Excl Interview: Director John Gulager

Posted By : moviemaven, Saturday Oct,04
Filed Under : Horror Interviews,

I recently had the opportunity to chat with director John Gulager. Our conversation was enjoyable as we discussed films he's done, films he's working on and films he would like to make in the future. We also delved into working with family and the challenges that may lie within.

As the call began, I was pleased that Mr. Gulager jumped right in with ease and humor. The interview went smoothly even as we leaped excitedly from topic to topic. There were so many things I wanted to discuss that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to squeeze them all into our time together. He was, however, very generous with his time. Most of you will undoubtedly recognize his name as the director of the films Feast and the recently released Feast 2. He is also the son of screen veteran Clu Gulager.

The road to Feast began with Season 3 of Project Greenlight after it had moved from HBO to Bravo. Writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan have since written the screenplays for several Saw films and the Hellraiser remake as well as Feast 2 and Feast 3 which is being edited as we speak. I began by asking him about the tone of Feast 2 and how it differs from the first installment in the series.

It's pretty different than the first one, I have to say. We didn't want to make the same movie over again . So some people are gonna like it, some people are gonna not. That's just the way it is (laughs).

I've read a lot from fans who have reported it as being borderline offensive.

(laughs) Borderline?!

Were you attempting to check the audience's gag reflexes with that one?

Oh well, you know, it has a little John Waters in it. We covered everyone with blood and barf in the first one and so we do that in the second one but we've added a couple of other fluids. There is an autopsy...so yeah I'd have to say it's a little gross at times. Judah Friedlander comes back in a dream sequence and licks some stuff off of Honey Pie. More people seem to be grossed out by that than all this other super gross stuff throughout the movie. Marcus' [Dunstan] mom got grossed out by it. She had to go stand in the lobby. We were all at the Fantastic Fest and she got a little sick, I think.

Maybe have a couple of drinks before you watch it. That's my theory. (laughs) When I showed it here at the office, I went out and bought a blender...then everybody loved it. Don't eat any guacamole though.

What sort of feedback have you gotten about it, personally?

Well I get the two sides...either “it sucks” or “it's fucking insane.” But it was like that on Feast also. I don't know if you remember, but not all the reviews were good. But it found an audience, it found you, it found a lot of people. I think this movie will too. Maybe a different audience. I don't know.

What's it like directing your family members?

You know there are three generations of Gulagers in this movie. My dad (Clu) is back, and Diane (Goldner, John's spouse) is back, we just made her her sister. My brother's in it (Tom). And so is Baby Clu, my nephew. He was eleven months old when we filmed it. My dad said “we have to get Baby Clu's career started now.” (we both laugh as he inserts an impression of his father)

I can't really direct my dad; Diane and I bicker; and Tom, well I like everything he does so there you go. Little Clu was the most difficult one. (laughs) If he didn't get his nap, that was it. But if you look at some of the extras on the DVD, it's basically all about him and trying to get him happy. He (the creature) ate a kid in the first one so we thought we'd save a kid in this one. This is our baby rescue.

Talking about the first one, I personally described it as a cross between Night of the Living Dead and a Guy Ritchie action film.

I would say, on the second film, if you throw “A Hard Day's Night” into the mix then that would be this film. We all ran around and acted silly.

You've worked with Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan on these three films as well as the upcoming film “The Neighbor.” What's it like working with these guys repeatedly? I would imagine there is a comfort level that develops.

We became friends, you know, under Project Greenlight. We kind of felt like we survived. You know about them. They're just doing well. They've written the last three Saw movies, one of which is coming out later this month. Marcus just finished directing his first movie. My brother did the second unit directing on it and I even shot a few extra scenes on it when they needed an extra camera man. It' called The Midnight Man. So, they're doing really great.

As far as Feast 2 and 3, I wouldn't have wanted to do it unless they did it with me because we did the first one and it was all of us getting started.

The Neighbor has been on hold. It's something we still want to do but the studio wasn't ready to do it yet so we'll just see what happens. It's actually a pretty neat movie. It's a border movie and it has a little bit of that torture porn in it. It's kind of an action, border, violence, motorcycles....all kinds of stuff. It's pretty neat so hopefully we'll get to do it.

What is the direction of the third film? Obviously we know about the first one. And in the second one you pulled out a few more stops...

Well the second one is a little sillier. We run around to all these different locations. The third one picks up where that one leaves off but then we had to go underground and go into all these tunnels and that becomes Feast 3 and it's darker. I don't want to get too much into it but there's a new hybrid monster in Feast 3.

Is this going to be the final film as the title (Feast 3: The Happy Finish) suggests or will there be another course?

(laughs) In Feast world, anything that's stated is probably wrong. You could say “This is the absolute end”, that could be the title and then that would mean that it probably wasn't. So who knows?

You have securely stamped out a place in the horror genre with this series. Do you have any interest in exploring others?

I asked my dad to write a western but people think it can't be made because it's so violent and graphically cruel. But I think it can and I think it could be a fairly beautiful movie but very cool and sometimes psychedelically crazy and violent. It's called Mister.

Who are some of your personal heroes and influences?

I grew up in this sort of revival house era where you'd go to the little theater and they'd be showing a different movie every night from around the world. You could see Fellini and Bergman. You could watch The Seventh Samurai one night and The Bicycle Thief the next.

Then of course, Kubrick. As far as modern movies, I like Ichi the Killer...I like all the Japanese movies and I really like all these French movies that are coming out right now. They're pretty awesome in that they're scary. I want to make a scary movie that's not funny. That's what they're doing right now.

How do you feel about the spate of remakes that we are seeing in recent years?

I understand that a lot of people wanna do remakes because it's property they acquire and it's something that people would already know. I think of the remake of The Thing which I like better than the original with James Arness so I would look to that one if I was ever thinking of remaking something. If you could bring something to it that would be unique, I think it would be fine. But there are a lot of remakes that I would be squeamish about doing, of course.

I can't say that I would never do one. You should want to do a remake of a film that maybe wasn't so good the first time around as a whole but had moments that stood out to make you remember them.

As my time with Mr. Gulager concluded, I realized that I had just spoken to the breed of director I always prefer. He does what he does for the love of the medium. He wants to have fun and make movies that hopefully people will remember...for whatever reason.

Some may be fans, others may be repulsed, but his films are definitely memorable. I always admire those film makers who are not afraid to cross the line that divides the acceptable from the “offensive.” They are after all, only movies. I believe films should push us to the brink of understanding ourselves. If we never reach for our limits, we will never know how far we can go.

I then wished him continued success and thanked him for his time. I look forward to having the opportunity to speak with him again about upcoming projects. John Gulager, is a director I will keep an eye on and I recommend you do the same.

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