David Bruckner Opens Up About His Friday the 13th Reboot
Todd Rigney
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Once upon a time, filmmaker David Bruckner, who directed Southbound, The Signal, and the V/H/S segment “Amateur Night,” was attached to Paramount’s Friday the 13th reboot. Unfortunately, Bruckner is no longer involved with the project, which is definitely a bummer for those of us who are fans of his work. (By the way, if you haven’t seen The Signal, you really, really should.)
Although we’ll never get to see his version of Friday the 13th on the big screen, Bruckner opened up to the folks at Fangoria about his involvement with the film and what he and writer Nick Antosca had up their sleeves. Although the studio brought Bruckner in to explore the found footage angle, they eventually decided to head in a different direction for the reboot.
We were allowed to truly explore what the film could be as a proper ’80s reboot—what that would look like. My take on it was that I wanted to do DAZED AND CONFUSED meets Jason Voorhees [laughs], a genuine last-day-of-school coming-of-age story. Nick wrote a great draft, and we really wanted to see that movie come to life. It was a very exciting process for me.
However, had Brucker stuck with the found footage approach, it sounds like he had a pretty good idea of how to tackle it while staying true to the franchise’s blood-soaked roots.
There are certain restrictions to found footage; just the fact that you’re locked into a single perspective almost makes the slasher formula impossible, because characters tend to wander off on their own all the time and get knocked off. Also, part of what defines some of the greatest slashers is the additional perspective. That was a really fun obstacle to tackle, and we ended up structuring it a little bit more like a monster movie. All the mythos surrounding Jason Voorhees opened up a lot of possibilities, and for a moment in time, we had a story that took place in the ’80s, which worked with the found-footage conceit. It was a return to form in a lot of ways…
Unfortunately, Bruckner ended up bidding farewell to the Friday the 13th project. Currently, Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners) is trying his hand at the reboot, although it remains to be seen if the studio will stick with his version. Regardless of who ends up taking the reins on the movie, here’s hoping that it gives fans the sort of cinematic experience they’ve been craving for years.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP6vSZRgOyU&w=640&h=360]
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