One Missed Call – Eric Valette

Staci Layne Wilson reporting

Frenchman Eric Valette is shooting his first big-budget American film in Atlanta, GA. And yeah, he's doing a J-horror remake. And no, he didn't see the original. Sounds like a recipe for cliché crepes, but Valette is a smart cookie, and he knows how to tell a scary story: just watch his 2002 French language horror film, Maléfique. The devil goes to prison in that one, and now he's in Georgia (yet, Charlie Daniels is conspicuously missing!).

Today, Valette is extremely busy filming a scene which involves his star, Shannyn Sossamon, being dragged across a filthy floor by unseen, supernatural hands. Although it's tough on her, Valette is having a great time. He's glued to the monitor in the video village, making whooshing sounds along with the action, just like a little kid.

He breaks away briefly, to speak with the small group of we genre-journalists.

Q: Were you familiar with the original movie before you came on this? Why did you choose not to see it?

Eric Valette: It was on purpose.

Q: How come?

Eric Valette: You know because I try not to be influenced visually by the original so I try to base my work on the US script and not on the Japanese movie. See what I mean?

Q: So having no point of reference, what visual sense are you going for on this version?

Eric Valette: It’s pretty realistic and visually I think it has more like in a full fashion set or movies from the 70’s flavor to it instead of sort of flashy young music video style that is supposed to be trendy now a days.

Q: Are you going for an R rating on this or a PG13 rating?

Eric Valette: It’s supposed to be PG13.

Q: Really?

Eric Valette: But it's so intense. I think it’s really, really intense in terms of the themes it goes with. It’s not very graphic in terms of horror but it’s; very intense in terms of themes and it’s very adult. So it’s very interesting to see how it goes with the MPAA. The producers are aiming for a PG13 rating I cover myself with a PG13 rating, but I think the story itself is very very adult and strong so I don’t know how it’s going to go. But anyway I also do some more graphic coverage for Japan and viewer optional because we’re not chicken!

Q: We understand the deaths are pretty horrifying, they are pretty graphic. I can’t imagine toning them down too much.

Eric Valette: Yeah, I guess so. The deaths are pretty horrifying too so I’ll see you know you don’t really know how it goes with the MPAA because the it doesn’t make any sense, the decisions are don’t make any sense. So it’s like new to me so I don’t know how it’s going to go but yeah I mean I think we have two opportunities. Enough coverage to cut and to make it PG13 friendly but still I think the problem is a lot of the movie is the idea of child abuse and no matter how graphic it is you can make it really soft in terms of violence but still the subject matter is very, very strong so I don’t know how you can deal with that and the MPAA. I think a scene where you abuse a child even if you don’t show the abuse, even if you show it on the faces, still it’s a pretty tough subject matter.

Q: How did you come across this project?

Eric Valette: Basically I shot my first feature was in French Horror movie called “Maléfique”. And it happened to be quite successful in the horror festival scene with the horror press and genre and I eventually made the trip to Hollywood two years ago and then I met managers, and agents because I was in town here looking for horror directors from all over the world it seems I was at the right time and the right place and then afterwards I got dozens of scripts and a few of them catch my interest and one of them was this one and it’s like an actor, I’ve been successfully thorough the auditions. It’s a casting process even for the directors. You meet producers you extend your ideas about movies if you can make it on time and money. Everything.

Q: So would this be your first north American feature have you had to change your directing style at all to accommodate it?

Eric Valette: No. I don’t think so, it’s funny. No, the directing style is very similar to what I do generally but maybe just a little bit more coverage sometimes that I wouldn’t do in Europe but aside of that, it’s really not much difference.

Q: Please talk a little bit more about what you responded to in the script.

Eric Valette: Oh. Yeah, this script was different flavor from most of the stuff because it was as I told you it’s adult it’s fairly adult in terms of actors there is a strong back-story to the ghost story here and it makes it very similar to movies from the 70’s. It’s not your typical run of the mill, Hollywood horror movie with people being slashed or run over. We don’t deal too much with nice looking people out from the gym. You know…It’s not like the Covenant at all!

Q: Judging from Maléfique which I did see, and I really liked it, I gave it a good review in horror.com…

Eric Valette: I remember. Thank you!

Q: …It’s a very intense movie which you’re saying very adult themes, but that one definitely could never have been PG13. here so, will you be crying when they are cutting your movie?

Eric Valette: I know what I deal with here, so I won’t cry if they cut the move. Even if the theatrical reason the US want the maybe I want to show to the audience I’m sure the European/Asian version will be perfectly fine for me. It’s all about the locals mostly, the rest of the world is different.