Exclusive: Eduardo Sanchez and Gregg Hale Talk V/H/S/2, Upcoming Bigfoot Movie Exists and More
Steve Barton
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With V/H/S/2’s recent VOD and Digital release, Dread Central had the chance to catch up with two more of the directors from the superb anthology, Eduardo Sanchez and Gregg Hale.
Sanchez and Hale co-directed the zombie-themed segment entitled “A Ride in the Park” which was shot entirely on a GoPro camera over several weekends. Check out what the pair had to say about collaborating for V/H/S/2, their upcoming Bigfoot movie Exists and much more below.
Dread Central: Can you start off by discussing how you guys became involved with V/H/S/2 (review) and if you planned from the start to direct together?
Eduardo Sanchez: Well, we were at SXSW last year and the producers approached us about doing a segment for the sequel. We were getting ready to start shooting Exists – the Bigfoot movie we just finished – and even though the timing was tough, it was an opportunity we couldn’t ignore. So it was decided that Gregg and I would co-direct our segment; he started things off for us and then I came up later once shooting began. Gregg handled all of prep work and the pre-production so everything on our segment was pretty seamless and painless.
Gregg Hale: Yeah, Ed and I have known each other for something like 17 years now- it’s too damn long is all I know (laughs). But we’ve worked together for a while now, ever since Blair Witch, and because we’ve been involved creatively for so long, co-directing together wasn’t too big of a switch for us.
Dread Central: Did the V/H/S/2 team give you guys any sort of parameters for your segment?
Eduardo Sanchez: Not really; they just told us that we had 15 minutes to work with and they just wanted to hear the story we wanted to go with to make sure it was going to work alongside the other segments, but otherwise we had total freedom. Jamie (Nash) had written the story, and we both loved the idea of it. Thankfully, it also fit incredibly well into the sequel so all we did was give Jamie a few notes, got a few notes back from producers – nothing crazy – and got to work.
Dread Central: Because you shot this using a GoPro, I imagine that made things a little more challenging than a typical DSLR or a RED camera where you can watch shots as they’re happening and things like that. Can you talk about how you approached shooting with the GoPro and what kinds of challenges you faced using that kind of a camera rig?
Gregg Hale: Yeah, playback was our biggest challenge; I mean, we could try and rig up playback, but it was going to be a huge pain for us to do that so we just kind of ‘went with it.’ As it turned out, not having playback sort of simplified things for us in some ways so it really allowed us to get creative in other ways, like having only one angle in the movie. When a movie only has one angle, it can get really repetitive or boring so we had to find ways to keep things interesting while still adhering to our shooting format.
Eduardo Sanchez: Yeah, I have to say that making “A Ride in the Park” was pretty easy, all things considered. We shot for four days over two weekends about 20 minutes away from my house in Maryland, and we called in a lot of favors with friends to get it made. Honestly though, this wasn’t tough at all- we always made our days, and everyone who worked on it gave us nothing less than 110%, which is absolutely the reason we were able to make this happen and succeed at it too.
Dread Central: You mentioned Exists earlier, which I’ve been excited for ever since we chatted about it at SXSW last year- how are things going there? What are you guys ‘allowed’ to talk about?
Eduardo Sanchez: Allowed? Hmmm… (laughs). No, I’m just kidding- we are still in post on it, but we did just get back from Cannes, where we already sold some territories, which is great. Gregg and I have wanted to make a Bigfoot movie ever since we were kids, and so this is like our childhood dream realized.
It’s definitely not going to be a paint-by-numbers movie at all, and as a fan, I have to say that our Bigfoot is one of the best practical Bigfoot creatures I’ve ever seen. We wanted to be traditional while making Exists and have a practical Bigfoot- CG was never a consideration for us at all. We should have a trailer in the next couple of months, which I’m completely giddy to show off to the fans out there. I think horror fans and Bigfoot fans are going to be really happy.
For more info check out the official V/H/S/2 Facebook page!
V/H/S/2 is produced by The Collective, Salient Media, and Brad Miska and Tom Owen’s Bloody Disgusting. Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Edúardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans, and Jason Eisener all directed entries in this latest anthology. The cast includes Adam Wingard, Lawrence Levine, L.C Holt, Kelsy Abbott, and Hannah Hughes.
Synopsis:
Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his abandoned house and find another collection of mysterious VHS tapes. In viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be terrifying motives behind the student’s disappearance.
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