CRAIG GILLESPIE (Director) gained widespread recognition early on in his feature-film directing career with the critically acclaimed “Lars and the Real Girl,” starring Oscar®-nominated Ryan Gosling.
For television, Gillespie produced and directed the highly acclaimed Showtime series “United States of Tara.” His direction of the pilot episode earned Toni Collette both an Emmy® Award and a Golden Globe® Award.
Gillespie resides in Los Angeles.
Q: How was it different working on something like “Lars and the Real Girl,” which is a relatively small film, and “Fright Night”?
A: I really liked what Marti Noxon was able to achieve in her script because it has such a great a mix of horror and humor, but on a much bigger scale and canvas than “Lars and the Real Girl.” I like to create a tone in my work that an audience has to participate in. I want them to have to make a choice about whether or not they think it’s funny, or if they think it’s tragic or scary. Everybody has a different interpretation of a story when they hear it and I love it that that they bring their individual take on things to a film.
One of the things that I haven’t had the opportunity to do in a film yet is make the camera one of the characters. In horror and thrillers, that’s a huge part of the style of the films. In my other work, it’s been all about the acting and you want the camera to be invisible. In this one, the camera is a major character that is creating suspense, fear and trepidation as it sneaks down a hallway or around a character. That was really fun.
Q: What was the most challenging thing about shooting the film in 3-D?
A: I really wanted to use the medium in an elegant way and not have it get in the way of the performances. Shooting in 3-D uses a completely different muscle. There are a lot of rules out there about what you can and cannot do when you’re using 3-D cameras, but at the end of the day, I felt like it came down to having an artistic sensibility about it.
I also worked with cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe and he’s just amazing. He’s worked on 54 movies, including “The Others,” “The Road” and, ironically, the last two “Twilight” movies. We really liked using a shallow depth of field, which you’re not supposed to do with 3-D, but we thought would make the audience feel like they were in a tight, enclosed space.
The other aspect of shooting in 3-D is that your camera can’t be too frenetic. You can’t really do any handheld because the cameras are just too big. In an odd way, shooting “Fright Night” took me back to classic filmmaking. I did these big, long dolly moves and blocking with the camera because the shots had to cover the whole performance in one take. It was fun to create that sort of elegance.
Q: How was your experience working with DreamWorks?
A: It was great. They took a leap of faith with me, because I’m not the obvious choice to do this kind of genre. When you’re dealing with tone, it’s really one of the trickiest things to harness. You need to know you’ve got your studio’s support, because if there are too many cooks in the kitchen, things get diluted very quickly. You really need a singular vision about what’s going on as a filmmaker and DreamWorks was very supportive and made sure I had that. They also gave me a lot of freedom during the casting process and on the set. I have some very complicated shots in the film and they helped me make those happen.
Q: Were you happy with your cast?
A: I think it was Howard Hawks who said, “Casting is 90 percent of making a movie.” Anton was so emotionally invested in his character, Charley’s, journey and the coming-of-age aspect of the story. He’s the straight guy in the movie, which is always hard. For Imogen, the primary focus was her relationship with Charley and what was going on between them. Christopher Mintz-Plass and David Tennant brought the comic relief, but they’re both still very grounded. We had to find actors that could get the tone of the film right and we did. They make it look effortless.
Q: Do you think Colin does a good job of playing a vampire?
A: I thought he was perfect. Anton’s playing a boy who’s trying to come into manhood and Colin gets to play the alpha male he has to challenge to get there. It’s a classic male confrontation and a very primal situation where two males come together and face off. Colin is so clearly the dominant species in that relationship, both because he’s a vampire and because he’s just Colin. He just stepped in there and was so in the zone. He’s got no fear and has a very primal sense of what’s going on. Colin added a lot of little details to the role of Jerry that really brings him to life.
ABOUT THE MOVIE:
High School Senior Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) finally has it all—he’s running with the popular crowd and dating the hottest girl in high school. In fact, he’s so cool he’s even dissing his best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). But trouble arrives when an intriguing stranger Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. He seems like a great guy at first, but there’s something not quite right— yet no one, including Charley’s mom (Toni Collette), seems to notice! After witnessing some very unusual activity, Charley comes to an unmistakable conclusion: Jerry is a vampire preying on his neighborhood. Unable to convince anyone that he’s telling the truth, Charley has to find a way to get rid of the monster himself in this Craig Gillespie-helmed revamp of the comedy-horror classic.
DreamWorks Pictures presents “Fright Night,” directed by Craig Gillespie and produced by Michael De Luca and Alison Rosenzweig, with a screenplay by Marti Noxon and story by Tom Holland, based on the film “Fright Night,” written by Tom Holland. The film will be released on August 19, 2011.
