Jason Bene: The Ward is your first feature film since Ghosts of Mars. Why haven’t we seen you directing besides your two episodes of Masters of Horror (Cigarette Burns, Pro-Life)?  

John Carpenter: I just had to stop for a while. I just had to take a break. I found myself burnt out a little. I was tired of the business and I was tired of working. It didn’t help that Ghosts of Mars didn’t do very well at the box-office. I decided it’s time to sit down and relax for a while. I had a lot of basketball to watch.

Jason Bene: The timing was bad for Ghost of Mars because 9/11 happened a few weeks after its release. Fans need to remember that from Halloween to Ghosts of Mars, you didn’t take that much time off in between movies.

John Carpenter: You got it, my friend. You got it. It was just a necessity for my own life. I had to just stop for a while. I really had to stop.

Jason Bene: I have a two-month old daughter and it has put my future in perspective. What I do for a living is not my life.

John Carpenter: (Laughs) That’s true. That’s true. How is your two-month old daughter doing?

Jason Bene: She is doing great! She is almost twelve pounds. She is starting to sleep a little longer during the night. For a while she was getting up every two hours to eat and it was killing us. But you look at that face and it’s all worth it.

John Carpenter: I know. I know. They are cuties. Just wait until she gets to be a teenager. Just you wait. Your time is coming.

Jason Bene: Is it true that The Ward is the first film you haven’t shot in Panavision since Dark Star?

John Carpenter: I shot it widescreen and not Panavision. You are right. You are absolutely right. It was budget. I wasn’t really in control of that stuff. I had to meet a budget and had to do it. We shot widescreen, but it was not Panavision. It was interesting. It was real interesting to do opposed to Panavision, which I dearly love. Nothing looks as good as Panavision. Nothing does. No film looks any better. But that was not the way it was done in this film. So I just accepted it, like I accept everything else about life.

Jason Bene: You didn’t write or score the film. Did that give you breathing room so you could concentrate on your directorial duties?

John Carpenter: It’s all too hard. Man, oh, man. Mark Kilian is a very talented composer. He is really really talented guy. I thought we’ll make this guy do the work. He just did a tremendous job for me. I’ve kind of slowed down now. The Ward was a perfect movie to come back and do movies with. What I mean by that is, it was a low budget film with a small cast. It all took place in one area. It was confined spaces. And it had a small cast. It was right up my alley. I didn’t want to do anything bigger than that. Masters of Horror was a lot of fun to do. But they were a week’s work, where this is thirty days. It was a deal and a great time. I love my cast! I love each of them. What can I say? I’m in a mental institution with beautiful Hollywood actresses. Nothing is better. Nothing. It’s awesome! It was great. I had a great time.

Jason Bene: A lot of naysayers think Amber Heard is a pretty face and can’t act. Maybe this type of meaty role will prove them wrong.

John Carpenter: She’s got a lot of talent. She’s got a whole lot of talent. I think her time will come. You never know. Sometimes fate plays tricks on you, but I think she’s going to be fine. I really loved working with her.

Jason Bene: Getting back to the score. Did you consider having your son, Cody, do the composing?

John Carpenter: He was in Japan at the time. He was in Japan teaching. He’s back now, thank God. I thought, well, okay, I’ll work with somebody I haven’t worked with before. That will be interesting to do.

Jason Bene: I haven’t seen The Ward yet, but from the theatrical trailer the music had a very Argento feel to it.

John Carpenter: We discussed it. The director kind of guides the music like he does everything else. I did a little guidance here and there. Mark brought it. He was just fabulous. I loved working with him.

Jason Bene: This is your first period film since Christine. How did it feel to do a horror film set in the 60′s?

John Carpenter: It’s not that hard. I was there. I remember what it was like. It takes place in ’66. The reason we did that was because we had to choose a period of time when there was still involuntary incarceration in a mental institution. In other words, by 1966 you still could be put away for an extended period of time. But that all changed in the 70′s. It all changed. So that was the reason to do it then. It was great. We had a great time doing it. It was fun. The girls did a little dance for me one night. It was great fun, just great fun.

Jason Bene: For The Thing, the creatures were out in the open to be seen, whereas with In The Mouth of Madness, you kept them in the shadows. How did you approach them in The Ward?

John Carpenter: Just very briefly seen. Very briefly. Hidden is the wrong word. It was done not out in the open so much.

Jason Bene: Monster nerds like myself really love seeing the creatures.

John Carpenter: Me too! But it wasn’t that kind of film.

Jason Bene: The movie to me looks like Jacob’s Ladder meets One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. How would you describe it?

John Carpenter: (Laughs) It really is Shutter Island. That’s what it is. You’ll see. It’s an old school horror film, because I’m an old school kind of guy.

Jason Bene: How hard is it to scare audiences today when you have terrible events happening all around the world? Can they be scared?

John Carpenter: They can be scared, but real life is scarier. My God! What’s been going on is unbelievable. I’ve had several people come to me and say, “What’s going on with our world? Is it the end of the world?” I don’t think so.

Jason Bene: I think people have been watching films like Roland Emmerich’s 2012 too much.

John Carpenter: I didn’t see that. I don’t think so. Not yet. It’s crazy times.

Jason Bene: The Ward has already been released in the UK. Is there a domestic release date yet?

John Carpenter: Yes, it is coming out in three months. Very soon.

Kick-Ass

“Lionsgate Home Entertainment has announced DVD ($29.95) and Blu-ray/DVD Combo ($39.99) releases of Kick-Ass for the 3rd August. Extras on the DVD will include a commentary with director Matthew Vaughn, 2 featurettes (“The Art of KICK-ASS”, “It’s On! The Comic Book Origin of KICK-ASS”), and a Marketing Archive. The Blu-ray/DVD Combo release will include all of that, along with an Ass-Kicking BonusView Mode, a 4-part A New Kind of Superhero: The Making of KICK-ASS featurette, BD-Live features, and a digital copy of the film.”

Being fans of 80′s comedies, how do you think Hot Tub Time Machine measures up?

Jason Bene: I feel like the movie pays homage to comedy films like Hot Dog: The Movie, Ski Patrol, and Snowballing while staying within the confines of the buddy system. The time space continuum gag of going back in time to fix the wrongs from your youth was handled very well. I loved the way that even though the flick makes fun of the fashion and technological inadequacies of the time, then in the same breathe it embraces how damn f***ing great the films and music were. You see a poster on the wall for Rocky IV and hear songs from Motley Crue and Rick Springfield that get you rockin’ in your seat. It made me miss the simpler times when we weren’t so self aware of the goofy fun that we were having.

Donny Broussard: The ’80s is probably my favorite era when it comes to fun flicks. All of the movies Jason mentioned above were favorites of mine growing up and Hot Tub Time Machine definitely followed the example set by those movies, so in regards to the question I think it measures up pretty well. Not only was the music stellar, the there were boobies, musical performances, and rogue squirrels. All of the necessary ingredients needed for a classic late night comedy are there, including an incredible cast. I’ll be watching this flick over and over again once it makes its way onto DVD and blu-ray.

What do you think about the flick now that you have seen it, and is it as solid as the trailer?

Donny Broussard: It’s not often a flick can capture the essence of an era, but somehow this one was able to recreate the formula that made the films of the ’80s so awesome. It brought me back to a time when having fun was 2nd on the priorities list only to getting laid, and for those of us that remember that time, let me say that it was a spectacular time to grow up.  When I first saw the trailer for this film I tried not to get excited. Because most of the time, films never quite measure up to their trailers. Hot Tub Time Machine, however not only makes good on the promise of its trailer, it kicks it up a notch.

Jason Bene: The title screams 80′s and early 90′s sex-comedies and I feel it delivered on all counts. It’s not gratuitious in its nudity, but there are some great pairs to be had and the ladies get some male booty. Unlike The Hangover, which was hit or miss with its humor, the laughs in Hot Tub Time Machine had me busting a gut. Maybe because this is a throwback to 1986 and I was a teen at the time, but I got every single joke and I wish I could go back. I loved how they wrote in the whole ‘Russkie’ paranoia of the kids who had watched Red Dawn too many times. Sometimes I can be a deep person, so I start to think about who was alive all those years ago. Freddie Mercury was still around kicking ass all over the world with Queen, and if I could turn back time I would have made a point to see them in concert.

John Cusack was in some of the 80′s most memorable movies, do you think this film will someday be thought of in the same way that films like Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer are?

Jason Bene: I don’t hold those films in as high regard as most fans. I think this movie is a reminder of a less studio controlled time when cinema just wanted to have fun. This movie has a spot waiting for it in my ‘Late Night Classics’ feature for capturing a huge chunk of my upbringing. It was great seeing Chevy Chase and John Cusack poke for fun at the decade they became stars in, but it’s Crispin Glover who steals the show as a bellhop with a severed arm and who has his shirt sleeve just hanging in the wind. Screw CGI baby! Just go retro and make it work with old-school ineptness.

Donny Broussard: Unlike Jason, both Better of Dead and One Crazy Summer are favorites of mine. I’ve probably seen both of them at lease 20 times each, if not more. So I’m not sure I’d think of this flick in the same way that I do those films, only because those are films that I grew up with, films that remind me of a time when the most troubling thing in my life was whether or not to wear my hair up or down (now I just don’t wear any hair).  With that said, I still had a great time with this flick and it’s quite possible that it’ll work its way into my subconscious the way many films I saw during that time did. I’m with Jason, it might just be inevitable that in time Hot Tube Time Machine is destined to become a late night classic.

Donny’s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Jason’s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: GeekTyrant