Fuller and Form Talk Platinum Dunes Horror

Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, the guys who run Platinum Dunes along with Michael Bay, sat down recently with the guys over at Collider and talked about their future projects. Â  They discussed everything from ‘The Unborn’ to the ‘Friday the 13th’ remake to other remakes that have been rumored to be headed their way (ie, ‘The Birds’, ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’, and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’). Â  

Here are the highlights of that interview:

ON THE FAN REACTION TO ‘FRIDAY THE 13TH’ AT COMIC-CON:

Andrew Form:I would say that it is without a doubt the most†¦we’ve gotten the most feedback on that film out of everything we’ve worked on potentially everything all put together. It is insane. I think we all undervalued how big Jason Voorhees is and how much people love talking about him.

ON TEST SCREENING ‘FRIDAY THE 13TH’:

Brad Fuller: I would say that for us, the two of us, our greatest test screening†¦our first test screening for ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ was kind of a magical thing. We kind of had no idea what we had and then we’ve been jaded by all the other ones we had and then this ‘Friday the 13th’ test screening came and it took us right back to where we were with ‘Texas Chainsaw’. It was crazy.

ON REMAKING ‘NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET’ AND FREDDY KRUEGER:

Brad: Well, we want to put Freddy in a hockey mask and we don’t know how people feel about that but we’re excited about it. I think that every iconic horror character you have to take on their own and kind of figure out what is appealing about that character and for Jason Voorhees, it’s one thing because for the most part in all the movies.   So Freddy Krueger is a much more challenging character and that is not something that we just kind of stumble into and say “Hey, let’s just make him!† and go do it.   It’s something that we are treading very lightly on and I can tell you for sure that we don’t have the answer yet. That is something that we’re going to work very hard to figure out just how much of the Freddy that you might know from the later movies as opposed to the Freddy from the earlier movies. I mean it’s a balance and we don’t have that answer yet.

ON THE BILLY BOB THORNTON RUMOR:

Andrew: We have no idea where that came from.

ON A POTENTIAL ROBERT ENGLUND CAMEO:

Brad: We definitely want him in the film, without a doubt. I mean, I think it would be a travesty if we couldn’t have him in the film.

ON THE RUMOR THEY ARE DOING ‘ROSEMARY’S BABY’:

Andrew: We are not doing ‘Rosemary’s Baby’.

Brad: No, no. I mean†¦ ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ was announced and it’s like a little bit like we’re taking about with Freddy. We went down that road and we even talked to the best writers in town and it feels like it might not be do-able. We couldn’t come up with something where it felt like it was relevant and we could add something to it other than what it was so we’re now not going to be doing that film.

ON MARTIN CAMPBELL’S SCREENPLAY FOR A ‘THE BIRDS’ REMAKE:

Brad: Martin has been working on the script and we’re expecting a script in the next 2-3 weeks, but that’s another one where its not like Drew, Michael and I think that we’re just going to crap all over Alfred Hitchcock’s movie. I mean, Alfred Hitchcock in a company wide opinion is probably the greatest director of what we do and other things too. And as someone, that at least Michael and I studied in college and there’s a reverence for him. So that’s not a movie that we’re just going to step up and just go have birds attacking people and trying to throw that into the box office. If we can’t make that movie unique or add something to it, I don’t think we’re going to make it. Â  He’s great. I mean, once you get a film-maker like Martin Campbell and you start taking to an actress like Naomi Watts a project can pick up momentum, but they’re not interested in making the same movie that Hitchcock made. And they’re interested in something that moves it along and shows different parts of the story so that’s what’s we’re hopeful that the script will be.

ON UTILIZING 3D FOR HORROR FILMS:

Andrew: We talked about it for a couple of projects. We don’t have any projects set up that we’re taking about definitely doing 3D, but Brad and I have gone down and we’ve looked at the cameras. We’ve looked at the tests. We watched the U2 movie which is unbelievable and†¦Ã‚  

Brad: It presents a challenge for us in that our movies that the budgets of our 2nd movie and our 8th movie are virtually the same. Some production companies keep on wanting†¦I mean our budgets are the same. 3D adds some money to your budget that could take us from a place of being very comfortable where we’re making our movie to the place where we might not be as comfortable and†¦Ã‚  

Andrew: You know ‘Bloody Valentine’ went 3D.  

Brad: It’s a more expensive thing and if we have a story that lends†¦certainly ‘The Birds’ in 3D sounds like a very nice way to tell that story. And so by the way, Drew and I went with Martin Campbell and we went and looked at the U2 film with him and we’re all doing our due diligence, we just haven’t been willing to commit yet.

ON THE CENSORS AND ‘FRIDAY THE 13TH’:

Brad: I think, as a company, we try and push things for this level. Actually strangely enough on ‘Friday the 13th’  we did not have a problem, right? I mean we were†¦

Andrew: Oh it’s very R-rated.

Brad: No, no I have problems with most of our movies with R’s we…

Andrew: We’ve had to cut back a few times.

Brad: ‘The Unborn’ PG-13 was a challenge to get. We went back a number of times to get it and David was very cooperative and ultimately the ratings board was.

Source: Collider