SDCC 06

Interview by: Johnny Butane One of the coolest things we got lined up to do while at Comic Con was sit down with the director of both Dog Soldiers and The Descent (which opens nationwide on Friday, August 4th), Neil Marshall. Though originally it was going to be on-camera, too much other stuff got in the way and I ended up sitting with Neil in a nice, quiet conference room solo. To say I was excited to meet the man is an understatement; here’s the guy who directed what I see as one of the best true horror films of the last 20 years. And I would only get 10 minutes with him. Damn. We discussed the ending of the film, changed for the forthcoming U.S. release, its origins, and where the proposed sequel can go. Enjoy! Johnny Butane: Let’s get the elephant out of the room first and foremost and talk about the ending. Neil Marshall: Okay... JB: First of all if was your decision to change it and if so why… NM: There are many conspiracy theories abounding, but yes, it is my choice; I thought we should give it a try. I don’t have a favorite ending, actually, if you asked me I couldn’t pick between the two. I don’t think the U.S. ending makes it any less ambiguous, it’s certainly not a happier ending; it’s just different. One point of view is that the UK ending is actually a bit happier (editor’s note: you’ll have to see it to know what he means, I will reveal nothing). I compare it to Brazil, actually, in terms of the ambiguousness of the end. Plus it’s been over a year since it’s been released in the UK and I’ve almost been given a second chance at releasing it with the U.S. We had toyed with both endings in the editing room, to the point where we were really wondering which we would use. So we stuck with the scripted ending for the UK and the rest of the world, but when the opportunity came to release it again I thought we should give it a shot. Also, the response to the ending in the UK totally split audiences 50/50, some people loved and some hated it, so why not see how this one does? JB: But the UK ending will be on the DVD here, correct? NM: I can practically guarantee it. Just from Lionsgate’s point of view they’re going to want to get as much on the disc as possible. JB: All right, so back to the origins of the film; what made you decide to feature women as the main characters? NM: I just wanted to try something different, and I didn’t want to do it as just a counterpoint to Dog Soldiers specifically, either. Originally the story had a mixed group of people, but someone suggested it all be women, and I thought that was brilliant. I’d never seen that before, and certainly not in this kind of film. I really hate the concept of chick flicks, and since we made this kind of film with all women it was really an “up yours” to that whole concept. It’s all women, but it’s not about the fact that it’s all women. I wanted to treat them as what they are, which is cavers. I wanted to make sure that these women weren’t just gung-ho adventure junkies, either, but rather strong, contemporary women. They all have more dimensions to them, which I though was very cool and made them a more realistic bunch. JB: How was the casting process? NM: In some cases it was very difficult and in other cases it was very easy. We never looked at any one else for the role of Holly, Nora-Jane Noone. As soon as I saw her I knew I wanted to get her in for an audition and as soon as she came in I knew it was her. So that was easy! The characters of Sarah and Juno were a lot harder. Sarah especially because in the beginning there was a lot of pressure to put more of a name in the part but I didn’t want to go with that. Shauna (MacDonald) who got the part was very desperate for it; she fought tooth and nail for it, she even auditioned four times. She was the only one who came with reams of questions and I knew I wanted her for it, and finally everyone agreed. Then Juno was a different matter all together because we met so many different people for the part. JB: That’s understandable; she’s a very complex character. NM: Yeah, she is. When Natalie (Jackson Mendoza) came in for the audition and she was chewing on an apple… just biting this apple all the way through it. She was the only person to bring a prop, and I was watching it and saying “Well, that is quite sexy… that works for me!” and we ended up including that in the film, too. She just has a real presence about her, both visually and physically. JB: When did you first see her do the leg trick (you’ll know what I mean when you see the film, trust me)? NM: She didn’t do it in the audition, but after we cast her. In the first script I had written that the character of Holly was trying to outdo the character of Juno, to always try and do something every more impressive than Juno, so I asked Natalie what she could do and she did the leg thing. So I was like, "Okay… I have to re-write the script now..." (laughs) But it worked out anyway because it was a nice comedy moment in the final film. JB: It seems like you had a really good grasp on the characters when they were both written and put on screen, which is something that’s way to rare in horror films; you really care about the people. NM: I learned that from Dog Soldiers more than anything; if you pile on the layers and depth to these characters it pays off. If you care about them then you’re going to be in the situation with them; if you don’t give a shit then why are you going to get scared? It occurred to me that working with six women could have been a complete mess, if they all turned out to be cold bitches it would’ve been awful, but they certainly weren’t. They all turned out to be so supportive of each other, and me as well. They’re all a close-knit bunch of friends now, so it definitely paid off. JB: How did the film do in the UK when it was released originally? NM: It did pretty well... I’m not sure if you’re aware of the history that it opened the day after the terrorist bombings. We had the premiere on a Wednesday night. On Thursday morning when we all had hangovers we started getting the calls the bombs had gone off and some people from the premiere were missing, so it was chaos. Luckily no one was involved, however. The film opened the day after, then, and people were still trapped underground in reality, so no one really wanted to go see a film about people trapped underground. Also, one of the big posters for The Descent was on the side of a buss that blew up, and all that was left on the side of the bus was a quote from it saying "outright terror" with Shauna’s face; the title was wiped out. Shauna was pretty upset about it; it was on newspapers all across the county. So I would say it about halfed the business we could have done, put people still went the cinema; actually War of the Worlds did really well that weekend, which was a bit odd. It was just that central London didn’t do as well. So that affected us quite badly, I really think we would have done twice as well. At this point I got the "one more question" notice, so of course I had to ask two; JB: I heard you’re going to have some involvement in Dog Soldiers 2? NM: I was at one point but I’m not anymore, no. JB: All right, so what about The Descent 2? NM: That is happening, though I won’t be directing or writing it, but I will be overseeing it. We just had a treatment delivered this week and we’ll be commissioning a script after that. JB: Can you tell me anything about it? NM: Not really because I haven’t read the treatment yet! (laughs) I came up with my kind of story and we’ve had some writers modify some ideas and come up with their own ideas. I’m really only interested in doing it if it opens up the world underground. I just don’t want it to be a rehash of the first. JB: And what ending are you going to go off of? NM: Well, that does create a problem, and I think the writers may have solved it, but we’ll see! Big thanks to Lionsgate for setting up the interview and to Mr. Marshall for participating! Be sure to head out to see The Descent next weekend to show your support and find out if it’s actually worth the hype we’ve been giving it (it is). The official U.S. site is right here where you can see a lot more about the film.