"Final Destination 3" – Craig Perry interview
Q: You guys went back and re-shot the ending of the film, can you talk a little bit about that? For instance, what feedback have you heard from people that have seen the movie already?
Craig Perry: From the first time we screened it we did a pretty significant re-shoot. As I am sure you’ve heard about to mitigate an issue at the end, where it just didn’t feel like we provided enough closure. We had the second screening this past Monday, and How-dee-doooda-day! We spanked that horse in the fanny, the numbers went up to the point were its now the best-tested movie of all three of em.
I shouldn’t give you the numbers because I am not 100% sure of them, but I think 68% of the people said it was better than the first two. So were feeling really good and really confidant, and it was a really nice demographically mixed audience, so it didn’t feel like it was skewed one way or the other. It was a nice cross section, so were very excited about the prospects of the movie. I think it deliverers exactly what the people who liked one and two would want. But as I have said in the past I do think we took pains to combine what worked in one and what worked in two, and quietly maybe shoved aside things that weren’t so good in one and two. To hopefully create something that really does service both two films in the best way. And create something certainly new after that
Q: So the subway sequence was the re-shoot?
Craig Perry: Correct. It’s a really fun sequence in an underground subway, where a lot of people die in great graphic fashion. But there are some surprises narratively in terms of the foundation that was built in the first, continues in the second movie and then I think satisfies the third movie. That really engages the audience more than just the spattering of brain matter. Which was really gratifying. Because sometimes you know your going to get them with that, when you actually get them wit a quick little visual or reveal, and everyone goes “OHHH!” You realize that you have actually been able to generate a sense of dread, and anticipation, that goes beyond just the spooling of innards. Which is still fun.
Q: Didn’t you have to do the same thing with the first one as well?
Craig Perry: Yes we did, but the difference is that the first one the ending was a little bit more contemplative and thoughtful, and I think it was such a ride up to that point that people were like, “The hell with that. Take us out with a big bang! Obviously the sequence where the sign comes down and hits Kerr Smith. I think that Jim and Glen came up with an ending for FD3 that combines a contemplative and interesting dovetailing of story elements, but still has the bang because of the backdrop, which is the subway crash. That’s what was so gratifying Monday night to see…Holy shit, it works! Oh my God! So were very very excited about it.
Q: How did it originally end?
Craig Perry: It originally didn’t quite really end. It ended on this odd sort of narrative ellipse where a certain character gets dispatched and taken out in a various gruesome fashion. And then the survivors just kinda go I guess that’s it. Literally, and then we fade to black. So we were all in the theater going, oh shit we really screwed this one up. OK let’s get back into it. But look, you know hindsight is always 20/20. And I have only been on one movie that I didn’t have to do re-shoots on. I had to leave the preview process. Especially for a movie like this, where the audience will be very clear. Thankfully for this one they were really clear. They really enjoyed the movie up until the last 45 seconds. And I don’t even think it’s necessarily fair to call this a re-shoot because we just loped off the last 45 seconds and added this eight and a half minute sequence. It not like we had to completely dismantle it, there was more of that in the first one. There we had to excise storylines, and add sequences to build enough narrative pipe to earn that ending. Not so here, it was a simple (plop sound effect)
Q: There are some major set pieces, and a lot going on. Was it difficult to get the studio to say OK?
Craig Perry: That’s an excellent question. It actually was surprisingly easy to get the studio to agree to the significant re-shoot and the significant price tag that associated with it because the movie tested so well. And because the audience was very clear about what they were not satisfied with, it made pitching very easy. It seemed a pretty simple fix, in respect of the actual price tag, it just wasn’t that complicated to put your head around. So they went forward and they just opened the vault and said make it great. And apparently we did OK.
Q: Were the sets available, or did you have to create them?
Craig Perry: There were no sets. It was all original stuff. Not a single thing (outside of some costume pieces – shoes and stuff) was brought back because it takes place five months later. In Men in Black 2 the sequence where the worm eats the subway, we actually got a hold of all those subway cars and had them shipped up to
Q: How much more did that add to the budget?
Craig Perry: It was a significant percentage but there was nothing that gave them pause. They were happy enough with the movie to feel very comfortable paying for this sized sequence. Know that not only will it make the movie better. But it would not in any way hinder their prospects of making their money back
Q: Because of the success of Hostel and Underworld, are your anticipated opening weekend numbers what they were before those films came out, and were so successful?
Craig Perry: Well, you know, they really don’t predict that stuff until about two or three weeks out, because you really cant get a sense of the movie and its marketing campaign has taken root. Thankfully were doing well, were pretty happy with it. We haven’t actually spent even 20 percent of the marketing budget so far. They typically spend the bulk of their media about two weeks out, so they impulse buy. Especially a movie like this, and the kind of fans that it caters to in that age bracket. I don’t want to say how much…I have my own predictions.
I know that other studios that have other movies opening up on the same day are predicting numbers. I don’t even want to say what they are because lord knows if we hit those. Keep an eye on the news you will see me running naked on
The thing about Hostel is that its a brutal movie, this is just bloody. I think you understand the difference between the two of them and the dynamic and the experience between both movies. Its oddly more digestible to see in Final Destination 3, than in Hostel where your like uhhghh the basement and ohhh my lord…but you keep watching
Q: Did you have any problems with the ratings board?
Craig Perry: Nope, this is it.
Q: Is this the uncut version than?
Craig Perry: This is it. One stop shopping.
Q: Did you put extra stuff in?
Craig Perry: We put in what we thought was right for the movie, and they were fine with it. It did happen that was right for the movie was just spectacularly gruesome!
Q: I saw the animatics of the roller coaster scene and it seemed more graphic than what ended up in the movie, was that my misperception?
Craig Perry: It is your misperception, not because you're wrong because when you have that kind of visceral movement and perforce and just the timing of the individual FX shots. Everything was ultimately darker than what you would see on an animatic. Just white and black and skeletal, so it seems more violent to see it in that form. But everything is actually in there. In fact we actually had to add a shot digitally to better foreshadow that crossbar. Because if it just sort of happened out of nowhere people would be like what the hell happened. And when you have to think about what the hell just happened you lose em (audience) for about 45 seconds. We just wanted Wendy’s fall to have the impact that it needed to kick off the rest of the movie.
Q: What’s your favorite “big” sequence of the three movies? Meaning: plane, car crash, or roller coaster?
Craig Perry: You want me to actually say which children deserve more love??!! I would have to say that the car crash is my favorite. I think its my favorite because it trades off of different energy. There’s a very clear succession of graphic gruesome deaths, but its very oddly compact, and in close. Where as we trade that with a sense of vertigo on the roller coaster that we trade with kineticism that you really couldn’t quite get with the car because your just pointing out the window and seeing it this way. There’s a lot of movement in the car crash, but it’s also punctuated by the hits. You just can’t do that on a roller coaster because then it’s just …the rides over. So if I have to say my favorite that has all of those elements working, I really do like the car crash.
And I actually think the roller coaster is my second just for the very reason I described before. The plane crash is great because it feeds off of everybody’s innate fear of being in a plane. But I don’t think it necessarily lives up to the other two. Which is to the credit of everybody involved, were learning as we go along. Crawling at the beginning, standing at the coffee table for the second one, and look were walking for the third one. Who knows what will happen next?
Q: Assuming this does well, will there be a part 4?
Craig Perry: People asked that after one and two, and all I can say is that I have had such a great time working on these movies and with the people that help make them successful. The only people who determine that are the people who see it. If we did a good job and they like it, then we will at least have the reason to have that conversation. But if you just make a movie that is good, but it feels like the end, then I think, don’t push it. The idea for the roller coaster was first mentioned to me at the premier party of FD2. And I said Hey! Immediately, all sorts of the permeations start rolling through your head and that felt organic and felt OK. But when you really start shoehorning ideas, we’ve all seen those movie where its just like this is just working to hard! So the bottom line is I hope this movie is successful enough to have a reason to have that conversation. And if its not, then we haven’t earned the right to do another.
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Q: Do you think James or Glen would be back for part 4?
Craig Perry: We were lucky to get them this time we would be even luckier to get them for any other subsequent projects be it FD or anything else. They’re great guys to work with. They always have an eclectic and unique viewpoint on not just the world but also these kinds of movies. Which makes then unique and interesting
Q: Who is mainly responsible for coming up with all these great deaths, do you sit around at dinner and just go at it?
Craig Perry: Well, for FD2 there was a part of that. But Jim and Glen came up with everything literally on there own with the first one. The second one was a little bit more democratic because we went ‘how the heck are we gonna top what they did with the first one’. For this third one, there were conversations; I know the roller coaster was given to them, like how about that? I think that’s what sparked their interests in the first place because they hadn’t really put much brainpower to it. Everything started dovetailing appropriately afterwards.
Glenn is a research savvy guy, he spent a lot of time walking around those home improvement stores. He actually went to a tanning bed, he didn’t get in because he was like, No one needs to see me let alone see myself without any clothes on, just to see what could happen. And obviously terrible, just terrible, things happen.
Q: There’s gobs of nudity; was there any troubles getting the actresses to do that?
Craig Perry: there are two things that helped us wage the concerns that I think any actress would have. If you look at it, it actually wasn’t shot with overt gratuity. There’s one shot that’s sort of a butt shot, everything else is pretty much chronicling what’s going on. And there was a tactical decision to not let the nudity stand in the way of getting this thing to happen. After a while you are not looking at these nude girls, you’re looking at these nude girls that are vulnerable and exposed. And there kind of annoying at the beginning, and you're like, Oh no they're not bad girls, you are like, they are naked but its not feeling sexy anymore because they are in danger and you get past the fact that they are nude girls.
I know that sounds really silly that we actually thought about that but we really did. I think the sequence work because the titillation is over about a third of the way through, and this your like this is horrible, those poor girls. That’s what we were going for. And you have to have gobs of nudity, because if you just show a quick shot its just for titillation. We wanted to completely get past that as quickly as possible. Just vulnerable girls with no resources trapped in a place that’s really bad.
Q: What else do you have going on right now?
Craig Perry: There’s a whole bunch of things, nothing is set in stone yet. I have something at New Line that I am trying to get into the studio to see cast to see how we land with a couple of targeted actors.
It’s not horror related. As much as it’s a nice market for horror movies right now, you want to come up with the right one, and not just churn and burn some retched piece of crap just to flip over to make some cash.
On the direct to video market you can see all of those, and their fun, believe me, I like a lot of those. There’s a lot of fun to be had in seeing the worst things. But if I am gonna be working at a studio…let's at least try to make something a little different. If you know that its gonna be good, in the classic sense of what good means, make it fun! Because there’s a lot of pleasure to be had in those, too.
Q: What is it you are working on?
Craig Perry: It something called All You Can Eat, a comedy set in the world of competitive eating.
Q: Is there vomit?
Craig Perry: Interestingly, there is only one vomit instance. I actually excised a couple of them, because for me what’s funny about this after you get over the initial glut of seeing them eat, when you see 50 crab cakes put in front of someone, you are like OH, GOD! And you don’t need to see it, and the characters are very funny, while being patterned after every great sports movie, because that’s what you need in those things. The gags will come, if you have a great underdog sports movie you can hang a million different hats on it to make it funny. I’m not going to clear the mantle for an Oscar for it, but it is actually more fun that you expect.
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Staci Layne Wilson reporting