IGN was among the press outlets that attended an interview on Wednesday with director Fede Alvarez for the Blu-ray release of Don't Breathe, during which time the press also asked about the news that Alvarez was attached to helm The Girl in the Spider's Web, Sony's sequel to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
David Fincher directed the 2011 American adaptation of Dragon Tattoo, but the film's lukewarm reception has long stalled Sony's plans to adapt the second and third books for the screen. The Girl in The Spider's Web is based on the novel by David Lagercrantz (who took over the series after original author Stieg Larsson died). The story follows hacker Lizbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist as they uncover a web of government spies.
Here's what Fede Alvarez had to say about the project. It should be noted that Don't Breathe producer Sam Raimi interjects into the conversation at one point, but he doesn't have anything to do with The Girl in the Spider's Web. (And beware of some SPOILERS ahead for Don't Breathe.)
Q: If Evil Dead was about "shock", and Don't Breathe was about "tension", if you do the followup to Dragon Tattoo, what kind of emotion would you want to do with that?
Fede Alvarez: It's very different. Obviously it's a bit more complex because the movie is more complex and you have to honor the book, the fourth book. The conversation we're having right now is about basically simple terms, can we make it our film? Can it be a movie that has an imprint of our style? If we have one single fan who loves our first two movies, is he going to be happy with the third one? Like yes, I got everything I got out of their movies. If that's not possible, then we won't make it. If that's possible and we can make it our own, then we'll make it. What's that emotion in particular? It has a lot of thrills in it. And it's very... sordid. That's the word.
Sam Raimi: I have a question I want to piggyback on your question. It's such a slippery slope. When will you know that this film is something that'll satisfy you and fulfill your style? At some point it becomes too late and you just can't get out of it, especially with the studio.
Alvarez: Well, I guess we're working on a rewrite right now. We've got the story that's basically what we're pitching. This is what we want to do with it. This is going to happen in this scene, this is going to happen. Yes, this is going to happen in that scene. It's pitching ideas that in our version of the movie you'll see. Something that's in the story but you don't see, but we think you should show it. Or you shouldn't show this. It should be more explicit about that. And also the story should be more about this and not that. We're choosing where the themes we want to empower. ... So far it's all good. Everything we've pitched so far is "let's do it." It might happen at some point that they go like once it's in the script they go, "Oh, boy" ...
Raimi: So is there a protector of the book that you sometimes have to present ideas to?
Alvarez: So far it's just the studio. It's just an informal conversation with them. Are we making this film? Yes. Let's do it. Are you willing to take this risk and do it? I think because of the whole turkey baster thing, we have really... there's very few people who want to tell us you're going too far there. It's just... because they said that with the turkey baster.
Q: Can you tell us about what makes you look forward to The Girl In The Spider's Web and tackling that character?
Alvarez: I think it's because, everybody says I -- based on (my) movies -- you do strong female characters. I don't think I do female characters, I do androgynous characters. She has no sex in that aspect. It's not that she's female or male, she's the way I direct her, the way things that I tell to Jane [Levy, his star in Don't Breathe and Evil Dead] many times... there's a particular scene where we were making in this movie and she felt she was being so scared she would cry, this was like the second half of the film. And I remember asking her, like, if you were a boy, you were the boy lead? Would he cry? No, of course, he'd never. Of course they don't. They never see the male lead crying out of fear, usually. They don't, which is silly, they should. It's silly that a girl always will cry and be terrified even if she's a hero at the end, even the final girl will be in tears and desperate and the final boy will never be desperate, just fighting and tough. It's ridiculous. One thing I told Jane all the time while directing her was trying to really keep a close eye on what are the things of the cliche female characters that we can avoid. Some of them we do them, that's why I'm saying that it's not either or. I played her as if she were another lead. It's just very androgynous. I'm trying not to do one thing or another. We do something in the middle. That's why sometimes she doesn't even come across as super likable. A lot people say she doesn't come across as likable, yeah, because she's not being that girl that you usually get and that's what they always want. They want her to cry, they want her to go in and really use him help. They want all this crap that'll make them feel that she's more sympathetic. When we did a test usually of these movies, if you read between the lines, sometimes it's shocking how conservative the audience is. How much they want to see the same thing again and they will never except her doing something that is out of female character, does something that's out of that. They will get shocked and they don't want that. So I think that's the approach. We're going to obviously, Lisabeth in these books, she's very androgynous as a character. She's more on the boyish side almost. I think I will probably try to bring more of her femininity and have some more balance, otherwise it's more... we'll see what that is. I think there's something in common with those characters.
Q: Is it a complete restart? Is there going to be any changes in the casting?
Alvarez: No, we're not there yet. We're just talking about the story right now. We're just talking about the story and trying to agree if we are trying to tell the same story the studio wants. It seems like we do, but that's where we are right now.
Q: Would you consider Jane Levy for Lisbeth Salander if you were actually move forward with that?
Alvarez: No, she hates my guts. She really does. I'm not trying to be funny. She really hates me. It's just, and I don't blame her. She's always put through a lot in my films. I'm really tough with her. On the first days we're friends and then I'm really tough on her with every scene and she goes like who are you? Like I'm just entertaining the audience. Usually by the end of the process, and on Evil Dead she survived it for other reasons, but I think maybe because it was her first big film. On this one [Don't Breathe], it was kind of harder. I love her, I think she's awesome. Like I said, you should ask her. It was tough. But I don't blame her honestly. I think it's... she's an amazing actress and she puts everything out of herself in these movies. She really goes for it and she never phones it in. She's 200 percent in every shot. And that takes a toll, and I think on a movie like this one, I mean, the turkey baster scene is terrifying not just from the point of view of I'm going to shoot this, I'm going to hang myself from this harness and let them do this to me, plus it's also like how is the audience going to react to this? On the page, once you're in the movie, you're secure in the way that you get it, maybe laugh at it, terrified by it, I can't laugh at a rape scene, your brain goes what the f**k, your brain goes crazy. When you read it on the page, it's usually one of the things that terrifies you. Am I really going to do this? I'm going to put myself through this? So there's a lot of trust they have to have and she had it. She really went and did it and she never knew how it was going to come across or turn out. And today I don't think she likes the movie either. She never told me she does. That's why I don't blame her. She doesn't have to like it. It doesn't mean because she's in it or because I made it she needs to like the movie. That's why things are complicated because she's very talented. Very talented and very complicated and she's super talented and super smart and maybe this is not her kind of movie or there was something there that maybe wasn't what she expected. Maybe one day we'll have a conversation and everything is fine, but I can tell you honestly I think she hates me.
Don't Breathe is now on Digital HD and hits Blu-ray and DVD on November 29.
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