{"id":13788,"date":"2014-04-09T16:19:34","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T23:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qgp.ykq.mybluehost.me\/cinephiled\/?p=13788"},"modified":"2014-04-09T16:19:34","modified_gmt":"2014-04-09T23:19:34","slug":"interview-creative-team-behind-terrifying-oculus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinephiled.com\/interview-creative-team-behind-terrifying-oculus\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: The Creative Team Behind the Terrifying \u2018Oculus\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"oculus-poster\"<\/a>My favorite kind of horror films are not ones that involve scary monsters or extreme supernatural phenomena but are more focused on the psychology of the characters. While there is a mystical scary-as-hell mirror at the center of Mike Flanagan\u2019s Oculus<\/em>, the family we see in the story brings various levels of dysfunction to play that are equally compelling. Ten years earlier, a horrible tragedy struck the Russell family, leaving young siblings Tim (Garrett Ryan) and Kaylie (Annalise Basso) forever changed. Tim was arrested for the brutal murder of their parents, Alan (Rory Cochrane) and Marie (Katee Sackhoff). Now in his 20s, Tim (Brenton Thwaites) is being released from custody and he wants to move on with his life. But Kaylie (Karen Gillan), still haunted by that fateful night, is convinced that her parents\u2019 death was caused by something else \u2014 a malevolent supernatural force unleased through an antique mirror in their home known. Determined to prove Tim\u2019s innocence, Kayle tracks down the mirror, only to learn that similar deaths have befallen the owners through the years. With the mysterious entity now back in their hands, Tim and Kaylie soon find their hold on reality shattered as they realize their childhood nightmare is beginning again.<\/p>\n

I recently had the pleasure to talk with several of the creative folks who made Oculus<\/em>: co-writer and director Mike Flanagan and producer Trevor Macy as well as actors Katee Sackhoff, (Longmire, 24, Battlestar Gallactica<\/em>) Rory Cochrane (Argo, A Scanner Darkly<\/em>), and James Lafferty (Crisis, One Tree Hill<\/em>) who played the boyfriend of the adult Kaylie.<\/p>\n

\"oculus2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Danny Miller: I love good horror movies and yet every time I\u2019m watching one, I ask myself, \u201cWhy do we willingly put ourselves through such agony?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mike Flanagan:<\/strong> I have a theory about that. I think we\u2019re always trying to find answers for evil in the world \u2014 we look to psychology and religion to come up with reasons why horrible things happen. I think horror movies are a safe space to explore such questions knowing that, at the end of the day, the lights will come back on!<\/p>\n

Trevor Macy:<\/strong> I think there\u2019s something about the shared experience of fear in an environment that\u2019s once removed.<\/p>\n

Mike:<\/strong> You get to go in and confront these emotion that we\u2019ve all had since we were young \u2014 basically the one thing we all have in common \u2014 being afraid, starting with the darkness in our room!<\/p>\n

James Lafferty:<\/strong> I\u2019ve always hated being scared \u2014 being startled really bothers me!<\/p>\n

Katee Sackhoff:<\/strong> I\u2019m terrified of home invasions but those are the movies that I love the most for some reason. My fianc\u00e9 is a producer and he makes scary movies so every once in a while he brings one home and says, \u201cYou have to tell me what you think of it. I have a dinner meeting but watch this and give me notes when I get back.\u201d So I get my little notebook out and sit down in front o f the TV and by the time he comes he comes home I\u2019m completely petrified and I throw my notes at him and scream, \u201cI hate you so much!\u201d<\/p>\n

I almost think movies that work on this psychological level are even scarier. You could almost take the mirror out of this film and there would still be some really dark stuff.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rory Cochrane:<\/strong> Exactly. Part of me was trying to play it like \u201cDaddy\u2019s in a bad mood!\u201d You can strip all those layers away\u00a0 and you\u2019d still have this family drama about a really dysfunctional situation that isn\u2019t that uncommon.<\/p>\n

Even though most troubled families don\u2019t have the mother tied up to a bed upstairs!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Katee:<\/strong>\u00a0That poor woman!<\/p>\n

It had to be a blast to film those scenes, though, wasn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, completely! I remember Mike saying that a lot of actresses were turned off by having to do some of that stuff and look that way but that\u2019s what I was the most excited about, it was fucking awesome! You wouldn\u2019t believe how many pictures I took of myself in that get-up. I even shot a dating video for Match.com with me completely made up that way with the teeth and everything. \u201cMarie likes to walk on the beach and eat cake\u2026\u201d It was hysterical! I don\u2019t know what we were thinking, we were just exhausted at that point!<\/p>\n

\"oculus-katee\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mike:<\/strong> I think we all went a little crazy. We only had 28 days to make the film but we came into it knowing that to do it right we really needed 45 days! So my DP and I sat down and went over every single shot in order and we had a very elaborate shot list from start to finish before the actors even arrived.<\/p>\n

I guess considering the nature of the overlaying time periods, you really had to plan everything out in advance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely. With some movies there\u2019s this feeling that you can just show up and \u201cfind the scene\u201d that day but we didn\u2019t have that luxury. Sometimes an actor would ask if he or she could stand in a slightly different place during a scene and I\u2019d have to say, \u201cIf you do that, you\u2019re pulling out a Jenga piece that will ripple all the way through the rest of the film. It was like a house of cards!<\/p>\n

Did you guys ever get confused about where your characters were and what time period you were in?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rory:<\/strong> All the time! In that situation, you just kind of have to trust the director because he\u2019s the one with the overall vision. I couldn\u2019t wrap my head around it sometimes and would ask Mike, \u201cWhere am I in the story?\u201d<\/p>\n

James:<\/strong> In the script all the stuff that was happening in the past was in italics but I was still constantly confused!<\/p>\n

Mike:<\/strong> When we were writing I had index cards with everything from the past on one wall and everything from the present on another wall and then we started moving the cards. I wanted to make sure everything had a twin, that each scene informed something in a different time period. By the end I wanted both the audience and the characters to feel disoriented.<\/p>\n

I loved the historical flashbacks where we see the previous owners of the mirror. Those must have been fun to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, those were great. We considered doing them as actual flashbacks but it was just way too expensive. And I thought that anything we came up with wouldn\u2019t be as effective as what viewers would imagine in their heads from seeing those photographs and articles.<\/p>\n

Hold it \u2014 but you did have some live-action scenes in that sequence, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, we didn\u2019t!<\/p>\n

WHAT?!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was just photographs with Karen talking. But you\u2019re not the first person to say that!<\/p>\n

Holy shit, I literally would have sworn on my life that those people in those scenes were walking and talking.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t that weird? That\u2019s exactly what we wanted to do \u2014 give people the ingredients to make their own little movies in their heads!<\/p>\n

\"JE3_4956.NEF\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wow. I have to say that the young actors who played Tim and Kaylie as kids were fantastic. And that girl who played Kaylie looked so much like she could grow up to be Karen Gillan!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We were very lucky with her. I thought one of two things would happen: we could have someone who looks like Karen but may not be able to deliver the best performance or we could have someone who acts up a storm but doesn\u2019t look at all related. Then this girl, Annalise Basso, sent us a tape, we didn\u2019t know who she was. We popped in the video one morning and were flabbergasted!<\/p>\n

Trevor:<\/strong> Her brother had read for the part of Tim and was so excited preparing for that that she got into the film herself and put herself on tape and just sent it to us.<\/p>\n

Yikes, I hope that didn\u2019t cause any problems at home!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Katee:<\/strong> I was amazed by her. Annalise is just a phenomenal actress. We hung out a lot on set, I really loved her \u2014 we were constantly laughing and being idiots.<\/p>\n

Mike:<\/strong> She was extremely talented. There\u2019s like a 40-minute chunk of the film where everything hangs on young Kaylee.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re working with children, even though it\u2019s a movie and everyone is safe, do you worry about shooting the more violent scenes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rory:<\/strong> Sure! But those kids were so dedicated. I\u2019d say things like, \u201cAm I strangling you too hard\u201d and they were like, \u201cIt\u2019s fine, don\u2019t worry about it\u201d even as their veins are popping out!<\/p>\n

Katee:<\/strong> Annalise and I had a safe word. I certainly had no intention of hurting her, there are ways to fake all that stuff, but you never know, anything can happen! Sometimes we\u2019d be shooting a scene and I knew I was faking it but she\u2019d hold her breath and turn purple. I was like, \u201cHoly crap, what\u2019s happening to this girl? BREATHE! BREATHE!\u201d<\/p>\n