Pete Czernin Interview – Co-Producer of Wind Chill

When a pair of college students (Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes) share a ride home for the holidays, they break down on a deserted stretch of road and are preyed upon by the ghosts of people who have died there.

Horror.com's Staci Layne Wilson was on the set in Vancouver, during the shooting of Wind Chill. Here's one of the interviews.

Q: What’s with the key villain in this film?

Pete Czernin: It’s basically sort of a cop who used to own this road; a lot of people in the past, dark things start happening and these two (played by Ashton Holmes and Emily Blunt) get caught in the middle of it.

Q: And they just happened to stumble on this?

PC: Yeah, the reason they crash is because of him, as you’ll see. Don’t want to reveal too much about it, but it’s very clever. But it pertains to the past.

Q: So there was something that happened on this road?

PC: Yeah, these are clever lads, these two.

Q: How far into the story does it get before the supernatural begins to happen?

PC: Pretty much soon; it’s sort of a slow build, elegant slow build. They start to become aware of things happening.

Q: What’s the type of material for the snow here on set today?

PC: It’s just that classic look.

Q: How long is the shoot?

PC: It’ll be 38 days; it feels like I’ve been up here since 1975. I haven’t seen my wife and kids; they’ll be all grown up, in college.

Q: What was it about this that attracted you?

PC: Well, I’m not a horror genre fan, but I read the script and it really jumped out at me as deeply scary, and the relationship seemed real interesting. So, I got up here to do this. Greg and I knew; the Soderberg connection really helped, getting a studio to fully finance it. It moved very, very quickly; I’m sure all of you know ‘a producer has an idea about a book, changes it and it becomes rubbish.’ Many years pass, but because Greg is such a good egg, and the writing is not lame, there are sometimes a lot of missteps, but we all got what we wanted – a real supernatural thriller. This is a great push-it-off; it happened so quickly, and getting ready is so dubious.

Q: So what was it about this one that was different?

PC: It was just sort of creepy, it’s really – knowing what you know that we were up there in it, you’ll know what it is.

Q: What’s the visual style you guys are aiming for?

PC: It’s very sort of elegant, and sort of – it comes back as a slow build, chilling, from the very get-go from when they first meet up. It’s very sort of you sense something’s going to happen from the beginning; very subtle in that respect.

Q: How do you work color in, with all this snow?

PC: It all takes place in this one night, so there’s a bit of color. It’s basically a little bit of light; they’re in this car. It helps when things start to flash by the window. But in terms of color, you’ll be pleased when you get to the end.

Q: Have you talked about music yet?

PC: We have talked about music; it’s not sorted out yet. But, in keeping with the visual style, spare, visual type, not the full over-blown orchestral type; but it will be quite restrained.

Q: So no definite bands or composer?

PC: One composer. And we always get that ‘What bands can we use? What can they cover?’ The usual stuff, but nothing specific. We just want to finish the movie and look at it, digest, talk to the director as well; he’s got input, as all directors do. He really knows what he’s up to, he really is clear in his vision. We’ll get it done; we’ve got a bit of time since it comes out next year.

Q: Has it been challenging with so many production companies jumping on board?

PC: No, on this one, we’ve a couple movies at one time; my partner (Graham Broadbent) starts a movie. I drew the short straw, he’s got a movie called Becoming Jane on Sunday starring Anne Hathaway; I’m doing another piece starting in the fall in Europe. But this one, it can be sort of a cluster; but I knew Ben Cosgrove from my time in LA, he works for Section 8. I knew the writers; everyone kind of knew each other and so it was kind of like ‘Pete, you’re going to run production.’ Again, it was all physically challenging getting us all together; but it was challenging with having snow when we didn’t want snow, having no snow when we wanted it to snow. But, it would have been a nightmare if our personalities weren’t gelling, but all the production companies have been moving in one general direction.

Q: Has George (Clooney) had any input?

PC: Yeah, they’ve all been involved; he’s shooting another movie at the moment, but Steven Soderbergh has been very helpful – he’s sort of an experienced young man. But I’ve been involved with Greg watching dailies and he’s been very helpful. Just a presence there, he’s been very helpful and just if we need him, he’s there giving some sound advice.

Q: This doesn’t seem like a Section 8 kind of movie.

PC: Well, I don’t know cause I’m not from Section 8, but it seems like they’ve done a whole range of movies. But I don’t think they’re looking at it like ‘ok, we’re going to look at comedies on Tuesday.’ I think they’ve always been sort of filmmaker-driven, I think. I think they did The Jacket, Solaris. Usually, there’s sort of clout looking at big director, big star; these guys have really taken their time and doing things unusual both within and without studios.

Q: Has it been challenging with two fairly unknown actors attached?

PC: Usually, it’s always about casting, casting, casting; Emily Blunt in the UK, she’s got that electricity, she’s really good in the same way Australia spits out Cate Blanchett or the UK spits out Hugh Grant or Kate Winslet; somehow, now she’s (Emily) appearing on all those lists. She’s just done The Devil Wears Prada with Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway – pretty outrageously groovy company. And apparently, she’s really good in that movie, so as a producer, it’s great because she’s starting to become a big name around town. In terms of this, you’ll meet Emily; she’s really nice and she’s going to be really good in the film. She hasn’t been challenging, just the weather.

[End]