DirectorChristopher Landonis back and bringing his style and genre mash-up knowhow to another feature film,FreakystarringVince VaughnandKathryn Newton. Newton plays Millie, a high school student who’s a bit of a wallflower while Vaughn steps in as the local serial killer, The Butcher. The two cross paths late one night and when The Butcher attacks Millie, the ancient dagger he uses doesn’t killer her, rather, it causes the two to swap bodies.
With the movie now playing in theaters, I got the chance to chat with Landon about his experience making the film. Check out our full conversation below to read about why an R rating was vital on this one, the specific things Vaughn and Newton required of Landon as an actor’s director, and to find out if the events ofFreakyandHappy Death Daytake place in the same cinematic world.
COLLIDER: Whenwe spokeforHappy Death Day 2U, I remember you telling us that Jason Blum was all in on the idea, but that the studio was a little nervous. Was it the same thing onFreaky?
CHRISTOPHER LANDON: I think that Jason is an excellent buffer and a good gatekeeper, so he may have known a lot more than I did. [Laughs] This was a really quick one, a really seamless start in terms of, Michael Kennedy, my co-writer, we wrote the script together, we gave the script to Jason on a Thursday evening and then by Friday morning, he came to us and said, ‘Okay, I have a green light. This is happening.’ It was really fast. And as long as I agreed to a certain budget level, so that was all of it.
And I feel like what I don’t know, were probably the PG-13 versus R conversations that may have been happening in the background. That was a deal-breaker for me. So I was like, ‘We’re making an R-rated movie. This movie’s going to be gory.’ And no one said anything to me about it, but I feel like, at some point, sometime, they must have broached the subject with him.
Why was the R rating so important to you? What was it about this one that required it?
LANDON: This movie required it because, I think conceptually, if you’re going to put a serial killer in a shy, co-dependent, wallflower-y girl’s body, then you need to pay that off. And I think that doing something that was PG-13 and bloodless, I just think you would lose the impact of it. I’ve described this movie to people as sort of being like the goriest Disney movie never made because body swap movies are cute. They’re always cute. It’s cute as a concept. And so, I wanted this to sort of have this big bucket of blood dumped on it. And it was different thanHappy Death Day.Happy Death Dayfor me was a no-brainer in terms of making that movie PG-13 because conceptually again, we were always sort of leading up to the moment of Tree’s death, but it wasn’t about seeing what happened to her after or during it. And so, that was an easy one to do PG-13. I actually think it’s better that we did it PG-13. And there are certain movies that I think, they should be PG-13! Why would you need to makeTremorsR? Why would you need to makePoltergeistR?GremlinsR?
I still can’t believePoltergeistis PG.
LANDON: I know! But of course we all know that that was a PG-13 movie in the end. But there’s just certain movies that make sense in that space, and then there are other movies that just don’t. Nobody wants to see a PG-13Evil Dead. So this was one of those movies that just felt like we would be betraying the concept of the movie if we didn’t go for it.
Speaking of the concept, what were some of the slasher movie pillars that you knew were absolute musts to infuse in this movie?
LANDON: I think we knew that we needed the classic stalking robotic killing machine, a man of very few words, so that we could kind of lean into those tropes and poke fun at them a little bit. When people see, for example, The Butcher’s lair where he lives, it’s the most hyper-realized version of that. But it’s stuff that I’ve been informed by all these other old horror movies that I watched growing up, where there were always defaced mannequins. We see that all the time in horror movies. And so it was kind of fun to throw those elements into this movie. But yeah, you had to have the mask, you had to have this giant scary killer, and of course he has a really cool dagger in this one.
Were there any smaller details in that respect that you were proud you managed to sneak in that you hope that viewers catch?
LANDON: There’s certainly little nods and there’s little Easter eggs and stuff to a lot of other films. I mean,a lotof them. But no, I think for me, what was a lot more fun was sneaking in more subversive and kind of left-of-center content into the movie that’s not traditionally in a horror film and certainly not in a mass-marketed horror film. A character like Joshua alone is not someone that you typically see in this kind of a film, but I love that he exists.
They’re so good, too!
LANDON: Misha [Osherovich] is amazing!
Your whole ensemble is good, but Misha [Editor’s note: Osherovich uses they/them pronouns] in particular, on screen in the movie and in the interview we did earlier, their personality and energy just radiates off screen.
LANDON: They’re fantastic. What’s great about Misha too and what I loved about working with them was that they actually doesn’t think they’re funny. It’s true in the sense of a majority of their work has been really dramatic and they’re a really good actor. But I think why they work so well in the film is because there’s an honesty to it all. They know who Joshua is, and I think we all have met Joshua at some point in our lives. They really got that character, so it wasn’t like some sort of caricature. They were a real person, and I think that’s what makes Joshua work and I think that’s what you see on screen.
What’s it been like working with Terri Taylor casting your movies? Time and time again now, your movies introduced me to new faces and turned me into a huge fan.
LANDON: I think Terri’s one of the best in the business. She has impeccable taste. She’s never put anyone in front of me where I was like, ‘Well, that’s just ridiculous! What were you thinking?’ No, she’s got great taste and a really good eye for talent. And I love that she is always looking for new faces. She’s just really fun to work with, and her whole office, everybody there is great. It’s actually one of my favorite parts of the process is getting to work with her.
Specifically with Kathryn and Vince, what is something unique that they each require from you as an actor’s director in order to prep for all this?
LANDON: I think when it comes to Vince, what was unique to him was that I had to sort of figure out when to push and when to loosen the reins because there were times when I think that he was hesitant to go somewhere. For example, he knew that he was in a horror comedy, but sometimes he didn’t fully understand or I think he would appreciate suddenly in the moment that there were moments in the film that were actually quite emotional, and that caught him off guard. And so sometimes he would say, ‘Oh no, I shouldn’t be this emotional. Why am I getting emotional?’ I’m like, ‘No, Vince, be emotional! Go there’ I wanted him to go there. I felt like that was what was gonna give the movie its heart and its soul. I had to learn when to step on the gas and when to hit the brake with him. But then, sometimes Vince just starts to be Vince and does things, and that’s when I just kind of would let myself step back and go, ‘Let’s just see where this goes because he’s going to do something f*cking crazy and it’s going to be awesome.’
And then with Kathryn, I think for me, a lot of it was permission. It was the encouragement and the permission to go step outside of her comfort zone, and that really played the most when she was The Butcher. She really understood who Millie was innately, but I think sometimes as The Butcher, she had to sort of really be pushed to get to a place where she understood that you can say those things. You can say those things, you can do those things and it’s okay. And when she got there, she was unstoppable. That was part of the fun of it. It’s a lot of fun feeling each other out and trying to see how we all can click and where that synergy lies. But yeah, I had it with both of them. That’s always what I’m hoping and we thoroughly enjoyed working together.
Other than the ratings, it does feel likeFreakyandHappy Death Daycould take place in the same cinematic world. Do you imagine this story taking place in another town of that same world thatHappy Death Dayexists in?
LANDON: Oh yeah! Totally! A hundred percent. I think that they exist in the same spiritual universe, so to speak. I think I could easily see Tree and Millie getting together and being like, ‘Well, you won’t believe what happened to me!’ Because I think that tonally they’re connected, I think thematically they’re connected in a weird way. And yeah, I think it’s an easy, easy buy for sure.
I wantHappy Death Day 3proper, but I also would not mind a crossover with these stories.
