Hills Have Eyes 2 : Enlisting the National Guard

Posted By : Meh, Monday Feb,26
Filed Under : , Horror Sequels & Remakes,

From the minute Weisz and the production team joined forces, they knew that the primary key to the entire production would be creating a palpable, real cast of National Guard characters. As they began to cast the film, they focused not only on finding the right actors for each role, but the right ensemble who could, together, reveal the unspoken conflicts that hide just beneath the surface of their disciplined, tightly controlled military facade.

“We knew that this was going to be more of an ensemble,” reveals co-producer Cody Zwieg. “We definitely wanted actors who looked like real soldiers—who could play that age. You often see actors in films, in their late twenties and early thirties who are playing soldiers, yet we know that people who are being sent over to Iraq and Afghanistan are either college age or just out of high school. So we were looking for that kind of fresh face look.”

The producers also wanted to be sure to mirror the U.S. military’s multi-ethnic composition. “We wanted to represent an interracial cast which was very important because again, that’s the reality, that’s what we see on the news,” tells Zwieg.

For the role of Sarge, the leader of the unit, the producers needed an actor who could not only portray a gruff military commander but who could also project an undercurrent of fear and foreboding. They found such an actor with Flex Alexander. “I loved him in Snakes on a Plane,” reveals Peter Locke. “ I thought he was terrific. He played a real a**hole, but with all different shadings to his character… When Flex auditioned for [THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2], he came in and was great, he felt like a guy who had just been made a sergeant - kind of between one of the guys and [an officer].”

Alexander knew that to land the role, he would have to make the part uniquely his own. “I wanted Sarge to have an ease, a peace. I didn’t want Sarge to be robotic. I started out rocking and my acting coach said, ‘be still and be centered.’ I knew that with this role everybody would come in [to the audition] yelling, so I modulated it. If you are yelling and screaming, you are actually losing power. My grandmother is very centered, so I got it from her. She could just give me a look and I would be scared. I saw it growing up so I tap into it for my characters.”

One of the hardest roles to cast was that of Napoleon—the scruffy peacenik of the bunch, whose character has to run the gamut of emotions from extreme pacifism to unbridled aggression. After auditioning dozens of actors for the pivotal role, the producers were greatly relieved when Michael McMillian (“Saved”) showed up. Producer Marianne Maddelena muses, “I was so depressed, because in LA most of the dang actors are really buff, even if they are kinda geeky, nerdy guys and underdogs, they all go to the gym! Michael walked in and he is tall and thin and all of a sudden I realized that Wes wrote Napoleon after himself when he himself was twenty, twenty-one. And suddenly I thought ‘I get who this character is!’ Wes [came] from a working class family and was the first kid in his family to go to college. The character of Napoleon also comes from a working class family, is very intelligent and wants to go to college, and he joins the National Guard to get an education. So, when Michael walked in, it was so exciting because we’d finally found our Napoleon.”

The role of Napoleon resonated with McMillian: “Napoleon and I have a lot of similarities,” remarks McMillian, “We both have similar view points on the Bush administration. We are both pacifists. He’s sort of the unlikely hero. It’s no coincidence that THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2 is being produced at this time in our culture. Napoleon reflects current societies’ preoccupation with becoming a soldier and a killer. It was cool to go to that dark place - there are certain primal instincts that may be called for in order for a person to step outside their comfort zone. I really like the idea of taking a character through a transformation.”

For the role of the explosive Crank—the troublemaker of the National Guard unit, the producers needed an actor with intense charisma in order to maintain a semblance of sympathy from the audience. Having appeared in such films as Jarhead, Flight of the Phoenix, Traffic and Get Shorty, the production team delighted in casting veteran actor Jacob Vargas in the role. “He has amazing energy,” says Cody Zwieg. “We’d seen him in a few other films, and he is one of those guys that just completely seemed to fit the role… He can play so many variations. For HILLS we knew that he would bring that intensity, that military gung-ho attitude. He represented that side of the military and he did it perfectly, he played it really well.”

Vargas describes his character: “Crank is kind of an ethnic action hero. There are a lot of physical scenes, from shooting weapons to running from mutants, to jumping over chasms, to sliding down mud. He starts out being hot-headed, quick to jump in and in the end he starts to lose his mind and break down. He’s seen so much in this one day that it just breaks him down. It’s a gradual decline. Everything is so big with Crank. He cusses all the time. He easily gets upset, it took a lot of energy, and I would leave the set exhausted.”

After a string of serious dramatic films, Vargas enjoyed the opportunity to cut loose on this film. “THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2 is entertainment - it deals with soldiers being chased around by mutants. They are looking for us, and we are their lunch, man! It’s fun; that’s why I wanted to work on it.”

Mirroring the new reality of women in the battlefield, the producers felt it was crucial to incorporate females within the ranks of the National Guard. As a result, much care went into casting the two female characters, Amber and Missy, with dozens of young actresses auditioning. Actor Michael McMillian notes the astounding transformation the two female characters make in the film. “Amber is kind of like Sigourney Weaver in Alien, the girl least likely to kick some ass. Missy is kind of a tough chick. It’s cool to see these characters coming through. The girls in our film kick some ass. I think the audience will be surprised where the storyline with the women goes.”

After reading the script, up-and-coming actress Jessica Stroup very much wanted to play Amber - a beautiful but naive nineteen year-old enlistee. She explains, “A lot of people never imagine a woman as someone who is strong and will go out and carry a gun to protect their nation in battle. With everything going on in Iraq right now, I haven’t seen any movies lately about women in battle.” Stroup continues about the audition process: “After I auditioned for the movie, there was a two month period where I didn’t hear anything. I called my manager, and asked if I could go in again. I got coached on it, changed a bunch of stuff, went for it. The reading went really well. I was so amazed at [producer] Marianne [Maddalena] because she took the time to tell me how to hit each beat. She believed in me so much, I was so thankful. [I got the role] the next day.”

Stroup enjoyed getting the chance to work in an action film and was even more thrilled to work in the horror genre: “I was a huge tomboy growing up. I’ve done some horror movies in the past, but they have all been kind of borderline unbelievable. I wanted to do something slasher, [something] hardcore. There was this scene the other day where I had to use my bayonet to kill someone. I have never exerted so much energy—so much force in my entire life. You have to completely disconnect yourself and say ‘I have to kill this guy.’ I just wanted to go crazy psycho. It was the most intense thing I have ever done in my entire life, take after take.”

For the other female lead, the producers cast talented young actress Daniella Alonso (“One Tree Hill”) as Missy - a relative loner who has a son back home. “For Daniella’s character, we wanted someone who had that gentle quality that also had that tough exterior,” reveals Cody Zwieg. “Someone who could be a mother, someone you could believe had that maternal instinct, but who could also be a fighter which isn’t always easy for an actor to pull off, especially for someone who is as beautiful as Daniella is. You don’t think that a lot of actresses like that could have that range, but she was able to pull off that level of tough exterior and the softness whenever she is talking about her son. If Missy’s character doesn’t really work, and if the audience doesn’t really feel for her as a mother as well as a soldier then we would be in trouble.”

Alonso strove to find the emotional core of her character. “Missy has many levels,” explains Alonso. “She is always watching and listening for people she can trust, it’s a protective thing. She has had some bad experiences in her life, so she doesn’t let anything in. She is tough, ‘get out of my face, I don’t want to deal with you,’ and then something happens that completely breaks her. You start to see a very sensitive side of her.”

Alonso very much benefited from having Wes Craven on-set while filming THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2. “Wes Craven is a very hands-on producer,” Alonso reveals. “It was awesome, he was here in Morocco always willing to give advice or suggestions. He respected us as actors—he was there with his years of experience in case we needed it.”

Talented young actor Lee Thompson Young (Friday Night Lights) filled out the part of Delmar-the peacemaker of the group. Young relished the opportunity to sink his teeth into the meaty role. “There is definitely an arch to Delmar, but its very subtle. Delmar knows he’s killed a man, so he knows what he is capable of more than the other characters. He’s also willing to risk his own life to make sure everyone gets out safe from the mine. I can definitely see making the decisions that Delmar makes.”

The producers had nothing but praise for Young’s performance. “Lee Thompson Young is fantastic,” says Peter Locke. “He’s handsome, he’s strong, and his acting is very strong. He is the strong and silent type and he carries a lot of authority.”

Comedian/actor Eric Edelstein nailed the role of Spitter, the thirty-something private with a speech impediment. At six-foot-three and over three hundred pounds, Edelstein demonstrates that National Guard soldiers come in all different shapes and sizes and walks of life. Eric looked to family, friends and fellow cast members for advice on portraying a soldier. “I was a Webelo Scout for two weeks; this was my first audition as a soldier, and probably my last,” jokes Edelstein. “My dad and grandfather were both in the military and I wanted to make them proud. For research, I asked a friend who was in the National Guard in Iraq. It’s important to understand the difference between National Guard and normal soldiers. I got tons of military advice from Jacob [Vargas]. Jacob did major boot camp training for Jarhead, and two of his brothers were in the Marines so he has a knowledge of all military stuff.”

The production cast Ben Crowley in the role of Stump. Crowley describes his character as “a little bit rowdy, a little bit rustic. Stump feels alone a lot of the time. He’s rough around the edges, and that’s a lot of fun to play.” As a major horror movie fan, Crowley relished the opportunity of acting in a Wes Craven production. “Wes Craven is an entity in the world of entertainment. If you know cinema, and almost the entire modern world does, then you know the genre of horror films, then you know the name of Wes Craven. That’s incredible, few people have gotten to that place in life where they are so specifically good at what they do. Wes Craven is the brand name for scary.”

For the part of Mickey, the affable hunk of the group, Australian newcomer Reshad Strik took home the acting duties. “Reshad walked in the room, and he was Mickey,” says Cody Zwieg. “He had that goofy charm that made the character so likeable.” Strik, making his American film debut with THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2, relished working on the film. “I couldn’t talk when I got the role, I was so excited,” says Strik. “I got the role within five months of moving to L.A. This role was in my five-year plan, not my five-month plan.”

In order to make the military aspects of the film as authentic as possible, the actors playing National Guardsman went through thorough military training in preparation for their roles. The cast spent a good part of a week going through a military crash course, which included firearms instruction, as well as learning how to handle themselves in a battle zone. The actors went out to the backlot--taking turns firing both single and rapid-fire fully automatic weapons using live blanks. Because over 15,000 pounds of pyrotechnics were used in the filming, by law, three Royal Moroccan Gendarmes had to be on set guarding the weapons and explosives whenever they were on set.

The physical demands of making an action/horror movie under the scorching hot desert sun was unlike anything the actors had ever experienced before. “This is probably the most physically demanding role I’ve ever played,” reveals Jacob Vargas. “I had to keep up the Crank energy. And so I had to kind of rev myself up everyday to play the character. So, I would leave wiped everyday. I made myself sick. [In the film] I’m screaming at the top of my lungs and I’m ripping down these wooden planks…I had to keep up the energy. On the second day, I woke up sore, I didn’t want to get out of bed. I had a fever, I did it to myself. I really wore myself out.”

Working for weeks in remote desert mountain locations seemed to bring the group closer together, as they had to learn to rely on each other--mirroring their National Guard characters in the film. To strengthen those underlying bonds between each actor, the producers made sure time was set aside for the actors to spend time together off-camera.

Explains producer Marianne Maddalena. “Our National Guard cast established these amazingly close relationships—they really became a tight- knit unit, which comes through beautifully in their performances.”

Members of the cast marveled at how quickly they all meshed with each other. “I’ve never worked with a cast who have gotten along quite so well as we have,” says Jessica Stroup. “We’ve been together for two months straight in Morocco. We are spending morning, noon and even night—we end up sitting and talking in someone’s room. We’ve all gotten extremely close.”

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