Exclusive: Corin Hardy Talks The Hallow and Updates Us on The Crow
Staci Layne Wilson
|
The Hallow was pitched as “Straw Dogs meets Pan’s Labyrinth” – and that’s pretty much what you’ll get when you watch the movie. Although director Corin Hardy is a fan of vampires, werewolves, and zombies, he thought there were already enough films based around those monsters, and he wanted to do something less overexposed. He decided on use Irish folktales as a base.
We caught up with Hardy while he was in Los Angeles promoting the film after its big screening at Screamfest LA. Look for The Hallow on VOD November 5th and in limited theaters on November 6th.
Related Story: Get the First Look at The Hallow’s Spooky New Motion Poster
Dread Central: It’s said that working with children and animals is the bane of any director – so, how was it working with the dog and the baby? Who was more difficult?
Corin Hardy: Yes, I realized that I had not only written a leading role for a 5-month-old baby that would feature in almost 99% of the film as well as a prominent dog character with stunts and action and effects, plus heavy night shoots and rain and forest exteriors and heavy reliance on practical FX. But I like a challenge and believe you can get amazing results if you work hard and embrace the struggle. That said, I must say the twin babies, James and Joe, were a dream to work with, as was Toddy, the dog.
In order to be able to make it work, we first had to cast a pair of twins, aged around 5 months, to play baby Finn. This would have been okay, save for the fact that as I wanted to create animatronic replicas of them, we had to cast them a couple of months prior to production. So you can imagine, looking for a pair of identical twins in the West of Ireland, aged 3 to 4 months, and convincing their mother that I wanted them for a horror film (with Changelings and all that) was quite a challenge, as was creating a full animatronic version and a silicone-jointed stunt version and a Changeling – all of which had to be based on what the twins would look like in a few months’ time. The special effects team led by John Nolan did an incredible job of working from photos of the twins and anticipating what they would look like 2 to 3 months later. I also had a baby of my own 2 weeks away from the shoot, so that helped ‘inform’ my directing skills throughout the shoot and after editing. When I wanted to do a pick-up shoot for the opening on the ferry, as it was then 5 months on, the twins were too old, so I inserted my 5-month-old daughter to play the baby, so all in all there were technically 6 Finns in the film! And the twins’ mother was there every day to oversee.
Toddy, the dog playing Iggy in the film, was super well behaved and a lovely spirited animal who was well brought up by his owners and really responsive. He only felt a little embarrassed when his lush coat was made to appear mucky and covered in Hallow slime. Which resulted in some great subdued reactions that doubled well in the context of the film. I like how using real animals and babies, you cannot fake a performance as they can’t choose to act; they can only ‘be.’ So they are really the ultimate method actors and bring authenticity to the proceedings. All in all, that old adage ain’t actually totally true. You just have to find the right babies and animals to work with, like casting any actor.
DC: We know you love practical effects – and you thank some of the great masters of monsters in the closing credits – so, who did yours, how were the “looks” settled on, and what was the most fun you had on set with the effects-heavy days?
CH: I grew up loving monsters; the love Ray Harryhausen injected into his creatures permeated throughout the films, and the insane, imaginative skills of people like Rob Bottin (The Thing), Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London), and Stan Winston (Pumpkinhead, Aliens) captured my imagination and inspired me to want to be a monster maker throughout my teens. When embarking on The Hallow, I wanted to find like-minded individuals and someone super-talented and hungry to create something special, go all-out, and put some real creatures on the screen. John Nolan was that guy; he and his talented team worked beyond the call of duty to create everything you see in The Hallow, which we initially did all in-camera using practical FX, but had also consulted and meticulously planned to incorporate with VFX and limited CGI to achieve a result you couldn’t pin down.
This is my favorite way to work, to mix techniques to create an illusion. It was a lot of fun doing it practically and a lot of effort for everyone – the artists, the actors, the prosthetic makeup team, animatronics, fabricators, the creature performers themselves – as we shot mainly on location, at night in all manner of weather conditions. We had 5 creature performers in full foam rubber body costumes, with puppet limbs and animatronic faces, crawling on all fours in the dark, through the boggy Irish forests, unable to see or breath properly… a lot of fun!
DC: Legends have been around for centuries, and the same ones must endure for a reason, but why’d you decide to go with the Changeling, and what are some of the elements you brought to it to freshen it up a bit?
CH: I researched as much folklore and mythology, particularly the old Irish ones, [as possible] and tried to look at what would translate best visually and viscerally to make a fairy tale grounded in reality. I always loved these ideas of Changelings, banshees, being touched by fairies, second sight, prevention with cold iron. Lots of ideas and rules and lore. And I wanted to create a story around these ideas that could work in a believable, thrilling, scary way. The Changeling overall informed the story, about a couple with a relatively newborn child and the struggles of parenting, made all the more tough when enduring a mythological home invasion.
DC: Your cinematography is stunning. It looks like it was shot on film… I’m assuming it wasn’t, so what camera did you use, and who is your DP? How closely did you work together, and did you storyboard or have detailed shot lists?
CH: I wanted to shoot on film, but there were compromises, budget and time constraints you have to agree on to move forward, and so of course I did everything I could to work with the Arri Alexa digital format to make it as cinematic and filmic as possible, working closely with the magnificent Martijn Van Broekhuizen, a Dutch DP, and Erik De Wilt, his killer gaffer, and focus puller, Panczi: The Three Dutchmen. Martijn and I discussed everything in huge detail, and I storyboarded the whole film, which I always do along with creature and concept designing in my sketchbooks. Martijn’s music videos and Dutch films had impressed me with their painterly qualities and the way he worked, fast and with elegance. I wanted The Hallow to be as beautiful as we could make it, and Martijn brought such an intimate and fresh look to a horror movie.
We shot-listed and made floor plans for all the scenes and tried to go in as planned for everything as we could and then adapted on the day as required, always trying to create at least one striking image in every scene and working closely with Erik to create an authentic light source which was always narratively driven. I tried to make fresh decisions when I was choosing my crew, including editor Nick Emerson, the stars themselves – Joe Mawle and Bojana Novakovic – and John Nolan for effects and more.
DC: Special effects and monsters are great, but having those things does not automatically guarantee a horror film will be scary. Tell us what you learned, as a director, about building suspense in a feature film, and what is “scary” to you as a horror fan?
CH: Well, there are obviously many tried and tested horror mechanisms, and I played with some of them. Fear of the unknown is ultimately our greatest fear and the other primal fears such as losing control of our bodies or minds and of protecting our loved ones or being unable to. So these were all things that came into the story, and [they] feature in many horror films. For these to actually be scary and fill you with dread, you need to create something that feels real and you can identify with, and to do that, you need to care for the characters and how they react as things get worse, so a lot I have to thank the actors for, as I believe them when they are reacting to whatever is going on.
Jump scares are okay to keep a bit of fun blood and energy pumping, but the true experience of a horror film comes from the dread that gradually takes you over and allows you to go to that place where you are fully consumed by the film, so I tried to remain rooted to reality as much as possible… in the scares and the tension-building. I also wanted it to be a very specific type of horror film; I didn’t want to make something that was in fact nasty or torturous, but one that would feature otherworldly creatures that you will get to see eventually. And though that’s not always everyone’s cup of tea, I love it when a film goes all out and satisfies you and puts its money (or its creatures, at least) where its mouth is. It’s a fine balance to walk between reality and mythology and to also show eventually, but I tried ultimately to make a movie that very gradually, without you maybe noticing, transforms, along with the characters, into a fairy tale.
As a horror fan I don’t really find horror films scary, but I love the ride they take me on, and I get a thrill and an escape from them. I find real life much more scary.
DC: I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask about The Crow. What’s the status of it now, in light of Relativity’s issues?
CH: Keep watching this space… Despite the recent events around the Relativity bankruptcy, I am still very much excited about this dream-come-true opportunity to create a new version of The Crow, a beloved film and graphic novel to so many, myself included. The graphic novel by James O’Barr is the inspiration for my version. So keep watching…!
The Hallow Synopsis:
Deep within the darkness of secluded forest land in rural Ireland dwells an ancient evil. Feared by the nearby superstitious villagers as cursed creatures who prey upon the lost, their secrets have been kept from civilization and remain on their hallowed ground. But when a conservationist from London moves in with his wife and infant child in order to survey the land for future construction, his actions unwittingly disturb the horde of demonic forces. Alone in a remote wilderness, he must now ensure his family’s survival from their relentless attacks.
Categorized:News
