with to help me make it, including DP Mauro Fiore (who won an Oscar for Avatar last year). We shot on 16mm film, cut on a flatbed, and did all the sound work on mag. This was the real deal, man. We had very little money, but had more than enough support and willpower to see it through, and a year later Drag was completed.

After the local premiere, I started sending out the short to the studios in Hollywood (which, I’m sure, they threw right into the trash can next to their desks) and to individuals that I admired in the industry, one of which was Richard Rubinstein in NYC, who had produced all of the classic George Romero films. And as a last second thought, I also sent a copy to Stephen King — right to his house in Maine — because I was and still am a huge fan of his. All my friends thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care and just sent it. Little did I know that Richard and Stephen were working together on a miniseries at the time, and one day during a casual conversation, Stephen brought up this cool little zombie flick he just got in the mail and watched the night before called Drag, and how much he really enjoyed it. Richard was like, “I got that film, too!  Yeah, it’s really cool!” So together, based on what they saw in the short, they agreed that I might be the right guy to bring in to discuss a vampire film they had in development for quite some time — The Night Flier.

A few days later, Richard called and told me that he and Stephen had watched the film, loved it, and wanted me to come to New York to discuss how I might bring The Night Flier to the screen. Naturally, I was stunned, and after picking my jaw up from the floor, agreed, yes, that would be great! Two weeks later, I flew there with my writing partner at the time Jack O’Donnell, and pitched to Stephen King, Richard Rubinstein, Mitchell Galin and their story editor Neal Stevens how I would make the film for them. I was petrified but absolutely pumped! I went through every scene in the film, which Jack and I had worked out on little index cards in advance. I performed and did dialogue and told them about the shots I had planned, the atmosphere I wanted to create, all of this happening as a Christopher Young CD I brought along played in the background. It was pretty crazy sitting directly across from Stephen King, telling him how I was going change and adapt his story, but he loved it — smiling and laughing, banging the table with excitement! One of the greatest thrills in my professional life was Stephen King looking at me with a big grin on his face, saying, ” I should have thought of that!” Two weeks later I was hired to write and direct Stephen King’s The Night Flier. And that’s how it all happened.

Jason Bene: The Night Flier tweaks the vampire mythos and instead of having the vampire (Dwight Renfield) fly like a bat, he stakes out abandoned airfields and flies a Cessna aircraft. I really enjoyed that reinvention.

Mark Pavia: Well, that’s classic King. The Night Flier was a short story that first appeared in an amazing anthology called Prime Evil way back in 1988, and all of that stuff was already in there. Now, my primary job as the director of the film — at least the way I saw it — was to protect and preserve everything that was already great about Stephen’s story, to bring it to the screen faithfully and to try and capture not only his unique story but also his unique FEEL. Frankly, I’ve never understood why so many writers and filmmakers bring it upon themselves to change the original material so much. This is Stephen King we are talking about here. When it comes to horror, I think he knows what he’s doing. Of course, I had to expand the story some, but every scene from his original story is in the final film. The two biggest changes that  Jack and I brought to it was the introduction of a rival female reporter (Katherine Blair played by Julie Entwisle) and the nightmarish ending at the Wilmington airport where Dees faces his past, all leading to the final twist that wraps it all up. And as far as the actual plane is concerned, we found an amazing one — a black Cessna Skymaster — which, if a vampire was going to fly around in an airplane in the dead of night, that would be his ride, no doubt.

Jason Bene: Before creatures of the night got all sparkly and emo, they were vicious motherfuckers. Dwight is the real deal, and even urinates blood! KNB was behind your make-up effects. They really pulled off some splashy and visceral violence for you. What did you have in mind for Renfield’s look?

Mark Pavia: I wanted him to be a monster, a creature, almost a demon –  but also someone who was aware of WHAT he was, too… the human side of him trying to have some fun with the fact he was indeed a vampire, probably in an attempt to try and balance the utter misery of having that type of dark and lonely existence. And that is what was really fun about the character — the fact that he was a MOVIE fan as well, hence his name, Dwight Renfield. “Dwight” being the first name of Dwight Frye, the actor who played “Renfield” in the 1931 movie version of Dracula. Not only his name, but the character also adopted the VISAGE as well,  the classic Bela Lugosi LOOK of a vampire. The cape, the tux, even down to the broach! Fun stuff, indeed. And when it came to who would handle the effects for the film… well, I went straight to KNB because I was a huge fan, and to my joy, they jumped right on. The design of Dwight’s look began with me doing a drawing of what I thought he should look like, and sending that to them. Then Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger had their team make up some clay busts for me to see. I went through each maquette, choosing what I liked, discarding what I didn’t, and we ended up with the creature you see in the finished film, a scary beast with a sort of bat-like face. And one other thing I wanted was for Dwight to have the ability to EXTEND his jaw when he bites, and instead of the two basic fangs we see in most vampire films, he would have two massive teeth — one in the upper row, one in the lower. The moment that happens in the film, when he finally reveals his face to Dees, KNB created an amazing puppet bust of Dwight that they controlled off screen with multiple puppeteers. That was amazingly fun to shoot, and one of my favorite days of the entire shoot.

Jason Bene: Ever since I saw him in Robocop, I have been a big fan of actor Miguel Ferrer. He gives a commanding performance here, and by the end of the film, you genuinely begin to hate the dude. Great casting, Mark!

Mark Pavia: Miguel Ferrer was my first and only choice to play Richard Dees. Period. End of story. As we were writing it, I pictured him in the role already. So, you could say it was written specifically for him. After the script was finished, we got it to him through his agent. He read it, dug it, and said yes right away. He is a massive Stephen King fan as well, which made it a bit easier, and had just worked with Stephen and Richard on The Stand, too, so that also helped. Because it was my first feature, I had some people asking, “Aren’t you nervous to be working with him? He seems so INTENSE. Will you be able to handle it?” But I had no hesitation because he was perfect for the role and I wanted him. Those other types of worries never entered my mind. Look, I knew what I wanted and was very prepared on the film, story boarding every shot of every scene. And I shoot my boards, not just pretend I’m going to like some. Then, I actually gave a copy of my boards to Miguel so he knew what we were doing every day. He really loved that because he knew I had the visual aspect of the picture completely under control, so he could concentrate on his performance, which he hit out of the park. His character might be one of the biggest assholes in movie history, but the ACTOR is anything but. Miguel Ferrer is extremely kind, always prepared,  and an absolute blast to work with. The consummate professional. It was an honor to work with him.

Jason Bene: I read that many of the murder photos in the press office are real, including the one of the horribly mutilated prostitute. Is that true?

Mark Pavia: Yes, it is. And if you look closely, all of the headlines on the “Wall of Shame” in the offices of Inside View refer to other Stephen King stories, too. I thought that would be fun for the uber-fans.

Jason Bene: Richard Dees, the main character, was also the reporter who tried to get an interview with John Smith in the Stephen King novel The Dead Zone. I lenjoy learning of these kind of connections in novels and film.

Mark Pavia: That’s right, it’s amazing the way Stephen has created this unique universe for all of his characters, monsters and strange happenings to exist in. In the film, I have Derry, Maine (the fictitious, haunted town in many of King’s novels and films) mentioned for that exact reason. King fans really appreciate those kinds of nuggets.

Jason Bene: Nothing beats your black & white Night of the Living Dead homage where Richard Dees is haunted by the zombified nightmares from his tabloid past. That is one of the best scenes in any horror film from the 90′s.

Mark Pavia: Thank you so much. When we were writing the script, it came to the moment when Dwight Renfield finally confronts Richard Dees in the restroom of the airport after he pisses blood into the urinal. The classic scene and image from Stephen’s short story. So, again in Stephen’s original story, Dwight basically says stop following me and leaves, having proven that he is indeed real to Dees. Dees watches him fly away as the cops run in, and it’s over. Now, that’s a great ending for a short story, but there’s no way that’s going to fly as an ending to a film. So, I sat back and came up with the idea that Dees forces the vampire’s hand one final time, DEMANDING to see his face for his own ghoulish needs, which he and the viewers hadn’t seen up to that point. Dwight stops, turns, and slowly walks back to this man who won’t give up, and finally gives him what he wants, revealing himself. It’s a horrific moment. Then I took the idea even further by having Dwight cut himself and force Dees to drink his infected blood, which thrusts him into a hallucinatory world where the victims of the airport slaughter as well as victims from Dees’ past rise and attack him in the same manner in which he had done to them. See, it all comes full circle. I mean, if you want to dance with the Devil, you’re going to have to pay the price eventually. And the reason I did it in black & white was to make it appear as if he was entering one of his own black & white photos that we had been seeing throughout the film. Plus, it was a great way to emphasize the spooky mood, with all of that rolling fog and the glowing eyes of the approaching vampires. I felt it was a fitting and inevitable end to this character and his dark journey. And the VERY ending of the film involving Katherine Blair and what she does to Dees drives that point home even more.

Jason Bene: According to the internet, The Night Flier opened on only 95 screens. It is too bad that New Line Cinema didn’t have more faith in the flick. I believe since then it has gained a cult following, and is considered one of the better King adaptions.

Mark Pavia: The Night Flier was a real indie, completely financed by investors here and abroad, which Richard Rubinstein pulled together and orchestrated extremely well. When I finished the film, it was shopped all over Hollywood, to every major studio, and Paramount bit. They wanted it. But the catch was, the film would have to wait until the following year to be released because the studio had no available slots in their schedule. Richard had a responsibility to his investors and felt we couldn’t wait that long, so he made a deal with HBO instead, who aired it as a premiere movie. New Line saw it on HBO and agreed to release it theatrically in a limited release — basically wide in most major cities. But there wasn’t much of a push behind the marketing of the film, and it faded pretty quickly. That was pretty disappointing because we all worked so hard on it and felt we had a pretty good film, especially one which the horror fans would appreciate, yet no one even knew it was out there. Overseas, it did pretty well. Especially in Italy and Japan. But in the States, nothing. Thankfully, when it hit home video, people finally began discovering and embracing it, and over the years The Night Flier has built up a solid fan base all around the world for which I am extremely grateful. Like Dwight Renfield, it refuses to die.